Parsi Ras Chawal (Spicy Tomato Gravy with Rice)

I usually have one meal a week with my family, with me taking a break from making my own meals or ordering takeout. I do ask my mom to either make a vegetarian Parsi dish or to make my portion seperately and then add the meat to their portions later on. This time, its a dish called ras chawal, which would translate to spicy tomato gravy with rice. It's quite unknown compared to other Parsi specialities and I can't find a single recipe of it online.

We usually add mutton to this dish, or serve it with boiled eggs. But this one's all vegan with just potatoes and drumsticks. You're supposed to suck the flesh inside the drum stick, not eat the chewy fiberous outside. The recipe is a rough gist I got from my mom.

Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato Salad

A quick salad with fresh, organic spinach, mushrooms suateed in garlic, and tomato, dressed in red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and more garlic. Garnished with my new favorite ingredient - chives! My aversion to eating tomatoes raw is slowly and surely fading away!

Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups of chopped spinach
• 1 large tomato
• 12-15 button mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Dash of dry chives

To make:

• Chop your spinach and tomato into bite sized pieces, and slice your mushrooms into half.
• Heat a teaspoon pf olive oil in a pain, and add the mushrooms and thinly sliced garlic cloves.
• Sautee for 5 minutes or until brown.
• Add to the spinach and tomatoes.
• Make a dressing combining the remaining olive oil, red wine vinegar, and the garlic powder.
• Pour over the salad.
• Finish off with a flurry of finely chopped chive.

Potato Rosemary Pizza

Potato on pizza sounds like a complete abomination, but if it's good enough for David Rocco, then it's good enough for me. I find the crust of store-bought pizza breads too thick, so for this one, I just cut it horizontally in half to make two thin pizza bases.

Potato Rosemary Pizza

• 1 pizza crust
• 1 potato
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree/pizza sauce
• Handful of rosemary
• Teaspoon of garlic powder

To make:

• Spread the tomato puree on top of the pizza crust.
• Thinly slice the potato into horizontal discs.
• Arrange in overlapping circles on the pizza crust.
• Sprinkle some garlic powder and fresh rosemary leaves.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
  
  
  
   

Fried Green Tomatoes

Since I did have some of my garam masala and chilli batter left over from my tofu pakoras, I decided to also make some fried green tomato fritters. After dunking the tomato slices in my batter, I fried the slices, and then sprinkled garlic powder on the piping hot fried tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 green tomato
• 1/3 cup besan (chickpea flour)
• 1 green chilli
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Juice of half a lime
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Teaspoon of garlic powder

To make:

• Slice the green tomato into round discs.
• Make a fairly thick batter using the chickpea flour, chilli (finely chopped), and garam masala. You'll need about 1/3 cup of water to bind everything into a smooth liquid batter.
• Dunk your tomato slices into the batter and let it marinate for 30 minutes or so.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Shallow fry the slices for about 3-5 minutes on each side.
• While still hot, sprinkle garlic powder on top.
• Mix and dig in immediately.