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Tag: Indian

Chana Burrito: A Spicy Handheld Meal

One of my earliest memories of living on my own in Toronto is of visiting Flying Monkey Natural Foods, near Kensington Market. As a naive student with limited cooking skills and time, I made heavy use of their prepared meals. I particularly enjoyed a small but filling burrito filled with the well-loved Indian chickpea curry known as chana (or chole) masala. It was thicker than the chana you get in a restaurant, which was a good thing because a burrito made with a thin curry would go everywhere and likely stain your clothes. If ever there was a quick meal designed for life on the go, this is it. The spices are rich and the chickpeas are filling, but the burrito travels well and waits for you until you're ready for it. The Flying Monkey doesn't exist on College St. anymore, and I've been unable to find this burrito anywhere else, so I set about making my own. More

Filed under: Recipes > Light Meals & Snacks

Tags: chickpea, spicy, burrito, tortilla, Indian, chana

Grilled Tempeh in a Spicy Vegan Manchurian Sauce

Hakka cuisine occupies a unique culinary space somewhere between Chinese and Indian. My local Hakka restaurant serves astonishingly flavourful dishes with lots of chilies, garlic and ginger (another reason to love Toronto restaurants). One of my favourites is Manchurian sauce. The vegan option with Manchurian sauce is plate full of little fritters like pakoras, made with cabbage and carrot, served over rice. It's tasty, but I was hoping for something with a little more protein to make a complete lunch. As I committed to duplicating the sauce at home, I mentally jettisoned the fritters and settled on grilled tempeh as the protein. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: spicy, Chinese, Indian, Hakka, tempeh, ginger, cilantro, sauce

Chana Masala is About the Most Fun You Can Have with Chickpeas

Like many Toronto people, my introduction to chana masala came from one of the many outstanding Indian buffet restaurants that I was addicted to in my 20s. When you think about it, these restaurants are unique in big cities for the proportion of their menus that are devoted to vegetarian offerings, and their dedication to spiciness, two very important qualities when looking for a place to eat out, IMHO. Chana masala was always a big part of the magnetic pull toward these restaurants, a pull that I found pretty much impossible to resist. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: healthy, Indian, chickpea, curry, spicy

Aloo Gobi will Make your Mouth Happy

Cauliflower is one of the in-vogue vegetables right now. It seems like you can't start up a browser without seeing a cauliflower used as some kind of stand-in for carbs: a rice substitute, a bread ingredient or even the base of a pizza crust. As tempting as these nutritious replacements are, you can never go wrong with the classics. And aloo gobi is definitely a classic cauliflower dish. The magic is in the spice -- a perfect blend of spicy, tangy and salty. It's a popular North Indian accompaniment and a delicious way to get your cauliflower. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: comfort_food, cauliflower, potato, Indian, spicy