Tofu Tikka Masala and spiced Rice

 

 

Hey there!

 

And again I’m reminiscing in Aussie memories. Well I do miss this country I mean I lived there for a whole year. First and for most I miss the people as well as the variety of landscape, there is some stunning places down there. But then there is the food, the food, which had mostly been prepared by some of those lovely people I miss so much.

 

Nevertheless there have been quite a few lazy nights when takeaway food had to do the job. And trust me the variety of Asian food in this country is crazy. I lived in a town of only just 40000 people, still there were at least 5 Thai takeaways and one was better than the other. Then there were a few Chinese places and most importantly this one amazing Indian place.

It didn’t look appealing from outside at all. The interior was kept cool and straight, unlike any Indian I have ever eaten at, where usually every colour of the colour wheel can be found somewhere. Even though it didn’t look like much from outside we still decided to try it out since my host parents had heard so many positive things about it.

 

One of the dishes I always had to have was Chicken Tikka Masala, it was creamy full of flavour and still there was a hint of spiciness.

 

Here in Switzerland it is rather hard to find a good Indian place. I actually have to say the Indian food I enjoy most around here, can’t actually be found at an Indian restaurant but at Hiltl in Zurich, the oldest veggie restaurant in Europe. The Indian food there tastes absolutely amazing and is most likely quite authentic, well as far as you can call Indian food in Switzerland authentic. Many of their cooks are originally form Indian, so I guess they’d know what they’re doing. After all the food tastes truly delicious.

 

It is probably time to get to the point of this post. So let’s summarize.

I miss Australia, I miss Aussie Indian food, especially Chicken Tikka Masala, there aren’t any good Indian restaurants in Switzerland (at least I don’t know any, so if you happen to know a good one, tell me, please!!) and last but not least I don’t eat meat anymore.

So it seems pretty natural that I decided to create a Vegetarian Tikka Masala to overcome my Aussie homesickness and to satisfy my craving of this delicious creamy Indian takeaway classic.

 

So instead of chicken I used Tofu and since I don’t like to keep things boring I also added some chickpeas and fresh baby spinach. For spices I actually used a premade garam masala I bought at the Hiltl Vegi Metzg the other day. Then I also added some paprika and a few chilli flakes, well I like my food spicy, but you could omit these.

 

This recipe is only vegetarian since I used yoghurt as well as some milk, if you are Vegan or lactose-intolerant for that matter you can easily substitute with soy yoghurt and soy milk.

I am completely aware of the fact that this isn’t comparable to a real Tikka Masala you eat at your local Indian. I do however think that it is pretty delicious for that I am nor Indian nor have I ever been to India and to be honest am absolutely not at all a connoisseur of the Indian cuisine. But I love to eat it and I sure know what good food should taste like.

 

On the bottom line I have to say, I absolutely loved this dish and it definitely lived up to its promises and made me relive parts of my exchange year again, at least in my mind. This time I wasn’t even the only one judging over my food, my mum and my hostsister actually just returned from their two-day trip of being spoiled by rain in the Swiss Alps. And let me tell you they loved it, there was nothing left on their plates and guess what they even reached for seconds. Yum, that’s how wonderful it was.

 

So that’s enough writing for today, there you go, the recipe to this amazingness you have absolutely got to try out!

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

• 250g Tofu
• 2tsp fresh ginger
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 2tbs natural yoghurt*
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 onions
• 1tbs paprika
• chilli flakes
• 1tbs garam masala
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 80g tomato paste
• 250g fresh baby spinach
• 1dl milk*
• olive oil
• water

 

1. Zest and juice your lemon, finely chop up your garlic and the ginger and cut your tofu into small cubes
2. Put the tofu cubes in a bowl, add ginger, garlic, lemon zest and juice, 2tbs of yoghurt ,1tbs of olive oil and some salt, mix it through until all the tofu is covered in the marinade
3. While the tofu is marinating, chop up your onion and heat up some olive oil in a pan, when the oil is hot, add the onion as well as the tofu with its marinade, fry over high heat
4. When the tofu and the onion have browned slightly lower the heat to medium, then add 1tbs of paprika as well as 1tbs of garam masala and some chilli flakes if you like it spicy, stir it all together
5. Add 1 can of tomatoes, 1 can of chickpeas, 80g of tomato paste, 2dl of water and then top it of with the spinach. At the beginning you might think that mountain of spinach will never wilt down and fit in to this pan, but just cover it with its lid and let it sit over medium heat for about 15 minutes.
6. When 15 minutes are over you should be able to stir in the spinach, when you stirred it in leave the pan uncovered and turn up the heat to medium high let it cook for another 15 minutes, now it is the perfect time to start with the rice, for which the recipe is following below
7. After 15 minutes add about 1dl of milk, stir it through and let it cook for another 5 minutes, then your Delicious Tofu Tikka Masala is finished

Voila, so that’s done. Trust me this is amazing and it brings up so many memories of my exchange. Gosh I loved this Indian place on Bultjestreet , it just served the most amazing food. Well as mentioned in the recipe you need to have some spiced rice with this so since you now know how to prepare the Tofu Tikka Masala, I might as well explain you how to prepare delicious spiced rice.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

• 250g basmati rice
• ½tsp cardamom
• 1 bay leave
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• 1 packet of saffron
• 8dl water
• salt

 

1. Boil the water
2. When your water is boiling add the rice and all the spices, cook for about 10 minutes

 

Voila, the rice is finished, that was easy, right? Now plate it up with some yoghurt on top and your finished. Yum , my mouth just starts to water again by only writing this and rethinking what I felt while eating such a delicious meal.

 

That’s it for today. Enjoy the rest of your week.

 

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie