One Cooker, 15 Indian Dishes: Quick & Easy Meals

They say we’re too distracted. Too restless. That we’ve forgotten how to cook a proper meal, let alone live a proper life. But maybe it’s not that we don’t want to cook. Maybe we’re just tired—of how complicated things are made to seem. How the world measures success in impossible recipes. In a time when everything demands more—more time, more perfection, more versions of yourself—this is a quiet tribute to something that asks less and gives more. The humble pressure cooker. One vessel, fifteen meals, and a reminder: maybe simplicity isn’t lack, but clarity. This isn’t a listicle. It’s a way of seeing. Food, yes. But also life.

Soaked beans, hours of waiting. But some things aren’t meant to be rushed—like trust, or grief, or Sunday afternoons that smell like your childhood. Rajma is a lesson: softening takes time, but it’s worth it.Soak 1 cup rajma overnight. In the cooker, sauté 1 chopped onion, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste, and 2 chopped tomatoes in oil. Add turmeric, red chili, garam masala, salt. Add soaked rajma and 3 cups water. Pressure cook for 5–6 whistles. Simmer 10 mins for depth. Top with coriander. Serve with rice.

Bold spices, dark color, deep heat. And yet, it sits quietly in the bowl—solid, grounded. We often confuse volume with impact. Chole reminds us: it’s okay to speak in simmer, not sizzle.Soak 1 cup chickpeas overnight. In the cooker, heat oil, sauté 1 chopped onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste. Add chole masala, cumin, turmeric, chili powder. Toss in chickpeas with 3 cups water. Pressure cook 5–6 whistles. Simmer with amchur or lemon. Serve with puri or rice.

Potatoes. Peas. The simplest ingredients. Yet something about it fills you in a way nothing extravagant ever could. We keep chasing “special,” overlooking what’s already enough.In the cooker, heat oil, crackle cumin seeds, add 1 chopped onion, 1 tomato, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste. Add 2 diced potatoes and 1/2 cup peas. Add salt, turmeric, chili, garam masala. Add 1 cup water. Pressure cook for 2–3 whistles. Garnish with coriander. Serve with roti.

You mash the vegetables till they lose shape, then build something new. Isn’t that what healing looks like? Breaking. Blending. Becoming something more whole than before.In the cooker, sauté onions, tomatoes, and capsicum in butter. Add 2 diced potatoes, 1/2 cup peas, 1/2 cup cauliflower, and pav bhaji masala. Add salt, chili powder, and 1 cup water. Pressure cook 3 whistles. Mash everything. Add butter and lemon juice. Toast pav on side. Serve hot.

Cook pasta in a pressure cooker and someone will say, “That’s not how it’s done.” Do it anyway. Life isn’t a textbook. Most beautiful things come from refusing to follow the expected recipe.In the cooker, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil. Add 1 chopped tomato, oregano, chili flakes, salt. Toss in 1.5 cups dry pasta and 2.5 cups water. Pressure cook for 1 whistle. Stir in cheese or cream if desired. Top with basil or parsley. Yes, it works.

This dish asks for presence. Spices bloom, onions brown, chicken cooks slow. It teaches us something crucial: real depth isn’t instant. It is layered. Built. Earned. Marinate 500g chicken in curd, turmeric, salt. In the cooker, heat oil, sauté onions till brown, add ginger-garlic paste, tomatoes, spices. Add chicken, cook for 5 mins. Add water for gravy. Pressure cook 3 whistles. Let sit for flavors to deepen. Serve with rice or roti.

One pot. A few vegetables. Fragrant rice. And yet, it feels like celebration. We keep confusing excess with richness. Pulao whispers otherwise.In the cooker, heat ghee/oil, add whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom), sauté onions. Add 1 cup rice (washed), 1.5 cups water, and chopped mixed veggies. Add salt. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Let rest. Fluff with fork. Fragrant and light.

It’s not a subtle dish—tangy, spicy, unapologetic. And yet, it holds its form. Like anger with direction. Passion with discipline. When harnessed, even heat can nourish.In the cooker, heat oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, garlic. Sauté 2 chopped tomatoes till soft. Add chili powder, turmeric, garam masala, salt. Mix in 1 cup washed rice and 1.5 cups water. Pressure cook 2 whistles. Serve with curd or pickle.

Maybe you didn’t have time. Maybe you didn’t have chicken. But you had eggs, and intention. And that made something beautiful. Resourcefulness is an art form.Boil 4 eggs separately. In the cooker, heat oil, sauté onions, tomatoes, and biryani masala. Add 1 cup soaked rice, 1.5 cups water, and salt. Place halved boiled eggs on top. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Garnish with mint or fried onions. Humble and heroic.

Multiple vegetables, tang, spice, lentils—each with its own voice. Nothing dominates. Everything coexists. This dish is a quiet blueprint for how the world could be.In the cooker, boil 1/2 cup toor dal with turmeric and water (3 cups) for 4 whistles. Mash. In another pan, sauté mustard seeds, curry leaves, chopped veggies (carrot, drumstick), sambhar powder, tamarind water. Combine both. Simmer 10 mins. Finish with coriander.

This dish rewards those who stay. Those who show up. Who simmer instead of sprint. Like relationships that last. Like art that endures. Like love that doesn’t just start—but stays.Soak 1/2 cup whole urad dal and 2 tbsp rajma overnight. Pressure cook with salt, turmeric, and water for 6–7 whistles. Sauté onions, garlic, tomatoes, spices in butter. Add cooked dal. Simmer with cream and butter for 20 mins minimum. Patience is flavor.

It’s carrots. Grated. Cooked. Sweetened. And yet, it feels like poetry. Beauty isn’t always found. Sometimes, it’s made. From the plainest parts of life.Grate 3–4 carrots. In cooker, heat ghee, sauté carrots for 5 mins. Add 2 cups milk. Cook on low with lid open till it thickens. Add sugar, cardamom, and stir. Garnish with nuts. No shortcuts. Just slow joy.

Milk and rice take their time. You can’t rush kheer. And maybe that’s the point. Some joys reveal themselves only when you stop trying to speed through everything.Wash 1/4 cup rice. In cooker, boil 3 cups milk, add rice, stir constantly to avoid burning. Simmer till thick. Add sugar, cardamom, and chopped dry fruits. Stir until creamy. Chill or serve warm. A hug, in dessert form.

Steamed cake. In a pressure cooker. With tutti frutti. Somehow it works. Sometimes, the most unexpected combinations hold the most honest truths. You don’t need to make sense to be whole.Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, oil, chopped fruits/tutti frutti, vanilla. Grease a cake tin. Place in cooker (without whistle or gasket), no water. Put stand inside. Bake on low flame 40–45 mins. Soft, sweet, and strangely nostalgic.

White coconut gravy. Soft vegetables. No spice to punch. Just peace. A dish that reminds you: silence can be sacred. Stillness can be strength.In the cooker, heat coconut oil, sauté ginger, green chili, curry leaves. Add chopped carrots, potatoes, beans. Pour in thin coconut milk, salt, pepper. Pressure cook 2 whistles. Add thick coconut milk post-cooking. Warm, white, and deeply comforting.

One cooker. Fifteen meals. Fifteen ways to understand life, without reading a self-help book or climbing a mountain in Ladakh. You don’t need more tools. You need more intention. Somewhere between the pressure and the release, the soaking and the serving, we’re reminded that life, like food, doesn’t have to be hard to be meaningful. It just needs to be honest. So next time someone tells you you’re not doing “enough,” remember this: nourishment isn’t about scale. It’s about substance. And sometimes, substance looks like a pressure cooker quietly whistling at 7 p.m., turning raw things into comfort. Let it.