Saturday 1 October 2016

Menu: Indian Menu from 1000 Vegan Recipes (Father's Day 2016 Edition)

Due to business with the BrisVeganFest and Sydney and Brisbane OzComicCon, we had to delay Father's Day celebrations for a few weeks. My dad loves Indian food, so I decided to pull out 1000 Vegan Recipes for the first time in a while and make the Indian menu from there. I did leave off the Vegetable Pakoras and the Mint Coconut Chutney, just from a time and stove top space perspective. But the meal itself was still pretty great!

Potato Samosas: The dough for these samosas gave me the worst time. It was way too sticky using the amount of water called for, and no matter how much flour I added it never really went right. There was no rolling and cutting the dough. There was smooshing out rounds of dough and trying to fill them and close them the best I could. The recipe said it makes 4 samosas, but these would have been huge! As it is I got six, and they were pretty big. The filling is delicious, but I only needed half of it to fill them. I fried them, a little, then finished them in the oven. They were really big, and the pastry was pretty stodgy. We discovered they were best to eat with your hands rather than cutting them up, just pick them up and take a big bite, then you got a nice mix of filling and pastry. I also had one cold the next day, which was really good.
Rating: :| - :) because of pastry issues but still pretty nice.


Potato Samosas


Tamarind Sauce: As I wasn't making the mint chutney, I served the samosas with Tamarind Sauce. This was delicious! Drinkable, really. It is based on tamarind, dates and spices. I soaked my dates in the water for a bit first to soften, and then I was able to easily blend this smooth using my handheld blender rather than having to dirty my big blender. This is so quick and easy to make, bu was delicious. Perfect with the samosas.
Rating: :D

Tamarind Sauce


Indian-Style Pizza: This is a version of uttappam, a savoury pancake based on yoghurt and semolina flour. The recipe makes 2 servings, but I split the batter into thirds initially, rather than half, because there were three of us. After cooking up the first pizza using a third of the batter, I knew there was no way we could all eat something of that size plus all the other things. These are a meal on their own! So with the remaining batter I made three smaller ones so we could each have a cute little personal sides uttappam along with everything else. I served it with coconut sambal (from Vegan Without Borders), jarred mango chutney and coriander.
Rating: :)

Indian-Style Pizza


Three Lentil Dal: This was meant to have green, brown and red lentils. But I couldn't find any brown lentils so I used yellow split peas in their place. I had to add more water during the cooking time to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan and to get the lentils all nice and soft. It has a subtle flavour, but was good proper comfort dal.
Rating: :)

Three Lentil Dal


Mango Lassi: This wasn't an official part of the menu, but it seemed like a fun and easy addition. Vanilla yoghurt, mango and soy milk. I used frozen mango, which made for a lovely thick drink. I skipped adding ice cubes and needed to add a bit extra milk!
Rating: :)

Mango Lassi


A table and plate full of Indian deliciousness!

Indian Menu


Indian Menu


Paradise Pudding: The meal finishes with a sweet dessert, and this was wonderful. It is based on semolina, and gets really thick. I used a blend of mango and pineapple juice, and is also has pineapple chunks, sultanas (meant to be golden raisins but I didn't have any) and roasted cashews. It was a hot day, and I had made these that morning, so we enjoyed these cold straight out of the fridge. Really great.
Rating: :D

Paradise Pudding


Bonus photo! Remember that first Indian-Style Pizza I made that was too big to serve? I wrapped it in foil and popped it in the fridge. The next day I made it into an actual pizza for lunch. I topped it with a yoghurt and tamarind base, then baby spinach and roasted cashews, then Daiya Smoked Gouda cheese. After it came out of the oven, I topped it with leftover coconut sambal and mango chutney. SO GOOD!

Indian-Style Pizza Pizza!


(% 1000 Vegan Recipes blogged: 27.9%)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Sahara in bed


Sahara's preferred sleeping position at night is between my legs. Terrible for my lower back, but delightfully snuggly and who am I to say no to her?

10 comments:

  1. Everything looks so delicious! I love samosas, but I've always been scared to try and make them myself. That pizza you made looks and sounds delicious! Afro sleeps in between my legs as well. I can't resist either.

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    1. The pizza was delicious, and very easy. A lot less fiddly than making samosas!
      It is totally worth having a sore back in the morning if you have a kitty sleeping with you. ;)

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks! I was a bit sad not to make the pakoras as well, but we had more than enough food!

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  3. Everything looks great; the paradise pudding sounds delicious! :)

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    1. I was surprised how much I loved the pudding. I knew I would like it, but it was delicious.

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  4. I've never heard uttappam described as an indian pizza before. I think my husband got it once at a restaurant and it was made from lentils. He really loved it.

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    1. I've had it once at a restaurant, and this was my first time making it.

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  5. Ah samosas! Those are probably one of my favourite things ever. They are so good. It seems like a lot of work, I admire you for making your own.
    I've never had Indian style pizza, but it sounds delicious.
    I really wished we lived closer so we could cook for each other. I'm always drooling over all of your food.

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    1. Come to Seattle next year! We can at least eat out together. :D

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