Indian recipes

[maciascl]

Until about a week ago I had never had real Indian food But now that I have I am obsessed with it, especially the eggplant. However there is no money for takeout right now. Does anyone have recipes they can suggest?

[CherryBomb]

I love sweet potato curry, mmmm. Saag paneer or palak paneer is great, too, a little more involved since you have to make a simple cheese (and idk if it would work if soymilk or whatever if you don't do dairy). I would try searching for "easy indian recipes," that's what I usually do. Not 100% authentic, but taste yummy and I can usually make it from stuff around the house.

[Amatullah0]

dh is pakistani, we cook a lot of indo pak food here)

the eggplant we make is:
egg plants 2
Onions 2 (small) or one 1o
tomato 2
Yougurt 1 cup

Roast the eggplants on the stove... for about 10 min or until they thy are black.. then take off their skin with either knife or with hands.. put em in a bowl and mash em... (i usually put them in the oven or microwave until they are soft like baked potatoes)

now in a cooking pan.. pour oil(i like to use real ghee), fry onions in the oil till they are light brown..then add tomatoes and green chillies, salt, red pepper, cumin, then cook em for about 2-3 mins and add mashed eggplants and cook for about 5 min then add yougurt and let it cook with the lid on until the water or yougurt it dried..cook it on low heat, then spead chopped up green corriander or parsley on the top.

this recipe is from my SIL, i also like to use desicookbook.com or http://www.angelfire.com/country/fau...egetarian.html

[GoGoGirl]

Mutter paneer is my all time favorite Indian food. Now that I'm mostly vegan, I've been playing around with some vegan versions (they replace the homemade cheese with tofu). My favorite so far is from Vegan Dad.

We love the Samosa Wraps from Fat Free Vegan, too. They might not be authentic, but they're super healthy and delicious.

[SubliminalDarkness]

We make a lot of Indian food, too. DH is also from Pakistan, and Indian is one of the few types of vegetarian food that he finds palatable.

I really like this site: http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/

I think the eggplant dish you mean is baingan bharta. I really like it, too, but i find the name hilarious.

I also really like palak paneer and mushroom with peas. Of course, I actually like just about all of it. So.... Yea.

[Otto]

I may have posted this before, but a curry of chickpeas, eggplant, and spinach is an easy and classic entry in the North Indian repertoire. (Substitute half-and-half garlic and onion powder, or a base of well-browned onions and garlic, if the asafoetida isn't available.)

[catnip]

I make no claims to authenticity of this, but it's cheap, yummy, filling, and uses what are pantry staples around here:

Saute a chopped onion in about a tbs of olive oil until translucent, add 2 heaping teaspoons of curry powder. (I use a milder one and less when I'm feeding my daughter, but this is more often the dinner we choose when she's at grandma's)

Stir about a minute, you want it to be really fragrant before adding 1 can coconut milk (I use light, because the full fat is too rich for my taste in this) and then another can-full of water. Add 1 cup dry red lentils.

Simmer 15 minutes. Stir in a half pound of fresh or frozen spinach, chopped up, and a cup of frozen peas. Add a handful of raisins, a couple cloves of fresh garlic, and about 3/4 tsp of salt.

Serve over couscous, rice or quinoa, topped with chopped almonds.

[SilverFish]

you need to start with the spices... everything else can be switched out without making a huge difference.

onion, garlic, tumeric, cumin, coriander and garam masala are the base level of any north indian dish. use ghee, or any kind of veggie oil you have on hand.

throw in whichever combo of veg and lentil/bean you like (classic combos are potato and cauliflower/pea/spinach, chickpea, red lentils etc)

add tomato, milk (coconut or dairy)

flavour with salt and chili

that is your basic indian veg dish. there are so many variations on spices and ingredients, but it's a good place to start.

[germin8]

I just made Palak Tofu, and it was very good!
However, paneer would go best with this recipe than tofu.

And, I like Moosewood's Eggplant, Red Pepper, & Spinach Curry. Recipe in cookbook calls for apple juice or coconut milk. I've made it with both, and apple juice is best.

[greenmama]

I recommend Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, India is well represented in this cookbook, although there is a good representation of most eastern countries. Madhur is originally from India herself.