Paul isn't quite as keen on meat free meals as I am. He's happy to eat them, but if asked what he wants for dinner he's seldom likely to actually nominate a vegetarian dish. When I batch-cook for our lunches, I don't ask what he wants!
For this week, I've made a selection of Indian(ish) vegetarian dishes. No meat, but very satisfying and well-balanced flavours.
The Hairy Bikers' Sweet and sour potatoes (which I have had bookmarked to make for ages), some spinach and chickpeas, and a big pile of delicious chilli paneer. I've made the chilli paneer before, with home-made paneer, but the texture of the commercial stuff is much better for this dish. Which very conveniently gets me out of making it from scratch.
For the spinach and chickpeas, I sauteed some mustard seeds in a little oil until they began to pop, then added a sliced onion and shredded spinach leaves. When the leaves melted I added a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, a spoonful of turmeric and a drained, rinsed can of chickpeas. When the chickpeas were well-coated with the spices, I added a little salt and some garam masala. Very simple.
The only thing this whole lunch plate needs to make it suitable for vegans is substituting some firm tofu for the paneer.
I'll put a little tomato kachumber on the side of mine - I suspect that dealing with a separate tub of salad in his lunchbox is more than Paul can face.
 |
| Sweet & sour potatoes, chickpeas with spinach and chilli paneer. |
9 comments:
Looks delicious and colourful! I don't think I'll miss the meat in this dish.
Indian food is such a great way to get someone to eat meat-free because it's so chock full of flavor you barely even notice it's meatless. Love the sound of this!
God that looks delicious! Impressive lunchbox dedication there!
It sounds like you are set for the week. Everything sounds delicious. Have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary
I like the look of the potato recipe!
The whole platter of food looks delicious.
With all my favorite vegetables in abundance, I usually don't eat much meat in the summer myself. All your dishes look good!
Leafy - thanks! The paneer has enough body to carry teh meal.
Joanne - exactly. I'd much rather look to cultures that do vegetarian food well than try to torture meat-based dishes into being vegetarian.
Elly - thank you!
Mary - you too!
Suelle - the potatoes are great. Not *too* sweet & sour but with a great flavour.
Wild tomato - we tend to eat loads of barbecued meats in summer, so I realy have to make an effort to keep the meat-free meals happening!
What a beautiful lunch!
I would be very happy finding this in my lunch box. ;-)
Post a Comment