Vegan California

DH and I landed in the Valley on Sunday evening. We had intended to rush out immediately after checking into the hotel so as to stock up on all our favorite Vegan goodies. But because of the loooooong journey, all we could do was hit the bed and black out as soon as we reached the room. The great grocery store expedition had to wait until the morning.

On Monday morning, the first stop was at the local grocery store nearest to us. We figured since it is California they would have a good sized Vegan/Health section at even the normal stores. Boy were we sorely mistaken! Well to be fair they did have a decent selection of organic fruits and veggies and also ethnic foods but when it came to Vegan stuff, all they had was one measley soy yogurt and absolutely no non-dairy ice cream of any sort...not even a freaking sorbet!! For a moment, it felt like we'd walked into some little Midwestern town. In fact, even the run off the mill groceries at Bloomington and Bentonville had offered us far more options than this place.

Then in the evening we decided to go to Trader Joe's. Good old Trader Joe's. I'd heard so much about this place that I couldn't wait to go there myself. For years now I'd been eating their in house brand chocolates and boy are they delicious! Whenever friends came back home from the States we always asked them to bring a big back bunch of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate and Almonds Pound Plus bars for us. We found a small stash of delicious Vegan stuff at the store - chocolates, soy ice creams, rice and almond milks in various flavors, Earth Balance buttery spread (yum!!!). Most of the things they carried were the Trader Joe's brand. By the end of it, even though I had been expecting a LOT more out of the store I was happy enough, but there was still something lacking.

So finally, we decided to drive to the Whole Foods Market even though it is technically in the neighboring town. From the moment I beheld the sight of that large building, bakery sprawled across about a quarter of it, I knew this was the best decision we'd taken all day!! Cakes and cookies, bagels and donuts, breads and salads... this place was Vegan Utopia!!! I was home! :) :)

Ahh the feeling of being able to walk into a place and buy desserts which have been lovingly prepared by someone else! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE baking, but sometimes I deeply feel the lack of being spoilt by cakes and cookies made by another hand. Now being able to walk into a store/café/bakery and just getting to pick whatever I want from a large variety, now that's a feeling I'd really enjoy once in a while. At Whole Foods, I got to experience that! :)

I love what they do with cupcakes in this country! I've grown up eating cupcakes which are small and icing-less. I'm not complaining, they're super yummy that way too. But here the they make some huge ass cupcakes with piles of icing on them and what a divine, mouth watering sight that makes!! You could just buy a whole bunch just to lick the rich vegan buttercream and ganache off :)

Well cupcakes is one thing, but I definitely hadn't expected to see this super fancy, highly decked up Vegan Mini Chocolate Torte!!!

Just LOOK at this thing!! The yummy, crunchy chocolate shavings covering the sides and those fresh berries layered on top! Oh My God!! I just HAD to have it!! There was a large version and a medium one too but this mini one was the cutest ever! We figured we'd get the mini first and then come back for more later depending on if the taste matches the appearance.

We polished off the cupcakes on Monday evening as soon as we got back. By the way, I had to exercise an immense amount of self-control not to eat my cupcake right there in the car but it was unthinkable to take a bite without taking pictures first right? :D

This afternoon we had our first taste of the torte. That layer of strawberry sauce over and in between the chocolate was the best part! Well obviously we are going back for more :) Of course, there's
more of this one left. It's one of those desserts which must be eaten a little at a time and relished bite after bite. I'd like to finish the rest at dinner but I think I'll hold on and have some of the many non-dairy ice creams stashed inside the freezer instead :D

This is just the beginning. Im really looking forward to going to all the awesome Vegan restaurants in this area and pigging out. I just hope they allow us to take pictures of the order before we dig in ;)

Stovetop Pitas Stuffed With Baked Beans and Cabbage

Whenever I've made baked beans for bread at home from scratch, I've used rajma. But I've always liked the kind of beans they use in the canned version but didn't know what they were called. A few weeks ago I found these dried, small, white beans called butter beans at Nilgiris and they looked quite yum. So I picked them up and last week I decided to cook them. Well it turns out they were the exact beans I'd been looking for! It pays to experiment :)

My poor oven's sick :( Whenever I turn it on the power trips at home. The poor thing held on till I'd finished baking that big batch of walnut chocolate chip cookies (2 weekends ago) and then went *phut*. Need to get her fixed. So until then for my bread I'm making do with stovetop pitas. Fortunately they turn out just as yum :)

The procedure is pretty much the same as regular pita bread. You mix the dough using the Basic Bun Recipe But after the dough has risen and been punched down, you pinch off balls and tap or roll them flat, like pizza. Then you have to heat your skillet oh a high flame, place the pitas and cover and cook on both sides. Covering the skillet will make the pockets form better.

The filling is simple....

For the beans...

Quick soak the beans and pressure cook them.
Add salt and spices (your choice, I just added my Asian Super Spicy Chilli Paste) and boil for a few minutes.
Scoop a ladle full of the cooked beans and grind into a smooth paste adding a little water if required.
Put the paste back in with the cooked beans and boil for a couple more minutes.
Turn off the heat and add a big splash of ketchup.
Mix and keep aside.

For the cabbage...

Chop cabbage and microwave for 7-10 minutes.
Heat wok/frying pan and add a couple of spoons of oil.
Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.
Add sliced green chillies and curry leaves and stir for a few seconds.
Put in the cabbage and stir fry on medium flame for a few minutes.
Add salt and stir fry for a minute more.
Turn off flame.
Squeeze fresh lime juice and mix.

Now all you have to do is quarter the pitas. Gently open out the pockets (use a knife to slice and form a pocket of required). Fill a bit of the bean mixture, top with the cabbage. Enjoy! :)



Hmm these pictures have turned out a tad too nice! I feel like having munching onsome sort of stuffed pitas again tonight :D
*runs off to go mix the dough*

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.

Mom makes chapathis stuffed with a similar mixture (sans the tofu) and my sis and I absolutely love them! The spring onions are a prime ingredient and when my homegrown ones sprung up looking delish I decided to make something on the same lines but stuffed into thin layers of bread instead.

Stuffed Bread Packets

Ingredients:

1 portion Basic Bun Recipe

For the filling:

1 C sliced carrots and beans

1/2 C chopped spring onion

1 large onion sliced thin

1 package extra firm tofu cubed
1 - 2 t spicy Asian chilli paste

2 T olive oil

a pinch omum (oregano) seeds

salt

soy sauce

ketchup

Nuke the carrot and beans in a microwave safe glass dish for 8-10 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Add the omum seeds and let them crackle. Add the onion and stir fry for a few minutes till it's translucent. Add tofu and stir fry till it's slightly browned. Add the microwaved veggies, salt and chilli paste. Fry for a few minutes. Turn off flame and mix in a dash of soy sauce and a splash of ketchup. Keep aside.

How to proceed:

After the bread dough has risen for an hour divide it into 12-15 balls and roll them out flat to about 5 mm thickness. Place some filling in the center and fold the sides in over each other sealing carefully. It helps to fold the top down, then the sides and then the bottom layer up.

Place on a baking sheet and let the packets rise for half to one hour. You can bake them immediately too if you're in a hurry but letting them rise a bit makes them slightly fluffier.

Preheat oven to 320 C/480 F and bake for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

Moody Mondays - Internet Withdrawal Syndrome

Our highly pot-holed tar street got dug out completely last weekend so that a new cement road can replace it. Well yay for cement roads but the goddamned idiots dug up our telephone cables along with the tar!! No phone lines = no broadband. Bloody pissing off!

So since Sunday morning until Thursday evening (and most of Friday too) we were officially internet-less here at home. Now you know why I haven't posted all last week.

I know I'm a net addict but all of last week without the connection made me realize how very dependent I am on having the internet in my daily life. Well yes, I did drop into my mom's place a couple of times and got online for a quick look at a few important things but that really isn't the same as getting connected from the moment I roll out of bed in the morning and staying connected all day long, right until I nearly collapse on the Macbook into dreamworld.

It bugged me enough not to tweet about my evening tea or the rain clouds, so imagine my plight when a gorgeous Owl came to our window and I couldn't put that on my facebook update!! And every night it almost felt like there was no point in concocting some delicious meal when I couldn't even post pictures and recipes on my blog immediately.


A day into this and I was sure my week was going to be a nightmare. But then I happened to learn that life without the internet wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. Despite the torture, a few good things did come out of it...

• I developed a ridiculously healthy sleep cycle - Got to bed by 9 pm most every night. Hey don't give me that look! In an internet-less world what's a girl to do staying up late anyways?
• I actually finished reading books which had been dragging on for weeks - Well one needs to read something before falling asleep, even if it isn't reading online.
• My house was a lot neater - A little too neat if you ask me. With a lack of much else to do, I aimlessly went in circles around the house rearranging things over and over. 
• The birds chirping outside sounded more beautiful - Spent a LOT of time sticking my head out the kitchen window appreciating nature! Felt like Rapunzel!!
• I spent a LOT more time with my family (which I love doing anyways) - In fact dad had to kick me out of the house a couple of times so I didn't drive back home too late in the evening.
• More importantly I got some extra quality time with hubby dearest - No internet for me = no internet for him! >:D Boy was it a pleasure seeing him suffer too! muhuhaha We ended up having adventurous walks exploring the city every evening and long dinners together every night. Hmm I wonder if that vow originally went "...through netlessness and in health..."
• Oh and my tomato and fenugreek saplings got even more love than usual - They probably got bugged with me checking on them every five minutes!

*Sigh*... it was almost like a blessing that the net was out... almost :)

That's not to say I'm going to give up on my net addiction anytime soon... or ever... but now if I am (God forbid!) ever disconnected from my virtual life for days on end, I know my life won't unravel entirely.