Loading...Vegetable Tikka Masala
This curry type is one of our favourite currys. Normally we have this with chicken (marinated and grilled in tikka spices-coming soon) but today’s version is purely vegetarian (and vegan!). Top tip number one for making a curry… fry everything. Many years ago while learning to cook I remember watching Madhur Jaffrey explaining how to make a curry. She started off by frying the onions, then frying the garlic & ginger, then the spices. Even the tomato puree got a couple of minutes frying to release the flavours. Since then our curries have all been made following this technique with the only difference being the mixture of spices.
Top tip number 2. Caramelise the onions. The longer you cook the onions, the more they reduce, become golden and sweet and really make a curry’s flavour deeper! With this we made a simple turmeric infused rice and if you’ve got some… some naan bread would have hit the spot.
- 4 medium onions, chopped
- cloves garlic, pureed
- 1 tsp ginger, pureed
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 5 whole cardamom pods
- 1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Tandoori Masala mix
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
- 1 200ml tin of cooked chickpeas, drained
- ½ green pepper, chopped or sliced
- ½ yellow pepper, chopped or sliced
- 1 tbsp coconut cream
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 cup tinned tomatoes, pureed
- 2 tsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper
- Chopped coriander
- 1 cup of rice (we used Thai Jasmine)
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 4-5 whole cloves
- ½ tsp ground cardamom powder
- Salt & water to cook the rice
- Flavour your oil. Add the 3 of the cardamom pods and the curry leaves to the oil over a gentle heat to infuse
- In the meantime chop up your onions and add to the oil over a medium heat, 10 minutes
- Add the cinnamon to the onions and allow to caramelise for a further 8 minutes
- Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 2 minutes.
- In a bowl mix together the garam massala, curry powder, tandoori mix and paprika
- Switch off the heat for 1 minute to allow the pan to cool a little. Push the onion to one side, add a little oil and add your spice mixture. Switch the heat back on.
- Gently fry the spices for 1 minute.
- Add the tomato puree and fry the whole mixture for another 1 minute.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock, coconut cream, sweet potatoes, red/yellow peppers and the sugar and put on a gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the chickpeas and simmer for a further 5 minutes until the sweet potatoes are cooked and your sauce is at a desired consistency.
- Add chopped coriander for garnish.
- Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a non-stick pan, add the rice, turmeric, ground cardamom & salt
- Fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat
- Add double the amount of rice in water, stir well, reduce and simmer for 15 minutes
would love to make this but could you help me figure out two sub suggestions please? here are the items required and what i have in the pantry:
1-whole cardamon pods – ground only
2-Tandoori Masala mix – garam masala, curry powder and other spices in pantry
3-coconut cream – dairy free milk in pantry
. how can sub these or should i not bother with this recipe since the subs are inferior?
many thanks!
1. Ground cardamon is OK
2. The Tandoori Masala mix adds a slightly zingy taste but mainly the enhances the red colour.. should still be nice with the rest.
3. Coconut cream is optional you should try it with the above and let us know how it went
Beautiful recipe and photos!
Hi, this is soooo good!
Thank you we’re glad you enjoyed it and hope you try more of our recipes
Yummy! I just saw this on Pinterest and had to click through. I’ve been searching so many vegetarian recipes and none of them looked nearly as delicious as this one! Thanks!