Indian Night! Madras Tomato and Eggplant Curry with Onion Kulchas

I love making Indian Food! It’s all about tasting and tweaking. I typically improvise with seasonings and ingredients, and I have yet to follow a recipe to the “T”. Today I made some indian flat breads called kulchas-easy and dont require yeast, some tofu palak paneer (see in my archives), and a dish I created for the first time which I will call a Madras Tomato and Eggplant Curry. It all came out great with plenty of sauce for bread dipping.

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Madras Eggplant and Mushroom Curry

note: with the spices, keep tasting and add or subtract amount to suit YOUR taste buds 🙂 Indian food allows the inexperienced cook some creative liberty and makes cooking more fun!

1 small yellow onion diced
1 small eggplant chopped into small cubes
5-6 diced cremini mushrooms
1/4 c raisins
1-2 TB green chili diced (hatch chillies work great!)
1 TB Madras Curry Seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
Top with crunchy toasted almond slivers

Onion Kulchas

Here is the recipe I have used both times I made kulchas.

Onion Kulcha Recipe

I am no baker, but in my opinion this was easy. I have tried both the broil and stovetop method to cook, and the stovetop is the clear winner for me. This past time I broiled my kulchas and they came out too hard and crunchy for my taste. When cooked on the stovetop with a little ghee (clarified butter…you could just use regular butter too)they stay doughy and maleable.

Meg’s Tofu Palak Paneer

This Recipe is awesome! Enough said.

2 skillets or sautee pans (one large and one medium)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bag frozen organic spinach
Fresh cilantro (A healthy handful)
1 bunch of kale, rough chopped
1 TB Cumin
1 TB Garam Masala
1 TB Curry Powder
1 TB fresh ground ginger
Salt to taste
Low-sodium vegetable stock for consistency (I like Kitchen Basics no sodium stock)

1 yellow squash, diced
3/4 c frozen organic peas
1 c mushrooms, diced
3 green onions, diced
1 package of firm tofu, well-pressed, chopped into 1-inch cubes (you drain/press tofu to remove as much moisture as possible so it soaks up more flavor)
1 c nonfat or lowfat cottage cheese

Sautee the onion in 1 TB of sesame or olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook down for a few minutes making sure not to burn.
Add all the spices and ginger to garlic and onion and then de-glaze with a little vegetable stock(about ½ c)

Now, add spinach and kale to pan with the onions. Mix well and cover until wilted but still a vibrant green.
Take spinach mixture and food process until smooth. Set this back in pan keeping warm on a low burner (this should be in your biggest skillet) Add a little vegetable stock if needed.

In your medium skillet add 2 TB of sesame oil and heat. Take tofu cubes and add to hot pan, cook until lightly brown. Add chopped vegetables to pan and sautee briefly with the tofu. Add a bit of cumin and salt to taste(healthy pinch of each)

Now we are ready to combine!

Slowly fold cottage cheese into spinach mixture keeping it on low heat.
Next, take the tofu and veggies and fold them in. Add extra stock to pan if it looks too thick. Cover and heat on a low simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with Quinoa! YUM!!