Meatless Monday Roundup: 4 Indian Recipes
If one cuisine offers a plethora of Meatless Monday options, it has to be Indian. Many regions of India are traditionally vegetarian, and as a result, the number of delicious meatless Indian recipes is nearly endless. This week, we’ve searched high and low for the best of vegetarian Indian recipes to give your Meatless Monday dinner a hint of exotic spice.
Photo courtesy of French’s Mustard
Start things off with our delicious (and easy!) Indian chickpea dip. This dip will be ready in a snap and is perfect as an appetizer with crudités or naan. The creative sweet-and-savory combination of chickpeas, apricot jam, mustard and curry makes for a flavorful dip that’s sure to surprise those who are expecting hummus!
Chickpeas can also be kept whole and used in a curry, like this chickpea masala. Often associated with the chicken dish that shares the same name, the word “masala” just describes the mix of spices used to make the sauce. Like in the chicken dish, this chickpea masala has a tomato based sauce that becomes thick and headily spiced when slowly stewed with chickpeas.
Image: jeffgunn
Aloo gobi is a traditional, hearty dish made simply with potatoes (aloo) and cauliflower (gobi) with a mix of curry and garam masala. Unlike many Indian dishes, aloo gobi doesn’t have a sauce per se, making it a great recipe to try with the different colored potatoes and cauliflowers that will be popping up in farmers markets soon!
But if you’re looking for a saucier sort of Indian dish, try a korma. This vegetable korma is a bit more time-consuming, as a spice mix has to be ground into a paste with nuts, coconut and chilis, but the result is worth it. The mix of vegetables stews in the flavorful sauce for a filling, flavorful curry that’s a perfect Meatless Monday treat.
