Growing up I was lucky enough to be exposed to a variety of cultural cuisines. My father has always been interested in cooking and he used to take cooking classes at the local community college. He managed to master both Italian and Asian cooking techniques this way. On top of that, he grew up eating German food so that was always one of his favorite go to meals. My mom is equally adventurous when it comes to cooking. She’s always trying new ingredients and she’s never been afraid to try a new recipe.
So when I decided to starting eating more vegetarian food, I made the decision to continue in the adventurous food steps of my parents. I have tried more crazy ingredients and unique cooking methods than I can count, some more successful than others. But one of the cuisines that I have come to LOVE is Indian.
Indian food has an amazing complexity to it. It has a deep flavor profile that stretches both the spicy and sweet spectrum. Its warmness always gives me a sense of comfort. And I totally love the smell of curry—mmm, cinnamon and cardamom, how can you go wrong?
So this weekend, I decided to give one of my favorite classic vegetarian dishes, enchiladas, a little Indian twist. The recipe relies on a yellow Thai curry sauce from Trader Joe’s but you can use any kind of Indian flavored sauce that you prefer. I just happen to like the texture and convenience of this particular sauce.
Indian Spiced Burritos
Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils, pre picked and rinsed
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 3/4 teaspoon tumeric
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups spinach
- 6 burritos
- 11 ounces curry sauce (I used Trader Joe’s Yellow Thai Curry Sauce)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Method:
Preheat your oven to 375.
Add the lentils, coconut milk, and vegetable broth to a rice cooker and cook on the boil/simmer setting for 15 minutes. If you do not have a rice cooker, you can simply add the ingredients to a pot, bring them to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and allow the ingredients to cook for 12 minutes.
In the meantime, sauté your onions in a nonstick pan with a little cooking spray.
After the onions have sautéed for about 5 minutes, add in your spices, curry powder, tumeric, cumin, ginger, garam masala, and salt, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Once your lentils are cooked, add them into the onion mixture, stir, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Now add in the spinach. Continue to gently stir the contents of the pan until the spinach has wilted. This may take a few minutes. (While spinach is not a traditional Indian ingredient, I’ve added it to give the recipe some nutritional depth.)
Remove your pan from the heat while you get your burrito station set up. If your burritos have not warmed to room temperature, you might want to zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.
While the burritos are warming up, coat the bottom of a 9 X 11 pan with 3/4 cup of the curry sauce.
To make your burritos, add 1/2 cup of the lentil mixture to the bottom half of one burrito shell. Gently fold in the sides and roll the burrito up.
Place the burrito with the folded edge on the bottom. Repeat this for the remaining 5 burritos.
Now pour the remaining curry sauce over the burritos. Use a spatula to ensure that all of the burritos are evenly coated with the sauce.
Sprinkle the nutritional yeast evenly on top of the curry sauce.
Place your pan in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the curry sauce has thickened.
Now remove your burritos and enjoy!
These burritos are a great substitute for people who love enchiladas but are allergic to tomatoes. It sounds like a crazy allergy (and one I frankly couldn’t live with—no pizza, ugh) but it does exist (my Aunt has it). So Chele here’s a dinner recipe that I made that you can finally eat, yay!
I absolutely loved these burritos because the spices and curry sauce provide just the right balance of heat and sweet, while the onions give just a hint of a crunch.
This is also a great recipe for newbie Indian foodies because the spices are on the tamer side. So even if you’ve never tried Indian food, I’m sure you will love this.
What’s your favorite Indian dish?
