Hazelnut Miso Dressing

It’s magic. Every single time. And even now after so many years I’m awed at the infinite possibilities!

Take any nut or seed, add a few flavourful ingredients, grind with a little water, and you have the best damn salad dressing (or dip or sauce or spread or or or...) in a matter of minutes! Ta-da! 🧚🏼‍♀️👩🏻‍🍳

I always harp on about how going vegan up-levelled my cooking skills in incredible ways. But when it comes right down to it, what it basically did was give me freedom.

When I learnt to use familiar ingredients in new ways (like making mylk out of sesame seeds or creamy pasta sauce out of beans), my mind blew open. 🤯 It suddenly felt like I had permission to mix anything with anything and prepare it in whatever way I liked. No. More. Rules. 😀

I never have to wait around to have specific ingredients at home when I’m in the mood to cook. Something ran out of stock? No biggie. Just try putting this in there instead of that and see what happens. More often than not, what happens is deliciousness. 😂

If I were limited to animal based butter, cheese, sour cream and such, I’d never have ventured into scrumptious plant powered magic like the dressing in this salad.

🌰 Hazelnut Miso Dressing 🥗

1/4 C Hazelnuts
1 T White Miso Paste
1/2 Soft Date
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 small clove of Garlic
Few drops Bhut Jholokia Hot Sauce
Large Splash of Crisp Vinous Brew (from @viazeme )
Water
Nutritional Yeast (optional for additional kick)

Grind into a thick, creamy paste, using water as required. Toss salad veggies in it and enjoy! (Works great as a spread/dip too).

The salad has English Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Spoon Lettuce, and Chives. I also mixed in a generous amount of freshly crushed black pepper and a sprinkle of dried orange peel powder.

 

Please read my Disclosure Policy about affiliate links.null

Fermented Cheesy Dip Video

Running Bangalore's first vegan restaurant, Carrots, has taken over my life and I'm loving every minute of it! :)

But I do miss my blogging days. :( It used to be awesome to have time to post recipes and visit my blogging friends' spaces. There was a time when that was the biggest part of my online personality.

Even though I'm rarely posting new recipes and photographs here these days, I feel that it'll be really nice to have some activity happening on my blog.

So I've decided to share videos from the demos we've been having quite regularly at Carrots. :)

In most of these videos you'll see me and my bestie, Chef Ram doing the demo. But occasionally, our other talented chefs will be joining me too.

Today's video is a recipe for a quick and easy cheesy dip, along with some great ideas on how to use it in preparing a bunch of snacks and dishes. We did this demo last Sunday. I'll share videos from some of the older demos later.

Enjoy! :)

Spicy Mulberry Balsamic Jam

This isn't a jam jam. It doesn't have a smooth, spreadable consistency. It's more like a sticky, yummy, eat-with-your-fingers type of jam.

I enjoy jam but I rarely ever make any. I like my fruits fresh and whole and I feel cooking them with loads of sugar takes away from the taste. So I don't have traditional jam making ingredients like pectin in my pantry. That's why this jam is not of a jammy consistency.

For those occasions when nothing but jam hits the spot (certain weekend mornings come to mind), I have a jar or two of fruity, pink and purple jams in my fridge. I'm a sucker for jams made of berries and grapes and mixed fruits. Yellow jams like mango and pineapple aren't too appealing to me. Not because of their colour, but because they have that tart taste which is distracting when I dip my bread and jam into coffee and take a bite.

I'm not particular about the make and brand. I appreciate the standard Kissan mixed fruit jam just as much as a fancy artisan one. My latest favourite is Towness' grape and strawberry jam.

When Towness announced that they were introducing seasonal mulberries at their store for a few days, people started to comment excitedly on their facebook page. Having never tasted this fruit before, I was really tempted to order some even though I usually avoid fruits which are expensive.

I hadn't realised that 200gms was a lot of mulberries! Hubby and I quickly finished half of it when the box arrived. But there is only so much mulberry one can eat and the other half was sitting in the fridge going soft for a few days. That's why I decided to make jam with it.

I really don't have quantities for the jam. It was one of those put together-taste-adjust things. So I'll just tell you the ingredients I used and the process I followed and you adjust the quantities to your taste. I think this recipe will work well with other berries too. I can easily picture it made with strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. Let me know if you try it with any of them.

Spicy Mulberry Balsamic Jam
Ingredients listed in descending order of quantities used.

Mulberries
Sugar
Balsamic Vinegar
Chilli Powder
Salt

Wash mulberries and drain.
Place them in a pan with sugar and cook while stirring.
Add a bit of salt and continue to stir and cook on medium heat.
When the whole mixture is mushy, add chilli powder and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar.
Reduce the heat to low and stir well.
Taste and adjust the chilli powder and salt quantities.
Once everything reaches a sort of jammy consistency turn off the heat and allow to cool completely.
Transfer to a glass jar and store in the fridge.
Enjoy! :)

Homemade Vegan Xmas Goodies - guest post for The Alternative

Want to know how to make the three delectable goodies in the picture below? The Alternative, an online social change publication, asked me to do a kitchen experiment piece for them with recipes, pictures and a comparison between homemade vs. store-bought. Visit my article on their website to read about why I think it's a great idea to make vegan treats at home instead of buying them off the shelves this festive season. And learn to make Vegan Gingerbread Cookies, Vegan Chocolate Brandy Balls and Vegan Spiced Fig and Persimmon Chutney.

Click on the picture below.

Asian Super Spicy Chilli Paste

My Reiki guru Jairam is a master of many many arts, cooking being one of them. He particularly loves spicy food and there are a few pastes and masala powders which he makes in large quantities at a time and stores in the pantry. When it comes to sharing knowledge he's the most generous person I've met and sometimes recipes are a part of the many things we learn from him. A few weeks ago he made onion dosa for me and served his special chilli paste on the side. A teeny little drop of the paste came a long way because of the really strong flavors and high spice content. After I'd licked up the paste and told him how yummy it was he shared his recipe with me. And then, the following week when I went to visit him, he gave me 200 grams of the special super-spicy red Bellary chillies which he uses in his paste and encouraged me to make some in my own style. I used the basic method for making the paste but used a slightly different mix of ingredients to give the paste a marked Asian flavor.


Asian Super Spicy Chilli Paste

Ingredients

100 gms Dry Red chillies (the spiciest you can find)
1/2 inch ginger chopped
1/2 C chopped garlic
1 T soy sauce
1 T tamarind paste
1 T jaggery or brown sugar or molasses
3 T olive oil
a pinch Ajinomoto (MSG) - optional
salt

Remove the twigs and clean the red chillies (warning: this causes a lot of sneezing).

Heat 1 T of the olive oil and lightly fry the garlic and ginger.

Bring water to boil in a large pot.
Add chillies, cover and turn off the heat.
Leave for 2 minutes and drain off the water.

Blend all the ingredients (except the remaining 2 T olive oil) into a paste.
Add olive oil and blend once more.

Allow to cool to room temperature.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Could be used in cooking or served on the side as a dip.