Steve's Veggie Balti

Hello V-Gang!,

This week I have been a bit under the weather and what better dish to warm the cockles other than a Vegetable Balti full of heartwarming spices and wholesome veggies.

I do love a good Veggie Balti and I know you can make it in a few variations such as with brocolli or cauliflower and with or without a creamy coconut sauce. This time I decided for the tradtional version without a creamy sauce and instead opted for the in my mind original spicey, tomatoey look and taste that I remember from visiting restaurants.

I was checking in the fridge and cupboards and however needed to get some ingredients from the shops first, so Tuesday evening I got on my bike and cycled to the shops to grab them.

We have plenty of cycle tracks around town, so cycling is usally pretty easy and a good way to get about. My attempt to photo on the bike was not so good though!

The ingredients were pretty good value too. There were some offers on in the supermarket where a brocolli cost just €1 and also a 3 pack of pepper also for €1.

My ingredients are (to serve 2):

• 1 Medium-Sized Red Onion
• 1 Large Bell Pepper (I used 1 medium and small pepper)
• 3 Largish Mushrooms
• 5 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Tin of Tomatoes (I used cherry plum tomatoes, but chopped is also ok)
• 1 Stick of Brocolli
• 2/3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 Large Mug of Rice (300g)
• 1 Sweet Potato (optional- I skipped it this time)
• 1 Small Carrot
• 1 Small Piece of Ginger
• 1 Stork of Spring Onion
• Fresh Koriander Leaves To Taste
• Tomato Puree 250g
• 3 Plum Tomatoes

Spices:

• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cardamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon Cumin

With all the needed ingredients purchased, I gathered them first in the kitchen. My wife sighed that I would make a mess. lol

I also got the required spices together 😀

The first thing I did was put the rice on as this would give me time to start to prepare the sauce.

I then started chopping the red onion first. I cut it quite small, but would cut bigger pieces for the next time.

With larger pieces, you may get more texture than from the smaller pieces, but it is a matter of taste.

I then peeled and chopped up the 3 mushrooms like this.

I put 3 generous teaspoons of olive oil in the pan with the onion, mushrroms and finely chopped some carrot too.

Next I chopped up into smallish pieces the red peppers. I wanta to notice peppers are in the dish, but not so big pieces to be so dominant.

I then gathered all my spices together onto a dish in the required amounts.

Then in they went to the mix which I started simmering on 7 heat.

After around 5 minutes of simmering, I put the tin of plum cherry tomatoes into the pan.

Then I put in around 250g of tomato puree from a carton and not the tube that I usually use. I want the sauce to be very tomatoey for its base.

Next up, I peeled and pressed the small piece of ginger into the sauce.

It was then time to add the garlic. I peeled it and made ready to press into the sauce too.

Here you can see me pressing them in. It will have lots of garlic flavor.

I add around 250ml of water and mix everything in.

I leave this to simmer on a lower heat for around 30-40 minutes.

In the meantime I prepare the seasoning of spring onion and fresh coriander.

It should give some crunch to the dish and some great taste too.

The coriander I pluck from the stems and then chop finely as I can. My wife doesn't like the smell of coriander so much, but I love it.

The rice is first to finish and I poor boiling hot water to try and remove starch and leave it covered while the sauce is prepared.

I chop and prepare the brocolli for steaming. I steam for around 5 minutes, but depending on how crunchy you want it, any time between 5 and 10 minutes would be fine.

I made a schoolboy error and put the brocolli straight in the sauce. I should have cut it into smaller pieces first as I then had to cut them in the pan which was harder, but at least no lost brocolli. :)

I mix and stir occassionaly and let it simmer on a low to medium heat for another 10 minutes.

Once ready, it is time to plate up.

I learned that Balti is named after a metal dish that it is usually cooked in, rather than any specific type of ingredients. But to my mind, a Balti is usually pretty spicey compared to the tikka massala or korma that I would mostly eat.

The dish was so tasty, I got a 2nd helping, but it was too much for me. The added spring onion and coriander really made the taste next level. I did buy some vegan creme in case it was too spicey, but it was fine for me but I did sweat like mad eating this as it warms you up like nobody's business!

Bon Apetit!

Thanks for checking out my recipe.

My other recipes:

Zoodles!
Tikka Massala
Stuffed Peppers with a Homemade Tomato Sauce and Broccoli
Zucchini with Garlic Zucchini Fried Rice
Introducing the C.L.T.
Vegan Aubergine di Parmigiana
Vegan Homemade Quesadilla with Guacamole
Vegan English Breakfast
Homemade Vegan Bigos - My First Polish Dish
Vegan Spanish Style Chilli
Vegan Cauliflower Curry
Fusilli Bolognese ala Vegan - Glutenfree Edition
A Twist on a German Classic!
Mushroom Curry made with love and leftover ingredients

Credits:

All photos and images are my own. Above VEGAN image created by myself in Canva with inspiration from the TShirts made by Tim Schieff that you can see here.

Let's connect : mypathtofire