As I mentioned in the Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry recipe, I have taken the wonderful Indian Simmer Sauce and Instant Pot Chickpea and Cauliflower Korma recipes from 101 Cookbooks and turned them into my own one-skillet meal. The first time I thinned the sauce with cashew cream but this time I didn’t bother. I also make it with ground chicken instead of chickpeas and I have to admit that it was extra delicious with the meat version. But given that our family got 12 servings from 1 pound of high-quality, local ground chicken, I feel good about this and there is always the chickpea version to fall back on (hence the vegan and vegetarian labels).
I basically used the Simmer Sauce recipe as written in 101 Cookbooks so it’s not worth replicating here, though I’m pretty sure I used the stove instead of the Instant Pot since I had time as I don’t always love onions cooked in the IP. I also mostly used the Korma recipe, too, but again didn’t use the IP since I was using it for rice. It is such a treasure to have jars of simmer sauce in the freezer becuase it makes dinner come together so easily! As always, I chopped the vegetables fine in the food processor as I favor a more uniform texture better for ensuring good veggie consumption by all family members. I found the sauce a little sweet as it was because I hadn’t used cayenne, so I added a few generous shakes of ground turmeric to help give it a slightly more astringent flavor. I also shook in a bit of extra garam masala.
This high reward, low effort meal is in the rotation for sure. Feel free to swap in additional vegetables too. I might have added some carrots or pepper. Cashew cream would be fine if you had some and really wanted the mixture to be saucier but we found it worked well without it. Toasted cashews would be a nice addition to the vegetarian chickpea version.
INGREDIENTS
2 TBSP neutral oil
1 small onion, finely diced or minced in the food processor
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced or crushed
1-inch piece of ginger, finely grated (microplane) or to taste
1 lb ground chicken or 2 c cooked chickpeas (or a 14 oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed)
1 average head cauliflower finely chopped or ground up in the food processor to pea-sized pieces
Other vegetables chopped small enough that they’ll get tender such as carrots or peppers. Peas might also be nice
2 c Indian Simmer Sauce (see above for recipe link)
1 14 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted if desired
Cilantro, optional
Extra garam masala and ground turmeric, optional
DIRECTIONS
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat
- Add the onion and cook, stirring, til the onion is soft
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook briefly until they smell fragrant
- Add the ground meat (if using) and sauté until it’s cooked through. If using chickpeas, they can go in after the veg
- Stir in the ground cauliflower and other veg and cover for 5 minutes or so to steam
- Stir in the simmer sauce and tomatoes and cook until the flavors have blended or until your rice is ready. I let mine simmer for 20 minutes or so partially covered
- Taste and add garam masala or turmeric as needed
- Serve over rice or any other grain or with naan
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