Finally blogging about our indian feast

Clockwise from top: Tamarind Lentils, Chickpea Masala,
Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Pea Potato and Cauliflower Curry), brown rice.

Well I was going to blog about this meal a while ago but I have been rather busy recovering. Who would have thought that I would sleep so much?!?!?! Granted the pain killers I was taking initially totally knocked me out - they also made me feel very nauseous - so I stopped taking them. I am still spending the majority of my time in bed or on the couch.

Before I tell you about this meal I want to apologise for not commenting on all of your lovely blog posts. I have been reading about all of your thanksgiving festivities but have not really had the energy to type much.

So the night before my surgery I had a group of friends over for dinner (8 friends to be precise). I thought that an Indian meal would be an easy way to serve so many people.

I served the curry with brown rice and this garlic naan. The whole meal all went down a treat. I personally loved the chickpea masala and the lentils, however most of my guests thought that the best dish was the Aloo Mutter Gobi when I found that to be the blandest of all the dishes - it goes to show how people's taste buds are different.

I finally made the Tamarind Lentils from VCon. They are so GOOD - I can't believe that it took this long for me to make them - they are easy and tasty.

Chickpea and Spinach Masala (adapted from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook).
Preparation : 15 mins
Total cooking: 30mins
Serves: 4

2 onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2tsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground corriander
4 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 tins) - drained
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala
150g frozen spinach

1. Heat oil in a large pan, add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring until soft.
2. Add the chili powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add chickpeas and undrained tomatoes, stir until combined. Simmer, covered over low heat for 15minutes, stiring occasionally. Add spinach and garam masala and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Serve over rice or wrapped in chapattis or naan bread.
   

Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Potato Pea and Cauliflower curry)
Cooking Time: 45mins
Serves 4
800g potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp olive oil
1 brown onion - diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
900g cauliflower florets (approx. one small cauliflower)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala
400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas

1. In a large pan add oil, onions and garlic and cook until soft.
2. Add potatoes and spices and stir until the potatoes are covered. Add the tomatoes and vegetable stock and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add cauliflower and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes until cauliflower and potatoes are tender. Add peas and continue to simmer uncover until the peas are tender and all the liquid is absorbed.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables and home style salad

Sweet and Sour Stirfry

Mum has been following the posts on my blog and was very excited when I said I would like to blog about our dinner last night. She said she had the perfect dish (ie. a new dish that I had not had before). So we set about cooking this dish together. The recipe comes from this awesome cookbook that mum bought from the New Internationalist - Quick and Easy - Vegetarian Recipes from around the World for the Western Kitchen. Unfortunately it is out of publication and I have been unable to get my own copy (very very sad about this). Due to the fact that you (or I) are not going to be able to run out and get a copy of this awesome book I will put our version of the recipe (we have changed a few things).

It was really yummy - I haven't really ventured into many sweet and sour dishes - but I really like this - and it was really easy - I chopped the vegetables as I needed to add them (to reduce the total time needed). We had this on the table really quickly.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables
Serves:4
Time: 20mins

600g chopped vegetables (we used 1 red and 1 green capsicum, 1/4 cauliflower, 2 carrots, 1/2 zucchini, 1 stick celery, 1/4 cup cabbage, 5 mushrooms and 1/2 cup pineapple - other possibiliteis could be baby sweetcorn, bok choi, bean sprouts, snowpeas).
1 onion - sliced into cresent moons
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 - 1 red chili - deseeded and chopped finely
450g extra firm tofu - cubed and marinated in a marinade (we were lazy and just used some tamari).

Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce (we used Muir Glen Tomato Ketchup)
2 tbsp pineapple juice
1/2 tsp cornflour

1. Saute onion in oil or broth until it begins to soften. Then add garlic and stir fry for another minute.
2. Add the vegetables that will take the longest to cook (like carrots and capsicum). Stirfry these for 3-4 mins.
3. Add the chili and the rest of the vegetables, stiring until they are cooked.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over vegetables. Add tofu and stir to coat everything in sauce. Leave for a few minutes so that the flavours can sink in.
5. Serve over rice or noodles (we served it over thin rice noodles)

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There are many different things that are exclusive to my parents home (where I spent the first 18 years of my life). One of these is the Vita Mix. I remember my brother and I convincing our parents to buy a vita mix at an Organic Gardening Festival in Penguin when I was about 10years old. I think we used the line that it would help us to eat lots of fruits.
Since then - every morning we would share a fruit smoothie (with banana, orange, apple, kiwi, avocado, and other fruits when in season - eg. pears, pineapples, berries etc etc).
Also - and this is a little more unusal - mum and dad would make themselve a whizzed salad. This is because dad's teath make it difficult for him to eat really crunchy vegetables. I used to frown upon this green smoothie - but now I really love sharing it with them when I come home - it tastes surprisingly good - it usually includes - beetroot tomato, carrot, different types of salad greenery, celery, parsley, capsicum, cucumber and a little bit of salt water. So as I am home - I thought I would document the making of the whizzed salad. It can't be called a green smoothie as the beetroot makes it pink at the moment.

The salad before it is whizzed.

The salad after it is whizzed up.

I just had to post straight away because this is GOOD!!

Oh my goodness - I got Veganomican yesterday and decided to slowly work my way into it by trying the cauliflower hummus. The little blurb at the start of the recipe talked about how absent-mindedly we can just eat way too much of normal hummus and then feel terrible after - thats talking right to me - I could eat bucket loads of the stuff. So this is a lower fat version.

Anyway - I had some cauliflower left over so I thought I would give it a go.
IT'S AWESOME!!! Good thing it is a lot less fat than normal hummus cause I ate SO much after making it - and I just had to blog about it straight away.

I made a lot of substitutions... partially because I wanted to reduce the fat - partially because I didn't have some of the ingredients. So here goes

I omitted the oil
I added red onion instead of scallions
I omitted the parsley and paprika
I salted the cauliflower when it was cooking so I didn't need to add any more salt.

I suggest you all go make yourself some right now because it is just to die for :)

Vegan MoFo - Soup to cure sickness

You must think that all I eat is soup. Now I think soup is one of my favourite types of food. Especially over winter - but now the weather is warming up I am more inclined to make a bean salad than a bean soup. However, Nat got home from guiding two nights ago coughing and spluttering. After a pretty restless sleep he stayed in bed for most of the day. He wasn't incredibly hungry during the day but I asked him what he thought he would like for dinner. His unequivocal answer was soup.

Now soup was not really what I felt like as it was quite a warm day (it got to 20 degrees - which isn't hot but when you have had a week or so of 13 degrees I was in tshirt and thai fishermans pants).

Anyway - I borrowed a copy of La Dolce Vegan from the library and so I sifted through the soup recipes and I came up with cauliflower and potato. I tweaked the recipe a fair bit so I will put it here.

It was really good - I had to add some more of the spices (this is just an estimate of what I added - just use your own judgement). I think I am not the biggest fan of cauliflower soup - so I don't think that what I can say about it would really do this soup justice - I mean it was really nice, but I prefer other types of soup flavours.

Nat on the other hand, was thrilled with the soup and said that it was one of the best he's had. He is wanting me to make it again very soon.

So maybe if you like milder soups and cauliflower, this is for you. I will be making this again purely because Nat was so happy with it.

Soup with Cauliflower and potatoes

1 onion - diced
2 carrots - chopped
1 stalk celery - chopped
3/4 large cauliflower head - chopped
2 medium potatoes- chopped (didn't peel because it was organic)
1 medium sweet potato - chopped (I didn't peel this as it was organic)
enough broth to just cover vegetables
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup soymilk (I used fat free)

1. Saute onion, carrot and celery in oil or broth until onion is translucent
2. Add the cauliflower, potato, sweet potato, broth, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15mins until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Stir in milk and then blend the mixture with a hand blender to the desired consistency (I love chunky soups with bits of potatoes). You can also use a blender or food processor to puree half or all of the soup.
5. Return to the heat and its ready to serve.
6. We served it with crusty homemade toast.