The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

We are truly blessed in India to have access to a wide variety of mangoes* – from the tangy Totapuri to the syrupy-sweet Chausa, from the small Sindhura to the massive Banganapalli – each abundant in our neighborhood stores.

Regional variations exist of course: try as we might, we cannot get Bihar’s Malda mangoes in Bangalore (no, please don’t tell me they are on Blinkit; you need to eat the real deal) – but these variations only add to the richness of India’s mangoscape.

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Assorted food photographs from a summer 2026 trip to warm and cheerful London. Strawberries and olives, shapely tomatoes and flat peaches, tea and a vegetarian Sunday roast!

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What do you do with an assortment of vegetables when the clock says snack-time? Make mixed vegetable pakoras, if you ask me. This pakora recipe does not demand exactness; take the broad template and switch around the veggies and/or quantities as you wish.

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Wondering what holiday gift to pick for your friend who enjoys cooking, without burning a hole in your pocket? I have a few unique, great-looking, budget-friendly kitchen tool gift ideas under $50 for you.

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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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Sliced aloo “chokha style” is a spin on Bihar’s aloo chokha, with the potatoes sliced instead of mashed. The trick to making this recipe is in boiling the potatoes just right: neither so soft that they give way when pressed, nor so firm that they need extended sautéing post-boiling to make them bite-friendly.

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