My Vegan Experience of Curry

'Chicken' Curry - in the pan.

Spinach and Chickpea curry - on the plate.

Maybe my favourite food, pre-vegetarian/vegan days, was restaurant/take-away chicken tikka phal.
The curry was incredibly well spiced, and I thought the texture and consistency of the chicken was an excellent, filling ingredient.
Since I stopped eating meat, some three and a half years ago, however, i've never had a curry that was as well put together; that's not to say that vegan cuisine is deficient: it is to say that vegetarian options don't tend to warrant as much effort from cooks as meat-based ones...so although I have vegetable phals nowadays, they just seem to throw in whatever random vegetables they have that day (sprouts? Seriously dude...? It isn't even near Christmas.), caring little for consistency in the recipe, the actual dish prepeared on the day, or curries in general.

The only curry i've ever made myself, since quitting meat, is the Spinach and Chickpea Curry pictured above; i've never really gone in for shop-bought meat analogues - especially chicken ones - so I never bothered to pursue making my own 'chicken' rogan josh, or vindaloo.
However, since discovering seitan, and embarking on a 'faux-meat'-making spree (photos and descriptions in forthcoming posts...), i've been slowly working my way towards making a good 'chicken' curry - the kind you get at curry houses, with all the sauce you dip naan bread in until the bread's all gone, and you have to finally eat the curry...but I digress.

Anyway, after doing some research, I concluded that the way to make a 'tomato-based' curry like a rogan josh, jalfrezi, vindaloo, phal, etc., that we're all familiar with from curry house menus, was to make the same curry paste i've always made for the spinach and chickpea curry - but then add the 'meat'; marinade it; and add tomato juice/passata, which the curry paste would flavour, giving the delicious sauce I craved...

I'd never had a chicken-style seitan recipe, however, and so I went to a new friend of mine - Liz, from Cooking the Vegan Books, who lives very nearby, as luck would have it - to ask if she had one; she almost immediately replied that she did! Steamed White Seitan from Viva! Vegan by Terry Hope Romero.
The following night, I made the incredible 'chicken' curry you see above.

Recipe

First, I made the Steamed White Seitan (see the above link for the recipe) a day in advance, as recommended.

Chicken'style Seitan: some cubed, some whole.

All I had to do then was make the curry (the curry paste was based on the one used in the Spinach Curry from VWAV).

Ingredients

1 Tin of Plum Tomatoes

3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

3 Tsp Mustard Seeds

2 Medium Onions - Diced

4 Cloves of Garlic - chopped finely

2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger - chopped finely

6 Finger Chillies - 2 sliced into rounds; 4 sliced lengthwise (use more or less depending on taste.)

1 Handful of Fresh Coriander - rinsed and chopped coarsely

4 Tsp Hot Curry Powder

2 Tsp Ground Cumin

2 Tsp Ground Coriander

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 Tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 Tsp Asafoetida

1 Tsp Salt

1/2 the Steamed White Seitan - cut into big, curry-style chunks

500g Passata

Method

Take the tomatoes, and squeeze the excess juice out of them; tear into pieces, and place in a bowl.

Put a stockpot on a medium-heat.

Chop onion, ginger, and garlic.

When the stockpot is heated, pour in the oil, and mustard seeds. Cover so the seeds don't escape.

After about a minute, add onion and stir.

Stir periodically until the onions start to brown (5-10 minutes); when they do, add the garlic, ginger, chillies, and coriander; stir well.

After two minutes, add the spices/salt, and 5 Tbsp of the tomato juice from the tin; stir well. This is the curry paste, and should be very pungent, and powerful (if using a lot of chillies, make sure the kitchen is well-ventilated).

After a minute, add the 'Chicken', and coat well with the curry paste, stirring frequently.

Add the tomatoes after a minute, and mix well.

The curry - before adding the passata and tomato juice.

After a couple of minutes, when the 'chicken' is well marinated, add the passata and the juice from the tinned tomatoes; stir well, reduce heat to simmer, and cover.

Stir periodically for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with basmati rice, curry-spiced potatoes, and fluffy naan bread - if you're like me; or whatever you like, if you're not.

Et voila!

Oh yeah: the curry served three grown men, and two vegans and an American omnivore loved it: "Curry-house worthy." was the determination - and I am inclined to agree: a very impressive meal.

Addendum: the naan breads were incredible - comparable to the best ones i've ever had at a curry house.

They are by a company called The Clay Oven Bakery - 'Fresh, hand-made naan breads.' - and I bought them, pre-packed, from an ethnic food supermarket called Pak Foods, which has five stores, including one in Stoke-on-Trent, luckily for me.

 

They also have massive (seriously: massive.) bunches of fresh coriander for only 19p. Yeah. And they sell black salt for 49p a bag, and have an overwhelming amount of dried beans, pulses and legumes:

And on, and on, and on...