Vegan MoFo: Diwali Australian Style

This is a little belated, but in honour of Diwali (the Festival of Lights) being last week, I decided to have a go at making Jalebi.  Basically it's a batter that you use a piping bag for to make concentric circles or pretzel shapes in a frying pan, fried, drained, and then soaked in syrup. It worked out pretty well for the first attempt.  I really like the subtle saffron and cardamon flavoured syrup. I will give this another bash and try and get the finer circles that Indian cooks do so well. 

We got a box of new season mangoes quite cheaply from the fruit shop, and I decided to make a potato, spinach, coconut, and mango curry. I added some roasted macadamias (a nut native to Australia) instead of the more traditional Indian use of cashews or almonds. It was really yummy, and I'll make it again - if I can remember what I did, because I made it up as I went along!

Vegan MoFo: An Indian Feast from Scratch

Pappadums, Raita, Bhajis, and Fresh Mango Chutney

Can I just say... I didn't make this tonight! I made this a few weeks ago and just never got round to posting, partly because it was pretty dark to take decent photos. What I made was Butter Tofu, Onion and Spinach Bhajis, Fresh Mango Chutney, Naan, and pappadums. (You can just see the naan in the photo below behind the butter tofu). I made it all from scratch (except the pappadums, I just bought the ones you pop in the microwave) using the recipes out of a cookbook given to me by my sister-in- law Claire. It is my go to cookbook for anything remotely Indian, and the recipes always work out. You know how some books have recipes that require constant tweaking?  The book is Traditional Indian Cooking by Ramola Parbhoo, and I recommend it. Although it has many non veg recipes, it is easy to veganise, as I did with the butter chicken recipe.

Butter Tofu with Basmati Rice

 I subbed coconut cream for regular cream and vegan margarine for butter. I will say this, agree or disagree with me, but curry pastes always taste better home made with fresh spices than the stuff out of the jar! And it really isn't that hard! You could use mock chicken pieces instead of tofu, but I think the firm tofu works pretty well. I used home made soy yoghurt to make the naan, and it tasted like the real thing. To cook the naan, it works really well on the hot plate of a barbecue rather than baking it in the oven, as it gets hot enough to bubble up and cook fast. At a pinch I use my cast iron wok, but it tends to smoke out the kitchen!   

Onion and Spinach Bhajis