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Thursday, June 26, 2008

An Indian Feast


The other day I had a craving for Indian food, so off I went to find some new and exciting recipes. Clockwise from top, we have chana masala with spinach (recipe to follow), naan, and gobi aloo. The chana masala was awesome; so was the naan; the gobi aloo left much to be desired despite its five-star rating on VegWeb.com.

For the naan, I just substituted soymilk for the dairy milk, Ener-G egg replacer for the egg, and I left out the garlic. Matt cooked the naan on our outdoor grill and it was so yummy. (As a funny aside, Matt observed that several of the naan bread pieces bore a striking resemblance to chicken breast, with their pasty complexion and dark grill marks.)

On to the recipe, which is likely none too authentic, but still delicious, and which I based on this...

Chana Masala

2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium-large onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 - 15 oz cans of chick peas, drained, reserving 1/4 cup liquid
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
crushed red pepper, optional to taste
2 tablespoons margarine
large bunch of fresh spinach, chopped

Heat oil on medium heat. Fry onions until translucent. Add garlic, curry powder, and ketchup. Stir and simmer about 2 minutes. Add chickpeas, liquid, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Simmer 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add red pepper to taste. Add margarine, stirring through to melt it. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes more or until chickpeas are softened and dish is hot. Add chopped spinach and stir for a couple of minutes until spinach is wilted. This is good served over brown rice, barley, or scooped up with pieces of naan bread.

Enjoy! And let me know if you have a better gobi aloo recipe for me to try.

5 comments:

girl least likely to said...

oh it looks sooooo good! i love chana masala, for serious. i've never tried making it from scratch, though. maybe i'll give it a go!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamara,

I make this all the time. I am from India. You are right. It is not authentic. We would never use Ketchup. Fresh tomatoes. Add them after you saute the onions. And cook them to sauce like consistency.

And we would use Garam Masala instead of Curry Powder. I make my own with equal measures of cayenne+cumin+coriander. Use the powder one... They taste great.

And yeah fresh cilantro and lemon and green chillies and raw onions for granish.

I would use 3Tbs of oil for granish and 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil right before serving.

But I am glad it turned out Good. Enjoy!!!

Anonymous said...

Oops I forgot. I'll send you a good recipe for aloo gobi tomorrow.

Tamara said...

Ooh, thank you!!! This one was good but I knew it was far from authentic. :-) I'd love to have some good Indian recipes.

the little one said...

Thanks for these. Channa masala is my favorite Indian dish and aloo gobi is my partner's. I've never tried making either though. You're inspiring me to.