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No onion, no garlic recipes (Swaminarayan and sattvic)

3,468

3468 vegetarian recipes cooked without onion or garlic, as in Swaminarayan and sattvic kitchens, with no meat, fish, eggs or alcohol. Each has photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Apfelschorle, takes 2 minutes. Most take around 45 minutes.

Filter these by time, diet or cuisine · Make No onion & garlic your diet to see only these recipes everywhere on the site.

Ezhu kari kootuSeven vegetable and dal curry

The partner to kali on Arudra Darshan morning is a kootu of seven (ezhu) vegetables, an old Tamil Brahmin custom that uses whatever native winter produce is at the market: pumpkin, ash gourd, raw plantain, sweet potato, broad beans, colocasia and chow-chow are a typical set, and no onion, garlic, tomato or 'English' vegetables go in. They simmer in tamarind water with soft toor dal and a paste of roasted coriander, chana dal, red chillies and coconut, giving a thick, tangy, gently hot stew that cuts the sweetness of the kali. Common mistake: adding tamarind before the vegetables are cooked, which keeps them hard; cook them first in plain water until a knife goes in easily, then add the tamarind and boil until its raw smell has gone. Chef's tip: roast the paste spices until the chana dal turns golden-red, which gives the kootu its depth.

60 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Nuvvula saddiRice with roasted sesame powder

Each family takes several saddulu, flavoured rice dishes, to the lake on Saddula Bathukamma, the last evening of Telangana's flower festival, and swaps them with neighbours after the songs; sesame rice, lemon rice, peanut rice and coconut rice are the usual set. Nuvvula saddi is the nuttiest of them: freshly roasted sesame ground with dried red chilli, tossed through cooked rice with a tempering of mustard seeds, dals, peanuts and curry leaves. It is eaten at room temperature, so the grains must stay separate. Common mistake: grinding the sesame for too long, which turns it to oily paste; pulse only until it looks like coarse sand. The sesame is roasted enough when it crackles, turns light gold and one seed crushes easily between your fingers. Chef's tip: cook the rice a little firm and spread it on a plate to cool before mixing, so it does not break up.

25 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KamarkattuCoconut jaggery candy balls

Kamarkattu is the toffee of Tamil village shops, dark, chewy, caramel-scented balls of coconut and jaggery that cost a few paise in the days when children bought sweets one at a time. It's quick to make at home and keeps for a couple of weeks. The mistake is taking the jaggery too far: if the syrup hardens past the soft-ball stage, kamarkattu turns rock hard and pulls fillings. Chef's tip: test a drop in cold water; when it forms a soft ball you can squash, switch off and shape immediately.

30 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Alwar milk cakeGrainy reduced-milk sweet

Sweet boxes swapped on Raksha Bandhan in Rajasthan very often hold Alwar milk cake: a dense slab of full-fat milk reduced for hours with sugar, then left to set slowly in its own heat so the middle caramelises dark brown while the edges stay pale and grainy. Unlike kalakand, it uses no chhena at all; the grain comes from souring the milk just a little as it reduces, and the colour from long, patient cooking. It is fudgy, milky and toffee-like. Common mistake: hurrying the last stage on a high flame, which scorches the base instead of browning it; the mass is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan as one sticky lump and the ghee starts to show at the edges. Chef's tip: wrap the filled tin in a thick towel and leave it overnight; that slow cooling is what browns the centre.

155 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rauh di kheerRice in sugarcane juice

In Punjabi villages the cane harvest is in by Lohri, and on the night of the bonfire a pot of rice is set to cook slowly in fresh sugarcane juice (rauh) with no milk and no added sugar. The custom is to leave it to cool overnight and eat it cold the next morning, on Maghi, so you will often hear 'poh rinni, magh khaadi': cooked in Poh, eaten in Magh. It sets into a soft, brown, gently caramel pudding that tastes of cane. Common mistake: cooking on a high heat; the juice catches and turns bitter, so simmer it low and stir from the bottom, and it is done when the rice is very soft and the kheer coats the back of a spoon thickly. Chef's tip: skim off all the grey scum as the juice first comes to the boil, or the kheer tastes earthy.

120 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Doodh pauvaChilled saffron milk with flattened rice

Sharad Poonam, the brightest full moon of the year, ends the Navratri season in Gujarat; families sing garba late into the night and leave a bowl of doodh pauva out under the moon, believing its rays make it healing, before eating it cold together. It is thin poha soaked in reduced, sweetened milk with cardamom, saffron and nuts, cooling, soft and lightly creamy, the Gujarati cousin of Maharashtra's Kojagiri masala doodh. Common mistake: adding poha to hot milk or too early, so it turns to porridge; chill the milk first and stir the poha in only 10–15 minutes before eating, when the flakes are soft but still separate. Chef's tip: simmer the milk down by a quarter before chilling; a little reduction gives body without needing cream.

25 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

NippattuPeanut rice crackers

Nippattu is the Karnataka tea-time cracker, sold in Iyengar bakeries from Bengaluru to Mysuru and fried at home for Gowri-Ganesha and Deepavali. Unlike the thin, delicate Tamil thattai, nippattu is thicker and chunkier, packed with crushed peanuts and roasted gram (hurigadale) so every bite crunches with nuts. It's spiced with chilli, hing and curry leaves and keeps for weeks. A common mistake is skipping the hot oil rubbed into the flour; without it the crackers turn hard instead of short and crisp. Chef's tip: prick each disc a few times with a fork so it fries flat and crisp right through instead of puffing.

60 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChhatuaRoasted gram flour with curd

Pana Sankranti, in mid-April, is Odisha's new year and its own version of Baisakhi, and the day is kept with two cooling things: a jug of pana, the sweet bel-fruit drink, and a bowl of chhatua. The chhatua is a mix of roasted flours, usually chana, barley and rice, stirred with curd, ripe banana, jaggery and fresh coconut into a soft, sustaining mash that needs no cooking on a hot day. It is mild, sweet and nutty, and many families offer it first at the household shrine. Common mistake: making it watery; add the curd a little at a time and stop when it is like thick porridge that just holds a spoon. Chef's tip: roast your own flours in a dry pan until they smell of toast; ready-made sattu works, but freshly roasted flour has a far deeper flavour.

15 minIndianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vishu kanjiRice and green gram porridge

In Kerala, Vishu starts before sunrise with the kani, when each member of the family is led with closed eyes to see a tray of rice, gold-yellow konna flowers, fruit, a mirror and a lamp, so the year begins with something lucky. Breakfast afterwards, in many central Kerala homes, is this kanji: rice and lightly roasted whole green gram cooked soft and finished with coconut milk, eaten with a dry chakka or pumpkin side and pappadam. It is mild, creamy and nourishing, nothing like a plain rice gruel. The common mistake is boiling the thick coconut milk, which splits it and turns the kanji grainy; it goes in at the end, off the boil. It is ready when the gram has burst and the rice falls apart when stirred. Chef's tip: a few crushed cumin seeds and a shallot fried in coconut oil spooned over each bowl make it taste festive.

45 minIndianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chakka varattiJackfruit jaggery preserve

Vishu arrives in April when Kerala's jackfruit trees are heavy, and homes turn the glut into chakka varatti, a dark, glossy jam stirred for well over an hour in a wide uruli. It is eaten by the spoon, spread on dosa, and kept in jars for the payasam and ada made at festivals through the year. The taste is deep and caramel-like, with the floral sweetness of ripe jackfruit. The common mistake is cooking it on a high heat to save time: jaggery burns quickly and turns the whole batch bitter. It is done when the ghee starts to separate and shine at the edges, the colour is a dark mahogany brown, and the mass rolls round the pan as one lump. Chef's tip: use only very ripe, fragrant jackfruit bulbs, and if your jackfruit is the firm varikka type, steam it first so it purées smoothly.

120 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

HolanRoasted green chickpeas

In late winter, around the time of Holi, village children in rural Punjab pull up bunches of green chickpea plants from the edge of the field and throw them onto a small fire of dry stalks. Once the pods blacken they rake them out and shell them hot, blowing on their fingers, and the bright green peas inside taste smoky, sweet and nutty. At home you can do the same in a heavy iron kadai. The mistake is leaving them on until the pods are fully burnt; by then the peas inside are dry and hard. Stop when the pods are blistered black in patches and the peas are just tender. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt and chilli with a squeeze of lemon on the shelled peas turns them into a quick chaat.

15 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Parsi batasaSalted butter tea biscuits

Batasa come from the wood-fired Parsi bakeries of Navsari, Udvada and Surat, where they are baked low and slow until dry and pale gold, then sold by the tin for morning chai. They are domed, flaky-crumbly and buttery, with just a whisper of salt and sugar, and they are made to be dunked. Bakeries traditionally raise the dough with toddy; this home version uses yogurt and a little baking powder for the same light, short crumb. The usual mistake is baking them hot and fast, which browns the outside while the inside stays soft; batasa need a long, gentle bake to dry right through. Chef's tip: switch the oven off at the end and leave the biscuits inside with the door ajar for 20 minutes so they crisp completely.

100 minIndianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Methi laddooFenugreek and jaggery laddoos

Every Punjabi winter, mothers and grandmothers roast a big batch of methi laddoos and hand out one a day with morning tea or warm milk, for strength and to keep the cold out of the joints. Fenugreek gives a gentle bitterness that the jaggery, ghee and roasted wheat balance into something nutty and warming, with crunch from puffed gond and almonds. The mistake people make is roasting the atta on high heat: it browns outside, stays raw inside and the laddoos taste floury. Keep it low and patient until it smells of biscuits. Chef's tip: soak the fenugreek powder in milk overnight; it softens the bitterness so even children will eat them.

60 minIndianIndian Sweets
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Dudhi na muthiaBottle gourd steamed dumplings

Dudhi na muthia are the everyday steamed farsan of Gujarati kitchens, made on a weekday afternoon for evening tea or packed for the next morning's breakfast. Grated bottle gourd is kneaded with coarse wheat flour, gram flour and spices, shaped by fist (muthi) into logs, steamed, sliced and then crisped in a tempering of mustard and sesame. The slices are soft inside with golden edges, savoury, gently sweet and sharp with lemon. The classic mistake is squeezing out the dudhi juice and then adding water: the juice is the only liquid you need, so add the flours little by little to the undrained gourd. Chef's tip: steam the logs a day ahead and chill them; cold muthia slice cleanly and crisp much better.

55 minIndianSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bhinda ni kadhiYogurt kadhi with fried okra

Bhinda ni kadhi is a summer and monsoon favourite in Gujarati homes from Ahmedabad to Surat, when okra is cheap: the familiar sweet, tangy yogurt kadhi gets a handful of okra rounds fried until crisp at the edges, which soak up the sauce and add body. It is poured over steamed rice or khichdi for a light lunch. Frying the okra first keeps it from going slimy. The common mistake is boiling the kadhi fast before it has thickened, which curdles the yogurt; keep stirring and keep the heat low until it reaches a simmer. Chef's tip: add the okra only in the last few minutes so the rounds stay whole and a little crisp.

30 minIndianCurriesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Arisi upmaBroken rice and dal upma

Arisi upma is the old Tamil country breakfast and evening dinner, especially in Tirunelveli and Madurai homes, made from rice and toor dal coarsely broken at home and cooked in a heavy pot. The best part is the 'kaanthal', the crisp golden crust that forms on the bottom, which families fight over. The mistake is too much water, which gives a sticky porridge; use about two and a half times the volume of the broken rice. Chef's tip: once cooked, leave it on the lowest heat with a lid for ten minutes, undisturbed, to build that crust.

40 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kholasapori pithaRice pancakes with coconut and jaggery

Kholasapori means 'pressed in the khola', the shallow clay pan that every Assamese kitchen brings out for Magh Bihu, when guests are offered a plate of pitha before anything else. These are thicker and softer than the crisp til pitha: a loose batter of sticky rice flour is spread on the hot pan, filled with coconut and jaggery and folded over, so the outside is lightly speckled and the inside chewy and sweet. A heavy cast-iron pan stands in well for the khola. Common mistake: a pan that is too hot; the batter should set slowly with no browning in the first minute, and it is ready to fold when the edges lift and the top no longer looks wet. Chef's tip: wipe the pan with a cloth dipped in oil between each pitha rather than pouring oil in, so they stay pale and even.

50 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Veppampoo rasamNeem flower rasam

Puthandu, the Tamil New Year in mid-April, falls when neem trees across Tamil Nadu are in flower, and the festive lunch has a little bitterness on purpose, to remind everyone that the year will bring both sweet and bitter. Veppampoo rasam does it gently: dried neem flowers are fried in ghee until crisp and stirred into a light tamarind rasam with pepper and cumin. It is thin, warming and sour, with a toasty bitter finish, and it is poured over rice or sipped from a tumbler. The common mistake is burning the flowers; they turn from golden to black in seconds and taste acrid, so have the rasam ready before you heat the ghee. The rasam is ready when it froths up to the top of the pan; take it off before it reaches a rolling boil. Chef's tip: fry a few extra flowers and scatter them over each serving for crunch.

30 minIndianSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kalkandu vadaiSweet urad dal rock sugar vadai

Kalkandu vadai is the sweet cousin of medu vadai, made in Chettinad homes for festivals and for the trays that go to a bride's house. Soaked urad dal and a little rice are ground fluffy and mixed with crushed kalkandu (rock sugar) and coconut, then fried into small golden rounds that are crisp outside, soft inside, with pockets of melted crystal sugar. They are eaten warm with coffee. A common mistake is grinding the rock sugar in with the batter, which turns the batter runny; crush it coarsely and fold it in just before frying. Chef's tip: fry these on slightly lower heat than savoury vadai, because sugar browns fast and burns before the centre cooks.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tal ni chikkiSesame jaggery brittle

On 14 January every Gujarati rooftop fills with kite-flyers, and somewhere between the manja reels there is always a tin of tal ni chikki, broken into shards. The thinnest kind, tal sankli, is rolled out so fine you can almost see through it; it shatters with a snap and tastes of toasted sesame and dark caramel. It is a two-ingredient sweet where everything depends on the jaggery. Common mistake: pulling the jaggery off the heat too soon; it must reach the hard-crack stage, when a drop in cold water sets instantly and snaps cleanly, or the chikki stays chewy and sticks to the teeth. Chef's tip: work fast and roll on the greased back of a steel thali; if it hardens before you finish, warm it in the pan for a few seconds.

30 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vishu kattaCoconut milk rice squares

Around Thrissur and Palakkad the Vishu breakfast table is not complete without katta, rice cooked slowly in coconut milk until it can be spread on a plate, set and cut like a cake. Families eat the squares two ways: with a pour of dark jaggery syrup for sweetness, or with a hot, sour curry for those who prefer savoury on a festival morning. Set, it is soft, rich and faintly salty, with the scent of cumin. The common mistake is rushing it on a high flame; the coconut milk splits and the rice catches before it turns creamy. It is ready when the whole mass comes away from the sides of the pan and holds a ridge when you draw a spoon through it. Chef's tip: smooth the top with a piece of banana leaf or the back of a wet spoon, and cut the katta only once it is fully cool, or the squares will tear.

50 minIndianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

SaruchakliThin rice and urad dal crêpes

In Bengal, Poush Sankranti in mid-January is pithe-puli day, when the new rice and the first nolen gur (date-palm jaggery) of winter turn into a table of pithas, and saruchakli is the plain, savoury-leaning one that starts the meal. A thin batter of soaked rice and urad dal is spread on a hot pan to make delicate, lacy crêpes with crisp edges and a soft centre, eaten rolled with nolen gur or with a light potato curry. Common mistake: a batter that is too thick; it should pour like single cream so it spreads thin, and the crêpe is ready when the edges lift and turn golden and the top looks dry. Chef's tip: brush the pan with a cut half potato dipped in oil between each saruchakli; it greases evenly and stops sticking.

40 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Set dosaThick spongy dosas

Set dosa is a Bengaluru darshini breakfast, ordered as a 'set' of three small, thick, pancake-soft dosas served with vegetable sagu and coconut chutney, often before the office rush or at a lazy Sunday table. Poha and a high share of rice make the batter rise into a holey, spongy dosa that's cooked on one side only. A common mistake is spreading it thin like a crisp dosa; pour it and just nudge it into a thick round so it stays soft. Chef's tip: cover the dosa for a minute while it cooks so the steam sets the top and the holes stay open.

45 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Dahi churaFlattened rice with curd and jaggery

Dahi chura belongs to Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh: it is the traditional Makar Sankranti breakfast, but on summer nights in Patna and Gaya it is also the supper that needs no stove at all. Thick chura (flattened rice) is rinsed, mixed with creamy set curd and sweetened with jaggery, then eaten with a spicy potato sabzi or a pinch of pickle alongside. It is cool, mildly sweet and gently chewy. The usual mistake is soaking the chura in water, which leaves it soggy and dilutes the curd. Chef's tip: rinse the chura and let it drain for two minutes so the flakes swell from the water clinging to them, then add the curd.

5 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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