Steamed Vegetarian Recipes

Everybody tells you deep-frying is bad, you need to cut down on the oil in your food, and so on, but does anyone tell you that steaming, the healthier alternative, is also awesomely tasty and easy? I mean, the health part is proven, but you have a lot more reason to try it out, and now!

Cooked Rice Idli

Right from idlis to dhoklas and dumplings, we have a fabulously large variety of steamed foods in India. In fact, all world cuisines use steaming and boiling to prepare delicious and healthy foods. Steaming is not only healthier than deep-frying because it cuts down or almost eliminates the use of oil, but it also preserves more nutrients and also retains the natural color and texture of the food to a large extent. Foods cooked by steaming are pretty light on the tummy! 

Not just that, steaming is also less messy and faster than methods like deep-frying, because you can make large batches in one go. You do not need any fancy equipment – just a normal steamer will do. Or, you can just purchase a steamer basket and use it with any of your pots and pans.

Moong Dal and Spinach Idli

Indeed, steaming is a basic cooking technique everyone needs to master. Apart from the obvious dishes like idlis, koftas and dumplings that are steamed, you can also start using steaming as an alternative to sautéing and deep-frying in many cases, for example, to make healthy koftas.You can therefore use steaming, not just to make healthy breakfasts, but also for healthy lunch recipes and evening snacks too. During dinner time, especially, it is best to opt for steamed recipes as they are light on the stomach and will get digested before bedtime. 

With a little bit of practice and inclination, you will be able to make a positive change in your eating habits by using steaming instead of sautéing and deep-frying for a lot of recipes.

Steamed Vegetarian Breakfast Recipes

Breakfast is one of the most obvious meals of the day, when people opt for steamed recipes like Idlis! Not only is it quick and easy to make a steamed breakfast, but also makes you feel light, energetic and healthy at the start of the day. You will surely notice the difference between days when you start the day with steamed snacks like Idli, Dhokla or Muthia and days when you have oily foods like Puri.

Dhokla Simla Mirch

Every region of India has its own exclusive range of steamed breakfast options, so you are spoilt for choice. Take the idli for example. Apart from the standard rice and urad idli, you have innumerable variants like rava idli, moong dal idli, oats idli, and what not. 

Take dhoklas, there is much more than meets the eye! Look beyond the usual Khatta Dhokla and Khaman Dhokla, and you will find more exciting options like the Poha Dhokla. 

Poha Dhokla

Not to forget the ever-popular Gujarati snack, the fist-shaped muthias, which come in several interesting variants like the Doodhi Muthia. 

Steamed Vegetarian Lunch Recipes

At lunch time, steaming is an indispensable technique. From steaming veggies and rice, to delicious koftas that drown in your tangy gravies, steaming always comes in handy. 

Not only for everyday simple cooking, steaming is also useful to come up with exotic but healthy dishes like the Palak Kofta Rice, Cabbage Soya Koftas in Coriander Tomato Gravy, and Lauki Kofta Curry.

Palak Kofta Rice

Steamed Evening Snacks

There is a common misconception that evening snacks are always deep-fried. True, evening tea time, always reminds one of bhajiyas, vadas and pakoras, but you can also go for something nice and steamed, like a fluffy dhokla with spicy chutney or Steamed Corn Panki. Steamed evening snacks are not only satiating but also extremely tasty and guilt-free too. 

Kothimbir Vadi, Zero Oil Maharashtrian Kothimbir Vadi Recipe

Vegetarian Steamed Dumplings 

Steamed dumplings like Dimsums or Momos are good snack options for the evening. They can also be served as starters for a meal.

When your kids come home from school, you can serve them steamed dumplings, which hide a lot of healthy ingredients inside them. The Spinach Dumpling, for example, is a tasty way to serve healthy greens to them.

Momos

When combined with the proper sauce, steamed dumplings can actually make a wholesome meal itself. For example, the Cottage Cheese Dumplings with Spinach Sauce is a light, healthy and tasty steamed dinner option!

Vegetarian Steamed Dinner

Dinner is one meal when you should not look beyond steamed dishes! At dinner time, it is even more important that you go for steaming, because steamed foods are light on the stomach, easier and faster to digest. So, your food will be comfortably digested by bedtime, and you will not unnecessarily face digestion troubles or weight gain issues.

Any of your breakfast recipes can also double up as dinner. You can happily have idlis, dhoklas and pankis for dinner. Or you can also have a light rice recipe with lots of veggies in it. When you wish to have something different go for steamed dumplings in a nutritious sauce. 

Paneer Palak Koftas in Makhani Gravy

As we said, steaming is a technique that comes in handy to cook any meal, any day. Try our wide range of steamed vegetarian recipes that includes treasures from across the world… 

Enjoy our Steamed Vegetarian Recipes, Veg Steamed Indian Recipes below. 

See our other recipes using different cooking methods which is interesting.

Indian deep fried recipes

Veg Baked Recipes

Indian boiled recipes

No cooking Indian recipes

Indian pressure cooker recipes

Sauteing Indian recipes

Indian steamed recipes

Indian stir fry recipes