The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Like hot spicy food? Green chili fry (bhuni hari mirch) is just the thing for you. Coated with spices, quickly cooked in mustard oil, green chili fry on the side with an Indian meal will give your taste buds a delightful fiery kick.

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I like to balance bitter with a hint of sweet: some jaggery in methi chhole, sauteed pineapple on the side with curry leaf pulao. In this gobhi kasoori methi (cauliflower and dried fenugreek) recipe, I turn to dried cranberries for the balancing act. I love the result! Do you?

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White radish, crisp and juicy, is in season. I like radish but can’t have much of it raw. More than a couple of bites, and I’m left nursing a stinging sensation and – if it’s a particularly potent specimen of the vegetable – watery eyes.

I wasn’t a fan of cooked radish either, until I discovered aloo mooli kadhi. Recently a new radish recipe has made its way into my armory, the one this post is about: mooli lachcha sabzi, or stir-fried grated radish. Thanks to a friend who shared her family recipe with me.

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The names of interesting tools and utensils used for cooking/dining around the world, one for each letter of the alphabet.

A-Z of kitchenware: how many of these are new to you?

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The staple Indian salad ingredients – kheera tamatar (cucumber and tomatoes) – can take on a curry avatar too. As these veggies are edible raw, the curry need not be cooked too long either. Cucumber tomato curry is great on the side with chapatis and a sprinkling of Bikaneri bhujia on top.

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Looking for a creative/unusual gift for a food lover? Here are some gift ideas based on my favorite buys and stuff from my wish list, which you could pick from. Hope your food lover likes them as much as I do!

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Hare moong ka cheela (savory green gram pancake) is a richer variation of the yellow moong ka cheela. The process of making the cheela remains the same, except that the base lentil in this one changes from the light yellow moong bean to the more potent green gram (moong bean).

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