Manju’s Cookbook: Vegetarian Gujarati Indian Recipes from a Much-Loved Family Restaurant

Authentic Indian food from Manju, one of the world’s oldest chefs, and her award-winning restaurant in this homage to the vegetariancuisine of Gujarat.

2022 She Awards Outstanding Culinary Skills winner Manju Patel.

The food being served at Manju’s fabulous restaurant in Brighton is a homage to the cuisine of Gujarat, where vegetarian cooking is both a religious belief and an environmental cause. Living and growing up in Uganda, Manju was passionate about cooking and was taught to cook by her mother. At the age of 14, she was cooking and supplying 35 tiffins a day, just to make ends meet. In 1972, all East African Asians were exiled from Uganda and Manju arrived in London with little money and went to work in a factory where she stayed until she retired. Her dreams of owning and running a restaurant were forgotten for six decades, until her two sons realized her dreams by opening a restaurant in her honor.

This enticing selection of recipes in this book is real reflection of the food served in the popular restaurant and is a perfect example of vegetarian food not needing meat to feel like a complete meal. Every part of Gujarati cuisine is covered from sharing foods such as Samosa and Kachori, snacks such as Chakri and Sev Mamri, through to a wealth of curries to suit every taste using a variety of vegetables, beans, and lentils. Recipes for Manju’s popular chutneys that are sold from the restaurant are also included, as well as dessert and drink recipes such as Gajar Halwa and Mango Lassi. So, if eating authentic Indian food intrigues, then try this wonderful collection of Indian recipes straight from the heart and kitchen of Manju’s.

Manju’s is a family run Indian Restaurant in Brighton, UK, and is named after the matriarch of the family. Manju was taught to cook by her mother and always dreamed of owning her own restaurant cooking her family recipes. At 84 years old, Manju cooks in the restaurant that her sons opened in her honour every evening alongside her daughter-in-law and head chef Dipali. The recipes in this book have been put together by Dipali and Manju’s sons based on their mother’s recipes.