Thanksgiving Preview, Take One

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us here in Canada, so I thought I would take a trial run of a recipe I have been developing in my head. We are having family come, none of whom are vegan. The trick is to make something that will satisfy everyone. The plan is to make a maple and apple seitan roast (something like pork tenderloin). This trial run was fairly successful, though the colour was darker than what I was going for and the seitan was a little spongy. The taste was good, and the maple and apple glaze was delicious. I will post the recipe when I sort it all out next weekend.

Ranch Dip

We reheated/revived the pasta from last night, but added some fresh veggies and ranch dip. Vegan ranch dip is easy to make and much healthier for you. Lower in fat, no additives, no cholesterol, and cruelty free.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 pkg firm tofu, drained

- 1 tsp lemon juice

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

- 1 tsp parsley

- 1 tsp dill

- 1/2 tsp tarragon

- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

- 1/2 tsp onion powder

- 1/2 tsp salt (or more, to taste)

- freshly ground pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. If mixture is to thick, add a little plain soymilk.

TIP: I really should have included this last night, but spaghetti sauce is a great opportunity to stuff all sorts of veggies into your kids. Dice up things like peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, etc., and grate in carrots and cook them in the sauce. Once cooked, blend the sauce with a hand blender and the kids are none the wiser.

Vegan Italiano

Pasta night tonight. The attempt was to take the sausage recipe and make it into meatballs. Success was mixed. The meatballs didn't keep their shape as well as I would have liked, but the taste and texture was good. It ended up being more like a chunky meat sauce, which isn't all bad.

Grape Tea in a Jiffy

I was feeling really sad that I couldn't send in an entry to AFAM this month. Grapes are hopelessly out of season and I had given up hope of sending in anything interesting. Incidentally, I had to come to our office in Gurgaon on a two-day visit. When I walk into the breakout area here, what did I see? A bowl of red grapes!! I pounced on them! I sat at my desk and contemplated what I should do with them. I googled for some easy recipes with grape and hey preso! There it was.


I went back to our micro-kitchen in office and whipped it up, literally. Tasted good and considering I am not much of an ice tea lover, this tasted pretty interesting.

NB: I am quite amused by my own craziness in the office and the length to which I went to actually come up with this entry. Hope Swapna will accept it, though its three days late!

Grape Tea

I tried to get the white patches off the grapes, didn't work.
Also, couldn't spend much time on the pic since I was in office!

What I Used:

Fresh red grapes - 7-8
Tea bags - 2
Cold water - 2 cups
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp (I used dabur lemon syrup)
Sugar - 3-4 tsp

How I Made It:

Immerse the tea bags in cold water till the required strengh is acquired for your tea.

Blend this will all ingredients in a blender.

Serve cold

This is my entry to this month's AFAM hosted by Swapna and to 'Fresh Produce of the Month', hosted by chemcookit.

I am also sending this to the "Serve me Some…Juices, Shakes, Smoothies" event at Cook Curry Nook.

Lemon Currant Rolls

We are having leftovers tonight, so I thought I would post my veganized version of Pan Chanco's Lemon Currant Rolls. These take some time and a little skill, but they are totally worth it. You could easliy half the recipe for less rolls.

DOUGH

- 2 tbsp active dry yeast

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 3/4 c warm water

- 3/4 c firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu)

- 1 1/4 c plain soymilk

- 1/2 c non-hydrogenated margarine (Earth Balance)

- 7 c all purpose flour

- 1/2 c sugar

- 2 tsp sea salt

- 3/4 c currants

FILLING

- 1/2 c non-hydrogenated margarine, room temp

- 1 1/4 c brown sugar

- 4 tsp cinnamon

ICING

- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1 1/2 c icing sugar

METHOD:

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a large bowl. Set aside to proof.

2. While yeast is proofing, warm soymilk gently on stove in a medium saucepan, and then melt maragine into the warm soymilk. Blend in the tofu right in pan with a hand blender. If you don't have a hand blender, get one.

3. Mix together flour, sugar, salt and currants in a separate bowl. Fold dry ingredients into liquid ingredients.

4. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Shape into a ball and place in a bowl greased with margarine. Turn to coat thoroughly. Let rest in a warm place until doubled in size.

5. Make filling and set aside.

6. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Turn dough into floured surface and roll into a large rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. You are going to need a lot of space. This makes 18 rolls, about 2.4 inches thick, so your rectangle needs to be about 10"x45"

7. Spread filling evenly over the dough and roll dough into a long cylinder along the long side (i.e. you will have a 45" cylinder.

8. Cut dough into 18 pieces, each about 2.5" thick. Place each piece in a greased (or non-stick) muffin tin cup.

9. Bake for 25-30 mins. Cool.

10. In a small saucpan, warm lemon juice and add icing sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Drizzle over slightly warm rolls.

Pepper Rasam and Potato Masala - Simple Sunday Lunch

I had a terribly sore throat last weekend and roaming around entire day Saturday for a friend's birthday, didn't help it much. Sunday morning, I felt all crappy and grumbly. I started craving hot rasam right about then. There were no vegetables in the house and we were too lazy to go out and get any. That's when the potatoes came handy. Quickly whipped up a lunch of pepper rasam, potato masala and rice.

Pepper Rasam


What I Used:

Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
Freshly ground peppercorns - 1 tsp
Garlic - 5-6 cloves, freshly pounded
Rasam powder (I am currently using MTR) - 1.5 tbsp
Water - as required
Salt - to taste
Fresh coriander leaves - for seasoning
Curry leaves - one strand


How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and temper with mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. I love the smell of fenugreek seeds as they are roasted. Make sure they are not burnt at this stage. Add the garlic and fry for a minute.

2. Then add the curry leaves and the rasam powder, fry for a good 2 minutes.

3. Add necessary amount of water and when it heats up, add the tamarind paste and stir well. When the water boils, add the pepper.

4. Don't boil for too long. Add salt, remove from fire and season with coriander leaves.

Pepper is ideal when we have a bad throat or a cold. I always crave rasam when I am feeling feverish. With rice, its not really a favourite.

Potato Masala



Me and my roomie made it exactly the way we make egg curry. Boil the potatoes and add it on just you do with the eggs. We love that gravy and though its not the best combination with rasam, we still enjoyed it.

By the way, you have three more days to send in your entries to Show Me Your Cook Books Event :)

Seitan Stroganoff

Another favourite from Vegan With a Vengeance (seriously, go out and buy that book). The kids love it (well, except for Son #1 who claims to hate mushrooms and leaves them behind). Of course, you are supposed to use broader noodles, but all we had was penne. Oh well.

Maple Garlic Ribs

Vegans do not eat honey as it is considered an animal product. So, this is my version of honey garlic ribs done with maple syrup. They are delicious and sticky sweet (but they do not photograph well).

INGREDIENTS:

- about 25 seitan "ribs" (I cook up ribs when I make my seitan, but you could also cut strips off a seitan roast)

- oil

- 1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)

- 1/4 cup soy sauce

- 1/4 cup white vinegar

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 tbsp brown sugar

- 1 tsp baking soda

METHOD:

1. Toss ribs in oil until well coated.

2. Mix together the rest of the ingredients, except baking soda, in a bowl.

3. Grill seitan on a hot grill for 3-4 mins per side, until browned and crispy. Turn down grill to medium.

4. Add baking soda to maple syrup mixture. Add seitan strips and turn to coat.

5. Transfer to a 9x13 stoneware baking dish. Place on the BBQ, uncovered. Cook until sauce is reduced by at least half (about 20-25 mins).

A NOTE ON SEITAN

I use Bryanna Clark Grogan's seitan recipes. The beefy seitan that I made this week is one of my favourites. I can't post the recipe here since I got it from her quarterly newsletter, which I highly recommend. It costs $20 for the year (with complete access to all past issues) and every issue is crammed with about 50-60 recipes. Check it out here.

Asian Night!

I love to pull out the wok and go crazy. Tonight I pulled together a Thai inspired dish and a hoisin stir-fry.

Chickpea Coconut Curry
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1" piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed
- 1 cup corn
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 tsp Thai Kitchen yellow or red curry paste
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- juice of 1 lime
- 3 small bok choy
- chopped cilantro

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a wok on med-hi. Throw in ginger and garlic and stir fry for 1 min.
2. Add chickpeas and curry paste and stir fry for 3-4 mins.
3. Add coconut milk, corn, soy sauce, sugar, and lime juice. Bring to a boil.
4. About 5 mins before you want to serve the dish, and the bok choy. Cook until softened, but still crunchy.
5. Garnish with cilantro and serve.
TIP! The four flavours of Thai food are sweet, salty, hot, and sour. Adjust the seasonings to your own taste.

Sweet Seitan Stir-fry
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups of beefy seitan, cut in strips
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp sherry
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp oil
- snow peas
- broccoli
- sliced carrots
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
- 3 green onions, sliced

METHOD:
1. Marinate seitan in soy sauce, sherry, and sugar for 30 mins.
2. Heat oil in wok on med-hi. Fry drained seitan for 5 mins. Remove from wok.
3. Stir fry peas, broccoli and carrots (amount is up to you) for 5 mins. Add seitan and garlic and cook until fragrant.
4. Add hoisin sauce and onions, and cook until heated through.

Shamburgers and Fries

A friend of mine recently commented that the names for vegan food (Tofurkey, for example) drove him nuts. So, I called tonight's meal "shamburgers" just to goad him into posting a reply on the blog. Heh heh.

Actually, these burgers weren't that great--good tatse, but mushy and very hard to grill. I doubled yesterday's sausage recipe (but added some soy sauce, HP sauce, sage, and parsley), added 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs when forming the patties, and brushed with oil before grilling. I won't post the recipe until I can perfect it--the patties need more cohesion. I will take any and all suggestions.

The fries were great. Wash potatoes and cut into sticks. Toss in canola oil and bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 mins, turning halfway through. Sprinkle with sea salt. (I bake mine on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper--this way they don't stick and bake up nice and crisp).

Egg Dosa with Onion-Tomato Chutney/Mutta Doshayum Ulli-Thakkali Chammanthiyum

I love egg, be it omelette, or curried, or hard boiled, or even on a dosa! (Only exception being bull's eye). Egg dosa is a favourite at home and normally we have it for dinner. Last week, we had this for breakfast though, with spicy onion-tomato chutney. Mom either makes tomato chutney or onion chutney but both are a little time consuming, especially the tomato chutney which requires a lot of time on the stove and when it boils, it falls all over the stove, dirtying it. Needless to say, I am too lazy to follow that so went for an equal amount of tomatoes and onions for this chutney.

Egg Dosa

I used readymade batter for the dosa. To make the batter at home, take rice : urad dhal in 3 : 1 ratio, soak overnight (or atleast 5-6 hours) in water separately, grind separately and then mix together, adding salt. This batter should be kept covered for another 5 hours or so before you can start making the dosa.


Using this batter, pour a dosa on the griddle, break an egg and lay on top of dosa. Lightly sprinkle with gingelly oil, carefully turn and cook till the egg is cooked.

Onion - Tomato Chutney


What I Used:

Onions - 2 medium
Tomatoes - 2 large
Hing - 1 pinch
Red Chillies - 4-5
Garlic - 8 cloves

How I Made It:

1. Fry onions in very little oil till it they turn golden brown.

2. Add the red chillies, hing and chopped garlic.

3. When the masala is done, add the chopped tomatoes, mix well and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

4. Cool this mixture and grind well in mixie.

Serve with hot egg dosa.

Breakfast for Dinner!

I was in the mood for pancakes tonight (probably because the boys got up real early and we ate good ol' cold cereal this morning). I also made scrambled tofu, and created a recipe for "sausage" patties. Yum!

I made the pancakes from Vegan With an Vengeance. By far the best vegan pancakes ever. I also made the scrambled tofu, that Isa was nice enough to post at her Post Punk Kitchen website.

Sausage Patties

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 tsp ground fennel (anise) seed

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 1/2 tsp paprika

- 1/2 tsp sage

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup TVP

- 2 tbsp instant tapioca

- 1 cup water

- 2 tsp vital wheat gluten flour

- oil for frying

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry onion until golden. Add garlic and fry for 1 min.

2. Add spices, TVP, and tapioca. Stir until well mixed.

3. Add water and cook until absorbed and TVP is soft.

4. Stir in flour and remove from the heat. Remove from pan.

5. When mixture is cooled enough to touch, form into 8 balls and flatten into patties.

6. Heat a thin layer of oil in frying pan on med-hi and fry patties on both sides until brown.

Indian Feast, Part 2

Cauliflower and Potato Curry
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 medium sized potatoes
- 1/3 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 fresh green chili, chopped
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp tumeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tomato, chopped

METHOD:
1. Peel potatoes and cube. Parboil them with the cauliflower for about 6-8 mins. Drain.
2. Heat oil in a wok, or large pan. Fry chili for 1 min, then add potatoes and cauliflower and fry for 5 mins.
3. Add spices, tomato, and water. Cook until veggies are tender (10 mins or so). Garnish with chopped cilantro if you have it.

Tandoori Tofu
I use a commercial tandoori masala spice mix for this one, but I suppose you could make your own. I take tofu that has been frozen and thawed, slice it into thick slabs, and marinate in the following:
- 1/2 cup of plain soymilk (you are really supposed to use yogurt, but the only soy yogurt I can find here is expensive and pretty nasty.)
- 2 tsbp oil
- 2 tsp tandoori masala (or more, if you like)
The thawed tofu will soak up the liquid. Then, grill on a vey hot and well oiled grill for 5 mins per side.

Meet Your Meat

I know, nobody wants to hear about animal cruelty on a blog about family meals and tasty food. But, one of the major reaons I became a vegan was because of modern factory farming practices. I don't think anyone can watch this video and not feel some compassion, even if you despise Peta. It is sobering and worth a viewing.

Indian Feast

The new camera has been bought, and new food has been made! Tonight we went for an Indian feast: Tandoori Tofu, Dhal (Lentils), Cauliflower and Potato Curry, and Rice. It was really, really good--so good, in fact, that Son #1 actually complimented me on the meal. Wow. Since we will be eating this tomorrow as well, I will post some recipes today, and the others tomorrow.

For the Dhal:

This recipe is awesome and pretty easy to make. It is nourishing and tasty. If you love Indian food, the you will love this dish. I double the recipe so there are lots of leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

- 3/4 cup red lentils (the small ones--they cook in 15-20 mins)

- 1 1/2 cup water

- 1 tsp tumeric

- 1 large sliced onion

- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)

- 1 large tomato, chopped

- 4 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1/2 tsp cumin (or more, if you like)

- 1/2 tsp coriander (or more, of you like)

- 1 garlic clove, chopped

- 6 curry leaves, crushed

METHOD:

1. Put lentils, water, tumeric, and onion in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer (with the lid on) until lentils are soft. When the lentils are done, they will break apart when you stir them, making a thick(ish) paste.

2. Add the salt and tomatoes and simmer until heated through.

3. Heat oil in a small saucepan, and fry garlic until golden. Add spices and stir into lentil mixure. Serve.

A Note on Rice: I am not going to post a recipe for rice here, but just wanted to say that basamti rice is essential for Indian food. It is wonderfully fluffy, never sticks, and has a great flavour.

Toasted Sugar Bread with Honey - Breakfast with leftover bread

Weekend Breakfast Blogging #15 was announced by Nandita of Saffron Trail, almost a month back and the theme this month is leftovers. She also had a picture of a fridge full of leftover food, to get us thinking. Next day, I opened my fridge and was not really surprised to see just a couple of wilted tomatoes and a bottle of ginger-garlic paste in there. We only cook during weekends and we are experts at cooking for two. So I really had to struggle with coming up with an idea.

Then it struck me. We had some left over bread last Saturday and on Sunday, I took the few slices and made this really yummy snacky breakfast which was my second favourite 'tuck' for school. I have posted my favourite snack before, here.

So here it is - Toasted Sugar Bread with Honey


What I Used:

Bread : 6 slices
Butter : 3 tbsp (unsalted tastes better)
Sugar : 2-3 tbsp
Honey : 1 tbsp (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Add 1 tbsp butter to a pan and when it melts, put in the cubed bread slices. Don't remove the sides of the bread, otherwise the bread will crumble into tiny pieces.

2. Keep stirring and toasting, adding on more butter as needed.

3. When the bread pieces turn golden brown, turn off fire and sprinkle with sugar. Toss the bread pieces till the sugar blends in. It will crystallize a little in the heat of the bread.

4. Dip in honey and eat warm. If you are not using honey, then add more sugar.

Simple, yummy and healthy :)


This is my entry to WBB #15. Also sending it across to Snackorama for the event, What's your favourite snack?

Leftovers

My in-laws were doing some small renovations to the house all day, my wife was busy with the baby, and I was busy with my courses and manuscript. To top it off there was a open house at the boys' school today at 5:30. Who has time to cook? We cobbled together a meal of leftover soup, some pasta, and toasted tomato sandwiches (sliced tomatoes, lettuce, vegenaise). Not exotic, but it did the trick.

Harvest Soup and Scones

I love a hearty soup with some freshly baked sweet scones (sorry, no pic.) Again, my mother-in-law is responsible for this meal, which everybody loved.

For the Soup:

Quantities are up to you, depending on what flavours you like best, and what you have in the fridge. The basic ingredients: onion, garlic, leek, red pepper, potato, cauliflower, water.

1. Saute onion, garlic, and leek in oil in a large soup pot until soft.

2. Add red pepper and cook a few mins more.

3. Add peeled and cubed potato and cauliflower florets. Cover with water.

4. Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are soft.

5. Blend soup with handmixer until smooth. You can add soy creamer or soymilk if you want it even creamier.

6. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander.

For the Sweet Scones:

- 1 1/2 cup of flour

- 4 tbsp sugar

- 6 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 10 tbsp cold non-hydrogenated vegan margarine

- 1 cup (or so) plain soymilk

Preheat Oven to 425

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl,

2. Add margarine and work it into the flour with your hands until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.

3. Add in enough soymilk and stir with a fork to make a soft dough (can be a little sticky)

4. Drop very generous spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (or form into pucks with floured hands)

5. Bake for about 12 mins, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

BBQ!

Last night we were looking for a quick and easy meal, and that was not easy since grocery day is coming and the fridge is beginning to look bare. My father-in-law took charge (so I could catch up on work after a weekend away), and came up with a tasty BBQ feast.

1. Grilled tofu, basted with BBQ sauce.

2. Zucchini, red onion, eggplant, and red pepper skewers (coat in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and dried basil).

We served this with some squash (cooked in the microwave and mixed with maple syrup), and boiled red potatoes. Very tasty.

TIP! Freezing tofu makes for a chewier texture. Plus, when it thaws it makes the tofu more "sponge-like" which means it will soak up whatever marinade/basting sauce you are using.

Show Me Your Cook Books Event - Reminder

Thanks to all those people out there who sent me their entries for the first event I am hosting in the blogosphere. Get the event details here.

Just to boost up things and also as a reminder, here is another entry from me. The Joy of Vegetarian Cooking by Jasleen Dhamija.

Pic courtesy : toothlesswink

The book is a gift from a friend and I love it because it has a lot of information on various vegetables and the contents are arranged ingredients-wise. The recipes are nutritious, easy to make and uses minimum amount of oil. I read it like I would a work of fiction or any other book. A huge thumbs up to the author.

Here is a picture of me with the book :)

Pic courtesy : toothlesswink

You can see my first entry here. Last date to send in your entries is Sept 30th so you still have time to choose the book of your choice and appear in this space along with a set of other smashing entries.

So click away!!

Mac and Cheese

I am working from home today, prepping for the first full seminar in my "Sex and Violence in Early America" course (mmmmm . . . Foucauldian . . . ). So, I was in charge of lunch. I went with Mac and "Cheese," always a favourite with the kids. I basically use the Mac and Cheez sauce from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. But, I find the sauce a little too thick and not cheesy enough (the miso gives it more a more cheesy bite), so I make a few alterations.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/3 c flour

- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder

- 1/4 tsp paprika

- pinch of tumeric, nutmeg

- 2 cups plain soy/rice milk

- 1/4 cup canola or olive oil

- 1/2 tsp mustard

- 2 tbsp mellow miso

METHOD:

1. Start cooking 1/3 pkg. of dry macaroni in boiling water.

2. Mix together all dry ingredients in a saucepan.

3. Whisk in soymilk, oil, mustard until smooth.

4. Continually whisk over med-hi heat until bubbling. (I like a thinner sauce--add more flour if you want, or more soymilk if you want the sauce even thinner).

5. Remove from heat and whisk in miso until combined.

6. Drain pasta, and smother with sauce. Serve! (I like it with ketchup on top.)

Classic Move

Guess who left his digital camera in Kingston? Looks like I will have to scrounge generic photos off the web (maybe even (*gasp*) clip art) for the next little while. I think it is time for a new camera anyway, time to upgrade to the digital SLR. Right now I have the cheapest Sony camera they make--I bought it many years ago for a research trip to the archives in Philly. I think it has served its purpose. Our 35mm SLR is collecting dust since digital is easier and cheaper, and since I can use the lens on the digital model, an upgrade is way to go. There is a camera store downtown I need to check out (I refuse to buy it at WalMart). So, I will keep posting sans original pics until I get the new camera.

Triangular Parathas - Indian Bread

I had been waiting for Coffee to announce her MBP theme for the month. I visit so many great blogs every day and bookmark quite a few catchy recipes. The theme for this month is making bread from scratch. I happily went yeast shopping last weekend but didn't come across good quality one. So have postponed the baking to this weekend. What I did make are triangular parathas from one of my favourite blogs, Malabar Spices.

Triangular Parathas

These came out nice and soft, though I used minimum amount of oil.

What I Used:

Wheat flour : 2 cups
Salt : 1 tsp
Water : to make dough

How I Made It:

1. Add salt to the flour and mix well. Add water little by little till you get a medium hard dough. "The dough should be medium hard in texture. Not as soft as roti and not as hard as puri."


2. Divide into equal portions, approximately the size of a lemon.


3. Roll them out into circles and fold them thrice to make a long triangle. Smear oil in all the folds. "Do not make it too wide and thin. It should be about 4-6 inches and a little thick. Too thin and they turn out like papadams."

4. Cook on a griddle till both sides turn golden brown "and the layers start to rise and separate."

5. "The heat should be consistent in the initial phase of cooking to allow the layers to seperate. If the heat is too low, it will either turn hard and if it is too high, it will brown without cooking the inner layers."



Click here for Shaheen's photorial on how to make triangular parathas. Portions of the method of cooking are quoted directly from Shaheen's post.

Changes made by me: I did not add oil while cooking the parathas. I used gingelly oil in the foldsm since I like the flavour of this added to the smell of parathas cooking.

I served the parathas with egg curry.

This is my first entry to this month's Monthly Blog Patrol on making bread from scratch. She also wanted us to list our favourite smells in the kitchen. So here are my top three (in order).

(a) Ginger garlic paste frying with sauteed onions and oil.
(b) Smell of mummy's home-made ghee when its almost done.
(c) Smell of chocolate cake getting baked in the oven.

Special thanks to my roomie for helping me with this :)

Pasta and Breaded Eggplant

Tonight's meal came courtesy of my mother-in-law. I was working late, trying to get my stuff in order since we will be away for the wedding all weekend long. Pasta is always a favourite with the kids, and a basic marinara sauce is meat-free anyway. You can add veggie ground round or TVP if you like, just like with the chili. No Frills had 6 eggplants for a buck on the clearance rack, so we also had breaded eggplant as well. Use the same breading technique as the chicken fried seitan, and fry in oil on each side until golden brown.

VERDICT: The pasta was a hit, and so was the eggplant until our eldest son found it that he was eating eggplant and began to protest on principle. Clean plates all around in the end.

We will be out of town for the wedding for the next few days, so no posts for a while. That would matter if someone was actually reading the blog on a regular basis. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Submit a Recipe

If you are a foodie at heart who is too busy to put it online or just not a blogger yourself, feel free to send me your lovely recipes. I will prepare them and post it here with due credit to you for recipe source. 

Be a part of the foodie blogosphere! This is as easy as it gets. 

Shoot your recipes and pictures, if any, my way to naagu.v@gmail.com and wait to see it here in this site. I wil send you an email as soon as the post is published. 

Thanks in advance for sharing your recipe :)

Chili Sans Carne

My in-laws are here for a visit (and to watch the kids while we take off for my brother's wedding this weekend). My father-in-law cannot eat salt, and my mother-in-law has a soy and nut allergy. So, the meals for the next while need to be meat, dairy, egg, salt, soy, and nut free. Whew! Tonight we went with chili. No real recipe--just do what you usually do but a) leave out the meat, or 2) use veggie ground, or 3) use TVP. If you want something different, use black beans, some corn, some cocoa powder, and some chipotle peppers.

Veganomicon!

I was tres excited to learn that Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are coming out with a new cookbook! Since I use Vegan With a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World on a regular basis, I have high hopes for this latest addition. I will showcase the new dishes here when the book comes out in late October.

Chicken Fried Seitan

The last of the seitan went into tonight's southern-inspired meal. I had a similar dish in a restaurant in Philly and recreated it at home.

INGREDIENTS

- 1/2 cup canola oil

- 2 cups bread crumbs

- salt, pepper, nutritional yeast flakes (optional)

- 6 slices of seitan, or seitan cutlets

- 2 cups plain soymilk

- 1 tsp lemon juice

- 4 tbsp margarine

- 2 tbsp flour

- 2 cups soymilk

- 1 tsp lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp salt, white pepper

- 1 tsp dried rosemary, chopped

TIP! If you don't have breadcrumbs, process some cornflakes in the blender.

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in frying pan in med-hi.

2. Put bread crumbs in a medium bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast flakes if desired.

3. Put soymilk in another medium bowl. Stir in lemon juice until soymilk thickens.

4. Dip seitan cutlet in soymilk mixture, then roll in breadcrumbs, then back in the soymilk, then coat again in crumbs.

5. Fry for 4-5 mins per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.

1. Melt margarine on medium in a saucepan.

2. Whisk in flour, and continue to whisk until light brown.

3. Slowly whisk in soymilk and lemon juice. Bring to a slow boil, until mixture thickens.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add rosemary.

Spoon gravy over seitan cutlet and serve.

(I did not have any rosemary in the cupboard, so I used tarragon and parsely. Not as good, but passable.)

VERDICT:

Clean plates all around!

Rice with Bele Saaru & Badanekayi/Ennegayi Palya - A Kannadiga Lunch!

I enjoy cooking for Regional Cuisine of India the most, mainly because it gives me an opportunity to take a peek into some really cool names of vegetables, dishes and even ethnic recipes. I loved researching for Karnataka recipes and as always settled for something easy, yet something I would want to cook again cuz it turned out really well.

Here is our Sunday lunch - a simple Kannadiga one!



I. Bele Saaru

The lovely Karnataka style sambhar with a unique sweet flavour contributed by jaggery. The consistency is supposed to be thicker than rasam but thinner than normal sambhar, but since we like it on the thicker side, I made it that way. I am especially proud of the fact that I made the saarina pudi from scratch (like I have mentioned a lot of times already :D). Forgive me, but making curry powders from scratch is a huge deal for me :D


What I Used:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
Jaggery powder - 2 tsp
Saarina pudi - 2 spoons
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 3
Drumsticks - 1
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves - one strand

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the dal with turmeric powder, drumsticks cut into long pieces, green chillies and sufficient water.

2. Once the excess pressure has left the cooker, adjust the consistency by adding water if necessary. Then add the tamarind paste and jaggery and mix well.

3. Temper mustard seeds, curry leaves, saarina pudi, chilly powder in some oil and when it emits a nice smell, add into the above mixture. Mix and serve hot with rice.

Basic recipe courtesy.

II. Bandanekayi/Ennegayi Palya

This is a simple brinjal curry, with a lovely hot & sweet flavour that I thoroughly enjoyed. I know brinjals are not the most popular vegetales around but I like it when its stir-fried in oil. This particular dish goes well with bele saaru and rice.


What I Used:

Ennegayi/brinjal - 5 medium
Onions - 2
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - one strand
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 2 tsp
Hing - one pinch
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Jaggery powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste


How I Made It:

1. Cut the brinjals into cubes and soak them in water with little salt.

2. Heat the oil and add jeera, hing and then onions.Fry a little and then add chilli powder. Fry again before adding the brinjals, tamarind paste, salt and jaggery.

3. Cook keeping the pan covered. When the brinjals are done, add the garam masala, fry for another minute and remove from fire.

4. Serve hot with rice and bele saaru. Atleast, that's what I did :)

Basic recipe courtesy.

I am sending this to RCI: Karnataka, in case you hadn't guessed already. Thank you for hosting, Asha. Good luck with the round-up. I know your inbox is full already :)

"Chicken" Pot Pie

As you might have guessed, it was another seitan meal tonight as we work through the batch I made on the weekend. But, chickpeas are also very good in this pot pie.

FOR THE CRUST:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
- 5-6 tbsp ice cold water

1. Mix together flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut in shortening with two knives, or pastry cutter.
3. Stir in enough water with a fork for the pastry to come together in a ball.
4. Roll out on a floured surface in a shape that fits your baking dish.

FOR THE FILLING:
- 1 tbsp oil
- one onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 cups of cubed seitan (or one can of chickpeas, rinsed)
- water
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1-2 tbsp flour or cornstarch
- 2+ tbsp vegan "chicken" broth powder

METHOD:
1. Saute onion and celery in a saucepan. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Add carrots and potatoes, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are soft (15-20 mins).
3. Add seitan (or chickpeas), corn, and peas.
4. Mix flour or cornstarch in a few tbsp of water and add to veggie mix. Cook until mixture thickens. Add more if still too thin. Add broth powder, salt, and pepper to taste.
5. Pour into glass or Corningware dish (9x13 or so). Roll out crust while mixture cools. Put crust on top of veggie mixture, and cut a few slits in the crust to allow steam to escape. Bake for 40-60 minutes, until crust browns.

VERDICT:
The kids loved and asked for seconds. Mmmmm . . . comfort food.

Soft Tacos and Corn Chowder

Prep Time: 50 mins

We bought some 99 cent tortillas (a mistake, quite frankly) last week at the store, so tonight I went for soft tacos accompanied by chips and salsa and the corn chowder from Vegan With a Vengeance. It is the perfect addition to any Mexican meal because it has jalapenos and lime juice in it, and has a creamy taste and hearty texture.

For the soft tacos:

1. Fry up strips of seitan in a few tbsp. oil a cast iron skillet on med-hi until browned. Stir frequently to keep from sticking.

2. Stir in 1/2 tsp. each of chili powder, cumin, oregano, and cinnamon.

3. Squeeze juice of one lime over the seitan and stir. This will help deglaze the pan. It should look something like this:

4. Serve from the skillet into warmed tortillas with chopped tomatoes, onions, lettuce, vegan sour cream, etc. (we only had tomoatoes and onion around tonight, alas).

I also made this vegan sour cream recipe. Not too bad, actually. Not as good as Tofutti, but far cheaper and really easy to make.

VERDICT:

Son # 1: I hate corn soup!

Son #2: Me too!

Son # 3: (too young to talk and who eats anything) Goo ga!

(Not that it mattered since they have to clean their plates to get a bedtime snack)

BUT, the tacos were a big hit (though they eyed the whole wheat tortillas with caution).

Beanies and Weenies

At the behest of the kids, we had beans and hotdogs for lunch. We also thew in some leftover veggie soup. And, as you can see, they don't really photgraph well. For the beans, I cut up some Yves Veggie Dogs and fried them in a bit of oil in a cast iron pan (seems to me like you need to make beans in cast iron). Then I added ye olde Heinz canned beans (sans pork variety, of course) and brought to a bubble. For the adults, I garnished with some chopped onion and ketchup (Ooh! Fancy!).

The veggie soup is my wife's standard--a great way to get lots of veggies into the kids and clean out the fridge at the same time. Sautee some onions and celery in oil, and add whatever you want (potatoes, corn, peas, peppers, etc.) Add water and boil until veggies are soft. Add alphabet pasta and canned beans and cook until pasta is soft. Add spaghetti sauce for flavour and colour, and season with salt and pepper.

For afters we had some leftover peach upsidedown cake from FatFree Vegan. Delicious!

Cookbooks

I own many vegan cookbooks, and I borrow a little from each of them when I cook. But there are a few cookbooks I use over and over again and would encourage you to get. I don't really want to post recipes from cookbooks here because I think we should support vegan chefs with our money, but I will tell you what recipes work and which ones don't. Here are my top three recommendations (all available on Amazon):

1. Vegan With a Vengeance

A great collection with fresh ideas for every meal from breakfast to dinner. I use this several times a week. And, the ideas in here have spawned many original creations.

2. Vegan Lunchbox

I love the Vegan Lunchbox blog (you can order the book from there as well), and found this book a fantastic resource for the kids' school lunches and ours as well.
3. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

This book has saved birthdays and family events (with non-vegans) because the recipes are so tasty and pleasing for all (who doesn't enjoy fat and sugar?). I used the recipes in here to make these cupcakes for my son's 4th birthday party (he wanted replicas of the race cars in the opening sequence of Disney's movie "Cars."

In Celebration Of Spices - Mustard Seeds in Saarina Pudi

When Sunita announced her spice of the month as mustard seeds, I was wondering what I can make which would give this spice its due importance, since I add it to almost everything I cook, including scrambled eggs! Anyway, I was giving some thought to the RCI - Karnataka event, when it struck me! I made Bele Saaru following an authentic recipe and its even more special to me since I made the Saarina Pudi (Sambhar powder) on my own, one of the dominating ingredients being none other than MUSTARD!

So here is how I put the omnipotent spice to other uses.

Saarina Pudi (Sambhar powder, Karnataka Style)


What I Used:

Dhaniya seeds - 250 gms.
Red chillies - 100 gms
Jeera seeds - 50 gms
Fenugreek seeds - 25 gms
Mustard - 25 gms
Pepper - 25 gms
Hing - 1/2 tsp

How I Made It:

Roast dhaniya and red chillies in very little oil till it emits a nice smell.

Dry roast all other ingredients till well done and add hing at the end.

Grind all together and store in airtight container.



Recipe courtesy goes here.

This is my entry to this month's 'Think Spice.. Think Mustard Seeds' hosted by Sunita of
Sunita's World. I would also like to send this to Asha as my first entry to RCI - Karnataka.