The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Chickpeas lend themselves generously to experimentation. The classic channa masala with its onion-garlic base is by no means the only way to cook this legume curry-style. Chickpeas CAN be curried without a shred of onion and garlic – check out these recipes from the blog archives, for example: aloo chhole, dahi chhole.

And now, let me add yet another no-onion-no-garlic chickpea recipe to your repertoire.

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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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Do you believe that okra should never be cooked moist? This okra and baby potato stew will make you re-evaluate that belief! When simmered in a flavorful tomato curry, okra and potatoes get infused with a delicious tang and, thanks to the acidity of the tomatoes, none of the okra slime.

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Dal and chow chow (chayote), when cooked together, give you a dish with wonderful texture and taste. The juicy pear-like chow chow softens and melds into dal, adding an interesting counterpoint to the dal’s “porridginess”. When I want to do a bit more with chayote than make an easy stew, I usually turn to this chow chow dal recipe.

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Home-style aloo tinda ki sabzi, cooked with tomatoes and spices.

If tinda is unfamiliar to you, here’s an intro:

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Tomato rice – this vividly colored one-pot meal is just right for boxing up and carrying to school or office. Plan ahead for rushed mornings: boil some extra rice at dinnertime, stash it away in the fridge overnight and, when it’s time to pack your lunch the next morning, put together tomato rice.

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A starring recipe for a party menu: lauki kofta – spiced balls of grated bottle gourd, deep-fried and simmered in a rich tomato gravy. The preparation of lauki kofta takes a bit of planning, and the steps for making the bottle gourd balls can’t be rushed or parallelized – but the end result makes the dish worth every bit of the effort.

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