OUR VEGETARIAN BLOG
MAHARAJAH’S RICE
Using only the most expensive ingredients one can get one’s royal hands on, this is good with other feasting dishes like the roast cauliflower korma here. Serves 4 as part of a main course 1½ cups basmati rice¾ cup dried soft fruit (e.g. apricots and dates)20 strands…
GARDENERS’ QUESTION TIME PILAU
I love to listen to BBC Radio 4 when I’m cooking: it’s a soothing backdrop to all the frenetic chopping, frying, and clattering that can happen in my kitchen. Once upon a Gardeners’ Question Time, a member of the audience asked for suggestions for what to do with an…
LENTIL FRITTERS WITH YOGURT + CHUTNEYS
Every mum has a special party dish. This is my mum’s. I’ve seen it come out at birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings, and there is a good reason for this—all our family and friends badger her to cook it. After frying, the fritters are traditionally dipped in water,…
LIFESAVER LENTILS
I ate this dish outside Amber Fort, one of Rajasthan’s most breathtakingly beautiful palaces, but perhaps it was memorable because it was very nearly my last meal before I got caught between a fort wall and an elephant. There’s a small possibility that the lively,…
RAJMA FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Gujaratis love to get the whole family over, and food is always central to the occasion. The only problem is that the family is usually pretty big. There’s an art to cooking for a lot of people. You need a dish that doesn’t require much prep, isn’t technically…
GUJARATI DAL WITH PEANUTS + STAR ANISE
This dal is my and every other Gujarati’s taste of home. One spoonful and I am transported. It has a more complex taste than most dals due to the subtle jabs of star anise, curry leaves, and lemon, all rounded off with the sweetness of honey. Because of the time it…
TEMPLE TOMATO RASAM
In India, food and religion go hand in hand. Most Hindu kitchens have god figurines nestled in among the pots, pans, and spices, and most temples have a lively kitchen attached. Visits to temples usually involve a meal of some kind, and one of the most common dishes…
BENGALI COCONUT DAL
This is a gentle and luxurious dal, nutty from the split chickpeas, and sweet and creamy from the cinnamon, cardamom, and coconut. Serves 4 as part of a main course 1½ cups chana dal (split black chickpeas)4 tablespoons desiccated or fresh grated coconut2 tablespoons…
SRI LANKAN DAL WITH COCONUT + LIME KALE
This classic and soothing creamy red lentil Sri Lankan dal is offset by spiky “mallum,” or shredded greens cooked with onions, coconut, and fresh lime. In Sri Lanka all sorts of nutritious greens are used to make mallum, from chrysanthemum leaves to turnip tops. I use…
BUTTERNUT SQUASH, EGGPLANT, + RED LENTIL SAMBHAR
In the 1960s and ’70s when English curry-house menus were first printed and laminated, South Indian food hardly got a second look. The strange outcome of this trend has been that many lovers of Indian food have hardly tried classic South Indian dishes such as sambhar,…
MOONG DAL WITH A GARLIC + CUMIN TARKA
This is an unassuming but gorgeous dal and one of my favorite lentil dishes of all time. A gentle and soothing marriage of soft lentils and earthy cumin and chiles, tempered by butter, it’s old-fashioned home cooking at its best: nourishing, cheap to make, and…
PUMPKIN, BLACK-EYED PEA, + COCONUT CURRY
The smell of roasted pumpkin, and curry leaves sizzling in coconut oil, is enough to make anyone want to go to Kerala, which is where a variation of this dish, known as “olan,” originates. The sweet pumpkin, earthy beans, and creamy coconut come together to create a…