vegan

Ultimate Vegan and Vegetarian Guide and Cheat Kofta Curry

We spend every Christmas together as a family. As all of us including my siblings and close relations are vegetarians, it’s quite easy to cook dishes we can all enjoy. The most favourite being the Veggie Wellington, lasagna, cannelloni or of course the usual biryani. This year we have the challenge of cooking a vegan Christmas meal as my son and niece are both vegans and as a family we are also trying to eat a vegan diet where possible. I have spent weeks researching vegan recipes, we can all enjoy as a family without having to cook for hours.

Like any other lifestyle change, going vegan took time for us to adjust. Being vegetarian and always being told by my parents, how good milk, yogurt and ghee were for you – I did find it hard to give up these dairy products. I love my masala chai and could not believe that you could make chai with a milk substitute. However, we have now got used to using soya or almond milk, vegan yogurt and vegan spread. The most difficult change which we have still not managed fully is cheese. We don’t eat cheese a lot but can not imagine a pizza without cheese and other Vegan Cheese’s like Violife, Sheese Vegan Grated Mozzarella Style cheese available in all Supermarkets.

Changing our diet has been a huge learning curve for us and I have found that the best way of getting information about vegan food was from the internet, our vegan friends, vegan blogs and vegan Facebook pages.

For us as a family going vegan was slightly easier but for a non vegetarian person, my advice would be to try vegan options for a couple of days a week to give you an idea of whether you would be able to cope. These days there are so many plant based substitutes available which makes it easier for everyone. Plus good food labeling helps – as you don’t have to keep reading ingredients to check if a product is vegan.

Interestingly, Cauldron recently conducted a survey of vegans and veggies across the UK and it was voted that Veggie Wellington (25%) was the best and most preferred Christmas Meal. 1000 people voted delivering a result which is surprising considering the other choices on the table. Coming in at second place, the famous Vegan Nut Roast received 23% of votes and the ever-popular Veggie Pigs in Blankets attained a respectable 20%.

I have been experimenting with some of Cauldron’s ready foods recently. One of my favourite is making a stirfry using the smoked Cauldron tofu. My son loves the falafels which he eats in a wrap and he loves the Cauldron Lincolnshire style sausages with spicy mash potatoes. I wanted to see is any of Cauldron Foods could be used to make a nice curry to have on Christmas Day. My son recommended that I try the Couldron’s Indian Spicy koftas which he likes to eat as a snack. I used the koftas to make a cheat kofta curry . I usually only make kofta curry if I have plenty of time to cook as making the koftas takes a lot of time. In fact, this is one curry I usually like to order when eating at an Indian restaurant and I do get disappointed when they only serve you 2 koftas with a lot of sauce.

Ingredients:(enough for 2 servings with some left overs)

1 Pack of Cauldron’s spiced Indian Koftas
1 400 mls can of coconut milk
1 cup mixed vegetables ( I used peas, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower)
2 tbls Sunflower oil
2 heaped tbls almond flour
1 cup passata
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp mixture of cumin and coriander power (dhana jeeru)
2 tsp garam masala
1 medium finely chopped onion
2-3 cloves of garlic minced using a garlic press
1 inch freshly grated ginger
2-3 finely chopped green chilies (use as per taste)
2 green chilies sliced from the middle
handful of fresh coriander
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp brown sugar

Method:

In a wok or non stick saucepan, heat the coconut milk until it’s simmering. Switch the heat to low and add the almond flour. Keep stirring whilst its simmering.
In a second saucepan – Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Once they go brown, add the onions and spices such as salt and turmeric. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilies. Mix and add the passata and the mixed vegetables. Allow this to cook until the vegetables soften. Now add the sugar and lemon juice to the mixture.

3. Now add the tomatoes and vegetable mixture to the coconut milk and mix well.

4. Now add the Cauldron Indian Koftas to the sauce and allow to cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add the Garam masala and garnish with fresh Coriander.

6. We served the kofta curry hot with saffron rice, parathas and kachoris. The kofta curry sauce was delicious and the koftas too tasted great and they just melted in the mouth. The curry was quick to make without having the hassle of making the koftas from scratch. I am certainly going to make this cheat kofta curry for our Christmas meal as it was quick to make and so delicious. My husband said that it tasted as good as the kofta currieshe had eaten in India and that is a big compliment from him.

Have you tried the Waitrose vegetarian kofta curry? Read what I thought of it here.

I also have a cheat kofta curry recipe you can try making when you are in a hurry.

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In collaboration with Couldron Foods

Tags: blogChristmasfoodhonestUKveganvegetarian

Mina Joshi

I am a busy working mum who aims to make quick and healthy authentic vegetarian and vegan dishes for my family. I am also a face to face and online cookery teacher, recipe developer, restaurant and product reviewer. I share all recipes with step by step instructions.