The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

A Bihar-style potato drumstick curry (aloo sahjan), in which the fiery flavors of mustard and garlic giving company to drumstick.

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The southern states of India excel in the art of making various types of podi: literally ‘powder’, the word is used to describe ground dry spice blends. One really smart use of podi is as a ready-to-eat mix for plain boiled rice. Within seconds, a swirl of podi transforms plain boiled rice  into a fancy one-pot meal. The traditional podis I’m familiar with use a legume such as toor dal or chana dal as the base; this very simple 3-ingredient podi uses peanuts instead.  On days when there’s no time to cook a set meal of rice-dal-curry, this podi-based peanut sesame rice is a lifesaver.

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Packed with the zing of mustard, garlic and paprika, this zucchini cherry tomato curry is lip-smacking delicious.

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Sundal is a simple legume preparation from south India – a style of cooking in which boiled legumes are tempered with spiced oil and fresh coconut. The sattvic ingredient profile of sundal makes it a popular prasadam (i.e. blessed by the Gods) dish. During the nine days of Navarathri, south Indian homes traditionally offer sundal to their guests, prepared with a different legume each day.

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Pumpkin (kaddu) and red kidney beans (rajma) make a hearty, richly flavored kaddu rajma curry. Dry red chilies give it heat, tamarind lends it tang, jaggery balances it all.

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Aloo chana is an easy-to-cook recipe from Bihar that uses kala chana (black chickpea) – the smaller, thicker-skinned sibling of the chickpea used in channa masala or hummus. Black chickpea has an earthy, dense flavor and high roughage content. This dish is filling, a good source of carbs, protein and iron – besides being really tasty.

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