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