Indian Night: Open-faced Samosas and Vegan Cashew Creamed Spinach

I love Indian food.  Indulge my repetition: I LOOOOOVE Indian food.

If you were looking at me right now you’d be pretty convinced that I’m not of Indian heritage. At all.  Annnnnnd… you’d be right!  I have, however, for the last 5 years or so years been looking for a surrogate Indian mom to teach me how to cook traditional vegetarian Indian dishes. (No offence, real mom, but you’re not Indian either.)  My neighbors growing up were Greek, so Saag Paneer there.  My childhood girlfriends were Italian and Finnish, so no dal there.  In recent years I’ve considered trying to date men with good-cooking vegetarian Indian moms, but decided it could get awkward if I spent more time with boyfriend’s mom than boyfriend.

So I’m taking this yak by the horn.  I’ve signed up for an Indian (Ayurvedic, actually) cooking course and have begged my (non-Indian) friend Poundcake to hook me up with her old boss who I understand is a terrific Indian cook and a vegetarian to boot!  I’m looking to help her cook and in return she’d let me help her cook.  I’ll even do dishes.

This past weekend I tried my well-read but unapprentised Indian-cooking hand at an open-faced samosa (a chickpea wrap filled with a potato, chickpea, and green pea curry) and a vegan creamed spinach that I “creamed” with the extra cashews I had on hand from my trip to Trader Joes and left over from my Mango Cashew Stir-fry.

The results are in:

The Li’l Sis said, in a rather blasé way: “This is good, Ness.”  When I questioned her lack of enthusiasm she explained: “my tummy hurts.”  And then “I ate too much.”

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.  The following vanesscipes are so yummy they make you eat too much! I had some neighbors over too, and they clearly enjoyed their meal but declined to comment because I think they’re afraid that I’ll misquote them or something.  Or maybe they just overate as well.

Serves: 4
Time: 90 minutes

Potato, Chickpea and Green Pea Curry

3 large or 4 small potatoes
peanut oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ inch of ginger, minced
2 jalapeno, minced
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
8 oz can tomato sauce or 3 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 cups frozen green peas
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp garam masala
¾ tsp salt
chopped cilantro to top

Start by boiling the whole potatoes.  Just cover them with water and bring to a low boil for about a half hour.  After the potatoes are cooked I like to run them under cold water so they’re easier to handle and peel off their skins.  Dice the potatoes into ¾ inch cubes.

Meanwhile you can mince the garlic, ginger and jalapenos and measure out the cumin and mustard seeds onto a saucer so it’s easy to add later.

Heat a little oil into a large skillet/wok and sauté the onion for a few minutes over medium-high heat and then add the ginger and garlic and cook for another few minutes. Push the onion mix to the sides of the wok and add a little more oil and let it heat up a minute.  Toss in the seeds and quickly stir until popping and fragrant but not burnt.

Add the tomatoes, potatoes, chickpeas, frozen peas, and the rest of the spices and salt.  Heat until warmed through.

Serve a scoopful in a Chickpea Pancake, chopped cilantro, hot sauce and a bottle of mango chutney.  Serve the Cashew Creamed Spinach on the side.

Vegan Cashew Creamed Spinach

1 cup cashews
¾ cup soy milk
¼ lemon, juiced
peanut oil
½ regular sized onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ inch of ginger, minced
2 packages of frozen spinach
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ garam masala
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt

Start by making the cashew cream: put the cashews, soy milk and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth (make sure the lid is on!)

Sauté the onion for a few minutes in peanut oil over medium-high heat in a large pan and then add the ginger and garlic and cook for another few minutes.

Add the frozen spinach, cashew cream, spices and salt and heat over medium until the spinach is heated through.

Chickpea Pancakes

2 cups Chickpea flour
1 1/2 cups Water
1 tsp Salt
spray oil

In a large bowl, mix the flour, water and salt to make the batter. 

Make these pancakes just like you’d make breakfast pancakes (though the batter should be a touch thinner): heat a small skillet and spray with a light coat of oil.  Cook on medium about 1-2 inches on each side.  You can tell they’re ready to flip if the spatula easily slides underneath without wrinkling up the batter.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Pasta, Pizzas, & Grains, Stovetop & Skillet, Any Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.