vegan richa – Emily N Cannon

For my money, no international cuisine embodies today’s theme of “original vegan” like Indian food. Sure, they’re more likely to cook with dairy, but vegetable oils are common and inexpensive and lentils, beans, rice, and other grains are critical components to dishes throughout the region.

At the farmers’ market this week, I picked up a few veggies that really lend themselves to Indian-inspired preparations: cauliflower and mustard greens. I’ve also had my eye on a recipe for fancy-looking roasted cauliflower and spiced rice dish with pomegranate seeds (also seasonal!) from Vegan for Everybody – and it was easy enough to find a simple palak recipe (pureed greens sauce) that would pair well with chickpeas, thanks to Vegan Richa’s website.

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I have GOT to improve my plating skills, ‘cause this is a unicorn rainbow of deliciousness and I made it look a little meh. OH WELL.

I always like to try new things, so this morning I opted to go a different route for the semi-traditional fancy Saturday breakfast: the chickpea omelet (Vegan Richa’s recipe). Her recipe suggest this is cooked similar to an uttapam; I can see it, but I went a different way with the veggies and the flavors. I skipped the cumin in the batter and added nutritional yeast; for veggies cooked into the pancake I went with shallots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot. Then I had these beautiful asparagus to use up (somehow I didn’t plan a menu around asparagus this week; clearly I am failing in my duties) so I tossed six of them in a pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt and let them go a bit greener before taking it off the heat and splashing with balsamic vinegar. I piled them on top of the omelet and sprinkled with fresh dill for Saturday Fancy flourish.

This was pretty good, though the boyfriend said he could “sometimes” taste the chickpea flour in an off-putting way (I am pretty sure I mixed it fine, but it may have cooked unevenly, especially that first one, so you’d get that raw flour taste) and might taste better thinner and more crepe-like. Something to consider for next time, I suppose. For mine, I enjoyed the crunchy exterior and fluffy interior a lot.