The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

I got up this Sunday morning with a halwa craving, fondly remembering the sooji ka halwa my mom used to make on weekends. There was no sooji (semolina) in the pantry to recreate her recipe, so I turned internet-wards for recourse.

The recipe for gur aur atte ka halwa (jaggery and whole wheat flour halwa) on Divine Taste struck an instant chord: the pictures were mouth-watering, and the key ingredients – whole wheat and jaggery – were healthy substitutes (well, more importantly, available with me!) for semolina and sugar.

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Okra is one of the most versatile vegetables around, isn’t it? I cook it with onions or without, deck it with Indian spices or sometimes look westwards for inspiration. Despite the same core ingredient, each of these okra dishes tastes worlds apart from each other. Dahi bhindi – okra with yogurt – is another such unique recipe. (more…)

Cool homemade yogurt, flattened rice that needs no cooking, honey/jaggery and fresh fruit. A breakfast so healthy it’ll give you a palpable halo around your head. Presenting for you staple morning-time food from Bihar – dahi chura.

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Corn on the cob is so good boiled, I mostly have it without taking it through any elaborate "treatment" routine. A little salt, a little chilli powder, a dash of lime juice – rub it on and bite directly off the cob – that’s my usual mode of having boiled corn.

Then again, there is something to be said for the occasional exoticization.

Presenting for you my recipe of corn with spinach and cheese. Serve it with garlic bread for a sumptuous weekend brunch.

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Did you know that the cucumber originated in India? It is only fitting that this gourd gets used to add the “cool" factor to Indian cuisine. Here’s to the pitta-placating, palate-cleansing cucumber raita (yogurt dip).

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Creamy mushroom soup made at home – this is so much tastier, so much healthier than canned stuff. Simple ingredients, no fuss, very easy to make.

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Fresh fenugreek and onion dumplings fried and dunked in a yogurt-based gravy [my mouth is watering as I type this!] – that’s methi pakora kadhi. For those of you new to Indian cooking – kadhi is a sour gravy traditionally made with lightly spiced yogurt. Different regions of India have distinct styles to making kadhi. In North India, kadhi is served with fried dumplings (pakoras). In Karnataka, a similar dish majjige huli is popular – this is a lighter version with boiled vegetables in place of pakoras. In Gujarat, kadhi is sweetened with jaggery. And you wouldn’t typically add onions to kadhi in Bihar – my mom certainly wouldn’t.

This recipe is closest to the style of Punjabi kadhi.

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