The India Diet Guide

The Indian advantage

Indian cooking was vegan-friendly long before anyone used the word. The base of nearly every regional cuisine is a grain (rice, wheat, millet), a legume (dal, chana, rajma), a vegetable, and a tadka — none of which need an animal. Where it gets sticky is the four dairy add-ons: milk, ghee, paneer, curd. Sort those and the kitchen runs itself.

The pantry that does the work

Buy these once and you can cook all week without a recipe.

Category	Stock
Grains	Atta, basmati rice, rolled oats, one millet (foxtail / ragi), poha
Dals	Toor, moong, masoor, urad. One mixed dal pack.
Legumes	Kala chana, kabuli chana, rajma, lobia, black-eyed peas
Protein concentrates	Soya chunks, tofu (firm), peanut butter, hemp seeds
Fats	Cold-pressed groundnut oil, mustard oil, olive oil, vegan ghee
Plant milk	One litre of oat or soy in the fridge
Flavour	Tamarind, jaggery, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, vinegar
Spices	Standard masala dabba + cumin, mustard, hing, garam masala

Breakfast

Most Indian breakfasts are already vegan or one tweak away.

Already vegan: idli, sambar, plain dosa (ask no ghee), upma, poha, chilla, sabudana khichdi, aloo paratha (skip butter), thepla, dhokla.
One tweak: chai with oat milk, oats with plant milk + banana + peanut butter, paratha with vegan ghee.
New things worth trying: tofu bhurji, savoury oats with vegetables, smoothie with banana + oat milk + peanut butter + dates.

Lunch — the thali, basically

A standard thali — dal, sabzi, rice, roti, salad — is the most efficient vegan meal on earth. The two changes:

Skip the curd, or use a soy / coconut curd.
Skip the ghee on roti, or use vegan ghee.

That's it. No reinventing.

Dinner

Lean on protein and one big vegetable.

Tofu bhurji + roti
Rajma chawal
Chickpea coconut curry + rice
Soya chunk biryani
Pasta with tomato sauce + roasted veg + nutritional yeast
Buddha bowl: brown rice + roasted veg + chickpeas + tahini

Soya chunks — the cheapest protein in the country

A 200g pack of soya chunks: ₹50–₹70. Soak in hot water 15 min, squeeze, use anywhere you'd use chicken or paneer. ~52g of protein per 100g dry. Brands: Nutrela (Ruchi), Sattvik, Saffola.

Snacks

Roasted chana, peanuts, makhana
Hummus + carrot
Peanut butter banana toast
Most namkeen (Haldiram's bhujia, Lijjat papad, sev — vegan)
Most basic biscuits — Parle-G, Hide & Seek, Bourbon, most Marie variants

What about cheese, paneer, and milk in chai

Cheese: Bombay Cheese Co., Katharos, Sausage Inc. all do good melts. Daiya / Violife are imported and excellent. For pizza, mozzarella works.
Paneer: firm tofu, pressed and marinated. Or get White Cub vegan paneer.
Chai: soy holds heat best (won't split). Oat is creamier but can split if added to very hot tea — heat the oat milk separately, then mix.

A first grocery run (₹2,500 ish, lasts a week)

Oat or soy milk (1L), tofu (200g), peanut butter (340g), oats (1kg), atta (5kg), basmati (1kg), mixed dal (1kg), soya chunks (200g), chana (500g), one bag fresh vegetables, fruit for the week, nutritional yeast (100g), a B12 bottle.

You're done.