'Chicken' seitan and spinach in Indian creamy sauce - Malai palak

This is one of those insanely good Indian recipes that I find irresistable.  Malai means cream, Palak is spinach and this is a loosely adapted recipe from Vegan Richa. In her recipe, she uses soy curls to replace chicken, which are then cooked in a delectable creamy spicy sauce. I’m not even sure if you can buy soy curls in New Zealand and can’t imagine them being commonly available around the world, so it strikes me as a much better idea to use seitan.  Seitan also produces a nice 'meaty' result.

In the original, the soy curls are marinaded and then baked. I think marinades are unseamanlike underway, as well as being wasteful. Certainly, I don’t find it makes much difference to seitan and in fact you get infinitely better results from incorporating the flavours into the seitan in the first place. This is what I’ve done in this recipe. As for baking - I assume many small income voyagers stil lsail without ovens and even those who do, will probabaly avoid using them because of the cost - and the fact that they heat up the cabin.

 

I use ginger paste and garlic paste in my ‛Indian’ cooking. If you prefer to use finely minced ginger and garlic, go ahead.  I'm not sure that this is really a Curry For Cooks, in spite the use of ingredients being pretty authentic: most boats would probably have them on board.  The only exception is the methi and if you don't have it you can leave it out.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the ‟marinaded chicken”

6 slightly rounded tbsp vital wheat gluten

2 tbsp gram flour

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp mushroom stock powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

        1/4 tsp garlic granules

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp soya sauce

For the sauce:

1 tsp oil

1 (Indian) bay leaf

1 whole clove

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 small green chilli, diced

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp cayenne OR 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

pinch ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp black pepper

*200 ml/7 oz ounce can of full fat coconut milk

2 tbsp vegan yoghurt

1/4 cup water or milk

125 g/4 oz spinach, washed and roughly chopped

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, kasuri methi

garam masala

chilli flakes

Method:

• Seitan: In a bowl, mix vital wheat gluten, gram flour, nutritional yeast, mushroom stock powder, salt, onion powder, garlic granules, ground coriander and ground cumin.
• In a small jug, mix the water and soya sauce and add them to the bowl.
• Mix into a soft dough, starting with a knife or spatula and ending with your hand. If the mix seems a little bit dry, add a little more water, a teaspoonful at a time. Use the dough to clean your bowl thoroughly, otherwise the dried seitan will need to be soaked off.
• Put the dough on a board and flatten down. You will be cutting it into bite-sized chunks, so it wants to be a suitable thickness.
• Put the trivet into your pressure cooker, along with 1/2 cup water. Place the seitan on the trivet, and bring up to pressure for 5 minutes. Let the pressure go down naturally.
• When you can take the lid off, take out the seitan and cut it up – or tear it for a more ‛authentic’ appearance.
• If you want to, you can now fry the chunks in some oil so that they are crisp on the outside. On odds, I think I prefer them soft.

For the sauce:

• Heat a pan over medium high heat and add some oil.
• Now add the bay leaf, clove, onion, garlic paste, ginger paste, green chilli salt. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is golden.
• Turn down the heat and add coriander, ground cumin, cayenne or Kashmiri chilli, cinnamon and black pepper
• Throw in the seitan pieces and turn for a few minutes so that they are well mixed in and covered in the spices.
• Then add in the milk, yoghurt, water and spinach and mix in. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 12-15 mins, checking that it’s not drying out. Add some more water, if necessary.
• Add the kasuri methi, check salt and flavour and carry on cooking until you get a rich creamy sauce.

Garnish with garam masala and chilli pepper flakes if you like, and serve with rice, roti or even good quality bread.

Variations:

• Use two or three leaves of Swiss chard instead of spinach.
• Replace the seitan with half a cup of chickpeas or beans, cooked and drained, putting them in with the spinach
• Add some quartered mushrooms, with the onions, etc.
• If you don’t have yoghurt, use more milk/water. If you have a lot of coconut yoghurt, you can just thin that down to suit. You need around 300 ml liquid. You may need to simmer for more or less time to achieve the consistency you want.

Notes:

• * Coconut milk tends to come in an odd assortment of sizes. Just use a can closest to the size in the recipe. If you’re fortunate to find dried, genuine coconut milk, mix that according to the instructions on the container.

 

You will find many more recipeslike this, here, here and here 

 

 

Basic 'chicken' seitan

If you haven't made seitan before, I recommend you read my introduction to the process here. 

 

The basic proportions for making seitan are 1/4 cup of water to 1/2 cup flour.  However, this is somewhat excessively basic and the following recipe is a more appropriate basic 'chicken' recipe. 

 

Before we go any further, and at the risk of shattering all your hopes and illusions, seitan doesn’t taste remotely like chicken. I say this as someone who hasn’t eat chicken for well over a decade, but for all that, I say it with some certainty. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.

 

This is the one to use if you are copying a tofu recipe: add the seasoning suggested for the marinade (if any) to the dry ingredients.  This 'chicken' can also be used to replace beans and chickpeas in various recipes or even to replace the meat in a well-flavoured chicken dish.  However, I wouldn't recommend serving a slab of it on a plate, with roast potatoes, two veg and gravy!

Serves  2

Ingredients

        1/3 cup  vital wheat gluten

        2 tbsp gram flour

        2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp mushroom 'stock' powder

        1/4 tsp onion powder

        1/4 tsp garlic granules

       

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp soya sauce

 

Method:

• In a bowl, mix vital wheat gluten, gram flour, nutritional yeast, mushroom stock powder, salt, onion powder and garlic granules.
• In a small jug, mix the water and soya sauce and add them to the bowl.  Combine everything into a soft dough, starting with a knife or spatula and ending with your hand. If the mix seems a little bit dry, add some more water, a teaspoonful at a time. If too wet, carefully add some more vital wheat gluten.  Use the dough to clean your bowl thoroughly, otherwise the dried seitan will need to be soaked off.
• Put the dough on a board and flatten it down. You will be cutting it into bite-sized chunks, so it wants to be a suitable thickness.
• Put the trivet into your pressure cooker, along with ½ cup water. Place the seitan on the trivet, and bring up to pressure for 5 minutes. Let the pressure go down naturally.
• When you can take the lid off, take out the seitan and cut it up – or tear it for a more ‛organic’ appearance.
• If you want to, you can now fry the chunks in some oil so that they are crisp on the outside. On odds, I think I prefer them soft.

The seitan can now be added to your recipes and, simmered for as long as suits you.  Because it's completely cooked, it only needs reheating; however, it is robust and doesn't start to dissolve - I've often simmered it for about 20 minutes.  It is also quite happy to be shoved around by the spoon without collapsing.  I've seen recipes for tofu kebabs and this seitan, suitably flavoured, should also be a success in this context, too.

 You will find many more recipes for seitan here

Lentil lasagne

Lasagne is generally served up sizzling hot from the oven, with a crisp top, and often crunchy bits of lasagne sticking out. I’ve read that some Italians prefer to pop it into the oven for only about a quarter of an hour and to eat it moist and soft. That being so, I think we’ll go for the latter ‘gourmet’ version, which means that instead of using an oven, we can use the pressure cooker. However, be warned that this may not work in a cheap pan because it’s likely to stick. (If your pressure cooker is a bit on the thin side, what you’ll have to do is to put the lasagne into something like a cake tin, that will fit in your pressure cooker. Put half a pint of water in the bottom of the cooker, with the tin on the trivet, loosely covered with greaseproof paper or foil. It can then be cooked at high pressure for 10 minutes.)

I specify ‘no-cook’ lasagne, but in fact I believe that nearly all lasagne sheets can be used without pre-cooking.  If you can find the right pasta, this recipe can be gluten free.

Serves 2

Ingredients

6 pieces ‘no-cook’ lasagne

1/2 cup whole lentils

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 red or green pepper, chopped

400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

salt and pepper

cheese sauce, mixed more thickly, as shown in the Variations on that post

Method:

• Cook the soaked lentils as usual and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and pepper and fry until the onion is golden.
• Add the tomatoes and mix in the sage, basil, oregano, cinnamon, chilli flakes, salt and pepper.
• When everything is mixed together and heated through, add the lentils. Cook gently for ten minutes or so to let all the flavours combine. Taste and check the seasoning.
• Pour half the sauce into the bottom of the pressure cooker. Add half the lasagne sheets. Unfortunately, these will not fit very neatly, but you will have to do your best. Now add the rest of the sauce and the remaining lasagne. Cover with the cheese sauce, pouring carefully, to ensure that all the lasagne is covered.
• On a medium heat, bring the pressure cooker up to pressure. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes and reduce pressure at room temperature. Ideally, leave it for a further five minutes so that if the lasagne has caught at all, it will lift easily from the pan. It’s impossible to serve this dish at all elegantly, but if you spoon it carefully from the pan, the layers should remain more or less intact.

Serve with a cooked green vegetable or salad.

Variations:

• Use 4 or 5 fresh tomatoes and 1/4 cup red wine in the sauce.
• Add extra grated cheese or "Parmegan"

Alternative cooking:

• Arrange the lasagne in a shallow oven-proof dish and cook it in a moderate oven for a quarter of an hour or so. I don’t find it needs the 45 minutes that most cookbooks recommend. In this case, you can substitute the cheese and yoghurt sauce for cheese sauce. It’s quicker and easier to make, and probably more nutritious, but due to the yoghurt, it might separate in the pressure cooker.
• Layer the lasagne into a deep frying pan, or wide saucepan. Heat over a low heat, using a flame tamer if necessary, to ensure it doesn’t catch and get burnt. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, checking every now and then to see if the sauce has cooked, by which time it will be quite firm. In this case you can also use the cheese and yoghurt sauce.

 

 

You will find many more recipes for pasta on the page:  Main-course recipes - pasta based

 

 

Cheese sauce

Although I have a recipe under Basic White Sauce, I thought that as cheese sauce is so much used and loved, maybe it should have its own post.

I have two versions here: classic cheese sauce and vegan cheese sauce. Actually, it isn’t really a classic cheese sauce, because I suggest use cornflour instead of plain flour, because I don’t think most people can be bothered to make a roux, which involves very gently flying flour in butter and then gradually adding infused milk, stirring all the time, until the sauce is cooked. It takes quite a long time for white flour to alter its personality and you need to carry on stirring, or put the sauce under an incredibly low heat until you get your perfectly cooked white sauce. You can, of course, mix and match the recipes to suit your tastes.

If you have any choice, try to use a sharp, yellow cheese, such as (real) Cheddar, Double Gloucester or Red Leicester for a fuller flavour and a more attractive appearance. I am sure there are plenty of good vegan cheeses being made on this planet, but if they exist in New Zealand, they are unavailable outside the big cities. I therefore suggest nutritional yeast in the vegan version: the advantage of using gram flour, is that it makes the sauce a pretty pale yellow colour.

I say this serves two, but of course it depends what you’re doing with it: my assumption is that you are pouring it over something life stuffed pancakes. I make suggestions for using the recipe for lasagne in the variations.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tbsp cornflour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

a good shake of *Worcestershire Sauce OR 1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the cornflour into a small saucepan and add about a quarter of the milk. Stir well until the mix is smooth. Add the rest of the milk.
• Put the pan over a moderate heat and start to cook, stirring constantly. If you leave it even for a moment, once it starts to thicken, it will form lumps that are just about impossible to get rid of.
• Reduce the heat, add the cheese, Worcestershire sauce or mustard and season with salt and pepper.

Use immediately.

Vegan cheese sauce

Ingredients

1 tbsp gram flour

1 cup plant milk/water

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the gram flour into a small saucepan and add about a quarter of the milk. Stir well until the mix is smooth. This will take some time and you may prefer to use a whisk. You don't want to start cooking until you've got rid of all the lumps. Add the rest of the milk.
• Put the pan over a moderate heat and start to cook, stirring constantly. As the sauce starts to thicken lower the heat and stir vigorously. It will start to form alarming lumps, but if you keep stirring they will disappear.
• When the sauce is smooth, reduce the heat again and add the nutritional yeast and mustard and season with salt and pepper.

Use immediately.

Notes:

• * I ought to mention that Worcestershire sauce, at least the original and peerless product made by Lea & Perrin's, contains a very small amount of anchovies. Considering that you merely shake a few drops into the sauce, the amount of anchovies must be about homoeopathic, but if you take your vegetarian principles seriously, I suppose you should avoid it. Sadly, I have found all the alternative brands to be significantly inferior.
• I find the gram flour is sufficiently creamy that I don't need to add plant milk. However, you may well prefer the taste.
• You can, of course, use gram flour in the first recipe, instead of cornflour.
• If you are trying for an elegant result, use white pepper instead of black, to avoid little black flecks in the sauce.
• If you have any fresh herbs, chop them and sprinkle over the top.
• To use the sauce in a flan or lasagne, I suggest making more and making it thicker. So double the amount of flour and use one and a half times the liquid.
  
  

Spaghetti 'Bolognese'

 

When I was a little girl, one of our favourite meals was ‘spaghetti mince’; my father had been in Italy during the Second World War and had brought back a taste for their food. This was about the only ‘foreign’ food we ever ate. The spaghetti had to be bought from a speciality shop – an ‘Italian Warehouseman’ – and came in long lengths, which were doubled over and wrapped in blue paper so that each strand must have been about a metre long!  Usually, Mum patiently bent it into the boiling water, but when she was in a hurry, she guiltily broke it into more convenient lengths.

 

Over the years, the name changed to ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’ and garlic was included and a sprinkling of mixed herbs.  Eventually, my mother started to try different recipes, which included bacon or chicken livers or whatever the recipe writers of the day considered appropriate.  I suspect very few resembled 'classic' spaghetti Bolognese - if there ever was such a thing.  Parmesan cheese was sprinkled over the top, sparingly, from a shiny, green cardboard container.

 

By the 80s, spaghetti Bolognese had become a standard in most households and, for that matter, it was about the first meal most people learnt to make on leaving home. The recipe varied greatly and I doubt that many citizens of Bologna would have recognised it.

 

‘Spag bol’, as it was disrespectfully known, was, of course, one of my first attempts at cooking - an effort to reproduce a favourite, which I had seen cooked many times. My own recipe became firmly established when I created a vegetarian version, and I’ve used it ever since. I got the idea for using carrot and the dash of hot sauce/chilli flakes, when I ate spaghetti Bolognese in the Portofino restaurant in Lancaster. The recipe always goes down well, and because of its familiarity, many meat eaters enjoy it. Dressed up with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese – or, if you want to be really trendy, slivers of Parmesan – it’s certainly good enough for the proverbial dinner party, as long as your guests are used to eating spaghetti, that is!

 

The most pleasing sauce is made with the tiny brown lentils, (those which become red lentils when split), but any whole lentils will do and it’s fine made with split ones, too, although the resemblance to the ‘real thing’ is considerably less.  I have used  the sauce, or something very similar, in a number of iterations, such as lasagne.

 

You can make this recipe gluten free, using the appropriate pasta. 

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup whole lentils

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 carrot

1/2 green/red pepper

4 fresh OR 400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cinnamon

a good shake of hot sauce OR 1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

 

25 mm (1 in) column spaghetti

 

Method:

• Cook the lentils as usual.
• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Dice the onion and garlic and fry until starting to brown.  This will add more colour to the sauce.
• Dice the carrot and add. Cook until it’s slightly softened  Now add he diced pepper.
• Dice the tomatoes and mix in the sage, basil, oregano, cinnamon and chilli (sauce). If you’re using fresh tomatoes and the sauce seems too thick, it can be thinned by the judicious addition of a little wine. This also improves the taste. Water can be substituted in extremis.
• Now add the salt.  When everything is mixed together and heated through, add the lentils. Cook gently for ten minutes or so to let all the flavours combine. Taste and check the seasoning – the hot sauce should just give it a slight ‘lift’. If the tomatoes have produced too much liquid, simmer a little longer, with the lid off. The sauce should be fairly thick, when it’s ready.
• While the sauce is simmering, cook the spaghetti. Check that it's cooked to your taste, and toss it in olive oil and cracked black pepper. If people are to help themselves, it’s easier to put the spaghetti and sauce into separate dishes. Freshly grated - or shaved - Parmesan cheese is the ideal accompaniment; have a small bowl of 'Parmegan' for vegans. 

Note:

• Italians don't serve their pasta and sauce separately and you might prefer to tip the spaghetti into the sauce before serving it.  Remember to save some pasta water in case the sauce looks too dry.  The only issue with serving it this way, if you are giving it to guests, is that it's really difficult not to flick bits of sauce around while dishing up the food!
• In heavy weather, however, it's probably worth mixing it first and serving in bowls.  You might want to break the pasta into shorter lengths, too. 

Variations:

• Use linguine, fettucine or another long past, instead of the spaghetti
• If you’re fortunate enough to be in the land of cheap red wine, a dollop in the sauce improves it immensely.
•  In really hot weather, when appetites are failing, the sauce is still quite delicious without the lentils.  
• Use a cup of mixed, finely chopped nuts, instead of the lentils. They will not need water, of course and you would add them after frying the vegetables. 

 

You will find more pasta, main-course recipes here.

Some notes on cooking rice

 

 

I entitled this 'Some notes', because it definitely is not definitive.  For a start, I cannot tell you how to cook long-grain white rice because I haven't personally done so since I was around 20 years old.  However, if you are a veg~an, chances are that you are interested in both food and health (as well as being compassionate towards animals), so I will assume that you, too, will want to eat brown rice, with its extra nutrition and fibre.  In a nutshell, the bran and germ, the two outer layers of brown rice, contain most of the vitamins and minerals in the grain. Those layers get removed when manufacturers make white rice, and that’s why brown rice is the healthier choice.  You can find out a lot more on the Internet - there are thousands and thousands of websites comparing and contrasting white and brown rice.  In my opinion, white rice, like white flour and white sugar comes under the description of 'pure, white and deadly'.

For me, the best of them all is brown basmati rice and while I will endlessly sing the praises of brown basmati rice, if I don't actually state it in the ingredient list, assume the recipe is written for 'brown rice', which takes longer to cook, although any Indian recipes can be assumed to include it.

To cook perfect brown rice in a saucepan

 

2 portions

1 cup water OR 1/3 cup seawater + 2/3 cup fresh

1/2 cup brown rice

1/4 tsp salt

 

Method:

• Put the water and rice in a medium saucepan. Add the salt if you're not using seawater.
• Bring to the boil and cover.
• Put the pan over a low heat and cook for 35 to 40 minutes.  Use a flame tamer if necessary, but the water should be just simmering.  If it boils too quickly, the water will steam off rather than beaing absorbed
• Take off the heat and let the rice stand for a few minutes to absorb the last of the water, if necessary.

Notes:

• Brown basmati rice, as well as tasting the best, in my opinion, is much quicker to cook - 20 - 25 minutes - and much more likely to absorb the water perfectly and end up with nicely separated grains.  I really recommend it.
• If you are buying 'long grain, brown rice', it will vary tremendously from one brand to another.  While the 2 of water to 1 of rice has always worked for me, the cooking time can vary from about 25 minutes up to 45 minutes, obviously depending on the varietal.  When you stock up with new rice, its worth spending a bit of time getting to know it.
• If you have only one burner, you can cook the rice for 5 minutes, take it off for 5 minutes, put it back on, etc.
• If you don’t want to juggle or use more than one burner, cook the rice for 20 minutes and then leave it to one side. It will continue cooking. About 5 minutes before you intend to serve it, check to ensure that it’s fully cooked and that all the water is absorbed. If it isn’t or hasn’t, put the pan back on for 5 minutes. This method is not entirely foolproof, however, and you might end up with a less-than-perfect result, although the rice will still be satisfactory.
• If you have good appetites, you might find 3/4 cup a more appropriate amount for 2 people.  I find 1/2 cup makes me two ample portions.

Pressure cooker rice

It's hardly worth doing this with brown basmati, but the other types vary tremendously.  It appears to me that the longer and thinner the grains, the easier and quicker brown rice is to cook.  You will have gathered by now that to me, brown basmati is the queen of rice, and well worth investing in if you find some that is affordable.  Because I am now almost vegan, I have a bit more money to spend on food, and so basmati rice is one of my primary indulgences.

 

Cooking rice in the pressure cooker is a bit more hit and miss than in the saucepan, simply because of its variability, so you may need to experiment a little with the timing.  However, the good news is that the longer it needs to cook, the less chance you have of overcooking it.  Moreover,  I think that brown rice is anyway much more forgiving and much less likely to dissolve into a horrid mush.  (To be perfectly honest, it is literally decades since I cooked long-grain, white rice, so forgive me if some of my comments about it are awry.)  I have also come to realise that there is a big difference between cooking on paraffin and cooking on meths, for example, so it's hard to be too definite with timings, something which is only exacerbated by the facts that not all pressure cookers announce at what pressure they cook and a big stainless steel pressure cooker will take a lot longer to heat up than a small alloy one.  All in all, I am rather flabbergasted at how the majority of recipe bloggers can tell me that my onions will be cooked to perfection in 7 minutes and similar statements!  I find cooking - well at least cooking on a boat - much more art than science.  Anyway, back to the pressure cooker rice, assuming 'standard' brown rice. 

 

2 portions

Ingredients

 

1 cup water OR 1/3 cup seawater + 2/3 cup fresh

1/2 cup brown rice

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

• Put the water and rice into a pressure cooker. Add the salt if you are using all fresh water.
• Bring up to pressure.
• Lower the flame and cook over a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, just keeping the pressure going.
• Take the pan off and let the pressure reduce naturally. The rice will stay hot for a long time in the sealed pressure cooker, and, within reason, the longer it stands, the drier it will be.

Note:

• As mentioned above, brown rice varies widely from varietal to varietal and brand to brand.  If you eat a lot of rice, like I do, you will probably be buying at least 5 kilos at a time, so it's well worth carefully experimenting with cooking times, when you restock.  When I was voyaging I would often buy 20 k at a time.

Wild rice takes a long time to cook - you want to give it 45 minutes.  However, It will cook in the pressure cooker in 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the usual variables) and when I mix it with basmati, I find the latter hasn't suffered from the extra time.  If I am cooking it on the stove top, I put the wild rice in first and put the basmati in about 10 minutes later.

 

Black rice and red rice also take a lot of cooking.  I can't say I am impressed with black rice and that being so, I'm afraid I haven't tried red rice.  But then, I'm besotted with basmati!

 

Short grain, eg Arborio  I'm about to make a liar out of myself here: I use Arborio rice for risotto and paella and it confess to using white.  This is because my attempts with brown shot-grain rice have been less than successful.  Because New Zealand is a small country and because I live far away from cities in the Far North, there is little demand for 'exotic' foods.  Possibly there are types of short-grain, brown rice that go satisfactorily starchy, but the are not available to me.  To cook this type of rice, simply follow the instructions in the recipe, because sometimes you want obviously separate grains and other times you want the result to be creamy.  

There is a lot more about cooking rice here.