Rich, luxurious food now with a green label

Vegetarians are now living it up with regional cuisines, be it the Rajasthani 'Kadi', Chettinad spices, Kashmiri 'Nadru' (lotus stem) and are even looking into experimental international fare to spice up menus.
'Aaloo' or boiled potatoes and 'paneer' or plain cottage cheese are passe with a league of eateries whipping up delicacies from across the country to cater solely to the vegetarian's palate.
"It is not that difficult to order sea weed, yamagobo or Kashmiri guchi in Delhi these days. In terms of innovation, terms such as reduction, foam etc are not as unheard of as they were before," says Om Routray a foodie who blogs at Theyoungbigmouth.

The 'Kathputli' restaurant, a new eatery in Delhi has put on offer a royal Marwari 'thali' that serves delights such as 'Gulkand Kebabs' and 'Mirch Pakodas' for starters, 'gatte ki subzi', 'Kadi' and the popular 'Daal Baati churma' dipped in pure ghee, a variety of breads in the main course accompanied by spiced buttermilk and 'Jal Jeera'; all served without any onion or garlic.
The restaurant changes its platter every week and owner Vipul Gupta says the trend of burgeoning vegetarian restaurants is universal.
"Vegetarianism has been gaining momentum not just in India but all over the world as well, thanks to animal rights activists.

"...Major chunk of Indian society is dominated by veg only communities, namely Gujaratis, Jains, Marwaris, Baniyas etc. for whom dining out places were really scarce...We have tried to fill in this gap," says Gupta.

Food blogger Reeta Skeeter says entrepreneurs are finally waking up to the existence of a large chunk of an all vegetarian market which has not yet been tapped into.
"Restaurateurs are realising that there is a sizable vegetarian customer base that is interested in their food and they want to cash in on that.
"Nowadays we can get vegetarian sushi, which is an oxymoron for some, but works well for vegetarians," says Skeeter who blogs under the Delhi Foodies' Zone.

A pioneer in the pure vegetarian restaurant league, 'Sattvik', fine dine restaurant in South Delhi has been in the business for the past seven years now.
With delights like 'Flourless Cheese cake', 'Tangy Lotus Stem Salad with plum sauce' and other in house specialties like 'Paneer Sattvik' cooked in a rich coconut milk sauce with flavours of mint, the eat out is serving a diverse menu under the larger North Indian cuisine.