Mirch Masala (Leicester)

I've been to Mirch a few times over the past six years. A short walk from one of my favourite vegetarian Indian restaurants in the UK however; it's difficult not to compare the two and always choose Shivalli. Still, choice is good, so whilst in the area recently we checked it out again.

Mirch is large and well located. Interior decor is pleasant and the menu huge. By far the most vegan options area from the Indian menu, but they also offer vegetarian Italian, Chinese and Mexican dishes.

The only thing that lets to place down is the food, which has always been in my opinion slightly underwhelming. They're not afraid to make food that's spicy, but it lacks complex flavours and is more average than fantastic.

As we hadn't planned to go; pictures are off my iphone. On advice of the waiter, we ordered a "Mirch Masala Special Sizzler" to share:

It tasted reasonably good, but was more of a vegetable side dish than a starter! With a good curry it'd have been a worthy accompaniment, but a little odd on its own with 2 forks.

For mains @cherrivalentine had an uttapam, which was actually pretty good:

One of the sides it came with wasn't vegan. We're always skeptical of anything creamy looking, so asked the waiter if it was suitable. He said he thought it was, but went to check, then returned and took it away.

I had a vegetable keema curry and rice:

The rice was good, the curry dreadful. It was TVP in oily spicey soup. I tried to eat it, but didn't make it past a few mouthfuls.

Luckily I also ordered some naan bread:

I remember hearing that certain items marked as vegan on the menu are typos, but the waiter insisted the naan was vegan. The plain was pretty good (it wasn't naan in the traditional sense, but pleasantly edible), but the masala naan far too spicy for my liking.

Like many Indian restaurants they've a big selection of bought in desserts, with limited vegan choice. They sell egg free cupcakes, but not dairy free (a missing opportunity?).

Pricing is good, but it's difficult to get excited about returning - especially when there's such a good alternative a 2 minute walk away.

Keema Naan

Having created a decent vegan version of peshwari naan last week I made a flippant remark at the end of the post that keema was next. Ironically I seem to have had as much interest in the latter as in the former.

I've only had keema naan once that I remember, which was about 15 years ago. I personally remember it as having tandoori meat inside (i.e. bright red), but all recipes I've found online seem to just use mince with ginger, cumin and garam masala. Thus for this attempt I did similar, using soya mince instead of lamb.

The results were pretty good. I'd make it again and would be happy to be served it in a restuarant, but can't vouch for its accuracy to the original.

The recipe uses the same dough and method as the peshwari. Update: Use 5ml agave (not 10ml) and 1 tbsp fresh chopped coriander in the dough for a better balance of flavour/sweetness.

Filling Ingredients

• 100g Soya Mince
• 1 Small Onion
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

To ensure the naan don't split/burst when rolling the mixture needs to be dry and individal pieces not too large. I used Realeat frozen soya mince, which I reconstituted with boiling water, allowed to cool, drained then chopped throughly. Ideally I'd have tried Redwoods' soya mince, which is slightly finer and doesn't need reconstituting. Alas there was none in the fridge.

Finely dice the onion and fry in a little oil with the soya mince for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the spices and continue to cook for 2 more minutes, ensuring that it does not burn. Allow the mixture to cool whilst you roll out the naan, then spoon the mixture on to them, fold over and re-roll in the same way as the peshwari recipe. Try to get them as thin as possible without bursting or the contents coming through the dough. You may find whilst rolling that you get air pockets forming, if so just pierce with the end of a knife. Cook and eat.

Peshwari Naan

It's with great pleasure that I bring to you decent vegan naan bread, made at home without a tandoor. I'm extremely pleased with the outcome - it's the best I've tasted in the past 10 years and as good as I remember naan from restaurants in my pre-vegan days. The vegan naan I've had in restaurants since has just been nasty.

I veganized a traditional recipe a few years back, but was unimpressed with results achievable through oven cooking. Even at the max temperature (260^oc), using a pizza stone and then grilling afterwards the results were just no where as good as you can get using a traditional tandoor (480^oc). Too stodgy and dried out. Ready made naan from supermarkets (sometimes vegan) is often chewy as well.

I revisited it earlier this week, using a blow torch after cooking to try and up the temperature. Whilst this gave better results it wasn't good enough to blog about (a shame, as I took some pretty blow torch pictures!). Last night I tried cooking directly over a gas flame, which gave by far and away the best home-made naan I've ever had.

I'd like to take credit for this discovery, but I owe it instead to a several hour long crawl of the internet. I'm pleased too, as my next idea involved using the BBQ and it's cold outside! You need a wire mesh to hold the naan whilst it's being cooked, but other than that you don't need any special tools.

I'm not sure how 'traditional' peshwari naan is outside the UK. Here it's a curry house staple, consisting of naan stuffed with coconut and sultanas. Apple and almond are common additions too. I worked out the ratios for each of the stuffing ingredients from commercial non-vegan products and used apple sauce for convenience (I know how obsessed Americans are with the stuff). You can change the stuffing ingredients/ratios as you please. If you make without stuffing then adding garlic and fresh coriander to the dough will give a bit more flavour.

Black Onion Seeds (the little black specks you see in naan) improve the flavour of the dough, but can be left out if you can't find them. In the UK they're sold in independent Indian shops (often convenience stores in areas with a high Asian population will have a spice section), though I believe our last bag was acquired from Waitrose.

Dough Ingredients (makes 3 naan):

• 280g White Bread Flour
• 1 tsp Dried Yeast
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Onion Seeds
• 60ml Plain Soya Yoghurt
• 10ml Agave Nectar
• 1 tbsp Melted Margerine
• 100ml Lukewarm Water

Stuffing Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp Apple Sauce
• 30g Shredded Coconut
• 30g Ground Almonds
• 50g Sultanas

Place the dough ingredients in your bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer. Put on an italian/pizza dough program (45 mins on my Panasonic).

Chop the sultanas (leaving whole will make rolling out more difficult, as they will puncture it when pressure applied) and mix in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

The finished dough should be smooth and slightly sticky. Tip onto a floured surface, knead slightly and divide into 3 balls. Leave to rise for 15-30 minutes.

After rising knead each slightly, roll out thinly, spread the stuffing mixture over then fold over the sides. Turn upside down and roll out into your desired shape, being careful not to puncture the sides.

Rolling a teardrop is easiest if you start with a round disc, hold the side closest to you with one hand and push away with a rolling pin in the other. Try to get the naan as thin as possible (without puncturing), as this will make cooking easier/quicker.

Cook each naan in turn, placing on a wire mesh directly over your largest gas burner, turned to a low setting.

Keep the mesh close to the flame and ensure you regularly move it round so that it cooks evenly. After several minutes when the underside is starting to blacken and the top bubbling; flip it over with a metal spatula.

The photo below shows what happens when're you're busy taking photographs and not moving it around - the cooking becomes uneven!

When both sides are cooked brush with melted margarine and serve whilst still warm. If you're worried it may not be cooked slice one in half before brushing, so it can be transferred back to a lower heat if required. The first I made had the burner turned up too high, so needed a bit of extra time.

Next task - vegan keema naan.