Recipe Vegan Indian Curry

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Last Saturday at breakfast, you know that time when you are not awake enough to really remember what you did, I realised that we needed something to eat at my parents for lunch. It had to work with a regional 'dish' which we have pretty much every Saturday lunchtime if we are over at my parent's.... it had to work with Staffordshire oatcakes. These are very much like pancakes in a roundabout way... only made with ground oats/oatmeal and yeast. So I threw together what we class as the 'Indian' recipe to go with the oatcakes. Indian food works exceptionally well in Staffordshire oatcakes because they are similar to chapattis.

Now my problem is that my parent's rather liked the smell of the dish I took over, so had some (like most of it!). My problem is that today, they have asked for my recipe. It was a bung it recipe which consisted of more spices than anything else. In fact all it had in it was onions & chopped tomatoes, though normally I would add potatoes as well, but I didn't have any because it was shopping day and we were right out of them....

So I think the dish contained:

1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1/2 - 1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds (I'm out of black mustard seeds at the moment)
1 -2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp sweet noble paprika
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp hot chili powder (or to taste - this is not a hot dish honest)
1 - 2 tbsp tamarind concentrate (I didn't have time to make up my own from tamarind dates)
1 tsp Demerara sugar (or 10 - 15g palm sugar)
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander
2 onions chopped roughly
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 - 2 tsp tomato puree

Heat the oil, add the as Asafoetida, cumin seeds & yellow mustard seeds and wait until the seeds start popping before adding the onions. drop the heat slightly and cook the onions until they are soft. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, paprika, turmeric and chili powder stirring into the onions and cook for a moment or two then add the tomatoes & tomato puree and cook until the mixture has a soft, silken appearance - add water (no more than 200ml was needed I think) as needed to prevent sticking - suspect this was around 20-30 mins cooking time. Add the tamarind and then enough sugar to taste - hard to explain but I make like the tartness of tamarind but the sugar is needed to counter this and the tomatoes. Just before serving add the garam masala and chopped coriander.

I would normally add diced potatoes as well - not sure on the weight, it is really not that important to the recipe, guessing around 500g perhaps. these go in with the chopped tomatoes and some extra water which will simmer off, but not too much water.

So does that sound about right to anyone?

Guessing I will be repeating it either tomorrow or more likely this Saturday coming when we are over there again - I'm over there tomorrow as well but suspect I will be 'checking out' their spices because I know they will not have at least 2 of them (Asafoetida and tamarind concentrate)

 

[MyDigitalpoint]

Mmmm, sounds right to me, but definitely you must try it first to make sure is similar to that recipe your mom wants.

When one makes a recipe out of whatever it's at hand, it's unlikely that you can reproduce it with accuracy, but not impossible get done something close to the original from-scratch recipe.

 

[Sandra Piddock]

Sounds good! I would imagine it would work well with sweet potatoes and/or cauliflower as well. Believe it or not, there is a stallholder on a market out here that makes and sells Staffordshire Oatcakes. We often buy them, and have them with cheese and tomato for breakfast or a snack. I'll try something like your recipe next time we get some.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I repeated it today, only with a slight variation. Mushrooms & potatoes were added along with some curry leaves. Mum really likes it - came back for 2nd's! I don't think she has come across tamarind before and is quite taken by its flavour!

 

[Fiorabelle]

I agree, sometimes it's hard writing down a recipe if you make something off the top of your head and vary ingredients. Perhaps you could invite your mother to cook said dish with you, as it may be more beneficial to her than the recipe alone.