The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Ginger lovers: this one is for you.

A spicy sweet and sour chutney, with ginger as its star.

(more…)

Inspired by the chapter on curry leaves in Ratna Rajaiah’s fascinating book How the Banana Goes to Heaven, I recently resolved to eat curry leaves as much and as raw as I possibly can. The prospect wasn’t enticing, let me say that up front! Though I like curry leaves, I find their taste overpowering and use them sparingly even in tadka. I would have to steel myself to eat curry leaves raw – or so I thought.

How wrong I was.

A hesitant stab at making curry leaves and peanut chutney turned out to be hugely successful. Roasted peanuts balance the slight bitterness of curry leaves, making this chutney delicious.

(more…)

Till a month back, I had had sundried tomatoes only in the bottled, preserved form. Much as I liked it, I was cautious of its salt and preservative content and would use it sparingly.

I never knew how delightfully simple and light sundried tomatoes could be till I got myself a pack of Ladakhi sundried tomatoes – they are chewy, tomatoey (as opposed to pickle-y), and induce no "junk food" guilt pangs.

(more…)

You’d expect the last mangoes of the season to be ripe yellow, robustly sweet and oozing juice, but nature has a way of subverting expectations. I cut open a fat Banganapalli this Sunday to have mango cubes as a post-lunch dessert. The mango’s insides turned out to be half-white and tending towards sour.

My first thought was to make sweet mango chutney but then the fresh aromatic ginger in my pantry nudged me to try something different – a chunky ginger jaggery chutney with mango.

(more…)

Those beautiful pale green berries on the vegetable vendor’s cart looked so bewitching, I had to pick them up. I used them in this delicious amla dal (gooseberry dal) and loved the result, I can heartily recommend the recipe to you.

(more…)

A fruity raita to give company to Indian meals, specially good when you have heavy curries like kofta curry or paneer butter masala on the menu. I love the sweet and tart taste that ripe pineapple gives to the raita.

(more…)