The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

The big purple eggplant is generally used for baingan bharta in my kitchen. Not so tonight. A yummy eggplant-ginger chutney awaits the rice that’s still cooking.

(more…)

Moong dal and spinach complement each other perfectly. One comes packed with protein, the other boasts of high vitamin-mineral content; one is known for its digestive ease, the other for its roughage. And the colors – the pale yellow of moong playing off the rich green of spinach – are an added invitation to dig into this delicately flavored sautéed spinach moong dal.

(more…)

While grocery shopping this weekend, I found an inviting pack of methi dal (coarsely ground fenugreek seeds, also called ‘methi kuria’) in the store and, having never used fenugreek in this form before, was intrigued. Fresh fenugreek leaves and kasoori methi are ingredients I love, but am not so enthused about the whole fenugreek seeds that are used for tempering (tadka) in Indian dishes. I like their flavor when diffused; I do not like the experience of biting into these bitter seeds. This is how I do my tadka with whole methi seeds: add a few seeds to the hot oil and when they turn color, pick them out.

I guessed methi kuria would resolve this problem – since the seeds are ground, the bitterness would get spread out just the way I want it. I bought the spice pack and used it first thing in this recipe with baby potatoes. The guess proved right.

(more…)

I don’t exactly have a sweet tooth. The effort needed to prepare most desserts doesn’t match up to the high I get in eating them. So I doff my hat to Sailu’s recipe for til laddoos – the simplicity and attractiveness of these sweets shook my no-dessert spell. Here is my version – sesame almond laddoos. As an almond fan (or shall we say, "nut nut"), I hiked the amount of almonds to make up for the omission of oatmeal. The result was not bad at all.

(more…)

From my mom’s kitchen, a wholesome upma fortified with beans, carrots, sprouted moong and amla. My only contribution has been in clicking pictures and wolfing it down for breakfast.

(more…)

A party favorite also considerate to the weight-watchers – what more could one ask for? This recipe for gobi masala (cauliflower cooked in an onion-based gravy) with minimal oil is a sure hit with the dieter as well as the epicure.

(more…)