Indian Vegetarian Recipes

In this lens you will find the richly varied foods from India's regional cuisine presented in a simple and easy way. In India, since time immemorial, people have prepared these naturally delicious dishes. I hope that my humble efforts will bring you joy in trying these Indian vegetarian recipes.

Learn how to make delicious vegetable fritters

In India pakoras are a national passion. You can buy them there from little handcarts on the street or in snack places.

Here you can learn how to make them easily at home.

The preparation and cooking time after assembling ingerdients:

about 10 minutes.

Resting time of the dough: 10 minutes

Cooking time: about 30 minutes

Batter:

1 1/3 cup chickpea flour (garbanzo bean flour)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoons crushed chillies

3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

9 teaspoons cold water

Pakora suggestions

(you can use the vegetable of your choice):

Thin rounds of zucchinu

Small cauliflower flowerets

Potato rounds

Carrot rounds or strips

Thin-sliced eggplant wedges

Under-ripe banana, thinly sliced

Pumpkin, cut into squares

...Be creative

1. Sift the flour. Add spices and salt. Miw well. Add water slowly, beating with a whisk until batter is smooth. The batter should have the consistency of heavy cream.

2. Cover the batter and set aside for 10 minutes.

3. Whisk again for a couple of minutes and stir in the baking powder. Set aside.

4. Heat 3 inches of ghee or oil in a wok or pan until it is hot (355 F). Dip 5 or 6 of your selected ingredients in the dough and slip them one at a time in the hot ghee or oil. Fry until the pakoras are golden-brown, turning to brown evenly. Leavy greens may take as little as 1 minute per side, potaios may take up to five minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spoon. Serve hot.

In this video you see a cooking class given by Hema Kundargi. Here she demostrates a quick and easy spicy tomato gravy for Poatatoes and Peas.

Compliments the pakoras

This Tomato Chutney is the hit! Wherever we made it everybody gave it praise and loved it the most. And it's easy to make! Great as a dip for the pakoras.

Simple Tomato Chutney

Preparation and cooking time (after assembling ingredients): about 25 minutes

Makes: about 1 cup

2 tablespoons ghee

1-2 whole dried red chilies

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1-inch piece of cinnamon stick

1 2/3 cups coarsely chopped, peeled ripe tomatoes

3 tablespoons sugar or jaggery

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the ghee in a large frying pan over moderate heat. When it is hot but not smoking, add the chilies, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick, and fry until the cumin seeds turn brown.

2. Carefully add the tomatoes, sweetener and salt, and stir the sizzling ingredients for 10-15 minutes until the chutney is fairly dry. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled. It can be kept, tightly covered and refrigerated, for 2-3 days.

This book has been used by us so many times that it almost falls apart. We love it. It has everything.

Aromatic Indian Desert

Nobody can resist this one! Wonderful aromatic, sweet desert. Warming and satisfying.

Semolina Halavah with golden raisins

Preparation and cooking time (after assembling ingredients): about 25 minutes

Serves: 6

2 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup ghee

1 cup semolina

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Combine the water and sugar in a heavy 2 quart saucepan over low heat and, while stirring, dissolve the sugar. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Gently boil it for a few minutes. Add the raisins and set aside, covered.

2. Heat the ghee in a large saucepan over moderately low heat. When it is hot, add the semolina and rhythmically stir-fry until the grains swell and darken to a warm golden color, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Stirring steadily, gradually pour syrup into the semolina. At first the grains may sputter, but will quickly cease as the liquid is absorbed. Place the pan over very low heat and, stirring steadily, cook until the grains absorb the liquid and the texture is fluffy, up to 10 minutes. Best if served hot or warm.

which means rice, beans and peas cooked as one dish

Rice and Moong Dal Kichari with Cauliflower and peas

Preparation time (after assembling ingredients): 5 minutes

Serves: 4 to 6

1 cup basmati rice

1 small cauliflower, washed, dried and cut into flowerets

1 pinch of hing (asafotida)

4 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil

1/2 tablespoon shredded fresh ginger root

1 tablespoon minced seeded hot chilies (or as desired)

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2/3 cup split moong dal (or split peas)

3/4 cup fresh green peas

7 cups water

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ghee

1. Clean, wash, soak and drain rice and dal.

2. Have the cauliflower and hing ready next to the stove. Heat 4 tablespoons of ghee in a 4-5 quart saucepan over high heat. When it is hot, stir in ginger root, chillies and cumin seeds. Fry until the cumin seeds turn brown (they will darken in seconds).

3. Quickly add the hing and immediately follow with the cauliflower. Turn it about with a spoon, frying for 4-5 minutes or until slightly browned and partially cooked. Add the rice and dal and fry for about 1 minute.

4. Pour in the fresh peas, water and tumeric and bring to a full boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover and slowly cook, stirring occasionally, for 1- 1 1/2 hours or until rice and dal are soft and the mixture is similar to oatmeal in consistency. As the kichari thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Before serving, add the salt and 1 tablespoon ghee.

Everyday fare for millions in india is an easy "meat substitute".

Mung dahl or mung beans come either whole or spit without the shell. Either way, they make good dahl. Dahl or dal essentially means bean soup. It is more earthy made with whole mung, and more delectable with split mung.

Simple method is if you don't have a pressure cooker soak overnight. If you have a pressure cooker, no need to soak. It will cook in about 20 minutes or less in a pressure cooker, double that in a normal pot.

Take your mung, and add to pot with 4-8 X water to bean depending on desired consistency. Add a bunch of spices. Cumin is always good. A little cayenne, ginger, coriander and tumeric, and you have the traditional transcendental blend.

Cumin and coriander seeds can be made into a chaunce, which is thrown into the pot at the end instead of cooking together with the beans. This is done by frying them in a little oil and thrown i just after the beans are finished cooking.

The spices can go in either way. Beginning or end. Same with vegetables. It is up to your desired cooked-ness. Carrots or eggplant obviously should be thrown in early, but spinach or broccoli can be thrown in after the beans are cooked so they are more raw. Also, cilantro or parsley go in at the end.

So that's it, just cook the beans in water. Throw in spices, salt, olive or coconut oil, ghee or butter, some veggies (tomato, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, etc.) and some salt.

Such good rice.

Basmati rice is aromatic. Unlike some rices that are just starchy without much flavor, basmati rice is very delicious, by itself or accompanied by dahl or veggies or yogurt, or even made sweet with some honey, coconut butter, and some dried fruit (called pushpanna and offered to Krishn especially on Holy days).

So to make basmati rice is very simple. Just take some rice and rince it 3 times. Add to a pot, and cover with water. 2X water to rice is the basic formula. Add a little salt. Add some oil or ghee now or at the end.

Cook until boiling for 1 minute. Then cover w/ airtight lid and let stand for 20 minutes.

If cooking in a pressure cooker, simply cook until maximum pressure is reached and remove from heat. Let the pot sit with full pressure until it decreases gradually.

Want to learn more? Hooked on Indian Vegetarian Recipes?

Here is a nice selection of Manjula's cooking classes.

Makes every meal a celebration.

Srila Prabhupada introduced the art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking in 1965 in New York

His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada taught us how to cook Indian Vegetarian Recipes. He brought the best food into the Western world - Indian Vegetarian Food called prasadam. He not only taught how to cook in the best possible way, he taught how everything is spiritualized by offering to Krishna, or God, before eating, with an attitude of gratefulness to the creator. We are eternally grateful to him, showing us this wonderful way of life.

"Every decision what food we eat is a vote for the kind of world we want."