Thursday, September 30, 2010

10 minute Indian meal?

Yes.

I could NOT decide what to make today. And this was not a regular 5 minute indecision. It was like a whole day affair, including spending time on my laptop looking up recipes for all kinds of things during classes. NOT GOOD. Well, good for my future in cooking, I guess. Bad for my good student reputation!!

After going back and forth on which bean to even use (that was half of the indecisiveness), I decided to go with garbanzo beans. What a versatile legume. This was the other half of the problem. To roast, to skillet, to puree, to go Italian, Indian, Mediterranean...AHHHH!!! Too many choices!!! So I went the "easy" way out, considering I had already wasted too much time today.

I make shortcut Indian food. In other words, I throw together vegetables with a few Indian spices and call it Indian food. It tastes Indian and smells Indian, so there's really no problem! I also use hardly any oil, and almost never eat it with any rice (WHAT?!). Okay, guys. Calm down. There is a solution.

If anyone knows what sundal is, I got my inspiration for this recipe from that. But it turned out nothing like sundal, so I'm not really sure what to even call this.

The solution to the rice problem is quinoa. It is healthier than even brown rice, with less carbs and more protein. And yet, it's even fluffier than brown rice.


It's done in 10-15 minutes on the stove. So while that was cooking, I put in a pan about a tablespoon of vegetable oil and heated that up. Then, added some cumin seeds, some mustard seeds, 1 clove of garlic, and 1/4 cup of shredded coconut. Oh also, I am not a fan of cooked onions, so I never ever cook with onions. But if you were to want onions, this is where you would add it in.

Side note: I like to put shredded coconut in pretty much any Indian dish I make. I am obsessed. It's probably the half Kerala in me.


Then I added some arbitrary amount of frozen spinach. It was about 1/2 the bag? I really don't even know. I let that thaw for a bit, then added 1 cup of canned garbanzo beans.


To season, I added salt, turmeric, and dhania-jeera powder (aka powdered cumin and corriander seeds). By this time, the quinoa was ready!

Fluffy protein goodness!!

Then I mixed everything together. 


DONE! Indian food in 10. For realz.

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