One Arab Vegan

Vegan Rogan Josh with Butternut Squash, Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Greetings all! I hope everyone is having a great Monday – I’m currently sipping on some juice trying to recover from what was a truly horrific exam this morning. My fingers are blistered (I’m one of those people who really likes to write with conviction), I have a headache and am running on about 4 hours sleep. But enough of my first world problems.

How about a delicious, vegan, Indian meal that (supposedly) comes together in 30 minutes?

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If you know anything about Jamie Oliver and his sometimes slightly overzealous mission to change the way we eat , you’ll know that this past Saturday was International Food Revolution Day – pretty great initiative, which you can learn more about here .

Anyways, in honour of the day, a full blown Jamie Oliver marathon took over TV – and I managed to catch a run down of some of his favourite meals from his show and accompanying book Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. Of course these meals are hardly ever vegan – hell they’re hardly ever vegetarian, but good old Jamie is never one to scrimp on veggies or salad in a meal so I’m always thoroughly entertained when watching his shows. Imagine my surprise when his number one 30 minute meal was an almost vegan curry, swimming with butternut squash, cauliflower and chickpeas, served with an easy lemon pickle, and a spicy carrot and coriander salad.

You just know I was scribbling down ingredients on a post-it furiously.

I gathered the appropriate ingredients, informed the roommate that dinner would be an express Indian feast and set the clock.

 

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Vegan Rogan Josh with Butternut Squash, Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Serves 4-6

For the curry:

  • 2 red onions
  • 1/2 a medium butternut squash
  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 1 fresh red chilli (optional)
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • A bunch of fresh coriander
  • ½ a jar of Rogan Josh paste (I used the Patak’s brand as recommended by Jamie, which was coincidentally the only dairy-free paste I could find)
  • 1 can of chickpeas or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpea
  • Two large handfuls baby spinach
  • 1 500g tub of plain soy yoghurt
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tsp coconut oil or cooking oil of choice/vegetable stock

Rice:

Jamie includes clove scented basmati rice with this but I served it with my lemon and coriander quinoa .
Optional Extras:
He also includes store bought chapatis (jazzed up with olive oil and turmeric before heating) and poppadoms.
Peel and slice the onions, add to a large pan with the cooking oil and a little water or stock over high heat. Chop the butternut squash into 1 cm chunks with the skin on and add to pan. Trim the cauliflower and chop roughly into bite-sized chunks then add to the pan. Finely chop the red chili and a large handful of coriander (with the stalks) and add to the pan along with the crushed garlic and a generous splash of boiled water.
Add half a jar of Rogan Josh paste, chickpeas with reserve water (if using canned) or cooking water. Season well with salt, pepper and additional chili powder if you so desire and cover to cook “hard and fast, stirring occasionally”.

I cooked mine for a total of 35 minutes until the veg was tender and cooked through but not mushy, checking periodically to stir and add more water (use your kitchen intuition).

Right before serving, add the spinach to wilt and serve with a few generous spoonfuls of yoghurt stirred in.

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carrot-salad

 

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 Carrot Salad

Serves 4

  • A handful of flaked almonds
  • 6 medium carrots
  • 1 fresh red chilli
  • 1/2 a large bunch of fresh coriander
  • A 2cm piece of fresh ginger
  • 1 lemon

Toast the almonds in a small pan on medium heat until golden and set aside. Wash and trim carrots, then grate in a food processor using the course grater attachement, along with the chili (deseeded) and ginger and half the coriander. Tip into a serving bowl and dress with extra virgin olive oil (and no in case you’re wondering I’m never as liberal as Jamie is with this stuff, a little goes a long way in a salad dressing), lemon juice, and about 2 tsp of lemon zest. Toss well, then sprinkle with toasted almonds and the remaining coriander leaves.

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I already feel a little unfair posting these two recipes since they are from his book and I haven’t really changed much, so I won’t bother with the lemon pickle (although if you desperately want it you can e-mail me). From start to finish it took me about 56 minutes, so not quite the quick meal I was expecting – but all things considered I think I did pretty well!

And even though it was slightly a “cheat” in that I used store bought curry paste (which I’d usually steer clear of) – I have to say, this was one tasty meal.

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The roommate totally agreed, despite the slightly toastier than intended chapatis. Some instagram snaps from last night:

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And the best thing about it? Leftovers galore meant I barely had to cook today – much appreciated considering my zombie like state right now.

We all know I love my Indian food, but I tend to stick to tried and tested favourites when it comes to curries. Needless to say this will definitely be added to my repertoire of easy vegan Indian dishes along with my beloved Chana Masala and curry cupcakes.

Nothing like a bit of shameless recipe plugging to end the day

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