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Indian food dishes

I realize that there are a few ‘curry’ dishes on this site, but I am looking for a raw version of baingan bharta. It’s a mashed eggplant dish usually with peas and some other good stuff. What about naan? Any recipes that would come close to naan? And lastly, something that could come close to a samosa.. or any indian food recipes you may have in the raw.

The reason I am asking is because On december 17th I fly to seattle to hang with my boyfriend for about a month. He has already been asking me if i’m going to “cheat” and eat cooked food with him. I really REALLY don’t want to. . but there’s a fantastic vegan indian restaurant and there’s a great jamaican vegan restaurant there as well, and I am already getting nervous about being weak and subjecting myself to the cooked food. I tell him it’s not ‘cheating’ on some random diet, but rather it’s me poisoning myself.. but he will not give in. He will do whatever it takes to see me eat cooked food!!!!! SO, i’d like to start experimenting now and hopefully bring a recipe for Bhangan Bharta [his favorite dish] and some naan [which i’d have to make ahead of time and just bring with me]. His family is from india, so I’ve got to do something!!!!!!!!! There’s no way he’ll go an entire month without indian food!

Alright, thanks in advance! Hopefully i can get some ideas here. I have TONS of indian spices from his grandparents.

Comments

  • The book “Raw Food Real World” has a recipe for Samosas that sounds fabulous and authentic tasting (if you have a dehydrator). Let me know if you want it and I can upload it on here.

    I’ve never had bhangan bharta, but maybe you could dehydrate eggplant with oil and spices and then mash it and mix in peas and stuff.

    Also, I really like making coconut noodles with all sorts of spicy fresh curry sauces. That gets my indian food fix every time.

  • hm.. dehydrating with oil and spices might work! I’ll be picking up eggplant next time i go grocery shopping.. so keep the ideas coming! Also, mygreenmojo, if you wouldn’t mind uploading that samosas recipe I would LOVE to try it out. I do indeed have a dehydrator. I just bought the excalibur and sadly have used it ONCE.

  • This doesn’t answer your question but I once had a raw vegan Indian dish from Quintessence (www.raw-q.com – there’s actually a picture of the dish I had under entrees) and I thought it was so disgusting. I think Indian food is one of the hardest things to recreate raw… because of the heat, the oil and spices get that perfect taste in Indian dishes. A friend, who has been a raw foodist for 8 years (her family is also raw) thinks the same….. sorry.. didn’t mean to burst your bubble… I personally hate making experimental dishes and then have to through them out because they don’t taste good. . I hope you have good luck!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I am afraid that I have to disagree with coconut dream, I have been making the most amazing Indian raw food, so much so that I am writing a recipe book just on Raw Indian Food.

    Indian food is the most popular food here and considered our national speciality here in the UK.Most people find that surprising but it is easy to get ingredients etc here, as we have large Indian communities in every city. And there are Indian takeaways on every street. I basically had to get into making raw Indian otherwise there was NO WAY I was going to stay raw.It has been a total Godsend, my raw comfort food.

    My American husband says our Indian spices are much better than anything available in the USA. I will probably start importing them to the USA when we move over your side. Anyway, Samosas are easy peasy! The samosa filling from “raw food real world” is brilliant, but their samosa wrapper isn’t that good. I make their filling and I use the Indian crepe recipe from Trotter and Klein “Raw” book as the wrapper, it is truly divine. I haven’t tried to make nann yet but I am sure it is possible.I am working on a Dosa recipe that’s my favourite bread type thingy.

    Don’t ask me about eggplant, I just cannot make that work in any shape or form.

    Good luck with staying raw. All those smells of cooking Indian food, brave girl!

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    Zoe,

    I can’t wait for some recipes from you and your cookbook because I love Indian food. To have it raw will be just awesome.

    Mango woman, you may just need to go to those restaurants and ask for a raw veggie plate. Be sure to eat plenty before you go, and take some tasty raw treats with you so you’re not tempted.

  • ooo, I have got to try to make some Indian dishes some day. WIthout a dehydrator it will a little challenging, but i’ll see what I can come up with.

  • Zoe, A Raw Indian cookbook would be too cool! Indian dishes were the only cooked foods that I missed and about the only things I used to cook. (I develped the taste only while living in the UK for a few years, yes you guys have far better indian than the US) Good luck with it and keep working at it!

  • zoe that’s the worst tease ever. Is there ANY way you’d be willing to give me a few tips.. i understand if you want to keep the recipes to yourself until publishing your book [by the way, when will you be finishing it? I’ll buy one NOW!] but any advice would be greatly appreciated.. maybe a few tips to get me pointed in the right direction.

    :)

    That’s too bad about the eggplant. Grr..

    As for going into the restaurants themselves and toughing it out- that’s not going to happen. If i step foot into that restaurant [which is completely vegan] i’m going to end up eating the food. I’ve tried before, and failed before. :/

  • Are there any raw food books that already exist that have indian food recipes.. and other ‘ethnic’ dishes? I’m getting desperate! I’ve got to prepare..

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    I admit to not liking Indian food but I remember seeing a raw recipe for Samosas on rawfoodtalk.com

    Here is the link to the thread on some raw Indian recipes:

    http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=285…

    I would search for more Indian stuff on there too – I know I have seen other posts on Indian food – lots of people post some very unique recipes on there (of course I like goneraw better but I have seen some interesting recipes on rawfoodtalk too)

  • Raw_ChocoholicRaw_Chocoholic Raw Newbie

    I have Grabriel Cousens book ‘Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine’. It has a couple Indian food recipes in it. There’s Malai Kofta, String bean dahl, aloo paleek, and a samosa recipe.

    Zoe, have you found a way to make those sweets which are traditionally made by boiling down milk and sugar, then cut into little squares? I don’t know what they’re called but they’re the food I’m most likely to eat cooked, so I would really like to find a raw recipe. When is your book going to be ready?

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    It’s all in the sauce! Just work hard on making the sauce, be sure to add salt, then just mix it with whatever veggies are in the dish you are trying to replicate. A a decent mango or banana chutney really makes dishes take off…If you make any Indian food make a sweet and spicy sauce to go with it.

    If you have lots of spices then make one bottle of a decent all round blend and take it with you, sprinkle it on everything.

    Dhal was my favourite, it is so easy to do raw. It is just sweetcorm off the cob, with some almond or other nut milk, dash of olive oil and blended till smooth. Then add garam masala, ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, coriander (cilantro in the us I think), a little bit of hot red chili pepper and salt. Process until warm. Serve with Indian crepe, ( a good recipe is in “Raw” by Trotter and Klein. Which is basically, dried shredded coconut with equal amounts of ground flax, an apple, some spices that you like, water, blended in the blender and then dehydrated.)

    Yeah, Gabriel Cousen’s book has loads of indian food and spice blends in it. I would just get a regular Indian cook book or look on the internet and just change it all to raw.

    I have no idea about those milky sweets, been vegan all my adult life so I never tried those.

    Hmm so my cook book is a good idea thanks for all the encouragement. It will be an ebook, so watch this space!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I added cauliflower curry to the recipe section just for you! It isn’t strictly one of mine, I adapted it from “Raw food real world.”

  • wileymorriswileymorris Raw Newbie
    edited March 22

    I realize that there are a few ‘curry’ dishes on this site, but I am looking for a raw version of baingan bharta. It’s a mashed eggplant dish usually with peas and some other good stuff. What about naan? Any recipes that would come close to naan? And lastly, something that could come close to a samosa.. or any indian food recipes you may have in the raw.

    The reason I am asking is because On december 17th I fly to seattle to hang with my boyfriend for about a month. He has already been asking me if i’m going to “cheat” and eat cooked food with him. I really REALLY don’t want to. . but there’s a fantastic vegan indian restaurant and there’s a great jamaican vegan restaurant there as well, and I am already getting nervous about being weak and subjecting myself to the cooked food. I tell him it’s not ‘cheating’ on some random diet, but rather it’s me poisoning myself.. but he will not give in. He will do whatever it takes to see me eat cooked food!!!!! SO, i’d like to start experimenting now and hopefully bring a recipe for Bhangan Bharta [his favorite dish] and some naan [which i’d have to make ahead of time and just bring with me]. His family is from india, so I’ve got to do something!!!!!!!!! There’s no way he’ll go an entire month without indian food!

    Alright, thanks in advance! Hopefully i can get some ideas here. I have TONS of indian spices from his grandparents.

     I’ve heard so many amazing things about Indian food and have tried many popular dishes, but I suppose that eating real Indian food in India is a totally different experience. In my case I couldn’t choose only one, I have many favorites. I love the Momos, the red chutney they serve it with is spicy but amazing. Parathas with sweet curd are delicious but if I had to choose only one, maybe I’ll go with Gulab jaamun. I don’t know how they prepare this (if someone happens to know how they make this I’ll like knowing),but I’m telling you, it’s the best dessert I’ve ever had in my life. What about you, what’s your favorite Indian dish?

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