One of the many reasons why I love Indian food is the great abundance of vegetarian recipes. I mean genuine vegetarian recipes. Not the usual "Oh no! My mate's girlfriend is a vegetarian so what shall I cook? I know! I'll replace the beef with a bit of tofu! Sorted!" No, no, no no no! A chilli con carne with soya is not a chilli con carne. It's a chilli con soya. Right?
Not so with Indian food - this is the real deal.
Spinach kofta goes really well with yesterday's easy red curry sauce. Full-flavoured, wonderfully textured - you will not miss the meat, I assure you. Guaranteed or your money (5 zloty) back.
Koftas are balls! Meat balls are found in many cuisines. Vegetarian balls, less so.
Serves: 4
Total cost of koftas: 1.15 zl
Total cost of meal with spinach koftas, sauce and rice: 2.15 zl (44 UK pence, 68 US cents, 1 Bulgarian Lev)
What you need:
- 200g of spinach
- 2.5 tablespoons of gram (besan) flour - that's chickpea flour
- 1.5 tablespoons of rice flour
- 1-2 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 1-2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Let's rock!
1. Get the flours ready in a bowl. Chickpea flour adds body and protein to the dish. Rice flour adds a lightness and crispiness to the frying and finish.
2. Chop up the spinach
3. Add to the flour
4. Finely chop the chilli by quartering lengthways and keeping on the stem. Then dice across.
5. Bash the garlic under the blade of your chef's knife once - this will help you remove the skin quickly. Then mince with a fine grater.
6. Add the chillies and minced garlic to the bowl along with the coriander, garam masala and salt.
7. DON'T add any water! Instead, scrunch the mixture with your hand until you form a dough - this process releases water from the spinach which is enough to form a nice softish dough.
8. Make ping-pong sized balls and deep fry on medium heat
9. When they start to lightly brown, turn up the heat to full and blast for around 1 minute. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
10. Enjoy!
Cost:
- spinach: 2 zl
- chillies, garlic and spices: 0.40 zl
- flour: 0.20 zl
- oil: 2 zl
Total: 4.60
Serves: 4
Total per person: 1.15 zl
This is really simple to make and goes really will with Indian koftas (balls!). I don't make meat kofta's (more on that later) but I really love experimenting with vegetarian versions (of which there are many, most of India being vegetarian...). You could also use this as the base for simple meat or chicken curries too, so it's a really cool recipe to have in the old repertoire.
Enough for 4 meals
Total cost per meal: 0.60 zl (12p UK, 77 Armenian Dram)
What we need:
- 1 tin of tomatoes (blended)
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 1 inch ginger (minced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala (homemade, naturally)
- 1 tsp deggi mirch (Kashmiri red chilli powder)
Kashmiri red chilli powder is considered by Indians to be mild and is used mainly to impart a vivid red colour to a dish. However, personally I find it does have a bit of a kick as well, so if you're using this then you might want to use 1/2 tsp instead. If you can't get hold of Kashmiri red chilli then substitute by using 1/3 tsp chilli powder and 2/3 tsp paprika. If you don't want it hot at all, just use paprika - then it's nice and kid-friendly.
Let's boogie!
1. Prep the ingredients and whizz up the tomatoes, ready for later. Do the ginger and garlic in a fine grater.
2. Heat up a pan. A little oil. Wait till hot. Onions in. Turn down to a low medium-heat. Add a couple of pinches of salt to help bring out the juices from the onions and cook them faster.
3. When they start to brown slightly (after around 10 minutes), add the ginger-garlic paste. Cook out the rawness (30 seconds)
4. Spices in!
5. Saute for a few seconds.
6. Tomatoes in. Cover. Turn down heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.
7. When the oil starts to slightly separate from the liquid and forms droplets in the sauce, you know it's all done and just kill the heat.
8. That's it. You might want to add a little cream before serving - nice!
What did this cost?
- the tomatoes: 1.90 zl
- the onion, ginger and garlic: 0.30 zl
- the spices and the rest: 0.20 zl
Total: 2.40 zl
Good for 4 meals
Cost per meal: 0.60 zl
Not dumb! Dum!
Dum = steamed
Aloo = potato
Me very very likey spicy spicy!
Serves: 4
Total cost: 1.67 zl per person (34 UK pence, 2100 Cambodian Riel, 39 Euro cents)
This is a great little North Indian dish that you could even make to accompany a summer barbecue. Or not, as the case may be. If you like potatoes and spice, then you'll love this one!
You'll need:
- 750g small potatoes
- 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
- 1 inch of ginger (finely grated)
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp salt
- t tin of tomatoes (whizzed up)
- 100g thick natural yoghurt
- 50g cream
- 1 handful of dried fenugreek leaves (kasouri methi)
Serve with rice
Let's get on with it!
1. Scrub and soak the potatoes
2. Prick the potatoes a few times each
3. Get some vegetable oil heated up in a pan
4. Drain the potatoes, dry them on a tea towel and chuck them into the hot oil. Keep them moving around the pan to get them nicely coated with the oil. You'll need to fry them for around 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime, get your spices ready, chop up the onion and grate the ginger.
6. When the potatoes are nicely browned, take them out the pan but leave the oil in there. Drain off some excess oil - you'll need enough in there to sauté the onions - no more.
7. On a medium-low heat, get the onions in there and sauté for around 10 minutes till they reduce and just start to brown. Add the salt to speed up the onion cooking process.
8. When the onions are just browning, get the ginger in there! Cook out the rawness for around 30 seconds.
9. Spices in!
Whoah yea!
10. Tomatoes in!
11. Add the yoghurt one spoon at a time, mixing carefully before adding the next spoonful. This stops the yoghurt from curdling.
12. Potatoes in! Put the lid on. Simmer on the lowest possible heat for around 30 minutes.
13. When the potatoes are done, stir in a little cream
14. Add the fenugreek leaves by crushing between your palms over the pan
15. Enjoy!
What did this cost?
- 750g small potatoes: 0.75 zl
- onions, ginger: 0.20 zl
- spices: 0.20 zl
- tin of tomatoes: 1.90 zl
- yoghurt and cream: 2 zl
- rice: 1.60 zl
Total: 6.65 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 1.67 zl
Serves: 4
Total cost: 2.88 zl per person (59 UK pence, 3 Romanian Leu, 69 Euro cents)
The last in the barbecue series for now ....
This one is dead easy with straightforward simple flavours: rosemary and garlic. You could add other herbs too. I opted for simplicity and a clean taste.
You'll need:
- 8 chicken drums or 4 thighs and 4 drums
- 2 good sprigs of rosemary
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/3 tsp chilli powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- a good old glug of olive oil
- salt and pepper
Let's rock!
1. Skin and gash the chicken. Get the marinade ingredients ready
2. Chop up the garlic and run the rosemary sprigs through your fingers to release the leaves. Combine them in a bowl with an egg whisk which helps to blend the juice with the oil. "Rough up" the rosemary a bit by scrunching in your hand before adding to the bowl to release more flavour.
3. Marinade the chicken for several hours
4. Barbecue magic!
What did this cost?
- Chicken: 9zl
- The rosemary: 2 zl
- the rest: 0.50 zl
Total: 11.50 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 2.88 zl
A barbie makes a pretty good substitute for a tandoor ( a traditional Indian clay oven fired by hot coals) in terms of high temperatures and a smokey feel.
Don't worry about a bit of singeing and charcoal on the chicken! Contrary to what you might have read, it won't kill you. You won't get cancer and you won't die a horrible death. You will die of stress, working yourself to death in a job you hate driving over an hour to work and back every day in horrendous traffic jams wondering what it's all about. But that's a different story. Relatively speaking, the singed bits on the barbecued chicken are highly survivable. Back to the food.
This serves 4
Cost per person: 3.20 zl (65 UK pence, 60 Indian Rupees, 107 Albanian Lek)
It's an Indian classic from the Punjab region so you'll be needing some nice spices in there!
Start by making the garam masala from a previous posting.
Or just buy some from a shop! Cheat, why don't you! Because when you make you're own you know you get those full flavours and those aromas... Whoah! Yeah!
So, you'll need:
- 8 chicken drums or 4 thighs and 4 drums
- 1 onion
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 green chilli
- 1-2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp paprika (if you want it kid-friendly) or 1 tsp of chilli powder (if you want a little kick)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- small tub of thick yoghurt (around 200g)
Let's get stuck in!
1. Skin the chicken pieces and gash - this let's the flavours and spice penetrate the meat and give you those full flavours!
2. Whizz up the onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli in a coffee grinder until you've got a fine paste. Add to a bowl.
3. To this bowl, add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and add the chicken pieces. Work the marinade into the flesh with your hands. Massage that chicken!
4. Leave overnight in the fridge to marinade fully
5. Barbie! Barbie! Barbie!
6. It should take about 30 minutes - keep turning and make sure the chicken is safe to eat by skewering it all the way through and checking if there's no blood. No blood - that's good!
Enjoy!
What did this cost?
- Chicken: 9 zl
- Onion, ginger, garlic, chilli: 1.50zl
- Yoghurt and lemon: 2 zl
- Spices: 0.20 zl
Total: 12.70zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 3.20 zl
