Soups

Bitter melon vegetable stew in poppy seed gravy, khas khas shukta, is a weekend project worth every hour — bitter melon, potatoes, yam, and radishes simmered in a gravy of white poppy seeds and mustard seeds soaked and ground silky, finished with cream. Four hours of...

Bitter melon vegetable soup with dal badi, dal badi shukta, is a cold-weather bowl with backbone — bitter melon simmered with crunchy urad dal badis in a broth built on cumin, mustard, nigella, and fennel seeds, finished with smooth whisked yogurt. The badis go crisp...

Makkai shorba, a creamy Gujarati corn soup, is sweet corn taken seriously — simmered with red bell pepper and curry leaves in coconut milk and cream, seasoned with coriander, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala. Fresh corn cut from the cob makes it, and the two-cup...

This vegetable chowder, or sabji doodh shorba, is India's gentle answer to New England clam chowder — thick with baby new potatoes and sweet peas, fragrant with curry leaves, and finished with cream. An aromatic bundle tied in cheesecloth steeps in the pot like a...

Cold minty yogurt soup — podina dahi shorba — is my rescue recipe for hot afternoons: five minutes of work, then the fridge does the rest. It is nothing more than creamy yogurt whirled with peeled, seeded cucumber, toasted hazelnuts, fresh mint, and dry-roasted cumin....

Louki hari matar shorba, a bottle gourd and green pea soup, is my go-to light dinner when I want something warm but not heavy. The gourd and peas simmer in a tomato broth perfumed with cloves, cinnamon, and gentle ground spices, then get a silky finish of cream. Start...

Laphra vyanjana — mustard-flavored mixed vegetable soup — is the bowl I make when ordinary vegetable soup feels too polite. Its backbone is a pungent paste of black mustard seeds, green chilies, ginger, and blanched peanuts, mellowed with turmeric, ground coriander,...

Wholesome whole grain and vegetable soup — sabji shorba — is the bowl I make when I want dinner to actually stick with me. Six grains and legumes (soaked split peas, barley, wheat and rye berries, plus long-grain and wild rice) simmer into something almost creamy,...

Authentic garden tomato soup — tamatar shorba — gets its secret brightness from a whole apple simmered right in with a kilogram of ripe tomatoes. Forget everything you know about canned tomato soup! One taste of this authentic Garden Tomato Soup, or Tamatar Shorba,...

Gobhi aloo dum — deep-fried cauliflower and potatoes in spiced tomato broth — is celebration food: crisp-fried vegetables folded into a creamy cashew and poppy seed tomato gravy. There's a special kind of magic in 'Dum' cooking—the slow, sealed-pot method that...