The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

What do you do with an assortment of vegetables when the clock says snack-time? Make mixed vegetable pakoras, if you ask me. This pakora recipe does not demand exactness; take the broad template and switch around the veggies and/or quantities as you wish.

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Wondering what Easter gift to pick for your friend who enjoys cooking? I have a few kitchen tool ideas for you. These tools are light-weight, economical, and come in handy for a variety of kitchen activities. It doesn’t hurt that they look great too.

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Chickpeas lend themselves generously to experimentation. The classic channa masala with its onion-garlic base is by no means the only way to cook this legume curry-style. Chickpeas CAN be curried without a shred of onion and garlic – check out these recipes from the blog archives, for example: aloo chhole, dahi chhole.

And now, let me add yet another no-onion-no-garlic chickpea recipe to your repertoire.

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Sliced aloo “chokha style” is a spin on Bihar’s aloo chokha, with the potatoes sliced instead of mashed. The trick to making this recipe is in boiling the potatoes just right: neither so soft that they give way when pressed, nor so firm that they need extended sautéing post-boiling to make them bite-friendly.

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While cucumber is great raw, a light sautéing brings out in the gourd a delicious flavor dimension. The key is to cook the cucumber just enough to let it soften, not so much that it turns limp or watery. This cucumber side dish recipe, flavored with fresh lime and mustard, shows you how.

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This light and nourishing ginger lime moong dal has a healing touch. Excellent for days when you want to soothe a sore throat.

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While surfing Afghani food channels, I paused when I saw this layered, brilliantly colored thumbnail: “kaddu borani“, said its label. I hit play and by the end of it, had my mouth salivating and my heart saluting the beauty of this dish.

Kaddu borani takes a set of independently prepared ingredients (pumpkin + tomato sauce + yogurt sauce) and meshes them into something so exquisite, the end product is nothing short of a work of art.

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