Persuasive vegetarian indian food

seraphina

The green pepper and potato curry will serve two of us with rice, or will go three ways if we have rice + another veggie dish (we often find samosas etc in the tesco Reduced aisle). However it's easy to double the quantities or even more - I've used 1 kg of spuds and 4 peppers to make party-sized versions before.

Bongedone

Excellent. That is perfect as there are two of us.

Burlesque_Babe

How about a paneer and chick pea curry? Paneer is an Indian cheese (as long as you both eat dairy) and can be bought in a block in a box in the supermarket.

Cube it and cook with a tin of chick peas, then onion, peppers, garlic, ginger, spinach and the curry spices.

Magentasue

I've gone off rice over the years - well, savoury rice, anyway. I prefer a naan bread with curry.

belfastgirl23

Thank you all so much for the suggestions and i'm glad other people are finding this useful as well! I like the suggestion to use breads and have been off investigating my panny to see if it will cook these breads - alas not but I think there are offers from time to time so I will search them out! He is very partial to garlic nan but it doesn't exactly fit the 'healthy' criteria

I also really like the idea of chutneys etc since I do like the sweet side of Indian food so this is a perfect way to meet both our tastes! I will be interested to try the cauli rice as well although I will have to come up with another name for it since even the word rice will make it inedible for him :rolleyes: - I have sympathy with his dislike of sweet things and creamy things since this is really how he is (which explains his natural slimness!) but I do view the rice as an affectation!

Tomorrow I shall go to the indian food store and stock up on the spices and try one of the recipes on Tuesday since I'm off!

And if he doesn't like it, I will let him be believe me I long ago gave up on changing him! I do think he will genuinely like the food if I can just find the right thing that meets his criteria, he likes hot food much more than I do and is very keen on pulses etc, it's just about me working around the other issues.

Thank you all again for the suggestions!

Zoomer

Cauliflower dhal.
Will convert anyone - guarantee it!!

2tbsps madras (or any) curry paste fried with one sliced onion for 5 mins.
Add in a diced sweet potato and the seeds of about 8 cardomon pods and cook for another 5 mins.
Add in 200g of green lentils (or red if you want a more mushy consitancy) and 750ml of stock. Cook for about twenty mins. Add in a head of cauliflower broken into florets and continue cooking until the cauli is cooked.
Serve with naan and a glass of Cobra.

Gingernutmeg

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the suggestions and i'm glad other people are finding this useful as well! I like the suggestion to use breads and have been off investigating my panny to see if it will cook these breads - alas not but I think there are offers from time to time so I will search them out! He is very partial to garlic nan but it doesn't exactly fit the 'healthy' criteria

You'd definitely be able to make the dough in a breadmaker - you could do a wholemeal (or half wholemeal/half white) dough and add a bit of crushed garlic, then roll it into a naan bread shape and bake it. You could brush it with a bit of melted butter just before you bake it to get the taste (or even after, if you wanted a softer bread) but it'd still probably be healthier than shop-bought. Chapati and things like that are dead easy to make at home (even without a breadmaker), they're lovely if you use wholemeal flour and a great alternative to rice.

MrsE_2

I'm a massive Jamie fan, since Ministry of Food.

His curries are fab, there is a recipe for a Veg curry in it.

Spendless

what about saag (spinach) or saag aloo (spinach and potatoes) as a veggie side dish alternative to rice.

Debt_Free_Chick

I've also gone off rice in recent years. For chinese/thai I have noodles. For Indian I have bread.

Chapati is very quick and easy to make and really not worth using the BM as it's unleavened. It only takes 30 mins from "thought" to "eat".

I was vegetarian for 7 years and much preferred Indian food to any other - you're right, it's very, very veggie friendly and very easy to make from scratch. Ideal for using up left-overs and other odd bits of veg that are past their best - although good Indian food also deserves good, fresh ingredients.

Google has loads of indian recipes, but Indian food is very forgiving if you improvise or experiment. You can substitute one veg for another; and the same with spices. I'm currently alone and living on Tarka Dal!

Get stuck in - don't rigidly stick to any recipes and substitute the things you/OH don't like.

Good luck