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

If I'm besotted with seitan, I'm also besotted with white curries and this is one of those insanely good Indian recipes that I find irresistible.  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 still sail without ovens and even those who do, will probably 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.

 

As with all Indian recipes, it's worth reading this one right through, before you start cooking.  You might want to put the batches of spices into little bowls, too.  It makes cooking the meal more organised.

 

I find this recipe easier to make than Palak Paneer, which needs a blender, and, to be perfectly honest, when you're using seitan, there's not a lot of difference between 'chicken' and 'paneer'.  That being said, I can see it working very well with paneer, for those who eat cheese and don't want to be bothered with blending the spinach. 

Serves 2

Ingredients 

For the ‟marinaded chicken”

1/2 cup  vital wheat gluten

        3 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

2 tsp vinegar 

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.
• Make a hollow in the centre of the mix and add the water and soya sauce.
• 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.  Mind you, if you cut up chicken breasts, they are obviously cut with a knife.
• 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 leaves of silver beet/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, just leave it out.  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.  Most dried coconut milk contains some sort of  'ose' sweetener, for some unknowable reason.

You will find many more recipes like this, here, here and here 

 

 

Seitan burger

 

This recipe makes a well-flavoured, chewy burger, which holds together well. Unlike many veg~an burgers, it can happily be cooked on a barbecue, pan fried or even cooked over a camp fire. Because of this, it’s also very good to take with you to cook elsewhere and saves your hosts from the bother of trying to provide a veg~an offering. Annie's burger seasoning does raise the flavour beyond the ordinary, but if you don’t have any, or don’t want to make it, use a few of the herbs and spices from the blend, to season the burgers. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.   

Most veg~an burgers – even seitan burgers – contain beans, but for two burgers, you won’t require a whole can, and cooking them from scratch is another complete step. I also find that the burgers aren’t as firm, when made with beans, so instead I use bulgur wheat or couscous. You have to use the really fine bulgur for this – if yours is a bit coarse, use the couscous. You can make seitan without beans or grains, but I find it really too chewy.

 

Another of the advantages of this recipe is that it’s really quite quick to make – fast enough that you can make a couple to take along for a last-minute invitation to a barbecue or beach party.

 

Makes 2 burgers

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup couscous or fine bulgur wheat

1 tsp yeast extract/miso

 1/2 cup boiling water

 2 tsp Annie's burger seasoning (see below)

 3 tsp nutritional yeast

 1/2 tbsp soya sauce

 1 tsp tomato purée

 1 tsp vinegar

 2 tsp olive oil OR thin tahini

 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

 1/4 tsp salt

 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

 

For 4 burgers 

 

1/2 cup couscous or fine bulgur wheat

2 tsp yeast extract/miso1 cup boiling water

 4 tsp Annie's burger seasoning (see below)

 6 tsp nutritional yeast

 1 tbsp soya sauce

 2 tsp tomato purée

 2 tsp vinegar

 4 tsp olive oil OR thin tahini

 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

 1/2 tsp salt

 1 cup vital wheat gluten

 

Method:

• Put the couscous or bulgur into a bowl and add the miso/yeast extract.
• Pour over the boiling water, mix well, cover and leave it for ten minutes or so until all the water is absorbed.
• Add the burger spice and combine well.
• Now stir in the nutritional yeast.   
• Mix in the water, soya sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, olive oil/tahini, salt and pepper. Ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed, because it’s harder to do once you’ve added the VWG.
• Now dump in the vital wheat gluten and mix as well as you can with a knife or spatula.
• Finish off combining the ingredients, using your hands, until it becomes a rough dough.
• Knead the dough against the side of the mixing bowl until you have a cohesive lump of dough.
• Put the dough onto a board and flatten it out with your hands.    Cut into half (or quarters) and shape each half/quarter like a hamburger patty.
• Add water to your pressure cooker – this shouldn’t cover the trivet – 1/4 cup should be about right, with a modern pressure cooker.
• Grease the trivet or steam basket, or – better – cover it with a piece of baking parchment.
• Put in the burgers. If you’re cooking 4 and they won’t fit in a single layers, separate them with some more paper.
• Bring the cooker up to pressure and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally. Take out the burgers and put them on something like a rack, so that they don’t end up sitting in water, when they’ve cooled. You can fry or barbecue them once the surface moisture has evaporated.

These burgers can be fried or grilled in just the same way as those made from meat, and eaten in a bun. Don’t overcook them – the outside can become a bit tough. Or they can simply be fried and served with vegetables. They will keep for two or three days, loosely wrapped, so can be made in advance if you want to.

 

Notes: 

• Substitute 2 tsp mixed, Italian or fines herbes for Annie’s burger spice.
• Add chilli flakes or Dijon mustard if you would like a bit more zing.
• The olive oil or tahini are to add a bit of fat.  You could use deodorised coconut oil, if you wanted to experiment.  Or go the whole hog (!) and add vegan suet.   
• Instead of the couscous, use 1/2 cup of cooked orange kumara (sweet potato), cooked in the jacket and then skinned and mashed.    These kumara easily break down into a purée.      Don’t use the red-skinned – they don’t cook down into the right sort of ‛mush’. How much, you ask in irritation, is a half cup of cooked kumara? Just guess – it’s not super critical and you can always add a drop more water – or VWG if it’s too wet. This is when scales come into their own – but not on a small boat in a bouncy anchorage.  The kumara is intended to keep the burgers more moist. ‛Ordinary’, aka Irish potatoes, are too dry. 

   

Annie’s burger spice blend    

 

 Makes about 3 tbsp

 4 tsp cumin seeds

 1/2 tsp thyme

 1 tsp garlic granules

 1 tsp basil

 1/2 tsp rosemary

 1/2 tsp cloves

 1/2 tsp oregano

 1/2 tsp ground ginger

 1/4 tsp cayenne

 1/4 nutmeg

 

Method:

•  Put all the ingredients into a grinder and pulverise until powdered.

Keep in a glass jar, out of the light and use within a maximum of 6 months. Dried herbs have a short shelf life.

 

You will find many more seitan recipes here.

  

Jeera Dal - Cumin-Spiced Lentils

Jeera means cumin, and dal means lentils and they are a pretty unbeatable combination.  This is a wonderfully simple dal, but full of flavour considering how few ingredients it has.  In fact the flavour comes from the tadka, which consists of cumin, garlic, asafoetida and chilli, sizzled in hot oil and poured over the dal.  For extra creaminess, add thick yoghurt.  The fact that a lot of vegan yoghurt is coconut based is only an asset.  

 The dal consists of red lentils (masoor dal), tomatoes and dried fenugreek leaves.  In my opinion, dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) are a gift of the bountiful gods.  If you don't have any, the dal will still be good, but a shadow of its potential.  If you keep them in an airtight container away from the light, they will last several months and are a curry ingredient that you should really try to have in stock.  However, it is the tadka that really makes this curry so wonderful. I like this dal served with a vegetable side such as cauliflower poriyal or courgette curry. 

Serves 2 Ingredients 3/4 cup split red lentils, masoor dal1/2 cup chopped tomato1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves1/4 tsp turmeric1/2 tsp salt2 cups water, or vegetable stock

For the spiced oil (Tadka) 1 tbsp oil3/4 tsp cumin seeds1 hot green chilli, finely chopped2 cloves garlic, finely choppedpinch asafoetida, hing, optional (omit if GF)1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder 2 tbsp yoghurt

Method:    

• Add the lentils to a saucepan along with the chopped tomatoes, dried fenugreek leaves, turmeric, salt and the water or vegetable stock. 
• Partially cover the pan, and cook over medium to low heat until the lentils are cooked.  They have a tendency to froth up, so keep an eye on them for a few minutes after they've boiled and check the heat.  You might prefer them to retain some texture or want them completely to soften.  Both are good.  
• For extra creaminess, stir in the yogurt, cook for 1 minute, and then switch off the heat.
• To make the tadka, heat the oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and cook until they have changed colour significantly.  This can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on your pan and stove.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low.  Add the garlic and green chilli and cook for about 30 seconds, or until the garlic starts to turn golden.  Add the asafoetida, if using, and immediately switch off the heat. 
• Stir in the Kashmiri chilli powder. 
• Immediately pour the hot tadka over the dal. Lightly mix it in. You want some of the spiced oil to remain floating on top, which adds to the attractive appearance, but you also want the flavours to permeate the dal.  
• Garnish with more kasur methi, if you want, and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice. 

Serve immediately with rice, roti, or naan, alongside an Indian vegetable dish.

You will find many more recipes like this here, here and here.

  

Annie’s burger spice blend

I created this blend to go with the seitan burgers that I make, because seitan has no particular flavour of its own and takes kindly to added herbs and spices. However, I reckon it would add flavour to any sort of vegetarian burger and should go well in your favourite bean burger recipe. You might also add it to a bean stew that seems to be a bit bland. I would recommend using about 1 tsp per burger.

 

Makes about 3 tbsp

 

4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 nutmeg

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into a grinder and pulverise until powdered.

Keep in a glass jar, out of the light and use within 6 months, maximum.

 

Variation:

• Substitute 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder for the cayenne.  This has a more mellow flavour and will make the burger more of a red colour.

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.  

 

 

Potato/aloo - fry

 

Potato fry is an easy-to-make, savoury and delicious dish of sautéed potatoes, known as aloo in Hindi. This is a North Indian style recipe of potatoes sautéed with bold, fragrant spices. It is also vegan and made without onion and garlic. Also known as aloo fry, this dish makes for an excellent side dish with any North Indian main course meal.

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes – cut in 2 cm cubes

2 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 pinch of asafoetida (hing) (leave out for GF)

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp amchur – dry mango powder

salt to taste

Method: 

• Peel and chop the potatoes in 2 cm/1 in cubes, as evenly as possible.
• Heat a heavy, thick-bottomed pan or frying pan. Add 2 tablespoons oil. For a slightly pungent taste, try mustard oil.    If using mustard oil, then heat till the mustard oil starts smoking.
• Now add the potatoes to the oil.
• Mix them very well with the oil and spread them evenly in the pan. 
• Keep on stirring after a few minutes and sauté them on a low to medium-low flame until the potatoes are half cooked. 
• Then add turmeric, Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander, cumin, a pinch of asafoetida and salt to taste. 
• Mix the spices in very well with the potatoes. 
• Spread the cubes evenly in the pan. Continue to stir often and cook till the potatoes are tender, softened and slightly crispy. At each stir, change the position of potatoes so that they get crisp on all sides. 
• Finally, add garam masala and amchur powder. (Instead of dry mango powder, you could add lemon juice for some brightness and tang.)Mix very well again and serve.

This fry is delicious on its own (in which case there is only one serving), but for better nutrition, eat it with a dal or curry.    One recipe I’ve seen suggests putting it between bread – a whole new spin on chip butties!!

 

Variation:

• Substitute kumara/sweet potato for the aloo.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here and here and here

Spinach and rice 'bake'

I love spinach and there are many ways to cook it. This is as very simple recipe and if you are one of these terribly organised people, you can even cook the rice well in advance, in which case it will go together very quickly.  It isn't really a casserole, but that's the nearest I could get to describing it.

 

There’s no real point in specifying a weight of spinach – you tend to get what you’re given and take it. Suffice it to say that there has to be enough to feed two people. If you’re unused to cooking spinach, be warned: a big bunch that will hardly stuff into the shopping bag becomes only a few cupfuls when it’s cooked.

 

The base of this recipe, one of Rose Elliot's,  was taken from a French dish, cooked in a tian, which is a shallow, pottery or terracotta dish.  It's not one I make very often, because it uses eggs and I try not to eat too many of those.  However, it is very good, nutritious and not too filling, and also looks very attractive.  The original calls for breadcrumbs, but wherever I can, I use sesame seeds instead, which saves the business of grating crumbs, and they are far, far tastier!  If you have neither an oven, nor a tian, I suggest making it in the frying pan.

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup brown rice

1 cup salted water

2 tbsp sesame seeds 

bunch of spinach

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup grated cheese*

2 eggs

nutmeg

cracked black pepper

 

Method:

• Cook the rice in salted water in the usual fashion.
• In a small, dry, frying pan, toast the sesame seeds, until they are lightly browned.  Be careful - they can burn very easily and become bitter. Set aside.
• Wash the spinach and then roughly chop it. 
• Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the spinach and cook it for about 3 minutes. Keep it moving so that it gets coated in oil and the stuff at the top of the pan can cook, too.
• Lower the heat and insert a flame tamer, if necessary. Add the cooked rice, diced garlic and the grated cheese. Mix well.
• Beat the eggs. and stir in with the other ingredients. Season generously with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Smooth the top over and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. 
• Cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Take off the cooker and leave to stand for 3 or 4 minutes before serving, just in case it has ‘caught’.

Some lightly cooked carrots go well with this.

 

Note:

• If you have an oven, finish it off in there, once you've mixed everything together and added the sesame seeds.  That way you will brown it; however it may be wise to put the toasted sesame seeds on top, just before serving.
• *If you eat eggs, but don't eat dairy products, use vegan cheese or mix 2 tbsp nutritional yeast in with the eggs. 

Variations:

• Use silver beet/Swiss chard instead of spinach.

 

Edited 17/9/26

You will find many more rice recipes here