Keerai Masiyal (Stewed Spinach with Coconut, Chiles, and Curry Leaves)

I think this is the first recipe I've cooked that calls for a volume of curry leaves rather than just an integer quantity of them! This is a nice, mild curry that I don't think could hold its own as a main dish but makes a nice side. It was also an unexpected hit with the Kidlet, who declared it a favourite.

The original recipe uses fresh spinach, and boils it first. I've adapted it here for frozen, which means we need to add a bit of water later since you don't get the additional water from the boiling process.

Keerai masiyal (bottom right) pictured with chicken tikka masala (top), onion kulchi (left), and mitty chawal (centre).

Keerai Masiyal

660 Curries

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen chopped spinach
• 1 C shredded fresh coconut, or ½ C dried unsweetened
  
• ¼ C curry leaves
• 4 dried whole chiles, stems removed
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp urad dal (skinned split black lentils)
• ½ tsp salt
  

Directions

1. If using dried coconut, reconstitute it first by pouring ½ C of boiling water over it and letting it stand for 15 minutes; do not drain.
2. Combine coconut, curry leaves, half the chiles, and ½ C water in a blender. Blend until they form a smooth paste.
3. Heat the ghee in a small pot or deep skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Add the mustard seeds and cover until they stop popping, ~30 seconds.
5. Add the lentils and remaining chiles, and and stir-fry until the lentils turn golden-brown and the chiles start to blacken, another 30 seconds.
6. Add the spinach, salt, and coconut paste, and mix together. If it looks too dry, add a bit of water.
7. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes.
   

This is written as an InstantPot recipe with fresh tomatoes. I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand, but I did have some canned diced tomatoes. I figured that the canning process would have the same effect as the pressure cooking, so I just skipped over the first cooking stage and continued on from there.

Tomato & Date Chutney

Slightly adapted from Vegetarian Indian Cooking with Your Instant Pot by Manali Singh

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 3/4 tsp. mustard seeds
• 400mL diced tomatoes (canned)
• 8-9 medjool dates, chopped
• 1/4 c. jaggery
• 1/4 c. chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. Bin Bhuna Hua Garam Masala
• 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. sultanas

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until seeds have stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
3. Add tomatoes, dates, jaggery, chili powder, garam masala, cumin seeds, ginger (if using), and salt.
4. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add sultanas and cook for another 5 minutes.

This was so, so good! The sauce was rich and creamy (thanks to the almonds and cream) with a pleasant sweetness from the bell peppers and raisins. And the chicken is superbly flavourful and tender with a slight char thanks to its time spent under the broiler (or on the grill). I really, really liked this one. Everyone really liked this one!

Chicken (without the sauce)

Finished chicken tikka masala

Chicken Tikka Masala

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1-2 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi Garam Masala
• 680g skinless, boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs, cut into 1" strips

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 c. slivered almonds
• 1/4 c. golden raisins or sultanas
• 1 c. diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/4 tsp. Punjabi Garam Masala
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, to garnish¹

Directions

Chicken

1. Combine yogurt, garlic paste, ginger paste, cilantro, coriander, cumin, Kashmiri chilies, salt, turmeric, and garam masala and mix well.
2. Toss chicken with yogurt mixture to coat.
3. Cover and chill/marinate for 1-6 hours.
4. Meanwhile, make the sauce.
5. Once sauce is made, spread chicken (along with its marinade) on a baking sheet and broil on hi for 6-8 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through and get a little char on the top. If you have access to a grill/barbecue, thread the chicken pieces onto skewers and grill them for 6-8 minutes until cooked through and lightly charred.
6. Combine chicken with sauce, garnish with cilantro, and serve with rice and your choice of vegetables.

Sauce

1. While chicken marinates, melt ghee over medium-high heat in a smallish pan (~23cm or 9" works well).
2. Add onion, bell pepper, almonds, and raisins and cook for 10-12 minutes.
3. Add tomato and deglaze the pan.
4. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender jar, add the cream, salt, cayenne, and garam masala, and blend until smooth.
5. Return sauce to pan and simmer over low heat while chicken cooks.

---

¹ Just realized that I totally forgot to add the cilantro garnish before serving! Oh well... ^Back

I believe that Sambar is usually more of a breakfast food but, what can I say, I'm a rule-breaker! I needed something to add to the dinner spread to round things out and this looked like a good bet. It's full of delicious veggies and pigeon peas. I used a mix of carrot, tomato, onion, okra, and green beans, but you could use just about any veggies you wanted depending on what's available.

Sambar

Slightly adapted from Vegetarian Indian Cooking with Your Instant Pot by Manali Singh

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. split pigeon peas (toor dal)
• 2 1/2 c. water, divided
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric, divided
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1 c. diced tomato (fresh or canned)
• 1 carrot, cut into coins
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 okras, cut into 2cm pieces
• 1 c. green beans, cut into 2cm pieces
• 1 tsp. jaggery
• 4 tsp. Sambhar Masala
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1 Tbsp. mustard oil
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp. asafetida
• 15 curry leaves
• 1 fresh green Thai chile, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Place pigeon peas in InstantPot along with 1 c. of the water, 1/4 tsp. of the turmeric, and 1/2 tsp. of the salt.
2. Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 8 minutes.
3. Allow a 15 minute natural release and then remove the lid and add the tomato, carrot, onion, okra, beans, jaggery, sambhar masala, tamarind, remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp. of turmeric.
4. Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
7. Stir asafetida, curry leaves, and chile and remove from heat.
8. Once the vegetables have finished cooking, do a quick release and stir in the tadka (oil-curry leaf mixture).
9. Garnish with cilantro and serve with idli or dosas for breakfast!

We made this as part of Fideos with Chickpeas and Garlic Mayo, and it really is not an optional part of the recipe; topping each bowl of fideos with it is mandatory. The original recipe calls for making garlic aioli from scratch, but we just winged it with some mayo in the fridge.

All quantities are very approximate, since I just put things together until it tasted right.

Garlic Mayo

The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook

Ingredients

• ¼ C mayo
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp powdered mustard
• ¼ tsp black pepper
  
• ⅛ tsp coarse salt

Directions

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.
   

Sookha Kala Chana (Spiced Black Chickpeas)

I don't think this is any of our favourites, but it is easy to put together and pretty tasty, and while it's not fast, most of the time is spent waiting for the chickpeas to cook -- it requires some forward planning but very little time investment. The recipe suggests serving with halwa and poori; we went with garlic naan and onion kulcha.

The Kidlet was highly suspicious of the "weird-looking" chickpeas but was ok with the taste.

Sookha Kala Chana

Vegetarian Indian Cooking with your Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1 C black chickpeas
• 3 C water
• 1+½ tsp salt, divided
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 green cardamom pods
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 1-2 tbsp ginger paste
• 1-2 green chilies, sliced
• 1 tsp coriander, ground
• ¼ tsp cumin, ground
• ¼ tsp bin bhuna hua garam masala
• ¼ tsp amchor
• cilantro to taste
  

Directions

1. Rinse the chickpeas and place them in the instant pot with the water and 1 tsp of salt. Select bean/chili mode, 40 minutes, and allow for a 15 minute natural release once cooking is complete.
2. Drain the water and remove the chickpeas to a bowl.
3. Wipe out the pot and set it to sauté medium.
4. Once hot, add the ghee, bay leaf, and green cardamom. Sauté until fragrant, 15-30 seconds.
5. Add the cumin and sizzle for 5-10 seconds.
6. Add the ginger and chilies and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the ginger starts to darken.
7. Finally, add the ground spices and 2 tbsp water. Deglaze briefly and then immediately add the chickpeas.
8. Stir chickpeas together with spices, then remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro and remaining ½ tsp of salt.

This was delicious! It came together really easily, too. We used rotelle instead of the macaroni called for in the recipe, and shortened the cooking time slightly as well, since we generally like our pasta al dente. We also halved the chiles and made the paprika garnish optional for the Kidlet, and upped the onion slightly since we had a spare half onion.

Masala Mac & Cheese

Vegetarian Indian Cooking with your Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1-2 yellow onions, chopped
• 2 green chiles, chopped
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp cumin, ground
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1½ tsp salt
• 4 C water
• 1 lb rotelle, macaroni, radiatori, or similar pasta
• ½ C heavy cream
• ½ C whole milk
• 2 C shredded cheese (we used a mix of mozarella and cheddar; the original recipe also recommends monterey jack)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• smoked or hot paprika for serving
  

Directions

1. Set instant pot to sauté medium.
2. Melt the butter. Add onion and chiles and cook for 2-3 minutes, until onion softens.
3. Add garlic and ginger pastes and cook until fragrant, another ~30 seconds.
4. Stir in turmeric, cumin, chili powder, garam masala, and salt, then immediately add water and pasta.
5. Close pot and pressure cook, high, for 3 minutes; release pressure immediately.
6. Return pot to sauté mode. Stir in the heavy cream and milk, then stir in the cheese, a handful at a time, until melted.
7. Stir in the cilantro.
8. Serve topped with paprika.