The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Of all the types of dals, split toor dal (also called arhar dal) is the one I cook most often. I don’t always put a tadka with it, sometimes just plain boiled dal with salt and a few drops of lime juice tastes great when the rest of the dishes on my place are spicy. On other "tadka" days, tomato toor dal is one of my most-loved ways of having toor dal.

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Bhindi (okra) with a generous mix of onions and Indian spices – bhindi do pyaza (literally: okra with twice the amount of onions) is a lovely vegetable dish to go with chapatis.

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Raita (yogurt dip), with bottle gourd as its prime ingredient, provides a lovely balance to rich Indian gravies. Bottle gourd and yogurt are bland on their own, but the other ingredients that go with lauki raita give it a suprising tangy twist.

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Want to have greens, but methi (fenugreek) is too bitter for you? Try methi parathas – atta (whole wheat flour) balances the bitterness of fenugreek beautifully. The end result is delicious.

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When you want a simple tasty vegetable curry to be ready without much effort, this stew of bottle gourd, potatoes and tomatoes is your answer. Use a pressure-cooker to make lauki aloo and you save a lot on time too.

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After a day in the hot sun or with a heavy meal, buttermilk feels like a blessing. Famed for its therapeutic, digestive properties, buttermilk is also delicious.

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Sabudana, also called sago, is used as fast food in India. No, not the fast food of the burger-and-fries ilk. Fast food, as in vrat food. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, explanation follows. Others, please bear with me a minute or feel free to skip the next two paras directly to the sabudana khichdi recipe.

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