Curries

Tarka Dal Remixed with Yams, Potatoes and Spinach (Plant Based and Vegan Red Lentil Curry)

February 20, 2018 by Veronica Grace Leave a Comment

Occasionally I take recipes I’ve already made and change them up a bit depending on what I have on hand if I need to use up some fresh ingredients or when I’m looking for something different. I highly doubt this is in anyway an authentic Indian dish now, but it’s still really tasty and healthy. I have adapted my Tarka Dal recipe here and doubled it except for the lentils and added yam, potatoes, and spinach to it.

This time I just tossed all of the spices in at the same time instead of making a separate tarka tempering. If you like eating large pieces of ginger or curry leaves in the finished dish great, if not after cooking you can remove them before serving.

I served this over white basmati rice but you can also use fresh roti bread, brown basmati rice etc.

Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal (Indian Lentil Curry)

Serves 4

Dal Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (split)
1 large onion, diced
4-5 large tomatoes, diced (or 2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes)
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 inches of ginger peeled and sliced in long strips
1 medium yam/sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
As much fresh/frozen spinach as you want
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Herbamare or salt to taste
6 cups of water or vegetable broth (low sodium)
1 1/2 tsp roasted ground cumin
1 tsp roasted ground coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds (black)
1-2 dried red chilli, chopped (more if desired)
8-12 curry leaves fresh or dried *optional
2-4 tbsp lemon juice
1 handful cilantro/coriander, chopped for garnish

Directions:

1. Place lentils into a mesh metal strainer and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. *To cook your lentils faster you can soak in warm water while you prep the rest of your vegetables.

2. Heat a large saucepan or large pot over medium heat and add the onions, garlic, ginger and turmeric. Sprinkle a little salt on the onions to get them to sweat. (You will need a large pot or giant saute pan for the amount of liquid here) Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are soft.

3. Add drained lentils, yams, potatoes, seasonings (except lemon juice and cilantro) and water or vegetable broth. Stir and bring to a boil uncovered. Turn heat down to medium low and and cover with a vented lid (or leave lid cracked to let steam escape) cook for 20-30 minutes until the lentils and potatoes are soft and to desired tenderness. Take off the lid and let some of the liquid cook down until desired consistency. If your potatoes and lentils are still soft and you need more liquid as water as needed to continue cooking.

4. Add the fresh or frozen spinach and stir it in to wilt or incorporate. As fresh spinach cooks down into nothing you can really add as much as you want here.

5. Add the lemon juice and check for flavours. Add more Herbamare or salt to taste and adjust seasonings if desired.

6. Serve and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Additional Tips:

If you like you can use different lentils, but keep in mind that whole lentils will take longer to cook, so you may need to cook this dal for around an hour until they are soft.

What’s your favorite plant based curry?

Plant Based African Ground Nut Stew (Vegan African Peanut Curry)

November 29, 2017 by Veronica Grace

Peanut Stew is something I’ve been wanting to make for a long time because it’s so delicious and satisfying. I was perusing online for inspiration and came across One Pot African Stew from MakingThymeForHealth and used that as the basis for my version.

Once you try it I think you’ll agree that it’s incredibly delicious and maybe even inspiration to use as a base recipe for other veggies. I can see white potatoes, zucchini, winter squash, bell peppers and carrots going well with this too. It is ready in about an hour over the stove, or you can try using a crockpot and cooking it slowly while you’re away from work.

Another note: Personally I’m not a fan of super spicy food or jalapeños so I omitted them. If you really love jalapeños then please add them as your heart desires. 🙂

Please give this a try and let me know what you think!

Plant Based African Ground Nut Stew

Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3-inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 teaspoons of roasted ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 large yam/sweet potato, peeled and diced into small cubes (1 lb)
3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter (look for low sodium and sugar free)
4 cups of low sodium vegetable broth (plus more for cooking or use water)
1-2 cups of water, depending on desired thickness
1 bunch of kale/collards/spinach*, stems removed and chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2-3/4 tsp Herbamare or Salt (Less if using salted broth or salted peanut butter)
Fresh ground pepper to taste

To Serve:
3 cups cooked brown rice
roasted peanuts, broken into pieces (optional)
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 limes, cut into wedges

Directions:

Add water or vegetable broth to a large pot and heat over medium. Add the onions and spices and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste, yam/sweet potato, peanut butter, broth and water until well combined and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium low and cover for about 15 minutes. If using collards, add them now and continue cooking another 15 minutes. If using spinach or kale add them when the yams/sweet potatoes are fork tender (after about 25 minutes) and let cook only a few more minutes.
Using a potato masher or ladle, crush some of the yam/sweet potato up and thicken the broth. Cook for another few minutes until creamy.
Serve over brown rice and garnish with peanuts, fresh cilantro and lime juice.

(I cook my rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker)

I’m not sure how this recipe would turn out for those wondering about using PBFit Peanut Butter Powder. If you do try it let me know how it turned out.

Have you ever made a peanut based curry before? What other veggies do you think would go well with this?

Slow Cooker – Plant Based Chickpea, Potato, Pea Coconut Curry (Vegan and Dairy Free)

November 23, 2017 by Veronica Grace

Hey everyone!

Today I have a new recipe for you that I threw together from what I had in the fridge and cupboard as I was craving a warm curry with the cool weather we’re having in Toronto right now. This is one you can make in your slow cooker (I have a Ninja cooking system which can do a few more fancy things than a regular slow cooker) or on the stove if you have time to watch it.

As always it’s oil free and I used dried chickpeas and soaked them overnight before tossing them in the slow cooker. You can use drained canned chickpeas if you like, but be sure to read the label and see if you can find some that are oil free and low in salt if you’re looking for a healthier option. Another note if you’re looking to avoid BPA in canned goods, select ones that say BPA free or that have a metal as opposed to a white plastic lining on the inside of the can (Eden Organics for beans and Muir Glen Organics for tomatoes for example).

This slow cooker curry can either be made the night before and to have it ready in the morning to pack up for lunch or you can start it on a weekend and have a few nights of meals for the next week. For those looking for a meal within the hour you can either use canned chickpeas or pressure cook dried/soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker and then toss everything else in a large pot and cook over the stove until the potatoes are tender.

I happened to have some sweet potatoes and white potatoes that were getting a little bit soft and salvaged them with this curry, I also love chickpeas in any kind of curry and added the peas for some color and a nice tasty pop. You could also use other root vegetables on hand, or peppers or eggplant to change it up instead of potatoes or chickpeas. If you’re looking for an even lower fat version you can skip the coconut milk altogether or add a touch of almost milk instead if desired.

Plant Based Creamy Chickpea Potato Pea Coconut Slow Cooker Curry

Ingredients:
3 15oz/425g cans of chickpeas drained and rinsed or 3-4 cups of dried chickpeas, previously soaked and drained
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (optional)
2 large 28oz/793g cans of diced tomatoes
1 15oz can low fat coconut milk
3” of ginger, peeled and minced
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp roasted ground cumin
2 tsp roasted ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala (Garam masala means hot spices and can vary in flavour in different regions)
1/2 tsp chili
1-2 tsp salt (or to taste)
Ground pepper to taste

Add after cooking:
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Slow Cooker Instructions:

Layer the ingredients from first to last in your slow cooker so the chickpeas are on the bottom and the spices are on top. You can give it a little stir lightly to get the tomatoes and coconut milk down into the cracks if you want.
Set the slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.
When the potatoes are tender, stir the pot and add in the frozen peas and let sit for a few minutes to warm through.
Adjust for taste if you need more salt, pepper or chilli if desired.
Serve with white or brown basmati rice or flat bread and garnish with cilantro. (I cook my rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker)

Stove Top Instructions:

*If using soaked dried chickpeas you can either pressure cook or stove top cook them beforehand if you want to make this recipe faster, or else you may need to cook this for an hour or two on medium low on the stove until the chickpeas are soft.

Add all of the ingredients except the peas and cilantro to a large pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium and stir regularly to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom and burns.
Once the chickpeas and potatoes are tender, adjust seasonings if desired and stir in the frozen peas.
Heat through until the peas are warm.
Service with rice or flat bread and garnish with cilantro.

Have you ever made a slow cooker curry? What was in it?

Slow Cooker Recipe: Lower Fat Plant-Based Butternut Squash and Chickpea Coconut Curry

November 20, 2015 by Veronica Grace

Hey guys! I am still working with Iphone photos for now as my professional Canon camera was stolen and I don’t have funds to replace it yet so thank you for bearing with me. Phone pics are not as pretty for sure, but it will do in a pinch and you get the idea. Besides the food is way more delicious anyway, just make it and see.

With fall well underway and my pantry kind of overflowing in dried beans and lentils that I have been hoarding for way too long, I decided I need to start making recipes using up as much of my dried ingredients as possible. You do not want to know how many bags and bags of dried stuff I have. It’s kind of ridiculous for just 1 person, but I used to like having any ingredient at my finger tips when I got a craving for a new recipe.

It’s also extremely affordable to make plant-based/vegan slow cooker recipes using dried, canned and frozen ingredients, especially when a small amount of work can yield such delicious food and have lots of leftovers. So even though it’s just me, i don’t mind having leftovers of super delicious curries because I can just give away a few portions to hungry friends, and freeze some for easy meals when I’m too tired to cook. Plus why spend $5-7 on a single frozen vegan meal, when you can make a big batch of something a few times a month and freeze it yourself, right? Right.

Although I don’t have a slow cooker recipe book yet, I know it’s something that a few of you have been asking for. It does take some time since I can’t make several recipes a day using this method and crank them out for recipe testing. It’s a slower process, but convenient for people who are busy and really hate “active cooking time” i.e. standing at the stove and/or making a big mess and fitfully sobbing when you didn’t stir it enough and it ends up burned… I mean that doesn’t happen to me that often, but I understand not everyone WANTS to live in the kitchen making food day in and day out.

Any slow cooker you have laying around that is a standard size (not individual sized) will do for this recipe, I used my Ninja Cooking System because I could sauté the onions, garlic and ginger right in the cooking insert over the medium heat setting. I don’t like having extra dishes to do when I make slow cooker recipes, so I find this convenient for me and the thing I hate most about cooking is dishes honestly. If you haven’t signed up to my newsletter yet to stay up to date on new (and favourite free) recipes you can sign up in the pink box on the upper right hand side of the screen there too.

Plant-Based Butternut Squash & Chickpea Coconut Curry (Slow Cooker Recipe)

serves 8-10 side portions or a hungry family of 4-5

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash (about 5 cups) peeled, de-seeded and cubed
2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked 8 hours or overnight
1 medium onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 inch chunk of ginger, minced
1 can 13.5 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can 13.5 ounce light coconut milk
3 cups/1 litre low sodium vegetable broth
2.5 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 bay leaves
4 large handfuls of baby spinach or 1 bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Carefully cut the skin off the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1 inch cubes. To make cutting easier you can slice is in half and microwave the squash for 3 minutes and let cool before cutting.

2. *Optional step: sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in a pan with a little water or in the insert of a Ninja Cooking System.* Assemble all of the ingredients in your slow cooker excluding the peas, spinach, salt and cilantro. Cook on low for 8 hours.

3. About 20 minutes before serving, add in the fresh peas and spinach and stir until spinach is wilted.

4. Taste test and add salt as desired. For a slightly thicker sauce you can use a potato masher and mash some of the squash and chickpeas.

5. Serve over basmati rice and garnish with fresh cilantro. (I prepared 3 rice cups of basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker)

Tips:

Dried chickpeas are best as they will absorb the flavor of the curry as they cook. Don’t use canned chickpeas and cook this for 8 hours as that’s completely unnecessary, 4-6 hours maximum as they’re already cooked.

The night before, sort and rinse the dried chickpeas in a strainer, place in a large bowl and cover with at least 6 cups of water. Alternatively you can do the Quick Soak Method: bring the rinsed chickpeas to a boil in a pot of water and cook for 1 minute and let soak for at least an hour. I find slow soaked chickpeas rather than quick soak chickpeas more tender when cooked, but it’s up to you.

For easy frozen meals later, freeze small portions of the curry and rice separately in tupperware containers.

Question: Have you started using your slow cooker yet this season? What’s your favorite recipe?

Creamy Plant-Based Coconut Kale and Chickpea Curry Recipe (Vegan)

November 5, 2013 by Veronica Grace 18 Comments

I had a really bad craving for a creamy plant-based chickpea curry recipe – BUT I still wanted to make sure it wasn’t too decadent so this turned out to be a wonderful compromise. I usually make an all tomato based chickpea curry aka Chana Masala, but I wanted to step out of the box a little, not to mention I had a ton of kale sitting in the fridge. I thought about serving it on the side, but you know what? Kale goes extremely well in a creamy curry sauce too so in it went into the curry!

I used light coconut milk in this recipe, but I do limit the frequency I use coconut milk in my recipe due to the higher fat content. If preferred you can use another plant based milk instead, I just really enjoy a hint of coconut flavour in this curry.

There’s also a special spice mix I blended up which was a nice change from regular old curry powder or garam masala mixes. I like trying something different! So if you can find these whole spices give it a try and use a coffee grinder and make your own spice mix it’s really fast and easy too (not to mention cheaper to make your own spice mixes once you’ve bought your whole spices).

This was a fun recipe to make and it’s definitely going into my regular repertoire, the leftovers were fantastic for lunch the next day too!

(Vegan) Creamy Coconut Kale and Chickpea Curry

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons (roughly) fresh ginger chunks, peeled and minced
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 16 oz can light coconut milk (or substitute another plant based milk)
2 1/2 tbsp spice mix (recipe below)
4-5 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup *or as desired
1 tsp salt *or to taste
6 cups fresh cooked or 3 15 oz cans of chickpeas, drained
1 bunch of kale destemmed and chopped

Directions:

1. In a large deep skillet, wok or pot sauté the onions, garlic and ginger dry or in a little water or vegetable broth for 5-6 minutes until translucent and fragrant.
2. Add tomatoes and cook until softened about 10 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and onions to a food processor or Vitamix along with coconut milk and blend until pureed.
4. Add remaining ingredients and simmer together until the kale is softened. Taste test and adjust seasonings as desired.
5. Serve with rice or Indian flat bread.

Spice Mix

3 tsp whole cumin seeds
3 tsp whole coriander seeds
2 star anise
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 green cardamom pod
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp roasted or regular cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a dry skillet toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, star anise and black pepper corns until fragrant. Be careful to not burn them and remove once lightly toasted and fragrant.
2. Add to a spice grinder with remaining spices and combine until powdered.
3. Store in an spice jar and use as desired in curries.

What’s your favourite curry recipe and what do you serve it with?

Seitan Makhani (Vegan “Unbutter Chicken”) Recipe

March 10, 2013 by Veronica Grace 10 Comments

Ok I have to admit something to you.

I’ve never actually had buttered chicken, but it’s because once upon a time I was a little afraid of spicy food and afraid I would not like Indian food… (Hah funny I know right.) I also stopped eating butter and dairy a long time ago and also did not eat foods with dairy products. So I will not try to argue that I know this is an “authentic” recipe or anything like that.

Just because you eat plant based now doesn’t mean you have to miss out on delicious Indian curries!

BUT I will tell you that this vegan version of “Buttered” Chicken is oil-free, butter free and cream free, so you can feel a little less guilty about indulging in a creamy Indian curry. Since I don’t like to use fake meat products often, I made my own “wheat meat” also known as seitan. (Seitan is not gluten free, so if you are allergic you can sub tofu or chickpeas).

This was a fun experiment as I’d never made “wheat meat” before but it was actually pretty easy. See my instructions for seitan here.

This curry sauce can be used for any item really, if you want to cook tofu, vegan chicken, chickpeas, potatoes, cauliflower etc. instead of the seitan you can do that as well. It goes really well on top of rice or Indian bread such as roti or chapati (more vegan friendly than naan bread.)

Indian curries can be a little complicated to make if you make fresh curry pastes, but this recipe is very easy and uses readily available dried spices. Plus it’s also much healthier than using jarred curry sauces from the store and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking.

I hope you have fun making it!

Seitan Makhani (Vegan “Unbuttered Chicken) Recipe

Serves 6

Curry Ingredients:

1 onion, finely chopped
4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water
2 tsp ground ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 – 2 tsp chili powder
4 tsp ground cumin
3 bay leaves
2 cups tomato puree (you can puree canned tomatoes)
2 cups almond or soy milk (original unsweetened)
1/2 cup plain vegan yogurt (I used So Delicious coconut – plain)
2-4 teaspoon garam masala
Cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Herbamare or salt or to taste
Black pepper to taste

Vegan Chicken:

1 (16 oz) package chicken-style seitan, cut into cubes (See my recipe here) Or sub tofu or chickpeas
1-2 teaspoon garam masala

Roti/chapati or basmati rice to serve with

Directions:

1. Heat a large non-stick saucepan or wok over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, water, ginger, garlic, curry powder, chili powder, cumin, and bay leaves. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for 3-4 minutes more. *Note I used canned tomatoes and just pureed them in the blender beforehand.

2. Reduce the heat to low and mix in the almond milk. *For a creamier curry, transfer contents to a blender or food process and process until smooth. Return to pan and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the vegan yogurt and season to taste with garam masala, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Heat a separate medium sized non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the seitan and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and season the seitan with teaspoons garam masala. Stir in about a 1/4 cup of the tomato-yogurt sauce and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes so it can absorb some of the flavours.

4. Transfer the seitan mixture to the saucepan and heat through.

5. Serve. (Curry will be really saucy and goes well on rice.)

Variations:

Sub the seitan for sliced tofu, chickpeas, potatoes or cauliflower for variety.

You can also double the amount of seitan or add vegetables to make a chunkier curry.

Have you ever had butter chicken before? Have you ever made your own Indian curry at home?

Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal Curry (Indian Lentil Curry)

October 31, 2012 by Veronica Grace 6 Comments

Now that the weather is cooling down, how about some delicious dal curries to warm things up?

This is another version of tarka (meaning tempered spices) dal using split red lentils. It is really simple to make, totally vegan and contains only a few ingredients. I make this recipe often when I’m looking for a quick dish and I always keep onions, tomatoes and red lentils on hand for just such an occasion. What’s nice about this dish is you can take this basic recipe and change it up with different spices, add more or omit the chilies depending how spicy you like it and use it as a thick stew as it is or a curry to serve over rice.

The dal is cooked separately and then the tarka seasonings are fried on their own and added after so they retain more of their flavor. If you’re short on time you can throw everything in together, but it might be a little blander so you’ll want to adjust the seasonings. Normally the spices are tempered in ghee or oil, but since I don’t use oil in my recipes I’ve added slightly more whole dried spices to this recipe and used some water instead.

This is a beautiful dish that is great for entertaining and also a nice way to introduce lentils to your friends and family that may be skeptical of them. Red lentils are very mild and don’t have any flavor when they are cooked so they absorb the flavors they are cooked in very well. I prefer using split red lentils over regular whole brown lentils for this recipe as they are lighter and smoother tasting.

Feel free to try using other lentils, but you will need to cook your dal much longer as whole lentils will take twice as long to cook.

Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal (Indian Lentil Curry)

Serves 4

Dal Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (split)
1 large onion, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced (or 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 – 3/4 tsp Herbamare or salt to taste
3 cups of water or vegetable broth (low sodium)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp roasted ground cumin
1/2 tsp roasted ground coriander
1 handful cilantro/coriander, chopped for garnish

Tarka Tempering:

2-3 inches of ginger peeled and sliced in long strips
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds (black)
1 dried red chilli, chopped (more if desired)
4-6 curry leaves *optional

Directions:

1. Place lentils into a mesh metal strainer and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. *To cook your lentils faster you can soak in warm water while you prep the rest of your vegetables.

2. Heat a medium saucepan or wok over medium heat and add the onions, garlic and turmeric. Sprinkle a little salt on the onions to get them to sweat. Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are soft.

3. Add drained lentils and 3 cups of water or vegetable broth. Stir and bring to a boil uncovered. Turn heat down to medium low and and cover with a vented lid (or leave lid cracked to let steam escape) cook for 20-30 minutes until the lentils are soft and to desired tenderness.

4. In another pan, add a little water and fry the slices of ginger, chilies and curry leaves. Stir the ginger. When the water dissipates, add the mustard seeds and toast until they pop. Then add the cumin seeds and toast for a minute or two.

5. Add the tarka seasonings, lemon juice, cumin and coriander powder to the dal and stir in. Add Herbamare or salt to taste and adjust seasonings if desired.

6. Serve and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Additional Tips:

If you like you can use different lentils, but keep in mind that whole lentils will take longer to cook, so you may need to cook this dal for around an hour until they are soft.

What’s your favorite way to use lentils?

Fat Free Vegan Indian Tarka Chana Dal (An Easy Oil-Free Curry Recipe)

June 4, 2012 by Veronica Grace 23 Comments

Tarka Dal is also known as Dal Tarka or Tadka depending where you are in India. Like many Indian foods the names of dishes are phonetic so often you will see similar spellings of dal such as dhal or dahl. There is no right or wrong way to spell these dishes, I just use the most common spellings for ease of use.

Dal is a dish that is made with any variety of lentils including but not limited to split red lentils (most common in thin dal soups), black urad dal (used in creamy Dal Makhani), split urad dal (ground with rice to create Dosas which are Indian crepes) toor/tuvar dal which looks just like chana dal and yellow split peas but is smaller, and moong dal a small yellow split lentil that cooks faster than chana or yellow split peas also used in soups.

Cook’s Thesaurus has excellent descriptions and pictures of various lentils and how to tell them apart. This may sound quite confusing at first, but it’s unlikely that you will fully immerse yourself into using every type of lentil in Indian cuisine, so don’t worry. The most important thing is just to make sure you’re buying the right lentil and label what you buy if it’s coming from bulk bins. As they are all different sizes and thicknesses they can take different amounts of time to cook.

chana dal (skinless split chickpeas)

You can almost see that they look like little chickpeas/garbanzos split in half and are not fully rounded like yellow split peas. Toor/tuvar dal is also yellow and similar in size, but it is not the same.

Chana dal is used in East India and is widely available at Indian markets, bulk dry good sections at the health food store or ethnic market and online. Tarka is a method where spices are cooked/tempered in hot oil and added to the beginning or end of a dish being cooked. Since we’re going for oil free methods of cooking however, all of the ingredients are combined and cooked together in water instead. Tarka dal is usually cooked in 4 steps and can be quite complicated so I simplified the method. For this reason we have slightly increased some of the spices as the flavours will be subdued through cooking. Whole spices are best as they will retain more flavour, if you substitute all the whole spices with powdered spices you may have to reseason it to taste when it’s done cooking and it may not be as flavourful.

(Oil-Free) Simplified Indian Tarka Chana Dal

Serves 6-8 as a side

Ingredients:

2 cups chana dal (skinless split dried chickpeas, also spelled channa dal, dahl, or dhal)
1 large onion, diced finely
8-10 cloves of garlic, minced
2 inches of ginger, minced (or 1 tsp ginger powder)
1 14.5 oz/411 g can fire roasted crushed tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organics)
7-8 cups/1.6-1.9 L of water (depending on how thick or thin you want it)
2 tsp turmeric
1 small cinnamon stick
3 black cardamom pods (or green)
8 whole cloves
4 bay leaves
3 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1-2 tsp red chili powder (or more to taste) I used Frontier Organic Chili powder blend
1 1/2 – 2 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
handful of chopped fresh cilantro/coriander (to garnish)

Pressure Cooker Directions:

Combine ingredients (except salt, pepper and cilantro), into a heavy bottomed pressure cooker, mix well, cover and heat over high heat (on gas stove) until a steady stream of steam escapes the pressure valve. Turn the heat down to medium high and cook for 20 minutes or until the dal is just tender (not mushy.)
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Taste test and add additional chili powder if desired. (I added a 1/2 tsp of roasted cumin powder as it’s one of my favourite spices.)
Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with basmati rice or brown rice if desired.

Slow Cooker Directions:

Alternatively you can try cooking this in a slow cooker on high. Check on it between 4 and 5 hours. When chana is soft, season to taste with salt, pepper and additional spices such as chili powder if desired.

You can also probably cook this over the stove, but you will require more water as it will dissipate. I would guess this would take between 60-90 minutes of cooking time on a stove depending whether it was electric/gas and what temperature it’s cooked at. Make sure you stir it and check on the water level so it does not burn to the bottom of the pot.

Additional Tips:

If serving this to guests unfamiliar with Indian curries, you may want to take out all of the pieces of cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamom pods and cloves before serving. Be careful, the dal is hot! Generally we just pick these pieces out while we’re eating. But just make sure to warn people as a mouthful of clove or cardamom can be a little unpleasant!

If you like your dal thick as pictured above you can use the lower amount of water. If you find your dal is a little too runny you can add some corn starch slurry to it to thicken it up. Use 1 tsp mixed in a 2 tablespoons of water at a time and heat through until you get the desired consistency.

You may want to serve this as a side dish, or even as a main meal with rice or Indian flat bread. For a main meal this will make enough to serve 4-6 people.

Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers for a quick healthy meal later on in the week.

Don’t use regular yellow split peas for this recipe. They take a really long time to cook and won’t be the same, despite looking almost like chana dal.

Have you ever had Tarka Dal before? Have you ever tried chana dal?

Fat Free Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Indian Curry With Fire Roasted Tomatoes

February 12, 2012 by Veronica Grace 27 Comments

Fat free vegan cooking is really easy, once you know how to skip the oil and prepare delicious home cooked meals that taste just as good if not better without the extra grease and calories.

I love eggplant (aubergine) and eggplant curries, I also love chickpeas in almost everything. The bad thing about Indian food is that it is normally so oily and greasy and this can make it unhealthy and too rich. Eggplant absorbs MORE oil than ANY other vegetable just from sautéing in oil. If you cook it in oil on the stove it absorbs it so well that it becomes 50% fat by calories just like a potato chip. So I suggest to not slather oil on your eggplant or deep fry it, ever… Regardless of how delicious it may be. Your waistline and arteries will thank you.

The best Indian food I’ve ever had, has actually come from my kitchen. Not because I am an awesome Indian cook or anything, but because I use the freshest ingredients, and absolutely no oil, and we feel awesome after eating it, not like taking a nap as you do from take out. Any time we eat Indian food at a restaurant, we almost immediately regret it. Despite pleading with them to use very little oil, it is still very greasy. Indian and Chinese food in general are prepared with so much oil to keep things from sticking to the pan and slide out easily onto the plates. Also because people kind of expect it to be greasy.

There aren’t too many already vegan Indian staple dishes but Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry) and Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry) are two of them, and of course my favourites. I have made them separately before, but I wanted to start practicing my photography for a new cookbook I’m working on, and this means I pretty much have to shoot in portrait style. As I am mostly a landscape photographer, this is difficult for me to get used to and setting up the shot. As you have way more background in it, you need to add things to decorate.

This isn’t my best. I need some more props, but I didn’t have white rice, or dal or anything to put in the background, so it’s a little sparse.

I will continue practicing, and I spent the evening ironing all my pretty coloured napkins so they are ready to go for next time.

This recipe is not an original of mine, it is adapted from Fat Free Vegan. I also doubled the recipe as this was my main I and served it with rice and saved the leftovers. Another good reason to double recipes, is that it doesn’t really take more time to make more of it, and then if you have left overs you can eat it for lunch, or even use this as filling for a delicious wrap on the go! The recipe below is the single version.

Fat Free Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Curry

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant/aubergine, or two small (this needs to be prepared in advance)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper seeded and diced
1 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 1/4 teaspoon ground roasted coriander (or regular)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 cloves of garlic, minced
14 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted diced tomatoes (or regular)
2 tsp of ginger root, finely minced
1-2 tsp sugar or sweetener (to balance acidity, or as desired)
1/2-1 tsp herbamare or salt
1/8-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I don’t like spicy, so I use very little)
15 oz can chickpeas (like Eden Organic) , rinsed and drained (low sodium) or 2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 -1 cup water, to keep mixture from sticking
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (start with less and add more to taste)
non stick spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the eggplant(s) with a fork all over and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, until the eggplant(s) is/are collapsing and soft in the middle. Remove from the oven when done and set aside until cool enough to handle. Slice open the peel, pull the peel off and chop the eggplant flesh into cubes.

2. Heat a non-stick skillet and then spray it lightly with non stick spray (normally I do not do this, but as it’s going to cook for a while, mine started sticking and burning as I have a gas stove). Add the onion and cook until it begins to turn golden about 5-6 minutes.

3. Add the bell pepper and cook for a 3-4 minutes. If anything starts sticking use a tbsp or 2 of water.

4. Clear a spot in the center of the skillet and sprinkle the cumin seeds directly on the hot surface. Stir and toast them gently for about a minute, until they are browning.

5. Stir and then add the coriander, turmeric, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, and cayenne (if desired).

6. Add the eggplant and cook over medium heat, for about 10 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep from sticking.

7. Add the chickpeas and enough water or chickpea cooking liquid to keep the mixture moist, cover tightly, and turn heat to low. Cook for at least 10 minutes, stirring periodically, until sauce has thickened and flavors have blended. Don’t let it burn. (You can hold this dish on low for up to 45 minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal, but add additional liquid as needed and don’t forget to stir, scraping the bottom.)

8. Add sweetener (if desired), herbamare or salt and garam masala. Always use a lower amount first and then taste test, so you don’t use too much of either. Season as desired.

9. Scoop into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro.

10. Serve with basmati rice or dal.

Additional Tips:

Fire roasted tomatoes make every recipe that calls for canned tomatoes, even better. There is a huge difference. My favourite are Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes (now BPA free). If you don’t have time to make your own chickpeas, Eden Organics also come BPA free too. Roasted coriander has a nicer flavour than regular, McCormick (available at many regular grocery stores) makes a great selection of roasted spices. You can make your own roasted spices if you want too. If you have coriander seeds, you can toast them in a pan dry and then grind them in a coffee grinder. Cumin powder can be substituted for cumin seeds if you like, the flavour will be a little different however.

I buy my garam masala from a specialty spice store. If you want to make your own Susan’s V’s recipe is here: 1 tablespoon black cardamom seeds, 1 cinnamon stick (about 2 1/2 inches long), 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns. Grind in coffee or spice grinder until powdered. Heat a small, dry pan. Add spices and toast just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, and allow to cool. Once cool, store in a sealed jar for future use. Garam masala is always used after cooking is complete to control the spiciness of the dish. Do not add it in while a dish is cooking as you may over spice it and make it too hot.

What do you think of this dish? What’s your favourite use for eggplant or chickpeas?