Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce - Vegan MoFo Day 8

Wow, that name was quite a mouthful, wasn't it? Even by my usual standards. I promise that this dish is worth every syllable though!

When it comes to raw food, there's nothing like zucchini/courgette to replace regular pastas; be it zucchini lasagna, flat zucchini noodles, or if you have a fancy spiralizer tool (which is so on my I-want-this list), zucchini spaghetti! It's the one vegetable, which when combined with a creamy raw sauce, has that perfect al-dente pasta texture. It's something that you just have to taste to believe!

Since it is of utmost importance that the zucchini pasta is super thin, I use a vegetable peeler to quickly scrape it into flat, fettuccine-like noodles. This whole dish takes five minutes to put together but tastes like a laborious work of art! :D

In the summer I make real sun dried tomatoes. But since we've barely had any sunlight in this monsoon season, I made the batch used in this recipe by dehydrating cherry tomato halves in the oven at 70°C. If you don't want to make your own, you can buy them locally in Bangalore at Food Hall and a few other grocery stores that carry speciality goods.

If you like, you can substitute fresh cherry tomatoes for the sun dried ones in this recipe. But sun dried tomatoes have a significantly richer flavour and better texture, so if you are able to get your hands on them, you should definitely use them.

The nutritional yeast makes the sauce mind-blowingly flavourful. In India, you can currently order it online from i2cook. I know there are a few more sources of these precious, golden flakes coming up here soon and I'll keep you updated about them. :)

Here's a step-by-step HowDo guide (oh, how I enjoy making these HowDos) for this recipe, followed by a typed out, text version.

Raw Zucchini/Courgette Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

1 small Zucchini
1/2 C Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 C Cashews
2 cloves of Garlic
1 T Nutritional Yeast
5 Raisins
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Salt

* Wash the zucchini well and using a vegetable peeler, scrape it into flat, fettuccine noodles (including the peel) and keep them aside
* When you reach the soft, seed portion at the heart of the zucchini, chop it up roughly and pop it into a mixie jar
* Add the cashews, garlic, raisins and salt give the grinder a quick whirr
* Squeeze in the lime juice and add a splash of clean, filtered water
* Blend into a smooth, creamy sauce, adding more water as required
* Place the zucchini noodles in a serving dish and add the sun dried tomatoes
* Pour the cashew sour cream sauce over everything and mix well
* Enjoy! :)

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup - guest post by Manasa of Cure yourself with Food - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 7

Today, I have a special guest post from Manasa Rajan of Cure yourself with Food. Manasa is a Nutrition Coach who lives here in Bangalore, India. I met her for the first time at one of our Vegan Bengaluru monthly potlucks and was very impressed to hear about the healthy, high raw diet that she and her family, including her young daughter, follow.

When I decided to include a few guest posts for MoFo this time, I knew one of her recipes would be perfect to share here. I was very happy when she agreed to create a raw recipe for my blog. And what a delicious, refreshing recipe it is!

Apart from her blog, Manasa can also be found on Facebook and Google Plus. Thank you for guest posting on Veganosaurus today, Manasa! :)

Now on to her post...

--

When Susmitha asked me to do a guest post on one of my raw vegan recipes, I was a bit tempted to do a raw dessert with nuts and fruits. But lately I have been craving more savoury and spicy foods; my lunch seems to comprise of some kind of raw soup everyday. So, I decided to share one of my favourite raw soup recipes, which is making its presence on a loop in my kitchen. Creamy tomato basil soup!!!

The potted tomato plants on my balcony are offering little plump red beauties, which I cannot get myself to put on the stove to 'cook', I want to preserve and enjoy them in their natural, whole (and organic) lusciousness.

So, here's to raw vegan (really) fast food!!!

Ingredients

1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4-5 hours)
5-6 medium sized tomatoes
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 ghost pepper (or a regular green chilly)
3-4 black pepper corns
1-2 tsp dried basil
1 clove of garlic
sea salt to taste
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Process

Rinse and drain the cashews. Put all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend. The motion of the high powered blender like a Vitamix will heat up the soup, but if you are using a regular blender, you might need to run it a bit longer and be really careful with the steam being generated in the jar. Warm the soup a bit (do not boil), if you prefer. You can taste the soup and add more seasoning if required.

Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 6

Last Thursday, we had a little freak out session at Veganosaurus Headquarters, but by the end of the day things had calmed down. After successfully posting a raw, vegan recipe for the fifth day of Vegan MoFo all of us went to bed with peaceful smiles on our faces, blissfully unaware of what was in store for us the following day. *insert ominous music here*

On Friday afternoon, our Internet's phone line went dead! *Gaaahhhhhh* I was left to depend on the data plan on my phone to have access to the Internet for the long weekend. Yes, I did freak out for a while but soon I decided to go with the flow, and calmed down.

How did I keep up the morale around here, you ask? Well, I just did not bother to mention anything about the phone line to Veganosaurus, Kip and the other monsters. Thankfully, they were too busy stuffing their faces with Gowri and Ganesha festival food to wonder why I wasn't Vegan MoFo-ing. And so, all was peaceful in these parts through the weekend. And before they could figure out what had happened, we got our precious Internet connection back! *sigh of relief*



Today I'm back with a very special recipe I put together, Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto. This recipe could work with any kind of Chilli Peppers, but I decided to use these because they are very easily available locally (they're commonly used to make deep fried snacks called Bajjis), are the perfect size for stuffing and can be enjoyed raw because they are not overly spicy.

Before I move on to the recipe, I just have to make an appeal. My fellow Vegan MoFo-ers, if you have Captcha Text/Word Verification for commenting on your blogs, please, please, please disable it! At least during MoFo. It's such a slow, painful, annoying process to go through when someone wants to leave nice comments on your blog posts. If you're wondering why you have so few comments on your posts, it's very likely because of that darned Word Verification. Try disabling it for a while and see what a huge difference it will make. And if you're worried about those pesky spammers, just put your comments on moderation like most of us have. That way, you can publish the genuine comments and report the spam ones.



And now, Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto. Since this is a recipe I totally invented, I thought it would be good to have a step-by-step video tutorial plus a text version of the recipe for it. Here you go...

 

 

Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto

For the filling:
1 C Moong Sprouts (Mung Bean Sprouts)
2 small Carrots - grated
Lots of Lemon Juice
Salt

* Mix, cover and keep aside for half an hour for the flavours to blend.

For the peppers:
4 Bajji Menasinakayis (Banana Peppers)

* Make long, lengthwise slits in the peppers and carefully scoop out the seeds using a spoon.
* Save the seeds for the pesto and keep the peppers aside.

For the pesto:
1/2 C Walnuts
1/2 C Cilantro
1 T Raisins
1 fat clove of Garlic
Seeds from the de-seeded Bajji Menasinakayis
Salt

* Grind everything together.
* Add a little water and blend well into a creamy paste.

How to proceed:
* Stuff the hollowed out chillies with the sprout mixture.
* Place them on a plate and pour oodles of pesto over them.
* Enjoy! :) 

 

Raw Almond Pulp Vadai/Cracker Sandwich - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 5

Day 5. Wondering why I'm posting so late in the day? We had an incident at Veganosaurus headquarters last night. I was happily blog hopping, when suddenly, the laptop charger stopped working! It would be bad in any other situation, but during Vegan MoFo...it's a freaking disaster!!! And to top it off, the Apple store I went to this afternoon didn't have the appropriate one in stock. They told me it would take them a whole week to get it for me. Aaaarrrrrrrghhhhhh!!!

*deep breath* *deep breath*

Okay okay, I know I'm being melodramatic here. But if I'm this way, imagine what our mascot was like. The stress really built up from last night and by this evening, when it became unbearable, someone exploded into a screaming fit!



After being all screamed out, Veganosaurus just dropped down and gave up on this cruel, cruel world. That's when Kip hopped by to see what the ruckus was all about. He just said a quick hello and was hopping away, when Veganosaurus, who couldn't bear to see his cheerfulness decided to drag himself to Kip to share the depressing news.

It was at this point that I had to pull myself together and interfere before a damper was put on everyone's mood around here. After all, Veganosaurus headquarters runs on joy and cheer. Without those two ingredients, we're doomed.

We did a healing, gratitude meditation where we focused on the many other gadgets around our home which *do* work fine. In the end, everyone was calm and feeling thankful that we have other ways of getting today's blog post done. So finally, here we are! :)

Remember on the first day of MoFo, in my Almond Mylk tutorial, I spoke about saving the pulp after extracting the mylk? Today I'm going to share one of the things I like making with the pulp. This is a recipe for my Raw Almond Pulp Vadai/Cracker type thingies. They just involve mixing a few things into the almond pulp, shaping them into vadais and sun drying them. Simple to mix up but they take a long time to dry, especially in the kind of cloudy weather we've been having here. They are worth the patience though. Especially if you're on a completely raw diet and would like to have something snacky.

Raw Almond Pulp Vadai (Cracker) Sandwiches

For the Vadais:
1 batch Almond Mylk Pulp (approximately 1 1/2 C)
1 Carrot
5 Green Chillies
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 T Sesame Seed Powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Salt

* Grate the carrots
* Crush the green chillies, garlic and salt together

* Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them well with your hands
* Taste and adjust the flavours and spices to your liking

* Shape the dough into rounds and flatten them in between your palms
* Place them on a plate that's been lined with wax paper

* Dry them under a hot sun for a few days, flipping them every other day, until they are completely dry
* In case of dull weather, you can place the vadais in your oven at 70°C and dehydrate them by leaving the door of the oven slightly open

* Do this for a few hours each day, over a period of 4-5 days, until they are dry
* Whether you're sun drying or oven drying, in the nights, keep the plate in your fridge, uncovered, because it helps to dry them out more

* You can eat these vadais plain but they tend to have a dry mouthfeel and not too easy to swallow. So it is best to enjoy them with a creamy dip or turn them into pretty tomato sandwiches.

For each Sandwich:
1 Vadai
2 slices of Naati Tomatoes (or other juicy variety)
Tulsi (Indian Basil) Leaves
Crushed Black Pepper

* Place the vadai in between the tomato slices
* Top the sandwich with chiffonaded tulsi leaves and some crushed pepper
* Bite into them and taste the delicious textures and flavours
* Enjoy! :)

Making Sprouts, 21 Day Kickstart India and a yummy Chutney Video by Dr. Nandita - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 4

Wow, it's already Day 4 of the Vegan Month of Food, the global vegan blogging marathon where hundreds of blogs write about vegan food, every single day (or at least weekday) of the month.

I just sat down to start typing out today's post when I read a comment by Mel on yesterday's post, where she very sweetly gave me kudos because she thought I'm going completely raw during MoFo. Haha

Though Kannada is my language, the exclamation that sprung to my mind was a Hindi one, "mujhe paagal kutte ne kaata kya?!" I won't translate it word for word because it just sounds funnier in Hindi, but what it basically means is that, I would have to be bitten-by-a-rabid-dog-bonkers to put myself through the sheer torture of going raw during Vegan MoFo. :oP

My theme for this month is Raw Vegan Foods but I'm not following a completely raw regime during this time. My intention is to just include *more* raw foods into our daily meals. At the end of the month, I'm hoping to have compiled a nice collection of raw recipes that will at some point inspire myself, and others, to try out at least one week of a completely raw diet at some point. :)

 

 

Today I have a couple of different things to share with you.

* First, there's a little video about making bean sprouts. I've shown you how to sprout Whole Green Moong aka Mung Beans because they sprout the quickest. But you could use the same process to sprout other beans too. Some of them might take longer, you just mix them once every 6-8 hours during the sprouting process. If you've never made sprouts at home from scratch before, I'd like to say that they are totally worth it. The time and effort are well rewarded. :)

 

* Then Zeeshan Ali of PCRM talks about 21 Day Kickstart India. If you haven't signed up for this program yet, I highly recommend that you do. You will get all kinds of delicious recipes and support to help you try out a healthy, vegan diet. The recipes are designed keeping in mind the people who live in India, so all ingredients will be easily accessible here. But you could try out these recipes (with a few replacements perhaps) regardless of what part of the world you live in. 21 Day Kickstart India started on 1st September, but it's never too late to sign up and give it a go. :)



U.S. Doctors, Bollywood Stars Guide 21-Day Health Challenge on Sept. 1

An Indian version of the popular 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program that has helped more than 250,000 global participants lose weight and improve their health will start Sept. 1 with the support of Bollywood stars, including Jackie Shroff, Jacqueline Fernandez, Amala Akkineni, Celina Jaitley, and Mallika Sherawat.

The free online program, available at www.21DayKickstartIndia.org, is created by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. It will offer Indians in India and around the world a research-based roadmap to jumpstart weight-loss and reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems.

The Kickstart program is based on National Institutes of Health-funded clinical research by PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., that shows a low-fat, plant-based, dairy-free diet can help people lose weight, reverse diabetes, and implement long-term changes in eating habits and health.

“India faces a health crisis like never before,” Dr. Barnard says. “Traditional plant-based diets are being swamped by meat and processed foods, dairy product consumption is rising, and these unhealthy foods are driving obesity and diabetes rates through the roof. Our research shows the best way to lose weight and reverse disease is to jump into a completely dairy-free, plant-based diet for three weeks.”

The 21-Day Kickstart Program will be available online starting Sept. 1, and participants can sign up for free access to three weeks of recipes, nutrition information, and cooking tips, including cooking demos. Hollywood stars, including actress Alicia Silverstone, will also offer their favorite vegan recipes and tips to stay on track with the program.

* Finally, here's a recipe that Dr. Nandita Shah of SHARAN India has created for PCRM. I've mentioned here before that I am highly inspired by Dr. Nandita and all that she does to help people heal themselves by switching to a healthy, vegan diet. My parents went vegan after attending one of her Reversing Diabetes seminars and that means a lot to me. So when Zeeshan offered me a recipe from their 21 Day Kickstart website, I just had to choose one by her. It's a simple but yummy chutney. And yes, it's raw. :)



Green Cilantro-Mint Chutney

Makes about 1 cup (4 to 8 servings)

A green mint and cilantro chutney is a great complement to any meal and can be used as a sandwich spread. Mint adds freshness to the chutney while lemon or lime juice enhances the flavors of the mint and coriander and prevents discoloration of the greens. The chutney can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

3 cups (50 grams) chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup (20 grams) chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) lemon or lime juice
1-4 green chilies, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons (15 grams) grated coconut (optional)
1/4 teaspoon (0.75 gram) ground cumin (optional)
sea salt, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth paste using very little water. Refrigerate and use as needed.

Fruit Sweetened Almond Mylk Ice Cream - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 3

Into the third day of Vegan MoFo. For the past two days, I've been suspended in a state of perpetual hunger. Oh how the grumbling in my tummy competed with the rumbling in the skies! Yeah, the weather we've had here for the past two evenings has been matching the exact parallel I wanted to draw for you to describe my tummy sounds. :oP

For the first two days I made the terrible mistake of visiting fellow MoFo bloggers' spaces first thing in the morning, before breakfast. Today I've become smarter. My blog hopping has begun right after a heavy, filling brunch. And I've additionally equipped myself with cherry tomatoes and bourbon biscuits to pop into my mouth at the very first signs of any cravings.

So phooo, you evil Buffalo Tempeh Wraps and Sourdough Gingerbread, you don't have any power over me! Ain't no Vegan Mac and Cheese or Apple and Blackberry Pie gonna give me the munchies. Humph!

*Pops a tomato into mouth* *munch* *munch* *munch*

Today I have my *first* raw dessert recipe for the month. Yes, of course there will be more desserts! Whose blog do you think you're visiting? :D

This is an ice cream made with a base of thick almond mylk and soaked dry fruits. Raw ice creams tend to be lighter and therefore a tiny bit on the icy side rather than smooth and creamy like their cooked counterparts. But they are super delicious, not to mention easy to make and bursting with all the nutrients of the nuts and fruits. So you can have the whole batch of ice cream in one sitting with absolutely no guilt. :)

To make thick almond mylk, follow the steps in this Almond Mylk tutorial. Except, start with 1 C of dry almonds and after they've been soaked and rinsed, blend them with only 3 cups of clean, filtered water (usually the almond to water ratio is 1:6 to make regular almond mylk).

Fruit Sweetened Almond Mylk Ice Cream

4 C Thick Almond Mylk
25-30 Seedless Dates
1/4 C Raisins
Pinch of Salt

* Soak the dates and raisins in clean, filtered water overnight.
* Blend the soaked dates and raisins with their soaking water.
* Pour in the thick almond mylk, add a pinch of salt and blend well.
* Cover and chill in the fridge for a day.

* If you have an ice cream maker, follow the instructions provided in the manual and freeze the chilled almond mixture in it.
* Then pour into an airtight jar and freeze for two more hours before serving.

* If you don't have an ice cream maker, then freeze the chilled almond mixture in an airtight jar for an hour.
* Transfer to a blender and blend well.
* Freeze for another hour.
* Blend once again.
* Follow this freeze-blend-freeze procedure four to five times.
* After the final blend, freeze for two hours and serve.

* You can drizzle agave nectar or jaggery syrup (not raw but soooo yummy) over the ice cream if you like.
* Enjoy! :)

--

By the way, Happy First Annual International Day of Kale! If I had access to Kale, I'd have definitely created a recipe with it for today but since I don't (yet), here's a photo of the first baby kale plant that's sprouted in my kitchen garden right now. Isn't she a cutie pie? :) I can't wait to have fresh, organic kale leaves to harvest soon!

Have a wonderful day! :) I'm off to visit more Vegan MoFo blogs now.

Healthy Green Smoothie - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 2

Here we are on day two of the Vegan Month of Food. Yesterday I shared a HowDo about making Raw Almond Mylk because it's delicious, healthy and an ingredient that is often used in the preparation of raw food dishes.

I'm going to be featuring raw vegan recipes here throughout September. If you'd like to be notified about my blog posts, subscribe to my blog by submitting your email address in the "Follow by Email" box in the right hand column, just under the Vegan MoFo icon.

I'd also love to connect with you on my Veganosaurus Facebook Page, Instagram and Twitter.

I'd like to thank everyone who has been watching my HowDo videos and encouraging me to make more of them. They're definitely going to be incorporated into many of my Vegan MoFo posts this month to make the recipes more interesting, fun and easy to follow.

In some cases I'll have a HowDo video as well as a text version of the recipe. But for easy, simple recipes where it's more about the method and not the recipe itself, I feel typing out the recipe isn't necessary. In those cases I'll just embed the HowDo clip here and save myself some time and effort. ;)

Today I have a basic Healthy Green Smoothie recipe to share. Pretty much everyone makes smoothies these days, so a smoothie recipe is nothing novel. But a month of raw food recipes just doesn't seem complete without at least one or two smoothies in there. :)

The recipe below features my favourite components that go into most of my smoothies. Of course, you can switch around the ingredients and tweak the quantities to your liking because it's a very, very adaptable recipe. If you can get your hands on Cooking Camphor aka Pachha Karpura, I highly recommend you adding a tiny pinch of it into all your smoothies. Takes things to a whole new level of yum!

Once again, the recipe is in the form of a step-by-step HowDo micro guide. Enjoy! :)

Raw Almond Mylk - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 1

Happy MoFo to you
Happy MoFo to yooooou
Happy MoFo, happy MoFo
HaPPy MooooFoooo toooooo yoooooooooou

Welcome to the Vegan Month of Food 2013 everyone! If you didn't already guess, the Happy MoFo song is sung to the tune of the Happy Birthday song. :D

Throughout the month of September, I'll be sharing recipes for Raw Vegan Foods here on my blog. It's been a good challenge for me, pushing myself to create completely raw recipes. I have put together a bunch of dishes over the past couple of weeks and I'm really happy and excited to be sharing them with you over the coming days. I still need to create many more recipes so that I can do at least twenty and possibly thirty blog posts this month.

So far, all the recipes I've concocted are 100% raw and I'm very proud of that. Down the line, there's a chance I might cheat a bit here and there and use one or two non-raw ingredients. But I will ensure that even those recipes are at least 80% raw.

I'm going to focus on using primarily local ingredients in my recipes so that people in India can attempt raw, vegan foods with what is easily accessible to them. I will occasionally indulge in speciality raw food products that might not be available in India. When I do, I'll share links so you can order them online and import them if you wish to do so.

Now that the intro is over, let's go to my first recipe offering for Vegan Mofo 2013! :)

I thought I'd cover the basics first. Since I'll be using Almond Mylk, in a couple of recipes later, I figured I'd start off by sharing a simple, step-by-step micro tutorial on making Raw Almond Mylk.

Enjoy! :)



See you back here tomorrow. I'm off to blog hop now and check out all the amazing recipes that everyone else has posted on Day 1 of Vegan MoFo 2013. :)

Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes and Preparing for Vegan MoFo 2013

It's looming and I'm going crazy! Yes, it's that time of the year again. The time to freak out and go nuts because yet again I've committed to blogging about vegan food every day (or at least every weekday) of the month for a whole month.

Vegan MoFo 2013 is in September this year, folks. And guess what, *someone* decided that the stress of daily blogging just wouldn't be enough. Yep! I had to go and add a challenge into the mix. I'm doing a RAW VEGAN FOOD theme this year.

My hubby is partly to blame for this because *he* was the one who was like, "oooooh why don't you do a smoothie for every day of Vegan Mofo?" And since the raw food idea was already in my head, all I needed was his oh so helpful suggestion to make me believe creating 20-30 raw food recipes in a short span of time would be a super bright idea. So I replied, "yeah, totally! Smoothies are a great idea and instead of just smoothies, I'll do all kinds of raw foods." And before I knew it, wheeee I was signing up for Vegan MoFo and typing out my theme as Raw Vegan Food.

So now you know why my blog's been recipe-less for a couple of weeks now. I've been so busy thinking up recipes for next month that I just haven't been able to share my non MoFo recipes with you here.

Today I thought, before the excitement and the mad rush and the sheer awesomeness of Vegan MoFo begins and takes over my blog, I'd better drop in here and give you all an update. And while I'm at it, here's a nice baked baby potatoes recipe I made recently.

Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes

1/2 kg Baby Potatoes

Marinade ingredients:
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Jaggery Syrup
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp Coconut Oil
Thyme
Salt

Optional for drizzling:
Tabasco Chipotle Sauce (which I very lovingly refer to as "glug glug")

* Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil.
* Wash and scrub the potatoes well.
* Pierce them all over with a fork.
* Drop them into the boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes.
* Drain and keep aside.

* Meanwhile, whisk all the marinade ingredients together.
* Toss the baby potatoes in the marinade, cover and allow to soak in the flavours for 6-8 hours.

* Line a baking tray with aluminium foil or wax paper.
* Pick the potatoes out of the marinade and arrange them on the baking tray (save the remaining marinade liquid).
* Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 400°F.
* Bake the potatoes for 30 minutes.
* Increase the heat to 250°C / 450°F and bake for another 15 minutes.

* Serve the potatoes hot, drizzled with some of the marinade liquid and Tabasco Chipotle Sauce.
* Enjoy! :)

Announcing the winners of the Krya Vegan Challenge and Giveaway

Last month, I hosted a giveaway for Krya's products here. Two people entered and they are going to receive these awesome Krya goodies - Krya Natural Detergent and Krya Natural Dishwash. The rest of you people who were too lazy to enter, you can go ahead and feel very jealous now. :D

Congrats Gina Vijaykumar and Logasaraswathy Kathiresan! :)

Thank you so much for entering, Logasaraswathy and Gina. Please send your mailing address with a link to this blog post to Preethi at goodies@krya.in and she will send you your prize packs. Enjoy! :)

Here are the entries:

Gina, who is not vegan, shared her completely vegan meal and her thoughts on vegan food:

"This was our simple Sunday lunch of mixed veg fried rice with lobia curry. Vegan meals are much lighter on the system - you do not feel bloated or sluggish. We enjoyed our meal sans animal products. We are vegan a couple of days a week. Today is one of those days :)"



Logasaraswathy, who is a vegan, entered the challenge with two recipes she tried from my blog:

1. Vegan Very Vanilla Cake



2. Vegan 'Rasmalai'



This is what she had to say:

"The 'Rasmalai' is not 'raw' in my recipe, as I had added sugar. I will surely try it with agave nectar soon!

Why I feel, I should win this prize?
Because (just two reasons!)
1. Apart from being Vegan, I'm trying my best to be Eco-friendly, by buying and using organic products; and also trying to minimize my wants. I'm a regular customer of Krya.
2. I'm a regular visitor of both the Blogs - Veganosaurus & Krya!"

Creamy Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse

As many of you know, I really love tofu. I enjoy it in all kinds of forms - marinated and baked, grilled, scrambled, stir fried, seared...the possibilities are endless with this versatile ingredient.

Tofu was one of the first new (to me) foods that I started to experiment with in my early years of vegan cooking. Though I mainly enjoy it in flavourful, savoury dishes now, in those days, tofu usually got turned into some form of dessert. I have made puddings, mousses, ice creams and cake toppings with it. I have even tried (unsuccessfully) to make jamoon and rasgulla with tofu.



Today I've found other, sometimes better, alternatives for many of the desserts, but when it comes to vegan mousse, nothing comes close to tofu, and silken tofu at that. No other kind of tofu can match up to the creaminess and flavour of the silken kind. Believe me, I've tried with all the local tofus available and though I enjoy many, if not all, of them in other dishes, silken tofu is the only one which hits the spot with mousse.

In India, the only brand of silken tofu I've seen is Mori-Nu. Though I would not normally trust soy products that come from USA, this one I'm more than happy to use because it's clearly labelled as Non-GMO. Plus, they also claim that they don't use any preservatives so that's a bonus.

If it isn't Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, then the only other tofu I would prefer to use in my vegan mousse is tofu that I've made at home from scratch. But I haven't done that in a while now because it's a lot of work. :p



I personally truly enjoy eating good old dark chocolate mousse all by itself, but sometimes I make variations on it when I have visitors over. I mean, one can't keep serving the same dessert to guests over and over again no matter how much they love it. :D

This Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse is delicious way to wind up a dinner party. It's fairly easy to make and it has a fancy look and texture to it because of the layers. When I've served it to my friends and family, it has definitely made an impression.



Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse

For the Couscous Base Layer:
1/2 C Couscous
1 T Cocoa Powder
1-2 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
1/4 C Sugar (adjust quantity to taste)
1 T Coconut Oil
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract or Seeds Scraped out from half a Vanilla Bean
Splash of Malibu or other Rum
Pinch of Salt

* Bring 1/2 C water to boil in a heavy bottomed pan.
* Add couscous, stir and turn off the heat.
* Cover and keep aside for 5 minutes.
* Add all other ingredients, except rum and vanilla extract, and 1/4 C of water.
* Stir continuously and heat for a few minutes until the water is absorbed.
* Take the pan off the stove, add rum and vanilla and mix well.
* Allow to cool to room temperature.
* Place in fridge.

For the Mousse Layer:
1 block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
1/2 C Cashews
1 T Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
3 T Coconut Oil
1/4 C Sugar (adjust quantity to taste)
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract or Seeds Scraped out from half a Vanilla Bean
Generous splash of Malibu or other Rum
Pinch of Salt

* Blend all the ingredients together.
* Add a little water and blend into a thick cream.
* Taste and adjust sugar and flavourings as desired.
* Whip for a few minutes.

To assemble:
* Place some of the mocha couscous in a few serving cups/glasses and press.
* Spoon mousse layer over the couscous.
* Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
* Serve cold.
* Enjoy! :)

Notes:
* Malibu is the best rum to use in the mousse to enhance the coconut flavour but plain rum can be substituted.
* Alcohol can be skipped entirely but mousse tastes best with at least some amount of alcohol in it.
* The cocoa powder has to be of excellent quality.
* I like using Bru Gold instant coffee powder in my recipes but any other high quality, 100% pure, instant coffee powder can be used too.



If you live in India and would like to make this recipe at home, you can source the special ingredients easily by purchasing the Creamy Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse Rare Ingredients Chef's Box that's been put together by Global Graynz.

Vegan Baking Demo at Carrots on Saturday, 20th July 2013

About ten days ago, I had a vegan baking demo at Carrots, The Healthy Kitchen and Store. I've mentioned Carrots, the first vegan restaurant in Bangalore, in my blog posts many times this year.



A few weeks ago, Krishna, the co-founder of Carrots, invited me to teach baking/cooking classes to his staff. Many people who follow my blog and facebook page have asked me to conduct vegan baking classes, so I figured that since I was going to teach some recipes to Chef Ram (Carrots' new Bakery Chef), we could extend that into an interesting demo event. We decided on a Monsoon Afternoon Chai and Baked Goodies theme.

About 11 people signed up to attend the event but we had a bunch of walk-ins and ended up with a total of 15 participants. A couple of them were my good friends who attended to support me but most others were people I met for the first time. I was very happy that I got to meet and speak with all these new, interesting people. It was also nice to hear that some of them have been following my blog and trying out the recipes here for a while now. :)

The event went well for the most part and despite certain imperfections, many participants said that they enjoyed the demo and would be trying out the recipes at home once I posted them here.

My darling hubby, Milesh, patiently recorded the demo. It has taken me some time to edit the videos. I wanted to do this last week but I was travelling. As soon as I got back this week, I started working on the videos so I could share them here along with the recipes. I've divided them into multiple parts for the purpose of organisation.

I apologize in advance for the annoying background noises in the videos. The screaming toddler, creaking buffet vessels, clanking cutlery, the buzz of customers and staff talking in the background - we hadn't anticipated any of these disturbances. The expectation was that the buffet would be closed and the crowd cleared out by 3:30 or so, leaving us with a fairly silent space to do the demo. The participants themselves were watching the demo with rapt attention and were NOT the ones responsible for the ruckus. :p

Now without further ado, let's move on to the recipes you've all been waiting for.

--

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cake



Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour or Maida
3 T Good Quality Cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder (or 1/2 tsp Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp Baking Soda)

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 C White or Brown Sugar
5 T Coconut or Olive Oil
1 T White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Coffee Powder - or Vanilla/Orange/Almond/Mint Extracts
1 C Cool or Cold Water

* Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
* Lightly grease an 8 or 9 inch, round or square cake pan (no greasing required if using a non-stick pan).

* Sieve the dry ingredients together a few times.
* Whisk all the wet ingredients (except oil) together until at least half the sugar has dissolved.
* Add the oil and whisk some more.

* To make the cake batter, pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and quickly mix until there are no large lumps.
* Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and immediately pop it into the preheated oven.
* Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a few cracks have formed on the cake's surface.
* Cool completely in the pan.
* Slice and Serve.
* Enjoy! :)

--

Whole Wheat Buns



For the yeast proofing:
1/2 C Warm Water
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 T Sugar

Dry ingredients for the dough:
3-4 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C Sugar - can be less
2 tsp Salt
2 T Flax Seed Powder

Wet ingredients for the dough:
1 C Vegan Mylk or Water
3 T Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

* Add 2 T sugar and yeast to 1/2 C warm water.
* Stir and keep aside for 10-15 minutes, until the yeast has dissolved and is frothing a bit.

* Mix 3 C of the whole wheat flour with the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl.
* Add the oil and mix.
* Add the yeast mixture and 1 C vegan mylk or water and whisk.

* Gradually add whole wheat flour and mix until the dough comes together into a rough ball.
* Transfer to a floured surface and knead very well until you get a soft, elastic ball of dough.
* Pour some oil in the large mixing bowl, place the ball of dough in it and twirl to coat with oil.
* Cover and allow to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours, until doubled in volume.

* Press down on the risen dough and shape into buns.
* Optionally stuff the buns with your favourite vegetable mixture (a potato palya filling tastes yum).
* Place the buns on a tray, cover and keep aside for 1 hour, until the buns have risen well.

* Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F.
* Bake the buns for about 40 minutes.
* Cool in the tray for 10 minutes.
* Transfer to cooling rack and cool well.
* Enjoy! :)

--

Quick and Easy, Gluten Free Almond Coconut Cookies



1 C Almond-Sesame Flour (grind almonds and sesame seeds in a ratio of 3:1 to get this flour)
1 C Desiccated Coconut Powder
1/2 C Bajra (Pearl Millet) Flour
1/2 C Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
Water

* Preheat oven to 250°C / 480°F.
* Lightly grease a baking tray or line it with aluminium foil.

* Mix all the dry ingredients.
* Add a little water at a time to form a stiff dough.
* Pinch off small balls of the dough and flatten into 1 1/2 inch cookies that are about 1/4 inch thick.

* Bake for 10 minutes.
* Allow to cool slightly and transfer to wire rack.
* You can have it warm or at room temperature.
* Enjoy! :)

--

Vegan Mylk and Masala Chai



For the Nut and Seed Mylk:
1/4 C Cashews
1/4 C Sesame Seeds
1/4 C Flax Seeds
Water

* Grind the nuts and seeds together into a fine powder.
* Add a little water at a time and blend to get a smooth, creamy paste.
* Add more water and blend until you reach the desired consistency.

For the Masala Chai:
3/4 C Water
3 Cloves
1 Cardamom Pod
1/2 inch Cinnamon Stick
1/2 inch Fresh Ginger - crushed
5 Black Pepper Corns - crushed
1/2 to 1 tsp Sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp Tea Powder
1/2 to 3/4 C Nut and Seed Mylk (should not be too thick)

* Boil the spices in the water for a couple of minutes.
* Add sugar at this point and boil.
* Add the tea powder and boil for a few seconds.
* Reduce the heat to low, quickly pour in the mylk and stir.
* Bring to a short boil and turn off the heat.
* Strain and serve hot.
* Enjoy! :)

--

If you attended the demo, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how you liked it and how we can make future events a better experience for you.

Thanks for reading and watching all the videos. When you try out the recipes, do leave a comment here letting me know how you like them. :)

Happy Morning Banana Mocha Smoothie

Monday morning zombiness? Treat yourself to a large mug full of Happy Morning Banana Mocha Smoothie and zip through your week like a boss! :D



I'm probably going to be hated for saying this, but Monday mornings aren't such a big deal to me. :p Considering I work for myself, on my own schedule, I sometimes like to extend my weekend until late afternoon on Mondays. But, this means my Fridays are very packed. I want to finish off all pending work and household chores from the week so that I am mentally free during the weekends.

This last Saturday was a busy one for me. I had a baking event at Carrots where I demonstrated how to make vegan brownies, cookies, bread and tea. I'll be posting the event video and recipes next week. So Friday was an especially busy day for me because I had a lot to get done. I made this awesome smoothie for myself on Friday morning and it really helped me buzz about my day's work super smoothly. :D

I figured, Monday would be a great day to share this recipe with all of you. Here's a step by step tutorial:

 

Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes with Sriracha Grilled Tofu and Green Olives

I have a deep seated love for stuffed foods - momo, ravioli, paratha, masala dosa, grilled sandwich, rice paper wraps...I really enjoy making and eating these dishes. But what I love most of all are stuffed vegetables! There's something so delicious about a fat, healthy, outer vegetable layer bursting with a variety of textures and flavours on the inside when you bite into it.



Potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums (peppers), zucchinis, brinjals (aubergines) and ladies fingers (okra) are the most commonly stuffed vegetables. But one can always get creative and stuff all kinds of other local vegetables too. What are your favourite veggies to stuff?

This recipe was inspired by a bunch of cute, little, local, naati tomatoes that I got my hands on. It was almost as if they came with labels that said, "STUFF ME" in big, bold letters. hehe





This is yet another recipe that I created for Global Graynz who in turn gathered all the required ingredients and turned them into beautiful packages. If you live in India and would like to make this recipe at home, then visit the links below to source the ingredients super easily by purchasing any of these Chef's Boxes. There are three kinds:

1. Rare/Exotic Ingredients (home delivery to anywhere in India)
2. All Packaged Ingredients (home delivery to anywhere in India)
3. All Ingredients Including Fresh/Perishable Ones (available in Chennai only)




Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes with Sriracha Grilled Tofu and Green Olives

For the Tofu:
3/4 Block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
Sriracha Sauce
Oil for greasing
12 Green Olives (pitted)

Drain the tofu and gently pat it dry with a clean cloth or tissue.
Slice into cubes.
Lightly grease a non-stick baking tray and arrange the tofu cubes in a single layer.
Drizzle Sriracha sauce over the tofu.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 15 minutes.
Increase the heat to 250°C and grill for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly.
Skewer the tofu and olives on toothpicks and keep aside.

For the Stuffed Tomatoes:
12 Small, Firm Tomatoes
1/2 C Couscous
1/4 Block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
10 Cloves of Garlic
1 Small Onion - I used White Onion
1/4 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/4 tsp Chilli Powder
12 Capers (optional) - can be replaced with sliced green olives
1 T Oil - I used Coconut Oil
Salt

Bring 3/4 C of lightly salted water to a boil.
Stir in the couscous and turn off the heat.
Cover and keep aside.

Cut the tops off the tomatoes.
Using a small spoon, very carefully scoop out the insides of the tomatoes and keep aside.
Roughly crush the garlic.
Finely chop the onion.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the coconut oil.
Add the crushed garlic and onion and stir fry until they have softened.
Crumble the tofu over this and stir for a minute.
Add the scooped out insides of the tomatoes, cinnamon powder, chilli powder and salt and mix well.
Cover and allow to simmer on low heat for a few minutes.
Add the cooked couscous and mix well.
Turn off the heat and allow to cool for a short while.

Now generously stuff the couscous mixture into the hollowed out tomatoes.
Optionally, press a caper or a slice of olive on top.
Place the tomatoes in a single layer on a greased, non-stick baking tray and grill at 250°C for 10 minutes.

Serve hot along with the skewered tofu and olives.
Enjoy! :)

Krya Sustainable Goodies Vegan Challenge and Giveaway

After hearing a lot of praises about it, we started using the Krya Natural Detergent Powder at the end of last year. I will only say two things about it: One, we should've switched to Krya earlier. Two, we're never going back to commercial, chemical clothes wash detergents again. Period.



Krya Natural Detergent Powder is made from certified, organic soapberries that have been sun ripened, dried and ground. It is designed to be used for washing clothes by hand as well as in front and top loading washing machines.

A pack of 400g costs ₹290 (inclusive of shipping to anywhere in India). This might seem expensive at first when you look at it in terms of weight. But just one tablespoon of the powder, that's about 10g, is enough for a single 5kg wash load (as compared to the 60g per wash load recommended by commercial detergent brands). At an average of ₹7.50 per wash, the price is definitely comparable to any chemical filled washing powder. And in terms of value, the Krya natural powder kicks any commercial detergent's butt any day!

Krya's parents are Preethi and Srinivas. They are focussed on creating natural products that are good for us and the environment. Of course they are vegan, and so are the goodies they create. Sustainability is incorporated in every step - creation, packaging and shipping. Read the Krya story to understand the wonderful principles behind their business. Also follow their Facebook Page to get lots of useful information on natural home products.

After three years of specialising in their Natural Detergent, they have now launched their second product - Krya Natural Dishwash Powder. This dish wash is made on the same principles as the detergent. It consists of certified organic ingredients - soapberries, neem, zedoary and lemongrass essential oil.



I was lucky to be one of the pre-launch testers for this product and I shared some with my mom too. Mom, me and Sharadamma (lady who washes the dishes at mom's place) were all very impressed with the results! The dishwash powder does an excellent job on glass, ceramic, silver, plastic and steel. I am particularly impressed with the way glass sparkles after being washed with the Krya Dishwash without any water marks on it.

Though the dishwash powder is designed to work for manual washing of vessels, I tested it out in my dishwasher too and am happy with the results. But I'm inclined to using it more for hand washing vessels because I enjoy the powder's fragrance. :)

I also used some of the powder to mop the floors at our home as an experiment and am super thrilled with how clean the finish is!

The Krya Natural Dishwash Powder is priced at ₹190 for a pack of 350g. A little powder goes a long way!

Now that the introductions are over, let's move on to our Challenge and Giveaway.



To celebrate the launch of their new product, Krya is giving away a few prizes on Veganosaurus. We have two different challenges with a total of five winners. The first challenge is for vegans and the second is for people who are not vegan. Every winner will get of one box each of the Krya Detergent and the Krya Dishwash.

This giveaway is open only to people living in India (apologies to my overseas peeps).

Challenge for vegans (two winners):

* Prepare any recipe from this blog
* Share a photograph of it on the Veganosaurus Facebook Page or email it to shop at veganosaurus dot com
* Also tell us why you feel you should win this prize
* Last date for submission is Sunday, 5th August 2013 (was originally 28th July but has now been extended)
* All photos will then be posted here on the blog for public voting
* The two people whose photos have the most votes will win the goodies :)

Challenge for non-vegans (three winners):

* Have one completely vegan meal - breakfast or lunch or dinner
* Click a photo of your meal and post it with a description on the Veganosaurus Facebook Page or email it to shop at veganosaurus dot com
* The description should have all the following information:
a) What did you eat?
b) How did you feel about eating a completely vegan meal?
c) Did you miss anything about going vegan?
* Last date for submission is Sunday, 5th August 2013 (was originally 28th July but has now been extended)
* All entries will then be posted here on the blog for public voting
* The three people whose entries have the most votes will win the goodies :)

Looking forward to all your submissions.
Enjoy! :)