The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Dal is usually cooked in soupy form, but yellow moong dal – the skinned and split form of moong beans – lends itself to very interesting dry recipes. Sookhi moong dal is one such.

(more…)

Weekdays are busy times for many of us who come back from work late evening and then fix a meal. We want easy weeknight dinners that take little time to move from kitchen to plate. [Not counting the blessed few like Rohit’s boss who can whip up a fancy meal at that hour ;) ]

One could cook loads on Sunday and freeze for the week. But that’s not so exciting, is it? So how does one attain that elusive balance between easy + quick (pre-cooked) and tasty + interesting (freshly cooked)?

Here’s a middle ground.

Make ahead food parts. Mix and match. Embellish.

Use the Pareto Principle to your advantage: identify the steps in cooking that consume a majority time and labor, and do them beforehand. The chopping of greens. The slow-frying of spices. The boiling of dal. When the time comes to make your weeknight dinner, all that remains to be done is the remaining 20% of cooking that produces 80% of the result.

(more…)

My first taste of kosambari was at a friend’s wedding in Karnataka. One spoonful and I was sold. That soaked moong dal could be eaten uncooked – and that it could be delicious – was a revelation. Since then I’ve been experimenting with salad made of split pulses and an assortment of vegetables. (more…)

Osaman is Gujarat’s answer to rasam: a light broth with ‘dal water’ as base. It gets its kick from the high-power tempering – salt, sweet, sour and hot all at once.

(more…)

If you a want a change from the same old yellow dal but not something as heavy as rajma and channa, sabut moong dal (greem gram) is the one to go for.

(more…)

Moong dal and spinach complement each other perfectly. One comes packed with protein, the other boasts of high vitamin-mineral content; one is known for its digestive ease, the other for its roughage. And the colors – the pale yellow of moong playing off the rich green of spinach – are an added invitation to dig into this delicately flavored sautéed spinach moong dal.

(more…)

From my mom’s kitchen, a wholesome upma fortified with beans, carrots, sprouted moong and amla. My only contribution has been in clicking pictures and wolfing it down for breakfast.

(more…)