Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
It is that time of the year, when everyone dabbles into cooking something special at home.
Here is a #Meatless #CottagePie that is quintessential British with a twist of South Indian Flavours for Oli 96.8 fm!
A HUGE Thank you to @Hal_eemaa for this opportunity! Both @raviguna and @hal_eemaa play such such lovely songs on Anantham Arambam on @oli968fm @mediacorpoil968 ! It is a must, must hear!
The recipe is in Tamil, please click to listen. If you dont follow Tamil, please find the recipe in English below.
A Cottage Pie is usually cooked with meat and makes an amazing center piece dish for your Christmas Feast. And, this meatless version is cooked with Elephant Foot Yam (Senai Kizhangu in Tamil/Jimikand in Hindi), Kohlrabi (Noolkol in Tamil/Ganth Gobi or Navalkol in Central and North India) and Carrots will guaranteed satiate any meat-eater’s palate. Try it to believe it!
The best part of eating a Cottage Pie is always the potato mash, in all its crowning glory. It always lives up to its promise of starchy-fattiness and the mouthfeel. Now, a masal is the potato filling stuffed between dosa making it a “Masala Dosa”. So here, the mash becomes a masal but not with the humble potato but the humbler Sweet Potato!
An absolute low-carb, this recipe is rich in fibre, macro, micro vitamins and has protein. The protein comes from this beautiful Himalayan Kidney Beans (Pavazha Mochchai in Tamil and Rajma in Hindi) sourced straight from the farmers of Uttarakhand region of India. These hilly regions of India grow their grains completely organic, with no risk of loosing to the GMO game. It is possible for Chefs, cooks sitting in Singapore to access these beautiful grains, thanks to @Saveagram , a social enterprise in Singapore, that works directly with farmers to save the farmer, farming and its future. These beans were just soooo tasty and cooked in a faction of time. Love it!
Recipe:
Sweet Potato Masal Ingredients:
Sweet Potato steamed and mashed 5 cups
Coconut butter 4 tbsp
Olive oil 1 tsp
Red Onion sliced 1/2 cup
Asafoetida 1/8 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Almond milk 1/4 cup
Cheddar Cheese 1/4 cup (Use Vegan Cheese to make it Plant-based)
Green Chilli Chopped 2 nos
Ingredients for the Vegetable Gravy in the Cottage Pie:
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Urad Dal 1 tbsp
Dried Red Chilli 4 nos sliced to bits
Curry Leaves 2 sprigs
Olive oil 5 tbsp
Almonds 10 -12
Dried Cranberry 2 tbsp
Leeks chopped 1/2 cup
Shallots halved 1/2 cup
Elephant Foot Yam cubed 1 cup
Carrot cubed 1/2 cup
Kohlrabi cubed 1/2 cup
Sambar powder 2 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder1 tsp
Tamarind paste 1 tsp
Tomato paste 3 tbsp
Asafoetida 1/8 tsp
Cooked @Saveagram kidney beans 1/2 cup
Method:
Preheat oven at 190 degrees.
In a pan add 3 tbsp olive oil, splutter the mustard seeds and urad dal. Add curry leaves and dried red chilli. Take it out and keep separate in a bowl.
In the residual oil add the almonds and cranberry fry a bit and keep it separate.
Add the remainder 2 tbsp of oil to the pan. Add the small onions and leeks. Saute it a bit. Then add the elephant foot yam cubes fry a bit, add kohlrabi fry a bit, add carrot fry a bit. Add the sambar podi and red chilli powder and mix well. Add the tamarind paste and add ¼ cup water, cover and let it cook a bit until 50% done. Please add more water if it dries up quickly. Add the tomato paste and asafoetida. Add the cooked kidney beans and mix well. It should look like a thick gravy. Once done keep aside.
In another pan take 4 table spoons of butter with 1 tsp of olive oil so it does not burn. Then add the sliced onion and fry till it browns slightly. Add the asafoetida and turmeric powder. Switch off the fire. Add the mashed sweet potato to the fried onions. Mix well.
Add the almond milk and cheese. Mix well. Check for salt. Add chopped green chilli.
In a bake proof tin or pan or pie, add the gravy into it. Smoothen the top. Dollop the sweet potato masal on top of the gravy in the pan. Do not smoothen it. Use a fork to peak it up.
Bake in an oven at 190 degrees celsius for 20-30 minutes, once the tops brown a bit. Take it out. Sprinkle over the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and dried chilli. Serve with the fried almonds and cranberry for some sweetness and crunch.
Enjoy it hot!
#MerryChristmas #Christmasrecipes #Plantbasedchristmasrecipe #meatlessChristmasRecipe #VegetarianChristmas #VeganChristmas #Ananthamarambam #mediacorp #oli968 #1sgradionetwork #meListen #Samaikkasuvaikka #meatless #recipes #whatsdoneisplated #kechilkitchen #Sowmiyavenkatesansg #chefsmanifesto #chefsarechangemakers #appetitetochange #biodiversefood