It’s this time of the year, when you love Christmas, the decorations, the songs, the movies, the baking and all the other fun, wonderful things going on, but at the same time, you are drained in energy. Or it is just me? It’s just so much work, at home and at work, this time of the year and if I’m going to be honest, I haven’t really eaten proper food lately. I know how important it is to eat proper food, especially when being busy, and that was the reason I felt like I really had to pull myself together and do something about this - meaning, start doing simple food at least!

Because when being busy, you want to have simple and easily made food right? I’m not talking about fast food, but food that is still nutritious, delicious and satisfying. I ended up making a simple vegan Tikka Masala that was all of that. I served this Indian dish with rice, and oh, if you only knew how much I enjoyed this meal! It was so worth the (little) work!

I said it’s simple…

… and it truly is y’all. You can call it “fake tikka masala” if you want to, I don’t care (because it kinda is), but I still wanted to give you the idea, inspiration and the possibility of making this recipe EVEN though you use a tikka masala seasoning mix bought in store. Because it is OK, to use these kind of quick fixes to make food sometimes. It’s still food you make your own and that is nutritious and fresh. The seasoning is the small packages you use for simple cooking and most super markets actually have tikka masala seasoning, so be sure you find this before getting started. However, the traditional tikka masala is usually made with chicken and ordinary cooking cream, while mine is all vegan. Let me tell you more about that…

It’s vegan because…

I use these vegan “chicken” filets we have in Sweden that are based on soy and that are fantastic to use instead of chicken filet. They are truly amazing and a great chicken substitute. If you don’t have a chicken substitute you can use sliced tofu instead. As cooking cream I’m basically just using a plant based, unsweetened one that is based on oats. It works great!

THIS RECIPE IS:

• Vegan

• Indian inspired food

• Quick fix food but still nutritious and delicious

• Great when being busy with work or studying, having family with kids, or just a stressed job

• Take approx 7’ to prepare (+ the minutes it cooked by itself)

Simple Vegan Tikka Masala

INGREDIENTS:

Optional cooking oil

1/2 yellow onion

1 garlic clove

1/2 red bell pepper

250 g vegan “chicken” filets

250 ml vegan unsweetened cooking cream, for instance based on oats or soy

Tikka Masala Seasoning mix

HOW TO MAKE:

• Finely chop the onion and heat a frying pan with the oil and fry the onion and pressed garlic soft.

• Slice the pepper and add that to the pan together with the vegan filet bites.

• When the pepper and vegan “chicken” filets are soft and golden brown, add cooking cream and the tikka masala seasoning mix. Stir around and let it simmer for approx 5-10’.

• When done, serve with rice and/ or naan bread.