The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

I normally steer clear of over-the-top superlatives, but I have to make an exception for khad ki sabzi – this is truly THE BEST recipe I have discovered in a long time. A few simple vegetables cooked in ghee and lemon juice – and the effect is magic!

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This aloo mooli kadhi (potato radish sticks in gram flour curry) recipe, adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s, is a simpler alternative to pakora kadhi, besides being an interesting way of adding radish (mooli) to the diet. The Indian white radish has a taste so powerfully pungent that one can’t have much of it raw. I like mooli paratha, but other ways of cooking mooli don’t excite me. Aloo mooli kadhi, though, had me sold from the word go. The potatoes tone down the sharpness of mooli, and the yogurt and gram flour cloak it all in a rich, delicious sauce.

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Red pumpkin bharta is a dry preparation of pumpkin, a simpler version of red pumpkin curry with stronger notes of mustard oil.

Unlike traditional bharta (mashed vegetables) like baingan bharta, this one does not use boiled/roasted vegetables as its base. Pumpkin cooks quickly and mashes easily without pre-treatment. This is also a chunky bharta instead of a typically smooth one, which works well with pumpkin.

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Banana blossoms aren’t something I use often in my cooking – the effort of peeling and cutting is a major deterrent. This time I found a pack of pre-peeled banana blossoms at the grocery store and decided to give it a go. I am really pleased with how this recipe finally turned out!

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For the longest time, the only way I knew how to eat papad was as a plain accompaniment to an Indian meal (usually khichdi), much like chutney or pickle. I liked papad overall, but the “dish” didn’t seem all that consequential.

When I moved to Bombay, my friends there would order masala papad as a starter in restaurants. This was something new, something interesting – papad dressed up as a standalone dish. I started experimenting with papad in curries, and warming up to this novelty – papad curry was very convenient on days when there are no vegetables on hand.

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I discovered ridge gourd only after moving to south India. The first time that I bought this vegetable, my motivator was curiosity – I had no idea how this sponge gourd / bitter gourd lookalike would be cooked or how it would taste. Pushcart vendors outside my apartment stocked fresh ridge gourd in large inviting heaps. One day I walked up to a vendor and asked in gestures (I did not know Kannada) to name the vegetable. In response, he wrapped two ridge gourds, held out the package to me and named the price.

And so I returned home, ridge gourd package in hand, and typed into Google image search: "long green Indian vegetable with spikes". Google did not disappoint – I found not just the name but also many ways to cook ridge gourd.

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