Here is the Palak Tofu from Mahanandi, a recipe I've had bookmarked forever, alongside some red quinoa and Sweet Potato Paratha, inspired by a post by Kamutflake Girl.
The palak tofu was made with palak (spinach) and with collard greens, so I guess it's really saag (greens) tofu. There is powdered poppy seed in the recipe, but since I was unable to powder the whole seeds in my food processor I just added them whole, and I don't think they did very much thickening, though they certainly didn't hurt the flavor. Next time I'll used ground cashews instead and save the poppy seeds for lemon bread. I also used canned tomatoes since those are no way in season in NYC, and I don't think I hurt anything. Overall, this is very tasty, and pretty low-fat (for me anyway), and didn't require any ingredients that I didn't already have so I will definitely be making this again. I will continue to tweak this recipe a bit though and also probably try some new ones. Saag paneer was always a favorite of mine and I'd love an Ultimate Vegan Version of the American-ized version I ate in the past. Plus dark, leafy greens are probably the healthiest things on the planet, like ever.
The parathas (whole wheat chapati Indian flatbreads with vegetable filling) were very yummy, and are made with unbelieveably simple dough, so I think I'll probably just make them instead of buying flatbreads from the store from now on. Seriously, just some flour, water, oil, maybe some earth balance for frying and a *little* bit of time and you're on your way to impressive, homemade, customizable breads. I couldn't figure out how to fill they correctly so they were more chapati than paratha on my first shot. Now that I've watched this helpful tutorial though, I will try again very, very soon. Also I still have all this leftover sweet potato filling in my fridge, so I kind of *have* to. Life is soo-o-oo hard!
I'm still very, very much a novice at Indian Food, but I love cooking it at home so far. I can control how much oil I use, and I can use substitutes for dairy (like tofu and margarine in the case) or vary my grains by using quinoa instead of rice if I'm in such a mood. Which I was. And of course at home you can make huge quantities to eat later. Which I will. Yum
