Here is something you can do with vegetables to make them less unpalatable.
Heat some vegetable oil, canola, peanut, etc. or you can use I Can’t Believe How Many Kinds of Imitation Butter There Are on the Shelves, in a large skillet, then turn down the fire and add a dollop of ginger and garlic paste (if you want, you can make your own: one part grated ginger to 3 parts peeled garlic, make it into a paste in your blender or with mortar and pestle), a little biryani masala, curry powder, a few cumin seeds, cayenne pepper, salt, this is all very flexible. Mix in with the oil, careful not to burn the spices, this is why you have turned down the fire, let the heat of the oil do the work.
Now throw in some cut up (Sufi chop) onions, sweet (bell) chiles, broccoli and/or cauliflower florets, green beans, yellow squash, pungent chiles (Indian, thai, habanero, jalapeno) this is also flexible, use vegetables you have and will eat.
Stir them around a bit, cover if you like and let them cook until tender, then add a dollop of yogurt, you can use the fat free 1% whatever yogurt, or not, you are only using a dollop for a panful of vegetables that will feed 3 or 4 people. You can also at this point, add about a teaspoon or two of sugar and if you live under a glucose meter dictatorship, it will not render you.
Serve over basmati rice, let people add chopped chiles, shredded coconut, cilantro at will. If you want to make it fancier, toast some sliced almonds and add those with the vegetables. To make it even fancier, throw in some sultanas.
And you can also add chicken or lamb or beef or shrimp, or any combination, if you want to.
I’ve gotten up 3 times to look in the refrigerator and cupboards since you posted this. I’m ready for dinner! And it’s only 4:30.
I have an unfair advantage. I can always take a pain pill, which dulls the appetite for a while. Every cloud has its silver lining!
But you could have some unsweetened tea, or Perrier Lemon, or if you don’t have that, make your own with club soda and lemon or lime juice!
I agree, katieb, this sounds sooo good yet I’m really stuffed from all the oatmeal I ate.
This sounds wonderful,DTF, I love ginger and garlic together. We use that combo in our cooking a lot. What is Biryani Marsala? I love Biryani which I used to be able to get at our local Tandoori Chicken. But that was back in Columbus, and I really haven’t had Indian food in 5.5 years!! What I wouldn’t give for some Vegetable Biryani with extra raisins and cardamon just now.
So, what IS biryani marsala and where to do you get it?
How is Indian food for fat content?
Masala just means mixture. Every person will have a different answer for the ingredients of any masala, but the easiest thing is just to buy a package of already mixed biryani masala at your local South Asian grocery store. Or whatever masala or curry paste, etc you like.
Or you can mix the spices yourself, according to your own taste.
The worst thing about Indian food as far as fat goes is that almost everything begins with ghee, or clarified butter, and then many recipes go on to add cream, coconut milk, or both!
I am still working out workarounds for this, so far, the best tips I can give are as above, substituting a vegetable oil or butter substitute for the butter, and yogurt for the cream.
Some people use canned 1% or skim evaporated milk, but I have not tried this.
Once you get past all those high fat dairy products, and say no to pieces of naan bigger than your head and dripping with butter, Indian food is not high-fat at all, and the spices help more than those of any other cuisine, in my opinion, if one is obliged to eat vegetables.
Vegetables are actually the key ingredient in much South Asian food, especially India, where there is a vegetarian tradition thousands of years old!