Tender and crisp green beans lightly stewed in a tomato garlic sauce. This beans recipe makes a great side dish with chapatis or rice.
Curries
Vegetarian dishes to go with an Indian meal, cooked in a sauce/assortment of spices. Curries may be wet or dry, and are eaten along with rice or bread (chapatis, parathas, etc).
Potato Pumpkin Masala
Potato pumpkin masala is a testament to the power of "slow and steady". Potato and pumpkin cubes simmer gently with tomatoes and aromatic spices to produce this winner of a dish.
Pumpkin Masoor Dal with Chili Garlic Relish
The orange and pink of pumpkin and red lentil, steeped in the gold of turmeric: happy-hued pumpkin masoor dal is just what you need for warmth and cheer this season.
Aloo Methi: Potato Fenugreek Stir-Fry
One of the joys of winter is getting to cook with in-season fresh fenugreek leaves. Lush green and fragrant, fenugreek leaves lend their distinct character to any dish they are part of (case in point: methi chhole). In aloo methi (potato fenugreek stir-fry), fenugreek leaves find a happy companion: the creamy earthiness of aloo makes a welcoming base for bitter green methi.
Chayote Stew – The Easiest Chow Chow Recipe
Chayote is commonly used in south Indian cuisine (here’s a nice kootu recipe), not so much in the north. It is not a vegetable I grew up eating and, even as I saw it everywhere in vegetable markets, I wasn’t enticed enough to try it.
Not until I read this about the taste of chayote in The Awl:
…sort of like a jicama: mildly sweet, incredibly crisp and juicy, somewhere between a potato and an apple, or a crisp pear.
That article called Eat the Chayote did, in fact, make me eat the chayote.
Gobhi Sarson: Indian-Style Mustard Cauliflower
Step aside, kale. Cauliflower is the new veg-lebrity. How pleasing it is to discover that one’s tastes are in keeping with the times. I am a huge fan of gobhi sarson, this Indian-style mustard cauliflower dish.
Sahjan Ajwaini: Drumstick Curry with Carom Seeds
Do you use ajwain in your cooking? My long-standing ritual has been to include ajwain in parathas – I put in a few seeds while kneading the dough and let it work its magic in the finished flatbread. Nowadays I’m feeling an extra fondness for this thyme-like spice and am exploring more ways of incorporating it in my food. I’m happy to report on a few super-successful experiments – sahjan ajwaini is one of them.