The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

All hail this riot of red! With the crunch of peanuts, the creaminess of coconut, the heat of chili and pepper, this beetroot rice recipe makes for an immensely satisfying meal.

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A super flavorful kadhi spiced with mustard (sarson) and fenugreek (methi). This recipe’s highlight is its use of methi in as many as three forms: methi seeds roasted and ground, methi seeds soaked overnight, and fresh methi leaves fried.

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Till not too long ago, pancakes for me meant cheela. The flour/batter of the pancake would vary: if not besan then moong or sooji, but the template of ‘thick batter + a dash of seasoning’ was a constant.

A chance viewing of Maangchi’s vegetable pancake recipe brought about a shift in this template.

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Not all experiments pass muster the first time. A few go through rounds of trials before they reach publicly sharable shape. A few are embarrassments best shelved forever (I’m thinking of you, curdled strawberry yogurt). Lachha gobhi paratha, I’m delighted to report, was a stupendous success from the word go.

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Thick colorful bell pepper strips and wedge-cut potatoes, shallow-fried with fragrant spices. Uses no onion, tomato, ginger or garlic. This aloo capsicum dry sabzi is just right for days when your pantry has run out of Indian curry staples.

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I was looking for a chickpea recipe that did not call for onion, tomato, ginger or garlic, and I stumbled upon a Himachali dish called madra which is served during the dham food festival. Madra is a legume and yogurt combination with an array of aromatic spices – just the kind of recipe I wanted. My version is lighter than the traditional one and calls for fewer spices, based primarily on what was available with me – I simply call it “dahi chhole” instead of madra as I have probably strayed too far from the template…

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Momos seemed like exotic restaurant-only food to me for a long time, till a friend taught me how easy it is to make them at home. All you need is to figure out a way to steam the momos. The good news is: you don’t need fancy equipment for it; an idli stand and an Indian pressure cooker do the job perfectly.

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