Veggie Takeaway Day - Kashmiri Biryani and Tomato Bharta

One of those days when you just want a break from work, watch cartoons, and order greasy takeaway foods. For lunch, a Kashmiri biryani which is sweeter than the usual Hyderabadi biryani and with chunks of pineapple (YUM! But since when did Kashmir become synonymous with a tropical fruit like pineapples?!). It was served with a yoghurt raita (thrown away) and a spicy pea-based gravy and a papad.

Kashmiri Biryani

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.

5-Minute Veggie Stir Fry

An absolutely yummy and lightning quick stiry fry using hoisin sauce as the base, and an assortment of vegetables. Adding a few slices of pine apple just pushed the dish into one of my all-time favorites I have ever had.

5-Minute Stir Fry with Mushrooms, Peppers, Pineapple, Tomatoes, and Cabbage

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• Approx 10-12 button mushrooms
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 tomato
• 1/2 onion
• 1 cup cabbage
• 1/2 cup pineapple
• 1 teaspoon oil

To make:

• Chop your vegetables into fairly even chunks.
• In a pan, heat the oil and saute the onions for a minute.
• Add the hoisin sauce and ginger garlic paste and let it come to a boil (2 minutes).
• Add the remaining ingredients and coat them in the sauce.
• Turn off the gas after a minute and serve immediately.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Veg Biryani and Cabbage, Onion, Tomato Upma

Lately, I've been feeling a bit lazy to cook anything for myself and also feeling a bit stifled with having so few fresh ingredients to work with. I'm waiting for this sunday when I can buy a truckload from the farmer's market. So, last night, I just ordered a Vegetable Dum Biryani. It came with a yoghurt raita, which I chucked away. My brother's always amazed why someone would pay Rs. 120 for a vegetarian biryani, when for only Rs. 10 more you get the chicken version. Ten rupees - that's the worth of a chicken's life?!

And this morning, for breakfast, a cabbage, onion and tomato upma, along with my coffee-coconut milk concoction.

Cabbage, Onion, Tomato Upma

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup semolina or an upma premix
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 1 cup of water
• Teaspoon of olive oil
• Half a lime
• Handful of coriander

To make:

• In a pan, gently dry roast the semolina/upma premix for a minute or two.
• Add water to the roasted semolina and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes.
• Once the semolina is cooked, add the chopped up vegetables and stir for 1-2 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately with lashings of lime juice.

Vegan Pizza Margherita

David Rocco's Dolce Vita is a new find for me. I loved the episode on pizzas. I just wonder when I will find a guy who feeds me freshly made pizzas?!

So, when I saw there was fresh basil available at Nature's Basket, thats when I decided to buy a couple of ready-made pizza bread from there as well. I don't have a really good  oven - everything takes at least twice as long to bake as is prescribed in a recipe, despite the fact that the oven is at its highest setting. David Rocco baked his pizzas in a wood burning oven for 10 minutes. If you're lucky to have one, bake it for 10 minutes. Else, just go with your gut. I baked mine for approximately 45 minutes at 250 degrees celcius.

I've used silken tofu - the softest variety you can get. Mush it up with your fingers to get a cottage cheese like texture. The tofu  - or any manner of vegan cheese - isn't going to melt and go all gooey like cheese. No one said being vegan was without its sacrifices. :)

Vegan Pizza Margherita
Ingredients

• 1 tomato
• Handful of silken tofu
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves
• 1 pizza crust
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt, per taste

To make:

• Pre-heat the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes so its nice and hot.
• Slice the tomato finely and lay over the pizza crust.
• Spread the tofu on top.
• Season with salt.
• Lay the basil leaves on top.
• Top off with olive oil.
• Bake until slightly brown on top.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Arugula, Sun Dried Tomato, Peppers, and Date Salad

This salad's got a bit of everything - crunch, sweet, sour, salty courtesy of the arugula, dates, sumac, and sun dried tomatoes respectively. Indian dates are really puny, so was delighted to have some really fresh looking and sweet tasting imported dates. Don't know if these are Medjool dates - Can someone confirm? I also forgot to deseed my dates, since I am so used to buying deseeded dates.

Arugula Sun Dried Tomato, Peppers, and Date Salad

Ingredients:

• 2-4 cups of arugula
• Handful of dates
• Handful of sun dried tomato slivers
• 1 red pepper
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

To make:

• Tear up the arugula leaves and cut the pepper into square chunks.
• Mix all the veggies and dates with the olive oil.
• Top off with the sumac.
  
  
  

Curious about Curry

Ok, I am a curry virgin! I've had plenty to eat - how can you not, in curry-heaven India. But never attempted to make it myself. It just seems like an arduous process of grinding up spices and waiting on a pot to simmer and boil.

But I had some coconut cream left over from yesterday's ice cream, and had some starting-to-wilt pak choi that I wanted to finish off. So, a spicy coconut curry it is!

The green chutney used is just coriander, a little chilli and some coconut all ground up. The chilli paste, on the other hand is just blistering hot green chillies ground up.

Coconut Curry with Pak Choi, Peppers and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 tomato
• 1 green pepper
• 2-3 cups of pak choi
• 1/2 an onion
• 2 tablespoons chilli paste
• 2 tablespoons green chutney
• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• Teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 cup water

To make:

• Chop up the tomatoes, pak choi, onion, and peppers into bite sized portions.
• In a wok, heat the oil and saute the onions.
• Add the chilli paste and green chutney paste.
• Add the coconut cream and the water after a couple of minutes and see that no lumps are formed.
• Let it simmer away for 15-20 minutes.
• Have a taste test - if its too hot, add sugar to temper it down.
• Add the chopped veggies and turn off the gas.
• Let the veggies soak in the curry for 5-10 minutes.
• Serve with plain boiled rice.