The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Once upon a time, when I couldn’t tell the most basic cooking ingredients apart, I decided to cook myself some khichdi. The end result was a slimy mess. It dawned on me after downing a few spoonfuls that I had cooked the khichdi with dhuli urad dal instead of yellow moong dal. The two looked so alike to my untrained eye that, unless I was squinting to detect the right shade of pale yellow, I could swear they are one and the same.

My early struggles in the kitchen were peppered with many such quandaries. Is this coriander powder or garam masala? Is that besan or sattu? Nigella seed or mustard, cumin seed or saunf?

If only I had thought of labeling my storage jars then…

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“Eat only as much as your cupped hands can hold“, goes a popular dietary maxim.

“Eat the rainbow“, advises another.

The Buddha Bowl beautifully embodies those two principles of nutrition: there’s a receptacle, a general rule that we put into it an assortment of grains, plant protein and vegetables, and a subgoal that the end result be as pleasing to the eye as it is to health.

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New to cooking millets? Here’s a primer to get you started with an easy one: foxtail millet (kangni in Hindi).

Before the how-to-cook instructions, an introduction to foxtail millet.

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Four ingredients – each in equal measure – roasted and ground: and lo, there you have a delicious sookhi sabzi masala! Sprinkle the masala over dry sautéed veggies with some salt – you need no other seasoning.

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When a friend returned from Austin to Chennai, she brought back for her mother an ornate crockpot. Her mother unsurprisingly did not find much use for the contraption in her home cooking. For a while the crockpot was relegated to the far corner of her storage shelves. Till inspiration struck – and she converted the crockpot into a tulsi planter.

My story is not as drastic as that, but seeing my mother use her paddu maker for cooking littis raised a smile much like my friend’s story did. Paddus are not a staple food for us, so her paddu maker would mostly lie forlorn. One day my mother decided to give the equipment a "litti maker" makeover. The rounded fissures of the paddu griddle work perfectly as receptacles for litti balls. Slow cooking on the fire, with a turn or two in between, gives us littis close to the traditional fire-roasted ones.

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Raw unsalted shelled peanuts, when boiled, acquire a rich softness, a departure from the taste and texture of roasted peanuts. While the crunch of roasted peanuts sits well with chutneys and in jhalmuri, boiled peanuts are great in salads.

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A guide to juicing recipes that you could follow during the week: this 7-day juicing plan gives you a range of colors, nutrients and ingredients.

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