Gari (tamarind Vegetable Vindaloo)

I have to THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for fixing an "INCREDIBLE" dinner for my family and friends' tonight! You know, when you make something for the first time and it goes so well, you feel, like WOW, I did something GREAT today! We had friends' coming home tonight and they weren't going to stay for dinner. That was the best part. I made this using about 3 tbsps. cooking oil(3/4 cup is way too much!), 9 large onions(cut into thin wafers), 2 real large potatoes( I peeled mine and cut 'em into 1 inch cubes), 6 cloves garlic(peeled and chopped), 1 tsp. turmeric powder, a pinch of red food colour (This is a necessity for this dish - what a breath of life it imparts in the beautiful red colour that emerges when you add this- I added this right at the end, just before garnishing and mixed it in real well and wow! I'll never forget how beautiful the colour was), 454 gms of mixed vegetables(I used 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets, 2 green capsicums, 1 small white pumpkin, some Frenchbeans and some celery), 1 tsp. fennel seeds(powdered) instead of fenugreek seeds, 1 1/2 tsps. salt, 2 green chillies, 1 1/2 tbsps. fresh ginger(peeled and chopped), 2 2/3 cups water( this much is needed, IMHO, to cook the vegetables), 1 1/2 tsps. garam masala powder, 1/2 tsp. whole corriander seeds instead of whole cardamom seeds, 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp. black pepper powder instead of paprika, 2 cloves(powdered), 3 tbsps. shredded coconut and 1 1/2 tbsps. corriander leaves(chopped and used to garnish). Most important, I used 1/2 cup of tamarind juice! I didn't boil my potatoes separately, I just tossed them into the skillet alongwith the other veggies and they cooked beautifully! In step 9, I added 2 2/3 cups water. Just 2/3 cup was too less and I knew this dish needed more since there was a gigantic quantity of veggies in there that had to cook :-) I added the tamarind juice in step 10 (I omitted steps 1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17). Thereafter, I skipped to step 14. After following step 14, I allowed everything in the skillet to cook(there wasn't enough gravy even now to allow it to 'simmer'), COVERED, for 30-40 minutes. I did stir once every 5-8 minutes. Right from the stage 1 where the onions were browning, my guests left my sitting room and popped in one-by-one into my kitchen saying, "Hey wow, Charishma, what you making? Oh, the wonderful aroma of the onions!" And, I ended up teaching almost 3 families how to make Vegetable Vindaloo tonight! :-) Well, as you must've guessed by now, they invited themselves to dinner! LOL. All of them stayed behind, and wow, they ate! I even packed some for them to have tomorrow for a delicious breakfast with buns! We'll be seeing sweet dreams tonight, thanks, my unknown friend, you made my day just SO ULTRA-SPECIAL! I must also add - The garnishing of this dish with corriander leaves at the end, made this look, like it had come right from a 5 star hotel! You deserve awards for posting this recipe. Thanks, again n again. This will be a regular on our table hereafter! I'll surely look forward to more recipes from you. Thanks, again!

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This was all right, but for me, the spice combination needs some work. The cardamom (which I did measure) is too strong, and the flavors overall seem too sharp. I left the dish in the refrigerator overnight, hoping it would mellow. It seems to have mellowed a little, but not enough for my taste. I think I will add coconut milk to the remainder to smooth things out. Nonetheless, it was an interesting experience, for which I thank you.

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I've been dying to open my new jar of tamarind paste, so was pleased to find a recipe to use it in. I really enjoyed this; it has a lovely spicy sauce, which is warm rather than hot. My vegetable mix was made up of largely of aubergines (because that's what I had) and also included green beans and a yellow pepper.

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A great vegan Indian dish. I made it with cauliflower, carrot, and some broccoli. I actually had to replace the peas with corn, but it turned out very well. I agree with Charishma- 3/4 cup oil is excessive. I think 3-4 Tablespoons is a more appropriate amount. I used unrefined peanut oil for the oil and added some chopped peanuts to the final mix. Terrific flavor - the spices and the tamarind and the vegetables combine wonderfully. Also like Charishma, I didn't steam the potatoes seperately. I sauteed the onions with the spices, then added some water and the potatoes. When the potatoes were almost done, I added the veggies and other ingredients and cooked through. Easy! We enjoyed this with basmati rice and a touch of yogurt (since we're not vegan). I hope to try it again with green beans and peas- maybe I'll even try winter squash sometime like Charishma did. Lovely, very healthy meal and great for using up veggies you need to use up in the fridge and freezer- Thanks!

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