Namaste! Vegan Indian dinner

Okra masala

Sweet coconut chutney

Fragrant coriander chutney

Dinner is served...

There's nothing quite like cooking with friends and sharing a cozy meal.  I just love it!  Thank you to Zita and Mio for helping prepare the meal and for your lovely company.

This was my first foray into Indian cooking and I used recipes I collected while traveling in India earlier this year.
On the menu was: coconut chutney and coriander chutney with whole wheat naan (the naan was bought at Whole Foods and not homemade), and okra masala.  For a decidedly un-Indian dessert, we had my vegan banana bread and the inaugural batch of vegan chocolate hazelnut butter with organic salted pretzel sticks for dipping.  Quite an eclectic combo, yes!

In preparation for this meal, I went grocery shopping at Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights, Queens - a mecca for Indian food, spices and so much more.  More on the restaurants in this neighborhood another time.  This was the only place to get fresh okra, not to mention every single other item on my list.  By the way, the E train subway station in Jackson Heights (Roosevelt Ave) actually smells like Indian spices - it doesn't get much better than that!

The Recipes:

Coriander Chutney
Ingredients:
50 grams coriander leaves (we used almost all the leaves from one bunch of coriander)
1/4 green chile
1 pinch cumin seeds
1/4 t. salt
1/2 lemon or dry mango powder

Serving Size: about 4 (there are no serving sizes on my Indian recipe cards, so this is based on our actual cooking)
1. Wash the green chile and cut off the stems
2. Wash the coriander leaves
3. Blend the coriander, cumin and green chile together in a paste
4. Add salt and squish (yes, it says "squish") the lemon over the top, then stir.

We used both the mango powder and the lemon juice.  It was not the right consistency with just the mango powder alone.  We needed the liquid from the lemon to further break down the leaves into smaller pieces and to form a paste.

At Patel Brothers, I was overwhelmed by the (two) choices of green chile sizes - small or medium.  Rather than leave it to guess-work, I asked a friendly customer who informed me that the smaller chiles are spicier so that made the decision easily enough - I bought the medium-sized chiles to be on the safe side.

The finished product was delightful on our naan.

Coconut Chutney (from Vegetarian Indian Cooking, by Manju Kumari Singh):
Ingredients:
1 cup grated coconut, dry roasted on a pan (at 250 degrees for 5-10 minutes)
2 green chiles, chopped (seeds removed if you don't want too much spice)
2 onions, chopped
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
1 cup coriander or mint leaves, chopped (we used mint)
2 T. lemon juice

Put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend to a smooth paste.  Store in the fridge.

Easy enough.

Serving size: (again, none is listed on the recipe) - seriously, this recipe made a mountain of chutney, so let's say 100. :)

This was very good, nice and sweet but if anything, just a tad too onion-heavy for me.  I do love coconut chutney; it's usually my favorite part of a dosa meal.  If I make it again (and I will, assuming at some point I will run out of leftovers), I would only use one onion or maybe even none.   It made for a perfect appetizer on warm naan.

Okra (bhindi) Masala:

Ingredients:
1/2 kg. okra, chopped (do not use the ends)
1 large onion, chopped
1 t. cumin seeds
2 green chiles, chopped (seeds removed if you don't want too much spice)
1/2 t. dried mango powder
1/2 t. red chili powder (I thought I had some at home but turned out I only had cayenne, which we used but it was milder so I feel like we essentially skipped this ingredient)
1/2 t. turmeric powder
1/2 t. coriander powder
salt to taste
1. T. coriander leaves, chopped
2 T. cooking oil (I used canola)

1. In a karachi (not sure what that is but we used a large frying pan as you can see in the photos), heat the oil and cumin seeds
2. After cumin seeds start to sizzle, add onions and cook until onions are golden brown
3. Add okra and cook for 5-7 minutes
4. Add all the powders and salt
5. Stir gently for 8-10 minutes
6. Garnish with coriander.

Serving size: 3-4 large portions

Don't forget the salt like I did.  It really does help with the flavor, otherwise, it is a bit bland.  We added it at the table and all was good.  This was really delicious and satisfying, with a nice mix of subtle flavors.  Ayurvedically-speaking, okra is a perfect food for fall since it is slimy and therefore good for those dry vata constitutions!

Namaste!