Ola Chickens!
It's been a while. I was truly busy last month with my rock star co-organisers making Wilderfest happen.
Today is Eid and I thought why not recreate the most authentic (well sort of) vegan version of Bangla mutton curry ( Kosha Mangsho) in celebration? My partner and sister Kala had made her version of this curry using the vegan meat and it came out so incredible. No meat eater could make out the difference. Don't trust me, I haven't eaten meat in 9 years. But there is validation below. Wait for it.
See folks, it's very simple. Food technology is catching up and replicating old tastes with 100% vegan versions. The future is where we don't have to have to be breeding and keeping animals in horrific conditions and then killing them. The future is about minimising impact to our lovely world. I urge you start trying new substitutes and see how wide a variety of foods you can eat that's all plant based.
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| ready and served with rice and fresh salad |
Listen, I can go on and on about the environmental reasons and some of the health benifits of eating a vegan diet, but for me it's only one cause and that's the ethical part. I just don't see a reason to kill animals when we don't need to for our survival. It's 2018 and Bangalore is one of the most vegan friendly cities to live in India. It's up to us the privileged to make changes and create a world that is far more loving and compassionate. To me animal rights and human rights mirror each other, they are to sides of the same coin. When we subject millions and billions of animals (literally billions, folks) to a short terrible life without questioning it (because it's an invisible ethical issue for most of the mainstream world), then you know that we can do the same to humans just as it seems 'ok' enough to do, and believe me, when we step out of our happy bubbles we witness just how strange and cruel humans can be.
But I am only seeing positive beautiful things in my everyday. If I concentrate on the overwhelming mess we've got ourselves into I'd have to stay in bed weeping.
That's why, vegan mutton curry folks.
First of all if you've not heard of Good Dot vegetarian meat you should. It's affordable and easily brought right to your door step via amazon. I don't doubt they will be in everyday stores too in the very new future.
The texture is incredible and the taste amazing. You can replace any meat curry recipe using it the same way you'd use regular meat. One pack of it that's 180 rupees can easily feed 3. DISCLAIMER: I am a customer of good dot and haven't been signed up with them to promote them on my blog. I am promoting them because they are damn good product and feel like everybody should know about them.
Ok so how to make?
I used the basic recipe with little tweaks of my own. Feel free to replicate how you do it in your house. I didn't use mustard oil just because we rarely use it, so I didn't want to buy. I used regular sun flower oil. However, it's most authentically done with mustard oil.
What You Need :
1 packet of Good Dot vegetarian meat (amazon link is above)
1.5 to 2 teaspoons of the following (add more or less depending on your taste):
jeera powder
jeera seeds
mustard seeds
peppercorns
chili powder
haldi (turmeric)
sugar
ketchup (optional)
garam masala or meat masala
2 sticks cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 dried red chilis
4 green chilies (whole or chopped if you like it spicy)
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons oil
8 cloves of garlic
2 inches of fresh ginger
1 large onion
3 small patatoes
2 small tomatoes
1 fistful of fresh cilantro (dhanya pata)
How To Make
Open up you package of the vegan meat. Pull apart the pieces and put in a pressure cooker. Add water to cover it by at least 2 inches. Let is cook for one whistle and switch off.
In the meantime peel you potatoes, cut them into desired chunks and rub some turmeric, salt, and chili powder on it. Now, in a large pot add the oil and let it heat. Add the seasoned potatoes and fry it for 6-10 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from the oil and set aside.
In a blender add water and chopped onion. Make into a paste. Set aside. Do the same thing for the tomatoes and then for the ginger garlic. So you should have three bowls: onion pulp, tomato pulp, and ginger -garlic pulp. It's ok if it's watery because of the water you added to blend.
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| tomato pulp, onion pulp, and ginger garlic pulp |
Start the fire in the same pot you fired the potatoes in with the oil that's been retained from frying. Add cinnamon sticks, bayleaf, red chilis, mustard seeds, peppercorns, and jeera seeds in. Fry for one minute. Now add the onion pulp and fry for another minute. Add ginger garlic and toss in the pot for 3 minutes. Finally add the tomato pulp and ketchup (if using) and let it boil. Add all your masalas in now (jeera powder, haldi, salt, sugar, chili powder, garam or meat masala).
Now look to your pressure cooker. Open the pressure cooker when cooled and take out the vegan meat. Wow that looks scary-real nah?
Don't throw the broth, you'll be using that.
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| Yes, it's vegan. No animals here. This is how it looks after it's pressure cooked after one whistle. |
Add the vegan meat pieces into the boiling curry you've been making. Now dump the friend potatoes in to it as well. Add some of the broth water and do a quick taste check for salt/spice levels and adjust accordingly. Now add you green chilis and let it simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes. In between keep adding a little more of the broth water. Add the fresh cilantro to the pot and turn of the heat.
Serve with rice and a side salad. Now what would a good vegan kosha mangsho be without Bengali boy validation? Here is my boy Indrayudh Ghoshal digging in. He said it's beyond fantastic. So ok?
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| He said it's been his best meal in a long while |
Enjoy! Keep it real. Keep it kind.
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