🌿Cooking School · Jain Cooking Academy
Jain cooking — ahimsa in the kitchen
Not just restricted recipes. The complete philosophy, the Jain pantry, the technique that produces restaurant-quality Jain food anywhere in the world.
Not just restricted recipes. The complete philosophy, the Jain pantry, the technique that produces restaurant-quality Jain food anywhere in the world.
Jain food restrictions are not arbitrary rules. They are the practical application of ahimsa — non-violence — to the act of eating. Every restriction traces back to one principle: minimise harm to all living beings, including the smallest.
Root vegetables are avoided because pulling them from the ground destroys the entire plant and disturbs the soil ecosystem, harming countless microorganisms. Brinjal is avoided because it must be slit to check for insects living inside — the check itself causes harm. Above-ground vegetables where the plant survives harvesting are permitted. Tomato is permitted — it is a fruit. Capsicum is permitted — the core and seeds can be removed cleanly.
For a Jain family in Perth or Auckland or Leicester, this section exists for one reason — to bring back the taste and satisfaction of eating at your favourite restaurant back home.
Without onion, garlic and root vegetables, Jain cooking builds its flavour on five foundations — each one doing the work that a prohibited ingredient normally does.
Asafoetida (hing) — bloomed in hot fat, it provides the sulphurous allium depth that onion and garlic produce. Use 4–5x the quantity of a non-Jain recipe.
Cabbage cooked to golden — 20 minutes on medium heat produces mild sweetness and Maillard depth that partially replicates caramelised onion.
Tomato — permitted as a fruit. The glutamate and acidity that onion-tomato masala provides comes entirely from tomato in Jain cooking.
Cashew paste — replaces the body that slow-cooked onion provides. The fat emulsion creates the glossy, coating consistency of a restaurant gravy.
Whole spice blooming — longer, more careful blooming compensates for the depth that garlic and ginger normally contribute.
Tomato · Capsicum (core removed) · Cabbage · Cauliflower · Peas · Spinach · All above-ground vegetables · All lentils and pulses · Paneer · All dairy · All dried spices · Cashew · Coconut · Hing
Onion · Garlic · Ginger (root) · Potato · Carrot · Beetroot · Radish · Turnip · Yam · Brinjal/eggplant (insect risk) · Mushroom · Green onion
Ginger — strictly a root and avoided, but many Jain families in Gujarat use it. Where a recipe benefits from ginger, it is marked as optional with exact quantities.
The best Jain restaurants across Gujarat — and the Jain cooking done by families overseas who have mastered the tradition — use two master bases. Every Jain curry is a combination of these two.
Tomato, cashew, butter, cream, kasuri methi. No onion, no garlic. The rich, velvety base for paneer makhani, dal makhani and kofta.
Cashew, coconut, cream, whole spices. Pale, rich, nutty. The base for korma, shahi paneer, navratan and malai kofta.
Every recipe on the Jain hub is fully Jain-compliant. No checking required.