sharing raw, vegan recipes and advice
Tikka Masala is an Indian dish usually made with Chicken, as well as some combination of creams and tomato sauce. I realized this old favorite would be an easy dish to re-create raw. It includes several optimizations that can be foregone to save time and effort. The quickest version of this recipe can be made with two cups of coconut milk, no almond milk, and no irish moss. I recommend going all the way if you want to imitate its namesake - it will still be quick and easy.
1 cup almond milk*
1 cup young coconut milk (not just coconut water!)
1/4 cup tightly-packed sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
1 small vine tomato
1 small clove garlic (or 1/2 large)
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala**
1 tsp cumin
Approx 1/4 oz irish moss (optional, for thickening) (rinsed well and soaked for at least 3 hours)
2 large portobello mushrooms, cut into bite-size pieces
- Blend almond milk and irish moss until completely smooth
- Add all of the remaining ingredients except portobello and blend until it reaches approx 105 degrees (You will need a vitamix for this)
- Stir in portobello and serve with zucchini rice or essene bread. Optional: Allow portobello to marinate for 10-15 minutes to absorb the flavor.
* I used almond milk made with equal measurements water and almonds, resulting in a thicker milk. This makes a better substitute for the heavy cream or half-and-half that would be used in a non-raw Tikka Masala. Less necessary if irish moss is being used.
** Garam masala is an Indian spice blend. When purchased from the store, it won't be raw. The spices will have been toasted to release their flavor, and often the final result is steam-treated. I made my own, but had to improvise heavily as the recipe I found was somewhat wanting. If you aren't 100% raw, the exception is minor. If you are, a quick google should yield a number of possible recipes. If you don't have the time for this step, you can sub 1 additional tsp cumin, but I highly recommend using some form of this excellent spice blend.
Yes. The meat of one coconut + the water of one coconut for the milk. On occasion you will find a young coconut with almost no meat, and those would probably not be the best to use.
As for the spices, I made the garam masala using organic whole spices that I then put into a spice grinder. They were store bought, so it's up in the air as to how they were dehydrated, but one can only sweat the small stuff so much. Mostly, I was just calling attention to the fact that the spices were not toasted in a pan to release any additional flavor.
When you say coconut "milk", do you mean the water blended with the meat?
Also, are you saying you found raw spices to make your garam masala out of somewhere?
Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words! Even Heath, who hilariously posted a spamtastic ramble about pizza and didn't even bother to notice this is a raw food forum. At least he didn't go on about the benefits of pepperoni. On a side note, I have to disagree - even non-raw pizza, provided you make the dough yourself, is a huge pain in the ass.
I didn't mention this in the recipe because I haven't tried it, but I suspect a jalapeno would make a great addition for those that like their Indian food hotter.
To HeathG. SPAM! do you realize you're on a raw food forum? take your phony ad someplace else. it even ends with "to find the cheapest personal loan rates" and um, raw foodists don't eat cheese, or dough. so scram.
p.s. awesome recipe.
I've never had the original version, but this version sounds really good!
I tasted this at our raw chef class on Monday and it was awesome. Just the same or better than the original cooked version and this receipe will now satisfy my cravings for Indian cuisine!