Monday, December 28, 2015

Chocolate Avocado Ice Cream

Someone has correctly said Coconut and Avocado are Godly fruits!

When I realized creamy avocado could be used to make Ice cream I could resonate with that :D. The amazing variety of things you can do with these two fruits! Not to mention their countless health benefits puts them right on the top! (FRUIT WARS !! :P)



Believe me if you have this ice cream you will have the same opinion. I've made this recipe mainly using Jaggery but also used a bit of sugar. Reason being I dint want to use much sugar. Jaggery though can be used to sweeten dishes has a very distinctive flavor thus I feel cannot completely substitute sugar in every dish.

I found the original recipe on http://jessicainthekitchen.com and have modified it a bit to use other ingredients.



Ingredients

200 ML Full Fat Coconut Milk (I used KARA)
1 Medium size avocado Peeled and Pitted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
1/2 cup crushed Jaggery
2 Tbs Sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Crushed Toasted Walnuts

Steps

1. Dissolve Jaggery in half cup warm water and let it cool down. This gives you a jaggery syrup.
2. Add avocado and coconut milk in mixer and blend till combined well
3. Add Jaggery Syrup, vanilla extract, salt and cocoa Powder and combine till mixed well.
4. Check for sweetness and add sugar if necessary as per taste. Blend well.
5. Place the mixture in a freezer safe container and allow to freeze for 3-4 hours. Midway take out your ice cream and pulse it a couple of times in a mixer. Freeze it again.
6. To eat thaw the ice cream for 5-10 minutes before scooping out.
7. Sprinkle with Toasted walnuts and Enjoy ! :)

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Cheese Walnut Pockets with Cranberry Chutney


Necessity is the mother of Invention :D. That became quite true for this recipe when I picked up samosa pastry sheets from market not knowing what I would do with them :P. I never meant to fry samosas at home so was struggling to come up with ideas to use them. Few experiments led to this recipe :). Basically this is pan fried samosas filled with Vegan cheese , crushed walnuts & basil with a yummy tangy Cranberry chutney on side. It makes a nice crunchy evening snack. 




After attending a Dairy Alternatives Demo at Carrots I often make my own Vegan Cheese at home. Refer this video if you want to make cheese yourself. 

http://blog.veganosaurus.com/2015/04/fermented-cheesy-dip-video.html

Fermented cheese though recommended could take a little time to be ready. So if you want something more instant for this recipe you could grind together some overnight soaked cashews(50G), crumbled Silken tofu(150G), Any herbs you love and salt & pepper to make a creamy paste which is your cheese! Ofcourse the fermentation takes the taste to another level ! Do add garlic if you are fermenting the cheese.

With the filling ready we can move on to making the pockets. There are many ways to fold a samosa sheet. I have used the following to make these pockets.

http://www.theismaili.org/nutrition/how-fold-samosas-baked-samosa-recipes

Basically make a triangular cone with the sheet using maida+water paste as a glue. Fill the cavity with your Cheese+walnut filling and close with the rest of sheet left. It is pretty easy when you get a hang of it ! :). Once your pockets are ready give them a generous oil rub before toasting in a pan.




Cheese Pockets

Serves 2

Ingredients-

Samosa sheets
Vegan Cheese
Few sprigs of Basil or any other herbs you like
Crushed walnuts (a handful)
Vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Steps-

1. Make your Vegan cheese by grinding together "soaked cashews(50G), crumbled Silken tofu(150G), salt and pepper to taste" into a fine paste. Refer link mentioned earlier here for fermented cheese which gives a better punchy flavor.
2. To make the filling, in a bowl mix 100G Vegan cheese with crushed walnuts and chopped basil. Check for salt and creamy consistency. 
3. Prepare your pockets and fill them with the Cheese. Rub these with oil on the exterior.
4. Rub few drops of oil on a nonstick pan surface and heat it slightly on Medium heat.
5. On medium heat toast your pockets in the pan on both sides until they get slightly roasted. Use tongs to get the edges cooked. 


Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients-

50G dried cranberries
Few clove sticks
2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Steps-

1. In a pan cover cranberries in just enough water. Add sugar and few clove sticks. Cover and boil.
2. When the cranberries are re-hydrated the water would have almost dried. Switch off the heat.
3. Add salt to taste and let the mixture cool.
4. Remove the clove sticks and grind into a semi fine paste to make your chutney.




Note: Unlike me if you don't have Samosa sheets you could try this recipe with left over chapatis as well and make cheese rolls with them :)

Enjoy your crunchy Cheese Pockets with cranberry dipping sauce ! :)

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Gajar Halwa (Carrot Pudding)


The moment I saw Red Delhi Carrots in Market I was reminded of my childhood :). In a Punjabi Household Winter season is incomplete without eating Gajar Halwa. I was reminded of Mum's yummy halwa loaded with dry fruits. It was compulsory to eat at least a bowl daily. Well of course there were no complaints eating this sugary Bliss :D ! 




This was my first effort in making Gajar Halwa and it had to be Vegan :). Cashew Milk and Mom's recipe led the way to a delicious result. 

It is a very simple recipe though it does involve a bit of love and patience :). Cashew Milk is easy to make. Soak 100 G cashew over night and grind it with little water into a uniform creamy texture. Add more water to get the desired quantity and whip it in a Mixer to get the milk. 

Ingredients

Red Carrots 1/2 KG
Sugar 1/2 cup
Cashew Milk 1 L
Vegetable Oil - 3 Tbs
Chooped Walnuts
Chopped Almonds
Cardomam powder a pinch
Raisons 1 Tbs
Dry Coconut 2 Tbs (optional)

Steps

1. Grate the half Kg Red carrots and steam it in Cooker with sugar and 1/3 cup water for 1 whistle.
2. In a heavy Bottom pan / Kadai put the cooked carrots and add 1 L Cashew Milk. 
3. Cook the mixture on medium flame until the carrots soak in the milk and mixture dries up. Stir occasionally. This step could take about 20 Minutes.
4. Add oil and cook the carrots till you see a rich red color developing. 
5. Add the desired dry fruits , cardamom powder and dry coconut and mix.
6. Switch off the gas and cover for sometime. Garnish with chopped Almonds. Enjoy your Gajar Halwa Hot or Cold :)



Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Zucchini Lemon Bread

Hi Fellas..!

Last week I decided the dull weather and a stuffy nose won't stop me from putting something delicious in my mouth :-D.

Here is a recipe of Zucchini and Lemon Bread. This soft, zesty and refreshing bread/cake is ideal for sucking boredom out of the day !!





I have always been fascinated by use of fruits and vegetables in desserts and this dish is again another step in that direction.

I have veganized and slightly modified this recipe to make it vegan and it turned out awesome. Tasting just like lemon and Zucchini :). Along with a coconut lemon cream the cake just gets another punch of lime which I surely loved! Another lovely option is to cover the cake with a lemon glaze. When you bite into that cake the first thing that hits you is lemon!

So try it out and let me know how you like it :)


Ingredients

1 cup White flour (Maida)
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 tbs salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup butter milk (Made from soy milk)
Zest of a lemon
1 cup grated zucchini

Coconut lime cream

1/2 cup coconut cream
4 tbs powdered sugar
2 tbs lemon juice

Lemon Glaze

1 tsp Soy milk
2 tbs lemon juice
4 tbs powdered sugar


Steps


1. Mix half cup Soy Milk with 1 tsp Vinegar and 2 tbs Lemon Juice. Set aside to curdle to make butter milk.
2. Sift together Maida, Wheat , salt , Baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a large bowl combine well the oil and sugar. Add 1 tsp lemon juice and the buttermilk and zest of a lemon. Mix well.
4. Fold in grated Zucchini until it is mixed well.
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and combine well.
6. Grease and dust a loaf pan. Pour in the batter into this pan.
7. Bake at 180 C for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
8. To make the lemon glaze/lime cream just whip together the ingredients mentioned.
9. Cover the warm cake with the glaze and let it cool before cutting and serving. Serve with a splash of coconut lime cream :).

Bon appetit !!!


 

 


Sunday, November 8, 2015

Red Bell Pepper Risotto


Dishes with Roasted Bell peppers are increasing becoming my favorite comfort food :). This one is a killer which I will cook again and again. On roasting this vegetable gives a heavenly aroma. So I guess experimenting with roasted bell peppers will continue! :)



Risotto is an Italian dish made usually with Arboria Rice which is a short grain rice with high starch content. A good Indian replacement can be Ponni rice / idli rice which have similar properties and are easily available in stores. 

I roast the bell pepper directly on stove for this. Keep turning around the pepper to roast it evenly. Once charred take it off the stove and allow it to cool. Few cloves of garlic roasted a bit on stove and the pepper make the sauce for this dish. 





Another element used here is the coconut milk which gives the creaminess to dish. The last time I made this I dint use any other veges and it tasted just as good but with Mushrooms it had a buttery bite-y texture to the dish. 

Cooking of the Rice


  • Soak the rice for 2 hours.
  • This dish is best cooked slow in a covered pan on a low-medium flame.
  • Stir the rice every few minutes and don't allow rice to stick to bottom.
  • Add warm water time to time when it has dried. Repeat this until rice is cooked.
  • Cooked Rice stays slightly chewy.



Instead of water you can use vegetable stock or if you feel like indulging use wine additionally.






Ingredients

2 red bell peppers
Mushrooms 200 gms
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup ponni rice
1 onion finally chopped
2-3 garlic cloves
Loads of basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Warm water

  
1. Roast the Red Bell Peppers on Stove. Once Uniformly charred remove and keep to cool. Deseed and roughly chop the Peppers.
2. Roast a few garlic cloves. And along with the roasted pepper grind to make a smooth sauce.
3. In a pan heat two tbs of oil and saute the onions until transperant.
4. Saute the chopped mushrooms just slightly. They continue to cook along with the sauce.
5. Put in the drained rice and saute it for a few minutes.
6. Pour in the sauce and coconut milk and allow it to heat. Put in the basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper as per taste.
7. Dilute the sauce with water if needed and allow the mixture to cook in a covered vessel.
8. Keep stirring the mixture and add more warm water when necessary. Repeat till rice is properly cooked and sauce has sufficiently dried.
9. Garnish with basil leaves and enjoy this aromatic meal :)

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Peanut Butter Cranberry Cookies


So I happened to have these beautiful red cranberries sitting in my fridge and I was wondering what to do with them. The first idea that hit was cookies :).





These cookies can be made with any nut butter and in my case I tried peanut butter. You can use store bought peanut butter or make it even at home for a better result. In case you want to make your own peanut butter this link could help.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-peanut-butter-recipe.html


Prepare Flax Egg

To prepare for the dish make a flax egg. This substitutes as a good replacer for egg and helps in binding the dough for the biscuit. To make a flax egg mix a tablespoon of flax meal (ground flax seeds) with 2-2.5 tablespoon of water. Keep it aside for 5 minutes and it sets into a gooey mixture.





Some helpful instructions for the dough


  • The dough prepared is quite crumbly in texture. Use a little water (2-3 spoonfuls) if you are not able bind it just as it is. 
  • Shape the dough into a cylindrical shape by rolling gently with your hands. Place this cylinder of dough into a plastic cling film and wrap tightly. 
  • Refrigerate for 45-60 minutes to harden the dough. Cut into cookie discs. If your cut cookies are a little crumbly you can still patch them together easily.







When you notice slight browning on the edges of cookies they are done. Once out of oven allow the cookies to cool down on a rack. 




Ingredients

½ cup Peanut Butter
½ cup powdered Sugar
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Flax Egg (1 tbsp Flaxmeal + 2 Tbsp water)
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 cup Dried Cranberries (thinly chopped)

* Cranberries can be replaced with Raisins


Steps

1. Prepare your flax egg.
2. Preheat Oven to 200 C.
3. Mix the wheat flour and powdered sugar into a uniform mixture.
4. Mix the peanut butter, oil and flax egg together in a bowl.
5. Stir in whole wheat flour  mix and cranberries.
5. Mix well with hands and make the dough into a shape of log with width of 2 inches.
7. Wrap the dough tightly into a plastic cling wrap and refrigerate for 45 - 60 minutes.
8. Cut the dough into discs using a sharp knife.
9. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. They will have brown edges and slightly soft center.
10. Cool the cookies on a rack. Place in a jar and enjoy it till it lasts :).


*Adapted from - http://www.veganfamilyrecipes.com/2014/11/nut-butter-cranberry-cookies.html

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Filipino Cake - Bibingka

Hi Folks


Sometime back I came across this traditional Filipino dish called Bibingka which looked really lovely and interesting to me !






I was inspired to veganize this very earthy dish. This is basically a coconut-ty cake made with rice flour and hence is a good option for a gluten free cake. It is cooked inside banana leaves and has a very rustic look to it. I have given it a vegan twist and also used jaggery instead of sugar in the recipe. The result was a very yummy soft homely cake made with simple ingredients.


Bibingka fresh out of Oven


I decided to bake this during Dussera festival as the ingredients rice , coconut and jaggery sing along perfectly for our traditional sweets ;) Don't they ! Also I was easily able to get hold of some banana leaves during this Puja time which I then used for baking :D. 

Instead of making a cake from this recipe you could also bake it in small ramekins to serve individual portions.




The amount of Jaggery you use will depend on the sweetness of your jaggery. In my case 1/2 to 3/4 cup does it perfectly. The traditional recipe has grated cheese on top of it which I replaced with grated Tofu to give the texture , freshly grated coconut would also do a good/better job here. 


Delicious Vegan Bibingka













Ingredients

1 Cup Rice Flour
A good pinch of salt
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking soda
3 Tsbp Vegtable oil (I used Sunflower)
3/4 cup Jaggery (powdered)
1 cup Full cream Coconut milk 
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
2 spoons Shredded Tofu (optional)


Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (360 F). < Convection Mode >

2. Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

3. In a bowl whisk oil with the jaggery and then add the coconut milk. Combine well to remove any lumps.

4. Mix in the grated coconut. Spare some for dressing the dish. 

4. Line your baking vessel with banana leaves to ensure the batter sits inside the leaves.

5. Add flour to your liquid mixture few spoons at a time and mix well to get a smooth mixture. 

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and spread shredded Tofu on top. You could skip this and just use grated coconut on top of your cooked Bibingka. 

7. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.

8. Once cooked after few minutes in oven take out the cake and let it cool. 

9. Garnish with generous amount of coconut and Enjoy :).

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Creamy Pasta in Pumpkin Sauce


I have fallen in love with the idea of using vegetables to get the creaminess in my dishes. Which led me to try this out with Pumpkin in a Pasta :-)

Nothing like making a sauce with a fresh pumpkin! Would prefer that any day to canned stuff. 

There are many varieties of pumpkin and I have used this variety for the recipe (See Image Below). It is called Kumbhalakai in Kannada and has a sweetish favor. 






You can use many ways to make pumpkin sauce. I referred to the article below and went with the BOIL option as it was the Quickest and i was super hungry :D. With ample time in hand I would prefer the BAKE option as that would give a nice roasted flavor to the dish and fill my house with a sweet pumpkin aroma. Yes.. That's exactly why I dint do it !! The aroma accelerated my hunger :-D  (P.S. i did start with the BAKE option and changed my mind in 15 minutes)


http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/dessert/a22021/homemade-pumpkin-puree-recipe/


I love all vegetables and tend to cook with what is available. (Not to mention my fridge will always have some veggies). In this dish i used zucchini & carrot. Pumpkin itself has such a lovely flavor which you do not want to overpower with too many vegetables. As they say "Less is more". In fact this dish would work beautifully with just mushroom and basil for me (Next try!). So go ahead and find your own combination :-). You could steam your vegetables or just cook them in the prepared sauce if you don't mind them a little crunchy.






Ingredients:-

1 Cup whole wheat Fusilli Pasta
250g Pumpkin
1 Cup chopped veggies (Carrots & Zuccini)
Few garlic cloves
2 Tbs Olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper
Coriander to garnish


Steps:-

1. De-seed, Peel And chop pumpkin into evenly sized pieces. Add to boiling water enough to almost submerge the pieces. Cook for 25 minutes or until the flesh is tender when pierced. Keep aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile put your pasta to boil as per instructions on the box. (Remember to add salt while boiling it)

3. Drain the pumpkin pieces and puree them in a blender with few garlic cloves which have been sauteed in olive oil. You can adjust the thickness with little water. Add salt and pepper to the sauce as per taste. 

4. In the same oil, saute your chopped vegetables for a few seconds.(Delay for steamed veges) Pour in the creamy sauce and let it cook your veges for 2 Mins. 

5. Throw in the cooked pasta and mix it all up to get a golden creamy pasta dish !

6. Garnish with Coriander greens and devour :-)

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A bit about me...



Hello Lovely People !!

Thank you for reading my Blog on Vegan Cooking :)

I am a fairly new vegan with hands itching to make Yummy Vegan dishes in my kitchen. I was grown up spoilt for choices in my meals (all because of Mom!) hence i just cant stick to a few recipes / ways of cooking things for long. So the experimentation in Kitchen Began :). Before adopting a vegan diet i was quite worried about things like "How will my food taste?", "Will i have to stop eating my favorite things?". Thankfully because of the amazing people whose advice and support I have received over a period of time, all my doubts have been busted.

I have been an Animal lover ever since I know myself. After becoming aware of the horrors inflicted on animals I turned vegetarian a decade ago. Inevitably Veganism was on the cards. What led me to explore veganism was my childhood friend Aparna and the awesome work done by various people around the world to promote Veganism on web. In my city Bangalore i am in constant touch with Facebook group "Vegan Bangalore" and I love to spend my free time volunteering at "Carrots - The healthy Kitchen" in Koramangala. Susmitha and her team do great work here to churn out some of the most delicious Vegan food :).

Thoroughly inspired, I am here to sing a song about my Vegan Kitchen Odyssey. Hope you enjoy it along with me :).


Love,
Ekta