Malabar eggplant — crispy eggplant in a shredded coconut red chili curry sauce — is a delicious introduction to the deep flavors of South Indian Malabar cuisine. Serve it with naan or flatbread and some dal for a veggie-packed meal that’s also packed with flavor!

Some veggies can be difficult to like when made simply. Eggplant is one of those. This Malabar eggplant is packed with flavor and texture and is very versatile. You can bake the eggplant or pan fry it. And you can even use other veggies instead, like cauliflower.

South Indian Malabar cuisine is a mix of multiple regional cuisines in Southern India. It’s heavily influenced by coastal and Kerala cuisine along with the many other nearby areas, because of the region being a major trade route. Kerala was considered “the spice garden of the ancient world,” because it produced flavorful spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, and pepper.

Trade, migration, and invasion brought influences from Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Malaysian, and other cuisines to Malabar region(north kerala region).

If you want to explore Malabar cuisine further, also check out my Malabar veggie curry

But back to this eggplant.

The other day I had lots of eggplant on hand, so I decided to make a Malabar-style eggplant , the sauce of which is inspired from crisp and spiced Malabar Chikin recipes. Usually I use cauliflower in this recipe, but you can basically use whichever vegetable you have handy. All of the flavor is in the batter, and that batter is super delicious. After battering and baking or frying the veggies, you toss them in this easy sauce and serve with some tofu curry or dal. You can also replace half the eggplant with tofu to ale this into a meal!

The sauce for Malabar eggplant is on the dry side. If you want to make the dish saucier, you can add in some coconut milk. The sauce can also be rather hot, so adjust as needed based on your heat preference.

🍆 Why You’ll Love Malabar Eggplant

• melt-in-your-mouth eggplant coated in a flavorful, crispy-crunchy batter
• incredibly shredded coconut curry sauce with option to make it even saucier!
• versatile! Make it with eggplant or cauliflower or protein like tofu or seitan or soycurls and adjust flavors and textures to taste.
• naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Malabar Eggplant (Crispy Eggplant with Spiced Coconut sauce. gluten-free)

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Kali mirch beans (Beans in Indian Black pepper Cream sauce) uses the amazing sauce from North Indian Chicken kali mirch( black pepper chicken curry) but with Beans! This one pan meal is delicious with flatbread or sourdough for dipping or make it a fusion meal by serving over pasta, baked potato, or roasted cauliflower! (1 pan, 30 minutes, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free)

Murg kali mirch is black pepper chicken curry, a north Indian and Pakistani dish with a spiced, creamy white curry sauce. The only heat in this curry comes from black pepper, and loads of it. Usually, you would marinate the meat in black pepper, ginger, and garlic but we’re making the sauce, and then adding beans to it in this recipe.

This sauce is incredibly versatile! Use other proteins, if you prefer, like other types of beans, chickpeas, chickpea tofu, crisped up or baked tofu, seitan, soy curls, or other vegan chicken substitutes that you like. 

If you’re using tofu or any other larger protein, marinate it in about 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and dashes of salt, garlic, and oil, then bake or pan fry it to golden, before adding to the sauce. 

Serve kali mirch beans with naan, flatbread, toasted sourdough, or garlic bread. It’s also delicious spooned over a baked potato, seared cauliflower, or your favorite pasta for a fusion version of this dish. 

The sauce is absolutely delicious with just a few ingredients, so definitely try this one! 

Why You’ll Love Kali Mirch Beans

• creamy black pepper sauce is easy to make in one pan
• versatile! Add beans or use your plant-based chicken substitute of choice, and serve with bread to dip or over baked potato, pasta, or seared cauliflower.
• simple, one-pan meal ready in 30 minutes
• naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Kali Mirch Beans (Beans in Indian Black Pepper Cream Sauce) 

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Tajin roasted carrots over shredded tofu is delicious vegan lunch recipe that you are going to LOVE! Cilantro lime shredded tofu pairs perfectly with Tajin roasted carrots on bread or topped with nuts or seeds for an easy bowl meal.

Shredding pressed, extra firm tofu gives it a unique, meaty texture that’s great for filling sandwiches, wraps, bowls, and more. Shredding also increases the tofu’s surface area, which allows it to take on even more flavor from the amazing cilantro lime marinade. I pair it with these easy flavor packed Roasted carrots that you can serve up as a bowl topped with seeds and fresh herbs.

If you don’t want to use tofu, you can use cooked rice instead for a delicious bowl meal!

I’m using tajin in this recipe to season both the tofu and the roasted carrots. Tajin gives this nice tang to the overall flavor profile. If you don’t like that much tang from the tajin, you can use Cajun spice or a different spice blend, like chili powder, curry powder, Jamaican curry powder, or whatever spice mix you like.

The carrots for this recipe have been cut into a diagonal shape to give them more surface area for roasting. And they pair so well with the tangy, shredded tofu! You can serve this dish in many different ways. I love how versatile this pairing is.

To make the shredded tofu into a bowl meal, serve it  with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and hemp seeds or top with chopped walnuts or pecans. For the sandwich version, just pile the carrots and the shredded tofu onto your bread of choice, add some a creamy dip or some hummus to the bread, and it makes an absolutely delicious brunch or lunch. You can also add these to a wrap or lettuce wrap and top with some lime juice, cilantro, and more seeds.

No matter how you serve this flavor-packed cilantro lime shredded tofu, you are going to just love it!

Why You’ll Love Cilantro Lime Shredded Tofu

• zesty, flavorful tofu with a meaty shredded texture
• tender, sweet roasted carrots with tangy tajin flavor
• versatile! Serve as a bowl, sandwich, wrap, pita, or lettuce wrap. Mix up the spices to suit your tastes.
• naturally gluten-free and nut-free
• easy to make soy free using cooked rice instead of tofu

Continue reading: Cilantro Lime Shredded Tofu with Roasted Carrots Bowl

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Lemon Garlic butter beans with bright, lemony flavors are a super quick, 1-pan, 30 minute creamy refreshing recipe. Serve with pasta, or crusty bread or rice for an easy meal.

The garlicky lemon sauce is based on my lemon pasta with plenty of garlic and lemon and simple ingredients. Instead of pasta, you toss in butter beans for a hearty, simple main dish.

This is a vibrant, springy, delicious sauce with amazing flavor and it is pretty flexible. You can change up the flavor by changing up the herbs in the sauce, so feel free to use what you have and what’s seasonal where you are. 

You can also use other beans, like great northern beans, cannellini beans, or chickpeas. This sauce is also great tossed with baked or pan-fried tofu. And, of course, you can use this garlic lemon sauce on cooked pasta if you want, too!

Why You’ll Love Lemon Garlic Butter Beans

• 30-minute, 1-pan meal
• tender butter beans in a creamy, lemon garlic sauce with lots of amazing herb flavors
• simple dinner paired with crusty bread for dipping or served over pasta
• gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Lemon Garlic Butter Beans (gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free)

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Indian Saag aloo — crispy chunks of spiced potato over a bed of absolutely flavorful spinach curry — is just a fabulous combination! This restaurant style version is deeply seasoned with incredible flavors and textures.

The other day, I was wondering why some vegetable-based Indian dishes use fewer spices than meat-based ones. There are several reasons for this. Veggie dishes, like saag aloo, are more homestyle recipes meant to celebrate the flavors of the veggies. Others like Chana masala also are often homestyle recipes. But why shouldn’t veggies be packed with flavor?

What is Saag Aloo?

Saag Aloo is spiced Greens with Potato. It can be a wet curry style dish or a simple stir fry kind of dish. Greens can be spinach, mustard, amaranth or other local greens. The homestyle aloo saag is usually dryish. This is a restaurant style saag aloo that uses all of the incredible spices from chicken saag style recipes, but without the meat. To make this into a meal, you can add cooked chickpeas into the saag or serve it along with my Punjabi chole chickpea curry, dal, or tofu curry on the side. You can also substitute half of the potatoes with some crispy tofu to make it into a tofu and potato spinach curry. 

To make a restaurant-style version, we add a lot more spices and some more fat added to the saag for a more flavorful, creamier experience. For a better texture of the spinach, I like to pulse the frozen spinach in a food processor for a fine chop like texture instead of too leafy or all pureed. I prefer that texture in saag aloo. If using fresh spinach, then finely chop and use. You can also use a combination of greens for this saag like mustard greens, chard, amaranth greens and other seasonal greens.

I also bake the potatoes ti so they are crispy and golden and serve them just lightly mixed in. Homestyle palak aloo has the potatoes cooked with the spinach for a softer potato dish. For a homestyle less spiced version try this palak aloo.

Why You’ll Love this Saag Aloo

• crispy, spiced potatoes over a creamy, super flavorful spinach curry
• easy to make into a meal by adding chickpeas or tofu!
• so versatile! Make with leafy greens of choice, like mustard greens, baby kale, amaranth greens, etc.
• restaurant-style meal at home in only 40 minutes
• gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Restaurant-Style Saag Aloo (Indian Potato Spinach curry)

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These Zucchini rolls are like lasagna roll ups, filled with delicious herbed sun-dried tomato tofu ricotta , all nestled in a pan with bubbly tomato ragu. They looks so pretty! And No watery mess!

You Must Make These Zucchini Lasagna Rolls! No need to sweat or squeeze the zucchini needed, just spread the cheese mixture, roll and nestle in the sauce and bake! Great texture, just perfect comfort food! Unlike zucchini lasagna bake that needs a lot of steps, and can still give you limpy or watery result, these rolls bake up perfectly, are versatile and also easy to serve!

This is a really beautiful dish which you can serve at parties or for a fancy dinner. It’s also relatively easy to make. The only time consuming part is rolling up the zucchini slices. But unlike pasta, there’s no pre-cooking to do. Just use a peeler to slice your zucchini into long, skinny pieces.

You can use pre-cooked lasagna sheets in this as well, if you don’t want to use zucchini.

The vegan ricotta-style filling is also easy to make. It has amazing flavor with the herbs and sun dried tomato. Just add everything to a bowl, and mix and mash to make the filling. It comes together super quickly! 

Spread that creamy filling into the zucchini, and roll it up. It doesn’t even have to be perfectly spread out. Roll the zucchini up, and place into a baking dish with some pasta sauce, then top it with vegan cheese and bake. I add some veggie grounds(vegan ground meat substitute) to the pasta sauce and it all bakes at the same time to make this meaty ragu. Use lentils or just omit for variation.

These zucchini lasagna rolls come out so pretty, and they’re fun to serve and eat.

Why You’ll Love Zucchini Rolls

• beautiful appetizer or entree for a party or fancy dinner
• tender zucchini around a cheesy vegan ricotta-style filling with beefy tomato sauce and creamy vegan cheese on top
• fun to make and to eat!
• naturally gluten-free with nut-free and soy-free options

Continue reading: Zucchini Rolls with Herbed Sun dried tomato ricotta (gluten-free with soy-free and nut-free options)

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This Italian herb and sun-dried tomato Red Lentil chickpea stew is a super easy, one-pan, meal that is so satisfying and flavorful! It makes a delicious, protein-packed weeknight meal with garlic bread or sourdough to dip, or serve it over pasta, baked potato, or roasted vegetables.

This high protein vegan stew uses both chickpeas and red lentils. The stew has a simple base of aromatics, herbs, sun dried tomato, vegan parmesan and non dairy milk. The red lentils break down during cooking and thicken up the stew, so you don’t necessarily need a cream addition. You can even serve it over roasted veggies or with garlic bread or however else you like. No matter how you serve it, this lentil chickpea stew is a perfect, easy meal for a cool, spring evening.

If you’re looking to change up your game from making all of the lentil curries or chickpea curries, this chickpea lentil stew is for you. It uses Italian herbs and oregano ,mirepoix and some sun-dried tomato for all that umami flavor in the sauce, and it is amazing over some toasted garlic bread or sourdough or over pasta or baked potato.

I also offer an option to make this into a curried lentil chickpea stew with just a simple adjustment to the spices.

Why you will love this Lentil Chickpea Stew

• easy, one pot meal that’s packed with protein and flavor
• versatile! Use other cooked lentils and use cooked chickpeas, white beans, or butter beans. You can also change the flavor to curried, if you like.
• tender beans in a thick, flavorful sauce
• naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Herbed Red Lentil Chickpea Stew (1 pan, nut-free, soy-free, gluten-free)

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Roasted Shaved Brussels sprouts salad combines crispy Brussels sprouts with earthy greens, fresh tomato, and this umami filled sun-dried tomato walnut crumble for a satisfying salad that’s full of amazing flavor!

Brussels sprouts are one of those veggies that often put people in 2 camps, one that love them and the other that dislike it in some form. For me I either use them in an Indian stir fry like this, or bake and crisp them up. Shredding the Brussels sprouts reduces the cook time and gives you more crisp. They also are easier to eat and easier to like!

In this salad I use roasted shaved Brussels and pair them with some fresh greens and sweet cherry tomatoes. And then make this delicious umami garlic sun dried tomato walnut crumble! Assemble and add a hint of vegan parmesan.

We are going to roast the shaved Brussels sprouts with thyme and black pepper, or you can also use gochugaru flakes, which will add another dimension of flavor to them.

Either way, assemble with some greens and cherry tomatoes and this walnut crumble, featuring walnuts, sun dried tomato, and garlic. The walnut topping is just fantastic! It’s crunchy and it has this deep umami flavor from the garlic and tomatoes. It really takes the salad to a whole new level.

The dressing is a simple lemon, olive oil, and herb dressing which balances out all of that decadent and roasted flavor and adds something fresh to the bowl. This Brussels sprouts salad is truly addictive!

Why You’ll Love Brussels Sprouts Salad

• crispy, shaved Brussels sprouts with flavors from black pepper and thyme
• amazing, garlicky, sun dried tomato walnut crumble toppings
• herbal vinaigrette dressing
• naturally soy-free and gluten-free
• easy nut-free option

Continue reading: Roasted Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad With Walnut Crumble (gluten-free, soy-free)

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White beans in a super quick and easy rosé sauce are a satisfying dinner over pasta or with bread to dip! This pink sauce needs just 1 pan, 30 mins, everyday ingredients and is dairy-free and so simple. 

Beans are having a moment especially large beans like cannelini or butter beans ! These beans work wonderfully in this super quick and easy rosé sauce. The creamy pink sauce with the bean protein makes for a satisfying dinner with pasta or with bread to dip! The rosé sauce is dairy-free and so simple. 

This is a super simple 30-minute recipe with a really delicious tomato cream sauce. It all comes together in one pot with everyday ingredients for a delicious, satisfying weeknight meal! And it smells amazing and looks gorgeous!

Just sauté some aromatics, add your non-dairy cream of choice along with tomato puree and Italian herbs. Bring it to a boil, add in your beans, simmer for a few minutes and it’s done. Garnish with some vegan Parmesan and fresh basil to bring out all of those amazing flavors!

You can use pretty much any kind of white beans in this quick rosé sauce, like butter beans, cannellini beans, or great northern beans. You can also use cubed tofu or chickpeas!

These are great to serve with some toasted sourdough or garlic bread or even naan or pita bread. Or, you can serve this over pasta or even mashed potatoes or baked potatoes. 

However you serve it, you’re going to love this simple pink sauce.

Why You’ll Love Rosé Sauce Beans

• one-pan, 30-minute meal
• tender beans in flavorful tomato cream sauce
• high protein vegan recipe
• versatile dish! Serve with bread to dip, over pasta, or over baked or mashed potatoes
• naturally gluten-free, options for soy-free, and nut-free

Continue reading: Beans in Easy Rosé Sauce (1 pan, 30 minutes, nut-free, soy-free, gluten-free)

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Lentils popped in a skillet and tossed in spices then paired with an easy cauliflower-potato mash, have amazing texture and flavor! You can make the mash smoother or chunkier based on your preference. Serve it with the lentils on top and a good drizzle of olive oil. soy-free, gluten-free, nut-free with oil-free option

These crispy popped lentils with smooth mashed potatoes are full of amazing texture and flavor!

If you’ve never made popped lentils before, they are so much fun! Add cooked lentils and a little bit of oil to a skillet, cook them over high heat until they fluff up and pop like a popped grain, and then they crisp up a little bit. Then, we add some savory and smoky spices to flavor them.

Then we try not to eat these delicious lentils all by themselves! And serve them over some creamy mashed potatoes. I served these as topping over a simple cauliflower potato mash flavored with herbs and paprika. You can use all potato or all cauliflower. These bowls make for an amazing holiday or even weeknight side dish!

These popped roasted lentils are very versatile. Add whatever herbs or spices you like and add them to your salads, bowls, tacos, pasta and everything! Think spicy Cajun lentils, Jamaican curry lentils and more.

Serve these with a side salad or rustic bread, or some gravy and biscuits, or as a side in a spread

Why You’ll Love Lentil Mashed Potatoes

• creamy, cauliflower mashed potatoes with crisp, popped lentil topping
• lentils add fiber and protein!
• Everyday ingredient and quick recipe, perfect for the holidays or any day!
• soy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
• can be made oil-free

More Vegan Lentil Recipes

• Smoky Skillet Lasagna with Crispy, Bacon-y Lentils
• Kung Pao Lentils
• Handi Lentils
• Easy Lentil Soup

Continue reading: Popped Lentils with Mashed Potatoes

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