[Help], [Indian] Vegetarian "chicken" curry

oomphaloompha@beehaw.org to Food and Cooking@beehaw.org – 16 points –

So, I'm obsessed with curry, it's like half of what I eat and I love it, never get tired of it. Used to not eat vegetarian/vegan food at all due to just growing up like that.

I still make this one dish, like a way spicier Tikka Masala with chicken and lentils that I really wish I could get somewhere near. I've tried just omitting the chicken and sometimes I make it with just broth/bouillon and it's close enough, but I'd like to make it completely vegetarian.

So I'm asking if anyone has any tips or ideas how to do that? Is there any way to get that chicken taste (feel and texture is a plus too, but not mandatory) to a dish? We don't have as wide a variety of veggie-meat things where I'm from (impossi-something etc, I don't know the names). We have things like quorn, but I haven't found a way to quite make that into anything great, but it could be because of the way I'm making it. Maybe some way with tofu? I never really figured how to make something nice with soy pieces (although tips are welcome, it's been a while since I tried).

Keep in mind I really don't need, like, physical pieces - the lentils and vegetables are really enough, although it is a plus if there's something like that too.

Any tips welcome.

Edit: To clarify, I'm not looking for ideas for texture or such in general - unless it tastes like chicken or can be made to taste like chicken. I'm well aware of all kinds of veggie/vegan options in general I eat like 95% vegetarian. I don't really need to have something that seems and feels like meat in my food, just meant that if the [whatever] that can get the taste of chicken also feels like chicken it's a plus. Only looking for the "chicken". Thanks anyway and thanks for a few new ideas.

13

Chicken flavor is going to be hard. You could try adding some more umami? Soy sauce, mushrooms, nutritional yeast.

Tofu or paneer are great and tasty additions for more protein but are not chicken-like at all.

If you want more texture and can get your hands on immature jackfruit, it has an excellent meaty feel and no flavor. I had a jackfruit "pulled pork sandwich" that was amazing.

I thought about nutritional yeast, but didn't go with it yet, I think I'll try that, gotta try mushrooms too.

Yeah my tofu angle was more like, if anyone's managed to marinade it to taste like chicken. Love tofu though. Paneer was kind of a miss, maybe the brand wasn't great, but I'm gonna stick with tofu, paneer is a lot rarer so I can get better tofu here. We have this paneer-like cheese where I'm from, it's a little fattier maybe and it was great in curry, it just melted a little too much cause I added it too early. It became a little like mozzarella when cooked, just chewier.

I wish I could find jackfruit here without paying myself sick. Always wanted to try it. One of these days I'm gonna treat myself to some.

FYI - Paneer is super easy to make yourself. Just need milk, lemon juice or vinegar, and cheesecloth.

Nutritional Yeast, MSG, Powdered Garlic, and Powdered Onion would be what I'd try.

There's vegan chicken seasoning and broth recipes, I'd suggest starting there.

For texture, I eat meat but always prefer additions that are delicious/good texture instead of meat replicas. Paneer, dumplings (check out Indian idli), fried tofu, halloumi, or seitan might work. Potatoes and cauliflower are good too. I also like impossible ground beef if you'd like to go in a different direction.

Edit: Sometimes with dishes I find it needs a "star" to be the focus. Try eating the curry over something heavier and see if that fills the gap. Naan, idli, vada, but also less traditional baked potato, cornbread, toast, etc.

I'll have to look for some good vegan chicken seasoning/broth recipes. You have a favorite?

Yeah gotta agree about what's good over meat replicas. I never really got the need for meat replicas (although I do make carrot hotdogs quite a bit, they're just so easy and still fairly unprocessed, just peel, marinate and cook and it's just like a real hotdog), that's why I at least tried to specify that's not what I'm after. Love potatoes and cauliflower in curry, well pretty much in anything.

Thanks for the idli suggestion, haven't heard of that before. Love all the rest though. Have to try a baked potato curry sometime!

No favorites unfortunately, but there's a lot of good looking recipes and vegan bouillons like this. You might have to experiment to find which one works the best in the curry.

I love carrot hot dogs! Surprising how accurate the taste can be.

Good luck and please make another post to let us know how it goes!

Generic veg stock, with a few modifications so it's more suitable for curry.

  • vegs: around 2kg of onions, carrots, shallots, leeks. You can include scraps of leftover vegs of your choice, as long as not Brassica (cauliflower, cabbage, kale) or starchy (yucca, potato). Beetroot leaves are fine but avoid beet itself, unless you're OK with a pink stock.
  • 300g of mushrooms. Feel free to use shiitake, button mushrooms, or whatever you have available. Use preferably scraps, like stems. Dried stuff is also fine.
  • 6 cloves of garlic and a small piece of ginger
  • 6tbsp tomato paste
  • veg oil
  • 2~2.5L of water. It should be enough to cover everything else. You might need to add more later.
  • seasoning: whole black peppercorns, soy sauce, salt, brown sugar or molasses, vinegar to taste
  • [Optional] 1tbsp cornstarch
  1. Wash the vegs, garlic, ginger, and mushrooms. Include skin, roots, stems, leaves, everything - as long as it's edible, it's fine, even if tough.
  2. Mince the garlic and ginger, chop the vegs and shrooms coarsely.
  3. Add a bit of veg oil to a pressure cooker (or a large pot). Use it to brown the garlic and tomato paste together (yup), on low fire. Add the chopped vegs and shrooms, let them wilt a bit.
  4. Add water and seasoning. If using a pressure cooker, cook it for at least half a hour (after it gets pressure) on medium fire; if using a normal pot, simmer it for 1h30min or so.
  5. Strain it, taste the stock, and either reduce or add more seasoning as you deem necessary.
  6. [Optional] Make a slurry with the cornstarch and add it to the stock, stirring well. Let it simmer a bit more, while stirring well.

This should yield around 6~8 cups of stock; less if you reduced it.

A good vegetable broth plus TVP (textured vegetable protein; basically soy flour croutons) is my go-to when making any stew/curry meatless. Super easy, no need to modify the recipe just replace water with broth and dump in the TVP to rehydrate in the broth. TVP is completely neutral flavor wise and will just absorb the curry.

There's some fantastic suggestions in the thread already, so I won't repeat any of them. However I will note that if you're particularly sensitive to flavours, it's going to be nigh impossible to get anywhere close to chicken without actual chicken. If you try a bunch of veggie stock and end up still not quite satisfied, I've found success redirecting a dish toward a different main ingredient instead - coconut, peanut, etc. - so that I end up appreciating the dish for without comparing it with a meat-based version.