The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

This light and nourishing ginger lime moong dal has a healing touch. Excellent for days when you want to soothe a sore throat.

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Kachumber – a classic Indian salad made with easily available raw vegetables. Light, fresh and oil-free, kachumber salad gives a pleasant counterpoint to leisurely-cooked, gravy-laden vegetable curries.

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Each kitchen stint with the chayote teaches me something new. When I began cooking with this gourd, peeling it was hard – till I learnt the techniques of making triangular notches around its folds and boiling it before peeling. Soon I discovered a different variety of the chayote: the “Ooty chow chow”, which has a smooth exterior that demands no fiddling with folds at all.

So I switched loyalties to the Ooty chow chow, as my observant regulars would have noticed in the post on chayote dal.

While cutting raw veggies and fruits, I sometimes pop a few chopped pieces into my mouth. A reflex action if you will, this usually leads me to grimace and move on – but when I did this with the Ooty chow chow I stopped in my tracks. This vegetable didn’t just look like a pear, it tasted startlingly like one. Do I even need to cook this, I wondered. (more…)

A bright side dish to perk up your mealtimes. Cucumber and pomegranate are loaded with antioxidants, and when they come together, they make a salad that’s the very definition of healthy gorgeousness.

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I like to balance bitter with a hint of sweet: some jaggery in methi chhole, sauteed pineapple on the side with curry leaf pulao. In this gobhi kasoori methi (cauliflower and dried fenugreek) recipe, I turn to dried cranberries for the balancing act. I love the result! Do you?

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Pumpkin and moong dal hit it off beautifully together. Mild to taste, the two have the capacity to combine a wide array of flavors very well. This recipe of pumpkin moong dal makes the most of this attribute, with its luxurious use of curry leaves and masalas.

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The answer to "What have you put in it?" seems almost incredible when the dish in question is gur ka paratha. Surely something as delicious as this MUST have a long list of ingredients mixed in careful proportions? Plausible as that sounds, it really, truly does not. Gur ka paratha is one of those goodies that produce far greater output effect than input effort. Hardly any effort, and only 3 ingredients.

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