Vegetarian Foods Archive

When I say Indian, its more Indian style as I wish to embrace the diversity of all the countries in the Indian Sub-Continent - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even the Maldives as they all embrace this way of cooking.  This is also in part to show respect to the many 'Indian' restaurateurs and take-aways  across Europe and the United Kingdom where the owners and workers are often of   Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage.  I make Curried Red Lentil Dal all the time, its part of my South Asian heritage, however I made this particular version of  Pigeon Pea Soup from Prashad's cookbook a couple of weeks back.    It does just look like a simple bowl of Red Dal, but its rather deceptive in appearance because once you take slurp of this soup you are hit first by the heady perfumed herbyness and then Boom - you taste the amazing spices - its really quite something special for some thing could easily be described as a peasant dish.   ...

It been an extremely busy week at work, so my blog post this evening will be short.  My evening dinner today is Pizza, don't diss me - its homemade pizza!  Check out my Instagram for the photograph, I promise you it will be very different from other pizzas you've seen. Right now though, I am sharing a fusion snack of Aloo Tikki Bagel .  I am constantly amazed at how much i eat is accidentally vegan.  Aloo Tikki is a South Asian snack made from spicy oniony mashed potatoes ( aloo ) that is shaped into cutlets or burger shapes, then coated in a spicy blend of chickpea batter and deep fried.  It important to eat it whilst it is still hot as that is when it is at its most deliciousness.   You can eat the Aloo Tikki as you wish, we and I mean my siblings would often stuff it in roti aka chappati slathered in tomato sauce, it had to be a red sauce to temper the spices, then rolled up like burrito and munched on.  These days I tend to either stuff it in...

I actually started writing this blog post when it was day four of snow.  It was when we had the  extraordinary weather starting with a blast of cold from Siberia which was dubbed as 'The Beast from the East' then followed quickly by blizzards, strong winds, drifting snow and a storm.  This was then followed by a rare phenomenon of freezing rain.    The snow outside our front door was just over 3 foot high. I think this may be the worse I have seen it in my adult life and made more difficult because we live in the valleys.    Then we saw more snow this weekend which left us stuck at home as the roads were treacherous to drive on.  And apparently  that is not the end, as I have heard that Easter weekend welcomes a a cold Arctic blast from Scandinavia. I cannot wait for Spring to properly start.  All I can say is Thank goodness for having dried goods and some stuff in our little freezer.   This is not a sponsored blog post ...

The first of many homegrown marrows and because the accepted stereotype of South Asian girls is that 'we' all make a mean curry, I thought I would not disappoint. But the truth is, everyone these days claims to make an awesome 'curry'.  I am honestly not one of those people.  I have made a  vegan Marrow Curry with Chickpeas  in this past, but this one is rich and buttery, that even my mother would approve.  I love fenugreek and when I saw it being sold at the market, I could not resist its distinct fragrant.  I am pleased I picked it up as it enhanced the plainness of the marrow curry.  I am sharing this with  The Veg Hog   who is hosting  #EatYourGreens Vegetarian and Vegan Blog challenge  this month, please do join in there is plenty of time.     For those of you who have not participated before, please  Follow this link on how to join in .     Marrow Curry with Fenugreek Serves 4 - 6...

Everybody seems to be going crazy for black chickpeas which surprises me.  Black chickpeas are a staple in many South Asian homes.  Black chickpeas are known as kala channa  or  kala cholay.     I've never featured black chickpeas on my blog for two reasons.  My family, either my mother or sister in laws make it for me when I go over and its not that often, so its hearty humble vegetarian food for my belly and secondly,  I find its time consuming to soak the black chickpeas overnight and then cook it slowly - when its mostly me eating them, as D is not that keen on them.  It is worth cooking from scratch  though as the flavour is completely different to the traditional chickpea.  Black chickpeas are more nutty.  So it was interesting to try some black chickpeas that come ready cooked in a tin. I've a few original black chickpea recipe ideas up my head, but this time I wanted to keep it simple and true to my heritage and...