One pot to rule ‘em all

Single-pot meals are found all over the world. The Brits have rich stews. The French, cassoulet. The Italians, lasagne. What's India’s best all-in-one meal?

- VIR SANGHVI

Do you have a favourite one dish meal? If that term sounds a little confusing, let me explain. All over the West, ‘one-pot meals’ are the rage.

The name sounds less interesting when you realise that it refers mainly to stews. So, the Brits will use it for such dishes as a Lancashire Hotpot, which is a mutton-and-potato stew. The French will call a cassoulet (beans with goose, sausage, pork etc) or Boeuf Bourguignon (beef braised in red wine with mushrooms and onions) one-pot meals. And so on.

Oddly enough, the Italians make less of one-pot meals, though lasagne is the king of such meals as, I would imagine, are many other pasta dishes. Likewise with risotto, which can be a meal in itself. (And what about pizza?) The difference, I guess, is that Italians have a complicated way of eating their meals and pastas and risottos are not necessarily regarded as main courses, while pizza is still not seen as a dish for mealtimes. (Most good restaurants in Italy will not serve pizza; for that you have to go to a pizzeria.)

It’s more difficult for us in India to think of great one-pot or one-dish meals because the Indian way of eating is to include many different dishes in a meal. A Western vegetarian may be happy enough to treat Cauliflower Cheese or Mac and Cheese as a full meal, but no Indian would be content to eat gobi (cauliflower) on its own. At the very least, we would expect a roti to be served alongside, if not a dal or another sabzi.