The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

A Bihari meal typically carries small servings of side dishes next to rice/roti and curry: chutney, bhujiya (fried stuff), chokha (mashed stuff). Parval chokha is one such popular side, in which parval (pointed gourd) is boiled and mashed with seasoning.

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A no-cook style of eating raw mangoes that’s lip-smacking delicious and what’s more – so easy a "no cook" can make it. Just get yourself a good quality knife/peeler and you are all set for preparing this…well, I call it raw mango salsa, though I hesitate to title the post so considering it might not be a purist’s idea of "salsa".

No matter what it’s called – it tastes wonderful!

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Funny thing about moringa leaves : where available, they grow like weeds – falling off their trees onto the pavements, attractively stacked in enormous bundles on vegetable vendors’ carts. Otherwise, they are an exotic rarity, mostly to be found as capsuled supplements. I am lucky to find fresh moringa leaves (also called drumstick leaves or sahjan ki patti in Hindi) off and on in my neighborhood – this is a simple stir fry I usually make with them.

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Chayote was an untried, untasted vegetable for me until an article in The Awl piqued me enough to cook with it.

Since then, it is as if Destiny has been conspiring to make me eat the chayote. Every few days I get a sign that points me towards this modest squash. The latest was this scene from the film Chef:

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A tangy garlicky dip to go with parathas and fried savories. Raw mango garlic chutney (kachcha aam lahsun chutney) is a must-try when raw mangoes are in season.

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From my recent trip to Singapore, I got back a couple of food items not easily available or cooked with in India: dried goji berries (also called wolfberries) and Chinese dates (also called jujubes). I went on to learn more about how these ingredients could be used, was especially struck with the idea of goji berry tea and resolved to make it in my own kitchen.

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