Vegetarian Recipes and Meals

[Peppertrail]

I've recently purchased a boat load of Indian spices.  There are so many delicious vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine that I figured it would be an easy way to expand my culinary options.  However, I find myself at a standstill.  What are some simple and delectable vegetarian dishes that I could try at home with no previous experience cooking Indian food?  Thanks in advance for all your help!

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There are quite a few recipes for vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine. India's culinary traditions are rich, and as varied as the land and people. Are you interested in the cuisine of any specific region in India? What are the spices you have bought? Are there any particular vegetables that you would like to cook? Please tell more about your spice purchases and favorite vegetables, and I would be happy to help.

[moosnsqrl]

For a very non-threatening beginner's primer, try The Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine. It's an approachable, inexpensive paperback (and available used from many online sources for under $4USD) and a great way to get started. You can probably find it at your library as well.

[zeffer81]

[ludja]

For some inspiration you may want to check this link to vegetarian curries. Someone recently posted this on another thread and it looks like a great resource. (Scroll down to see entire recipe listing.)

[Milagai]

I don't remember all the spices I have but a few are cardamom, fennel, garam masala, curry powder...however I have easy access to an Indian store to purchase anything that I might not have.  I'm especially interested in main dishes that I could eat plain or with rice.

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Most Indian dishes are eaten with rice or rotis, few

if any are eaten plain unless they're rice-based or something,

and even then there are the accompaniments....

Curry powder is not used by Indian cooks because it is

too generic - each specific dish has a specific name and needs its own customized

spice combination. You'll find the specific mixes in the Indian store

(e.g. sambar masala to make sambar, chana masala to make chana,

tandoori masala to marinade anything intended for the tandoor

oven, etc.)

The cardamom, fennel, garam masala etc. are useful.

Broccoli is not widely known in India -cauliflower is more common.

But cauliflower recipes can be broadly speaking, converted to

use broccoli (with a few major exceptions, eg. gobhi musallam).

And Indian cuisine has fantastic okra recipes - crisp and tangy -

these have converted many an okra-phobe.....

Lots of eggplant recipes however, from every region, so bon appetit!

If you decide on some recipe/s from any of the links provided or

from google, and have more questions, do say....

Milagai

[v. gautam]

Red Lentil Dal

1 ½ -2 c small red lentils [Lens culinaris]

1 T whole nigella seeds [kalonji]

½ t whole cumin seeds

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced [big or little depends on how much you like onions]

1/4 t ground cumin [optional]

1/4 t ground coriander [optional]

2-3 T cilantro coarsely chopped [optional]

salt

2-3 T veg oil

1 Tb. butter or ghee [ optional]

Fresh lime

Wash lentils thoroughly in several changes of water, rubbing them with your hand. Foamy oligosaccharides will cleanse your hands!

Place lentils in saucepan with cover and just enough water to cover lentils. This is so as to prevent foaming over. The downside is that they will very quickly absorb this water and scorch if you are not careful, like in a few minutes.

Bring to boil and simmer covered until lentils have absorbed most of the water. Lentils will have turned yellow and large/flat, should look fluffy and just be opening.

Add more water and simmer/low boil for at least 10-15 minutes more. Puree the lentils with immersion blender and if too thick, add more water. Salt to taste. The consistency should be like pea soup, thinner if you desire.

Heat oil in deep saucepan (enough to coat bottom). Set on high flame. Get comfortable with your ability to regulate the heat source. Just before it begins to smoke, tilt saucepan (by handle) at an angle that will allow hot oil to pool to one side; the idea is to create a pool the whole seeds can ‘swim’ in and release flavor/fragrance.

[The seeds need to 'swim' vigorously in the 'brownian motion' of the heated oil, yet too much oil is not ok. In a heavy-bottomed wok, like the traditional wrought iron steeply cambered Indian karhai, this swimming pool with minimum fat comes naturally. Hence the tilting, above.]

Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and sizzle for a second or two; followed by ¾ T of nigella seeds. Let fry for less than 10-20 sec, until you can smell them.

Add onions and stir quickly. Fry for a minute or more, until onions become translucent and soften, adding butter if wished. Don't scorch, regulate heat sensibly. More browning of onions = heightened onion flavor, less = heightened nigella flavor. Choose whichever side of the equation you prefer.

Add remaining nigella and fry for a few seconds. Add ground cumin, coriander, stir briefly, add lentil puree, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and add chopped cilantro, only if you like its flavor, and then only with a light touch.

[Next time, add more or less nigella, onion, etc. to suit your taste.]

Nice served over special brown rice*, with squeeze of fresh lime, white works well too. Also can be eaten with pita bread, chapatti/whole wheat tortillas, or any kind of flat bread, and accompanied by yogurt (mix in some bottled mint chutney) or slices of avocado and cheddar cheese. Or serve with any vegetable.

*Brown rice:

Lundberg brown rice is excellent and can be bought in bulk. Basmati brown rice is excellent as well. Use your favorite. The recipe below is made with Lundberg.

Saute some diced onion in oil. Add Lundberg rice, no need to wash;sauté a bit. Add 1.5 cups of water per cup of rice, reduce flame to simmer, cover tightly for 20-25 min, see what’s up, stir carefully, may need a tiny bit more water or not according to your taste.

BTW, this rice, left over, cold, makes super fried rice with kale, canned fried gluten [green can, drain the oily juice some], a few fresh shitake mushrooms, carrots, scallions, a dash of soy sauce, a few cubes of soft tofu etc.

Re:eating an Indian dish plain, this dal thinned out makes a great soup, topped with home-made oven-baked croutons. You can even blend in some canned Muir Glen tomatoes, and make a simple tomato soup out of this, with a dash of cream, plus those croutons and crackers. Add some chopped greens and broccoli to the dal, and you have another simple soup, thin to your taste.

If you were to simmer red lentil in a lot of water, skimming the foam once or twice, [or use a slow cooker if you have one], you will discover that it will separate into 2 fractions, a thick puree on the bottom, topped by a thin, clear supernatant.

This top fraction makes the most delicious base for vegetarian stock.

Or, in a heavy pot, just fry some onions until translucent, add washed red lentils, saute a bit, add some good whole tomato [canned plum, crush them], a bay leaf, stir a bit, salt, water, cook until you have a dal or a soup. It is good as is.

In the Indian scheme of things, you might want to temper it further with a zizzzz of hot oil in which spices like nigella, cumin, fennel, cassia leaf, etc. have swum for a bit and released their aroma.....That could be Bengal speaking to you!

South India might favor a palette that includes curry leaves, asafetida, dry red chili pepper, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, and more, jointly and severally. Also, the legume in question might have changed to the pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan.

Not difficult....take it nice and easy.

Edited February 17, 2007 by v. gautam (log)

[Bakulesh]

If you know name of an Indian dish you can search on Google the name along with word bawarchi. If a recipe was contributed to bawarchi website Google might turn up its URL in search result. Most of Indian curries are variation of each other with slight differences in spices and method (and of course main vegetable or meat being used in the dish). Most of the recipes on bawarchi website are written by Indians who do not try to interprete culture specific terms. If you find it difficult to understand something you can quote relevant text from recipe here in this forum and somebody will be able to explain.

HTH

[Bakulesh]

* * *

I enjoy spinach, broccoli (which I haven't seen much of in Indian cooking,) peppers, eggplant...pretty much any vegetable but okra.  I also like chick peas and lentils, in fact, I just bought a huge bag of red lentils so that's a start!

* * *

I eat saag paneer often and will definitely try the recipe above.

You mentioned Spinach. Spinach is cooked into "saag" style curry. Basically "saag" style curries are all cooked from a green leafy vegetable like Spinach, Methi, Mustard, Dill etc in which cooking is helped by a blender (like v. gautam describes in his lentil recipe) to puree the greens. Spinach can also be cooked without pureeing. You wrote that you eat "saag paneer" often. This is nothing but "saag" style Palak Paneer. "Palak" is Spinach. Paneer is curdled milk from which watery whey is sqeezed out. They call it Indian country cheeze but unlike real cheeze it is not subjected to "curing" process and it would not melt on heating.

ludja (eG member) provided an Indian recipe site. I am providing link to "Paalak Ka Saag" from that site: Paalak Ka Saag

Formatting on that site is very poor. For example ingredient list reads like this:

Ingredents: 500 gm spinach leaves50 ml ghee/butter05 gm cumin seeds10 gm chopped garlic50 gm chopped onions25 gm ginger garlic paste05 gm turmeric20 gm chopped tomatoes05 gm green chillies05 gm coriander powder03 gm garam masla02 gm chilli powder20 ml creamsalt

You should read this ingredient list like this:

Ingredents:

500 gm spinach leaves

50 ml ghee/butter

05 gm cumin seeds

etc

For an example of non-saag style spinach curry see: Aloo Palak (Potato and Spinach)

Link to another version of Aloo Palak is here at bawarchi website: Aloo Palak (Gravy)

HTH

[Rinkub]

I've recently purchased a boat load of Indian spices.  There are so many delicious vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine that I figured it would be an easy way to expand my culinary options.  However, I find myself at a standstill.  What are some simple and delectable vegetarian dishes that I could try at home with no previous experience cooking Indian food?  Thanks in advance for all your help!

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Another simple combination is cooking potatoes, cauliflower, and peas, called aloo gobi.

1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1 tsp curry powder, a couple of green chillies.

Heat the oil and pop the whole spices and add in curry powder and chilles, next

I add 2 poatoes, 1 cup peas, 1 tomato chopped and 1 small chopped head of cauliflower and salt to taste.

Stir well and cover, cook on low heat till done.

Garnish with cilantro

[willows]

Hi zeffer,

Another really versatile and accessible vegetarian cookbook you might look into is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, which has a lot of great Indian recipes interspersed with recipes from all over the word. I just picked it up recently and found that she has a lot of great food that's simple because it's good homestyle cooking, and not dumbed-down restaurant recipes.

[preeyanka]

Hi zeffer,

Another really versatile and accessible vegetarian cookbook you might look into is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, which has a lot of great Indian recipes interspersed with recipes from all over the word. I just picked it up recently and found that she has a lot of great food that's simple because it's good homestyle cooking, and not dumbed-down restaurant recipes.

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I was about to mention this book as well! I highly recommend it. I tried her saag panir and it was relatively easy and passed muster for me even after trying other versions of it. She definitely brings up the differences in regional Indian cuisine and all the cuisines of the world. One of my favorite simple recipes is the eggs cooked in simple tomato sauce.

Edited May 20, 2007 by preeyanka (log)

[Pontormo]

Given the lively discussion on Meat and Morality in a different forum, I am reviving a cooking topic which never caught on the same way that Regrettable Meals did as an alternative to the Dinner thread.

Here, recent posts on dishes from Campania (Naples, etc.) might inspire others wishing to prepare more vegetarian meals. Cf. my own post on pasta stuffed with eggplant, basil and bechamel, then Foodman's gorgeous Ziti alla Sorrentina.

Others?

[ludja]

Here's a nice dinner that we had about a week ago:

chickpea and parsley soup

red peppers stuffed with quinoa, walnuts and provolone (recipe here

vanilla pudding

This is the first time I used quinoa. We really liked it and I will definately be makinh this particular dish again. I made the soup w/chicken stock but it would also work well with veg stock.

[hathor]

My cat gets so depressed when we have vegetarian meals. Bless his little carnivore heart.

[plk]

I'm going to heartily second that...there's a superb Eritrean restaurant across the street from one of my workplaces (Abyssinia, Jan Pieter Heijestraat 190hs), and every time I eat there I'm just amazed that there's a cuisine that's so interesting and yet i'm still so unfamiliar with the mechanics of cooking it. I would really suggest an eGullet cookoff of an injera-based dish, but it's one of those kitchens that seems to resist popular adoption. Maybe the sourcing of teff is an issue. And good recipes. Still, maybe I'll give it a go this winter...I have some Dutch friends who spend a lot of time in Ethiopia/Eritrea and this cuisine is what they cook most of the time, they've gotten amazingly good at it.

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Sorry for quoting a really old post, but ... I agree! Some of the best vegan food I've ever made is Ethiopian. We even made the injera. I went to a local Ethiopian restaurant and asked if I could buy teff flour from them, and not only did they agree, but they hustled my husband and I back to the kitchen so that we could see how they made it and practice making it ourselves. It was great! We never got as good at it as they are, and just bought the injera from them the next time, but it sure is amazing food. Of course, it's all made infinitely easier if you can also get berbere spice locally rather than make it yourself. I did that once, but now I just buy it. And if you use it on home fries ... mmm.

[Mallet]

I already posted this in the Canadian Thanksgiving thread, but we decided to have a vegeterian dinner this year and it was great!

Gougères (French Laundry)

Sweet Dumpling Squash Soup (Charlie Trotter's Vegetable)

Tomato Sorbet with tomato salad, basil oil and garlic tuile (French Laundry)

Vegetable Tourte with chive-cream sauce

Wild rice, brussel sprout, and caramelized onion soup (Charlie Trotter's Vegetable)

Ontario cheeses

Poached apple, apple ice cream, warm cream of wheat (French Laundry)

In retrospect, maybe the quantities of dairy involved stretch the definition of vegeterian a little

Edited February 1, 2008 by Mallet (log)

[Ce'nedra]

I've been eating ALOT of vegetarian lately (for the past few weeks) because according to some Asian/Buddhist (I'm not really a Buddhist but I follow -sort of -anyway) tradition, you're supposed to for 49 days or something like that when someone in the family passed away (my grandma). My mum, aunts and uncle have been strictly following this whole vego thing (no garlic and something else included -strange) and so I just eat whatever is placed in front of me really.

That explains why I haven't really been posting much! I haven't done any cooking recently!

But I shall post some vego meals I've had these days soon enough (when I get home later!).

Edit: or maybe even later -I've been really slack recently...

Re-edit: I LOVE LOVE Asian vegetarian food -alot of gluten and tofu -it's really lovely. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much because I'm generally an full-fledged carnivore. I may reconsider my eating habits...cutting down in the meat intake (not entirely of course!). Seems like a healthier lifestyle (to balance between vego and meat that is).

Edited February 1, 2008 by Ce'nedra (log)

[Pat W]

Mallet, that is an amazing dinner. How many cooks did it take to pull this off?

Re: The Vegetable Tourte with chive-cream sauce. It looks spectacular, but here is a really dumb question... What exactly is a tourte?

pat w.

[Chufi]

I´m hoping to resurrect this thread. While I cook a lot of vegetarian dinners, they tend to be of the "it´s just the 2 of us I´ll just make some pasta with loads of vegetables" kind.

I have a big dinner party coming up that has to be all vegetarian, and while I´m actually looking forward to this challenge, I could use some ideas for showstopping vegetarian dishes.

Who has made something awesome without meat or fish lately?

And ofcourse, while we´re at it, please post your everyday type vegetarian dishes, too.

[CaliPoutine]

I´m hoping to resurrect this thread. While I cook a lot of vegetarian dinners, they tend to be of the "it´s just the 2 of us I´ll just make some pasta with loads of vegetables" kind.

I have a big dinner party coming up that has to be all vegetarian, and while I´m actually looking forward to this challenge, I could use some ideas for showstopping vegetarian dishes.

Who has made something awesome without meat or fish lately?

And ofcourse, while we´re at it, please post your everyday type vegetarian dishes, too.

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I've madethisswiss chard and goat cheese tart numerous times. I love the oatmeal/whole wheat tart dough. There is anchovy past in the filling, but I'm sure you could omit it.

ps: I love the recipes from The Green's Cookbook( restaurant in San Francisco)

Edited January 3, 2009 by CaliPoutine (log)

[lperry]

I have made this Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne several times and it is both beautiful and delicious. Thanks for reminding me - I need to make it again soon!

[Chris Amirault]

Deborah Madison makes a butternut squash gratin that's first sauteed and then roasted with cheese and herbs atop onions. It's a pain in the butt to do the sauteeing (and you need to use 2-3 times more oil than she suggests), but it's excellent, a very savory approach to a usually sweet squash. If you can get away with it, it's great with a bit of anchovy with the onions.

ET correct a few errors and add the comment about anchovies. CA

Edited January 6, 2009 by chrisamirault (log)

[Chufi]

the dinner is a week from Saturday - and because I'll be very busy the next weeks, I already have every course planned. I must say that I had more fun thinking about and planning this meal than I had for a long while, planning dinners with meat!

I won't post the dishes now because there's a good chance that one of the guests will be reading this thread and I don't want to spoil it for him but if it all works out I'll post afterwards.

Meanwhile, I've been cooking some great everyday vegetarian dishes: a saute of brussel sprouts with oystermushrooms and cashewnuts (ok we had this with some chicken but as I was eating it I felt it would have been great just on its own, maybe with some pasta or lentils); and a pumpkin barley soup. Pics here and here on my Dutch blog.

[markemorse]

I won't post the dishes now because there's a good chance that one of the guests will be reading this thread and I don't want to spoil it for him   

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Call me predictable...I was just about to warn you not to say anything else...

[isomer]

Great thread.

I've been on a "comfort foods of the world" kick for a while now. One of my favourite meals is Indian lentils (sabat moong, or whole moong beans) and aromatic rice (patiala pullao):

For the rice, you can try this recipe by Julie Sahni. It's my favourite.

For the moong beans, simmer about a cup of beans in 4 cups of water with 1 tsp turmeric and some salt. It takes about 45 minutes for them to become soft, and for some of them to break down and make a bit of a sauce.

When the beans are ready, make a tadka, or aromatic oil mixture and pour it on the moong beans to season them.

Heat some oil, then put in 1 tsp cumin seads. when they turn dark (10 seconds or so), put in a thinly sliced onion and brown it. Then a garlic clove and some ginger, followed a minute later by some ground corriander seeds. Pour the whole mixture onto the moong beans, along with 2 tsp garam masala and some fresh chopped cilantro leaves, and let it sit for a few minutes before stiring it together.

Serve the beans with the rice, and some indian pickle on the side (I like lemon pickle or mango pickle).

A truly delicious vegetarian meal.