This is a hot-sour-sweet curry with origins in the Parsi community. Green beans, red peppers, potatoes, shredded carrots, broccoli, and lentils. Served with brown rice…

Ingredients

For the lentils:
1 tbsp channa dal
3 tbsp split moong dal
1/4 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt
1 cup of water

oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 tsp onion frying spice mix
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp balti spice mix
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp sambal oelek
1 tsp brown sugar
1/3 cup tomato puree
2 serranos, julienned
1/2 cup pre-cooked potatoes, cubed
1 1/2 cups pre-cooked mixed vegetables (I use a package of frozen vegetables, thawed)
3/4 cup base curry gravy
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp star anise
1/4 tsp garam masala

To cook the lentils:
Combine the lentils, water, salt and turmeric in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, the reduce the heat to medium and cook for 30-45 minutes until the lentis are tender.

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin, fennel and black mustard seeds.
3. When the seeds are sizzling in the oil, add the onions. When the onions become translucent, and the onion frying spice mix.
4. Continue cooking till the onions are beginning to brown, then add the ginger paste.
5. Add the ground spices and salt. Stir to mix well. Add a small amount of base gravy or water, as the spices will likely begin to stick to the pan at this point.
6. Add the sambal oelek, brown sugar, and tomato puree. Stir to combine. Cook for a minute or so, stirring frequently.
7. Add the serranos and potatoes. Stir well to coat in the spices and tomato mixture. Stir in the cooked mixed vegetables.
8. Stir in the cooked lentils.
9. Add a ladle (3/4 cup) of base curry gravy and the dried fenugreek. Mix well, and allow to simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until the gravy has reduced and thickened.
10. Add the cilantro, lime juice, star anise and garam masala. Stir to combine.

Welcome. I am James Bender, beginning again on my plant-based journey. This blog is one of my “supports”, and a casual place to record what I am cooking and eating.

As was the case when I created this blog in January 2019, my goal in cooking vegan is to improve my health. I am a big fan of Neil Barnard’s books, and as a diabetic, I want to see what I can do to control and reverse diabetes by changing what I am eating. I also want to lose weight.

As a blogger, my goal is to post three times a week.

A spice blend used in many of my Balti recipes. This is based on Pat Chapman’s recipe from his “Balti Bible” book.

Yield: about a cup

8 tsp ground coriander
4 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp ground fenugreek
5 tsp gram flour (chickpea flour)
5 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp paprika
4 tsp turmeric
10 tsp garam masala
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

A popular spice blend, used in tikka and tandoori dishes–and in some of Balti dishes. This is a relatively simple version. I have omitted the salt and food coloring that are often included in commercial tandoori masala blends.

Yield: 1 cup

9 tsp ground coriander
8 tsp ground cumin
8 tsp garlic powder
8 tsp paprika
6 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp mango powder
3 tsp dried mint
2 tsp cayenne

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

This is a little spice mix I use in some of my curries: Indian bay leaves (ten leaves), cinnamon sticks (two 2″ sticks) and green cardamom pods (one tablespoon)… The spices are ground together. I typically use just a pinch, added while frying the onions, to add hints of these flavors to the curry… Occasionally where I want the presence of these spices to be more pronounced, I will use 1/4 tsp of this spice mix.

This is a recipe from the book Curry Wizardry by Anthony Goolab.

In Indian restaurant cooking, one of the techniques that enables restaurant cooks to prepare curries in 5-10 minutes is the use of a base curry gravy. This gravy is, in effect, a ‘mother sauce’ for the many different curry house sauces: tikka masala, vindaloo, rogan josh, paneer kadhai, chicken madras, etc. In this post, I describe one of the two base gravy recipes I’ve been using in most of my curry cooking during the last five years.

It is often said that there as many different recipes for curry gravy as there are curry cooks, but there are a few definite styles, often associated with where the particular chef is from: for example, there are distinct styles of gravy associated with Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi chefs in Indian restaurants. And the Balti restaurants in Birmingham, England have also developed a distinctive style of their own.

The recipe in this post is in the Bangladeshi style, as it includes ingredients such as cabbage, asafoetida, and ground fenugreek seeds.

Ingredients

2 lb 6 oz onions, thickly sliced
4 oz (about 2 cups) chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/4 cup of diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup of diced green bell pepper
1/2 tbsp garlic puree
1/2 tbsp ginger puree
1 cup canned tomato puree or sauce
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/4 tsp asafoetida
1 1/4 tsp turmeric
1 1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 1/4 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro (use both stems and leaves of the cilantro)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water

Place all of the ingredients in a sauce pan just large enough to hold all of the ingredients. (I use a 2 1/2 quart sauce pan.) Cover with a lid. It’s ok if initially the lid doesn’t fit; the ingredients will cook down during cooking. Cook over a low heat until the vegetables have softened and released their liquid. I generally cook the gravy ingredients at least 2-3 hours at this stage.

Puree the mixture in a blender, until completely smooth. You will need to do so in batches. It is very important to spend time on this step, as it will affect the consistency of your curries. I typically blend the mixture for 3-5 minutes.

At this stage, you will have about 2 quarts (7-8 cups) of puree. Place the puree in a clean sauce pan, and add 2 quarts of water to the puree. (I use a 5 quart pan for this stage.) Simmer for an hour over medium-low heat.

Typically you will then have about 4 quarts of gravy when finished,enough to make at least a dozen restaurant-sized curry portions.

A Balti sauce, or base curry gravy, is the foundation of restaurant style Balti and curry cooking… Here is one of the two Balti sauce recipes that I cook with most.

This recipe is based on the Balti sauce from “I Am King of Balti” restaurant in Birmingham, England… It has more tomatoes and spices than the typical base gravy recipe–but the “I Am King” Balti house was known for their rich, tomatoey Baltis.

2 lbs onions, thickly sliced
2 oz ginger (cut into large pieces, or use ginger paste)
3 oz garlic (use garlic paste or whole garlic cloves)
28 oz can peeled tomatoes
4 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp paprika
1 cup vegetable oil
7 cups water

1. Add all ingredients (except the water) to a large sauce pan, adding the spices after the onions and tomoatoes. This will help prevent the spices from burning during the early stages of cooking.
2. Cook over medium heat for an hour until the onions are completely soft. They will likely have browned slightly.
3. Puree the onion-tomato mixture. Then add the water.
4. Heat over medium heat, and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes.

Here is the Balti sauce, when the onions have completely cooked, and sauce is ready to be pureed.

Below is a photo of the finished Balti sauce, ready to be used in cooking Balti and BIR curries.

I have been pre-diabetic for 12-18 months. At the beginning of November, my doctor said I am now diabetic. High cholesterol and triglycerides have long been a problem, and are, in my case, intertwined with the diabetes.

My doctor has, of course, long since prescribed medicines to treat this stuff, but, really, I have trouble staying on top of taking all these pills.

At this point I, I would rather make diet and lifestyle changes to try to deal with the diabetes/cholesterol/high triglycerides. For a while I’ve been reading Neal Barnard’s book on “reversing diabetes” — via a plant-based (i.e. vegan) diet.

I’ve decided to mostly eat a plant-based diet. For several reasons, I don’t see myself becoming 100% vegan — especially because most meals with my family involve meat, eggs, etc. I also like the concept of a 90%/10% diet–90% of the time, eat vegan–and allow myself some “cheat meals”. Hopefully the diet will be successful, and I will be able to reduce the number of medicines I have to take.

I love cooking curry and balti dishes — and so, I am going to cook vegan curries and baltis… Combining what I love, with what will also help my health.

This blog is my journal of the recipes I am cooking–and a scrapbook, of this year’s adventure…