The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Nutty, sweet flavors complement beans very well – I had taken to this idea when I first made string beans with peanuts and jaggery. This time I had green beans (French beans) on hand, which meant a milder flavor and more crunch. This felt like a good opportunity to up the experimental quotient on "nutty, sweet flavors".

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Among the many advantages of making peanut butter at home is the advantage of adaptability. Texture, fluidity, add-on ingredients – all in your hands.

In this Indian-style homemade peanut butter, we make the most of this advantage. With spices and tamarind, and the flavor of sesame, the classic peanut butter gets an unusual styling.

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Red pumpkin bharta is a dry preparation of pumpkin, a simpler version of red pumpkin curry with stronger notes of mustard oil.

Unlike traditional bharta (mashed vegetables) like baingan bharta, this one does not use boiled/roasted vegetables as its base. Pumpkin cooks quickly and mashes easily without pre-treatment. This is also a chunky bharta instead of a typically smooth one, which works well with pumpkin.

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If you are looking for interesting ways to incorporate flaxseed into your meals, this peanut flaxseed chutney is a must-try. What’s more, you can dare to try this recipe on those who turn their noses up at flaxseed: its peanutty, sweet-sour flavors mask the bitterness of flaxseed.

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For the longest time, the only way I knew how to eat papad was as a plain accompaniment to an Indian meal (usually khichdi), much like chutney or pickle. I liked papad overall, but the “dish” didn’t seem all that consequential.

When I moved to Bombay, my friends there would order masala papad as a starter in restaurants. This was something new, something interesting – papad dressed up as a standalone dish. I started experimenting with papad in curries, and warming up to this novelty – papad curry was very convenient on days when there are no vegetables on hand.

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I discovered ridge gourd only after moving to south India. The first time that I bought this vegetable, my motivator was curiosity – I had no idea how this sponge gourd / bitter gourd lookalike would be cooked or how it would taste. Pushcart vendors outside my apartment stocked fresh ridge gourd in large inviting heaps. One day I walked up to a vendor and asked in gestures (I did not know Kannada) to name the vegetable. In response, he wrapped two ridge gourds, held out the package to me and named the price.

And so I returned home, ridge gourd package in hand, and typed into Google image search: "long green Indian vegetable with spikes". Google did not disappoint – I found not just the name but also many ways to cook ridge gourd.

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Red pumpkin does a great job of absorbing spices and mingling with a range of flavors: spicy, sweet, tangy, salty. These traits of the vegetable are put to perfect use in this glorious red pumpkin curry recipe.

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