Pav Bhaji.

Indian cravings call for a spicy mashed vegetable curry (bhaji) served with "buttered" bread (pav). Pav Bhaji is a popular street food in Mumbai which is a potato based curry that is mashed up with a variety of veggies, spices and tomato until it becomes thick and saucy. I like to leave some of the vegetables chunky in mine. The recipe I use calls for cauliflower as one of the ingredients but I didn't have any so I used a 1/2 bag of "mixed vegetables including lima beans" that I found in my freezer. Worked in a pinch with the potatoes and 1/2 bell pepper I had. The curry is eaten with buttered buns which I didn't have (shame!) so I made do with pita breads spread with Earth Balance vegan margarine. I served it with mango ginger chutney, chopped red onion and a squeeze of lemon. This was SO DELICIOUS. I have to remember next time not to wear a white shirt when eating this!

Here's a link to the recipe. Don't forget to sub Earth Balance for the butter!

Kidney Bean Curry

Indian curry tonight! I used a channa masala recipe but substituted kidney beans for the chickpeas. Deliciousness!

Indian in less than an hour.

Check out this lovely plate of food. My co-worker Cynthia and I were talking indian food at work and we got so hungry and inspired that we decided to go to my house and make what you see here. I made the red lentil dal and mint chutney and Cynthia made the saag aloo (spinach and potatoes). It all turned out delicious and was so quick to make. It was really just throwing everything in a pot and letting it simmer. In case you're wondering, the mint chutney was made with Tofutti sour cream instead of yogurt.

Mock Chicken Salad Sandwich and Dal Makhani

This was a quick lunch during the week. Mashed chickpeas combined with vegan mayo, celery, carrot, a touch of mustard, garlic powder and onion powder makes a delicious salad filling. I livened up the whole thing with a layer of Piccalilli relish.


I got the recipe for this tasty vegan Dal Makhani from the Holy Cow blog. It's sooo yummy! I used Earth Balance margarine and plain soymilk in mine for creaminess. I ate it with lavash bread instead of rice. Can't wait to make this again. Recipe is posted here.

Nepali food, Indian food and cake.

Lunch today was this beautiful plate of Nepali food, namely the moong dal (split mung bean soup) in the little bowl and the hot and fiery tomato achaar (chutney) which you can see on the rice. The Indian element of my meal is the alu matar (potatoes and peas) which was the perfect curried accompaniment to the rice and soup. Just can't get enough of this good stuff.


This is a closeup of the roasted tomato hot and spicy achaar. It's basically roasted tomatoes, green chiles, garlic blended into a puree and combined with fresh garlic, ginger, timbur (szechuan pepper), salt, fenugreek and red chili. The recipe is from the book "Taste of Nepal" which I highly recommend!


This is a boiled raisin "depression era" cake that I've made before. This time I used brown sugar and added orange blossom water and cardamom.

Nepali dinner.

I was in the mood for Nepali food tonight so out came my Taste of Nepal cookbook. First up, Moong Daal (yellow split mung beans) with red chilies, lots of ginger and garlic! It's a must to eat daal with rice. Sorry for the really bad photos, they seem to be super yellow!


It's good to have a curry to go along with your daal and rice. I made this mixed vegetable curry which was missing potatoes because I totally forgot that I had some! Too late. But this is still very good. Made with mixture of spices: timbur (szechuan peppercorns), fenugreek, garam masala, turmeric, asafetida and cumin.


While everything was cooking, I whipped up the No-Cook Tomato Achaar (chutney). It has fresh tomatoes, garlic, fresh ginger, timbur (szechuan pepper), hot green chilis, salt and lemon juice. The best way to eat this is to generously pour it all over your plate on top of the daal, rice and curry!

Baked Tofu Sandwich, TVP Indian Curry and Banana Split Tea Bread

I made this sandwich last week using delicious baked tofu. Toast some whole grain bread, throw on some Vegenaise, lettuce, tomato and you've got a great lunch. Soy or tempeh bacon and avocado would be great additions as well.


Experimented with TVP chunks again to make this simple indian curry with kale and potatoes. It was so good on jasmine rice. I don't use TVP often so this was a nice treat.


This is the banana split tea bread recipe from Vegan Planet. It's so colorful and has bananas, walnuts, chocolate chips, cherries and coconut (my addition). It baked up beautiful but because of my wonky oven, it was a little underdone even though I checked it with a toothpick and it came out clean! WTH?


Thankfully the underdone bits are more "mushy banana" tasting rather than "uncooked batter" tasting.

Thai Delicious.

I had a small pumpkin, a container of tofu, a bag of spinach, a can of Thai green curry paste and coconut milk. The perfect combination of ingredients for this fiery green curry. I loved the pumpkin in it. I'm loving fall. Bring on the pumpkins!


My mom made this mung bean noodles and veggie stir fry especially for me. How sweet! It was so good!

Thai Green Curry with Somen Noodles

This mouthwatering bowl of green curry on somen noodles was my dinner last night. Rich and creamy, fiery with a hint of sweetness. I love making this. My basic recipe is here. I switch up the veggies depending on what i have. Last night I used firm tofu, butternut squash, red and yellow peppers and cremini mushrooms. I also added kaffir lime leaves to replace the lime juice. This was delicious on somen noodles, aka "kanom jean" in Thai.

Brinjal Curry

I had some nice eggplants that needed to be used so I pulled out my favorite cookbook Olive Trees and Honey and made the Brinjal Curry recipe. It's a tasty curry of eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach and spices like cumin and mustard seeds. Went well with both rice and pita spread with dairy free margarine.

Taste of Nepal.

I love the simplicity of Nepali food. I've never been there but I'm in love with the food. I got this recipe for Black Urad Daal from a book called "Taste of Nepal". Cooked with fresh garlic, ginger, turmeric and szechuan pepper.


Potato, onion and tomato tarkaari. A delicious curry simply cooked in it's own juices and garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric and green chilies.

Channa Masala

Stayed in today. Even though it's gorgeous out, I felt the need to be domestic today. In between bouts of laundry, scrubbing the bathroom, vacuuming and watching Doctor Who on 'On Demand' (I needed to catch up on Series 5), I whipped up this beautiful curry for lunch. Very very good and filling. Can't wait to have more for supper! I always use this recipe.

Lentil Massaman Curry

I had a chunk of Thai massaman curry paste in the freezer that I wanted to use up so I made this beautiful curry that has lentils, eggplant, potatoes, red bell peppers and peas. This is dinner tonight paired with Thai jasmine rice.

Thai Massaman Curry

Made a quick curry tonight for dinner. I have so many tins of curry pastes in my pantry that I had to use. I picked massaman which has the wonderful flavors of coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, tamarind, lemongrass, galangal and red chilies. I cooked about 3/4 of a tin of paste with coconut milk, water, tofu, eggplant, potato and peas. Came together very quickly and super yummy on rice.

Channa Masala

When my husband is on his own for dinner, I like to make indian food for myself because he doesn't really care for it. I was excited to come home from work today to make my favorite channa masala recipe. I added peas to it and enjoyed it with rice and buttered pita bread (Earth Balance margarine). 'Twas delicious. Recipe to be found here.

Nepalese Style Daal, Alu Matar and Achar

Yesterday I visited my dear cousin and her family. Her husband is Nepalese and he made the most beautiful lunch of lentil daal, vegetable curry and a fiery tomato achar which is a pickle that is served alongside the food. He packed for me a little container of achar to go. I was very excited to eat it again so I made a few things to eat with it.


This daal was based on this recipe that I found at Food-Nepal.com. I did not have any other kind of lentils like black lentils or yellow so I used green/brown. I could have used red but I wanted to see if the green lentil would work. I didn't have a couple of the spices like jimbu and asafetida either. I'm sure that the use of these would have made the daal more authentic. The step at the end where you fry the chiles, garlic and onions, I added a teaspoon of black mustard seed. I fried them in olive oil instead of ghee which is clarified butter which I do not eat.


This is the alu matar (potatoes and peas) from 'The Flavors of India' cookbook. I thought since a lot of the spices and flavors are similar to Nepalese cooking, I'd enjoy this with the daal and achar.


A beautiful feast. My cousin's achar is in the little bowl in front. I don't remember what's in it (except for roasted tomatoes!) but it's very special and very spicy! I have to ask for the recipe one day.

Edited to add: I found a tomato achar recipe here.
I don't know if it's the same as my cousin's recipe but a lot of the spices/flavors seem right.

Channa Masala and Peas Pillau

I was going to crack open 1,000 Vegan Recipes again tonight for dinner but felt a strong pull towards Indian food. I haven't made channa masala in a while so I gave into it. I paired it with peas pillau from Flavors of India cookbook and called it dinner. Delicious!

Thai "Kanom Jean" Spicy Red Curry

Yeah baby. This was exactly what I was in the mood for tonight. A fiery red curry with soft tender vegetables and tofu, flavored with coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass atop a mound of "Kanom Jean", aka somen noodles. If I hadn't run out of somen noodles, I would have eaten much more! I ate two bowls for the record. It had broccoli, tofu, mushroom, red bell pepper and frozen butternut squash that had cooked down into a pulpy meltingly tender mush. It gave the curry a great texture.

Basic curry for "Kanom Jean" (Lemongrass and lime leaves can be found at Thai grocers or online.)

Somen noodles aka "Kanom Jean"
2 TB canola oil
2 TB Thai red curry paste
2 15oz. cans of coconut milk
2-3 cups water (use less for creamier curry, more for less creamy)
6-7 kaffir lime leaves
3-1" pieces of lemongrass
Assorted chopped vegetables: broccoli florets, mushrooms, red peppers, butternut squash cubes, carrots etc.
mushroom soy sauce
1-1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. rhizome powder
7 oz. firm tofu cut into 1" cubes

Cook somen noodles according to package directions. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pot and add curry paste. Cook for a few minutes then add coconut milk, water and vegetables. Bring to a boil and add lemongrass, lime leaves, mushroom soy sauce to taste, sugar and rhizome powder. Lower heat and cook until vegetables are almost tender. Add tofu and simmer until vegetables are done. Serve over cooked somen noodles. Note: Do not eat lemongrass and lime leaves. You can pick them out if you want but I just eat around them. :)

A note about Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime Leaves: These items can be kept in the freezer. I have a small bag of lime leaves and lemongrass cut into 1" pieces that I keep in the freezer and only use what I need. They go straight into the cooking pot frozen!

Lentil Dal and Alu Matar

Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines. Today I made two dishes: Red Lentil Dal (adapted ppk recipe) and Alu Matar from "Flavors of India" cookbook.

Rice Casserole

Another warm and comforting casserole for a chilly day. I've made this before. It's the "Potato and Chickpea Curry with Rice" recipe from Vegetarian Times. It's so easy to throw a bunch of things in a dutch oven or covered casserole and bake for an hour. I made 1/3 of the recipe and added green beans and eggplant to my casserole and served it with sauteed garlicky kale. I should have doubled the amount of eggplant in it because they shrunk to almost nothing! But still, this was really yummy.