First Professional Food Photography Shoot - Vegan MoFo post 9

So... all my obsessive food photo shooting and posting has culminated in my first professional food photography project. :)

A few weeks ago, I attended this Art of New Age Cooking workshop by Dr. Nandita Shah of SHARAN India at In The Pink Organic Restaurant and Bazaar. While I was there, I clicked a lot of pictures of the event and the food so that I could do a write up for our Vegan Bengaluru blog.

Aparna of In The Pink saw my pictures and approached me to do a professional photo shoot for them. She wanted a handful of images of the restaurant and store, a few featuring herself and Paneesh (who co-owns the place with her) and lots of pictures of the food. I happily agreed, with one caveat that I would be shooting pictures of only vegan food. Aparna said that would be no problem at all since their menu is mostly vegan anyways and they would veganize the other items on the day I go there to click the photos.

In The Pink has a rustic, welcoming atmosphere and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I had an enjoyable time taking these pictures. :)





The grocery store section is stacked with all kinds of interesting products.





The restaurant is across the hall from the store. It is a simple and spacious setup with plenty of natural light.



Aparna and Paneesh were in quite the giggly mood when the pics were being shot.



The buffet.





And finally, the food pictures.





























I will end this post with my favorite dish at In The Pink... Mysore Pak. The yummiest Indian vegan sweet I've had in a long, long time! :)

Week 1 Flashback and Some Food Porn - Vegan Mofo Post 8

After a successful and fun first week of Vegan Month of Food 2011, I've decided to take it a little easy today. So in this post I'll do a quick recap of all my posts from Vegan Mofo Week One and then share some of my vegan food photography pictures.

Day 1 - A short video clip from our local Vegan Bengaluru potluck.

Day 2 - A recipe for fluffy idlis and a pic of my awesome idli batter grinder.

Day 3 - All about ice creams and my 'method' of making them.

Day 4 - Pizza with Daiya. Ooooh yeah!

Day 5 - Dessert that I concocted out of almonds.

Day 6 - Fluffy corn bread.

Day 7 - An exotic twist on curd rice.


And now on to the random food porn...



















Wish you all a wonderful and relaxing weekend! :)

Seasoned Peanut Yogurt Black Rice - Vegan Mofo post 7

We've come to the end of the first week of Vegan Mofo and I've successfully managed to post every single day! Woohoo!! :D

Over the past few months, I have found two great local sources of organic produce and grains. One was Pristine Nature, an online store I spoke about on my blog a few weeks ago and the other is In The Pink, a restaurant and bazaar which I will be featuring on my blog very soon.

At both these places, I have been able to obtain black rice which I have gotten addicted to. Pristine Nature sells Burmese black rice and In The Pink has a slightly different variety. But both of them taste equally delicious!

The rice cooks to a beautiful deep grape colour and a sticky texture. It's perfect to be mixed and had with liquidy stuff like sambar, rasam or dal and it works fantastically in stewy dishes like Bisi Bele Bath and Pongal. But my most favorite way to eat it is in the form of Seasoned Curd Rice made of Peanut Yogurt.

This is an exotic twist to a very traditional South Indian dish. :)



For the curd rice, mix together:

1 C Cooked and cooled Black Rice
1 C (or more if you like) Peanut Curds
1/2 t Vinegar/Lemon Juice
Salt

For the seasoning:

1/2 t Coconut Oil
1/4 t Black Mustard Seeds (Sasive)
1/4 t Cumin Seeds (Jeerige)
1 t Split Black Gram Dal (Uddina Bele)
1 t Split Bengal Gram Dal (Kadale Bele)
2 Green Chillies chopped into little circles
Asafoetida Powder (Ingu)
Curry Leaves (Karibevina Soppu)

Heat oil in a small, heavy bottomed pan for half a minute. Add mustard and cumin seeds. They will crackle so cover lightly for a few seconds. Add the dals and stir for a few seconds until they are lightly browned. Add the asafoetida, curry leaves and green chillies. Stir for a few seconds, turn off the heat and stir some more.

Add the seasoning mixture to the prepared curd rice. Mix well and serve.

Enjoy! :)


Notes:

Curd rice is traditionally eaten at the end of a spicy meal.

It tastes great after sitting around for a couple of hours because the curds will ferment and develop a light tangy taste.

You can add grated or finely chopped coconut, pomegranate, fresh grapes or raisins to this according to your taste preferences.

Maize Bread - Vegan Mofo Post 6

Maize is the term we use to refer to the locally available variety of corn in India. Ever since I tasted corn bread for the first time at Angelica Kitchen in downtown Manhattan, I knew I'd wanted to add the recipe to my baking repertoire. After returning to Bangalore, I searched in vain for corn meal here. Then one fine day I saw broken maize at the grocery store and even though it had more of the texture of corn grits as opposed to corn meal, I knew it would do the trick! :)

I adapted this recipe from the very first vegan recipe book in my collection, Very Vegetarian by Jannequin Bennett. A beautiful hard cover with recipes ranging from simple to gourmet and pictures ranging from super delicious to droolalicious! To this day, the book continues to give me guidance and inspiration.

Corn bread a very simple and quick bread with the right balance of moistness and crumbliness. Hubby and I enjoy it best with vegan chilli (as you can see in the picture). The crumbs soak up all the flavors from the chilli and combine to create a delicious burst of flavors and textures in the mouth.



1 C Broken Maize or Yellow Cornmeal
1 C Maize Flour or Corn Flour or All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/4 t Salt
1/4 C Maple Syrup or Sugar Syrup
1/3 C Soymylk or Almond Mylk or Cashew Mylk*
1 T Lemon Juice or Vinegar (I prefer Apple Cider Vinegar best)
3 T Warm Olive Oil or other Vegetable Oil
3/4 C Warm Water

Preheat oven to 190 C / 375 F.

Keep a 9 inch square baking pan ready.

Pour the warm water over the broken maize and keep aside.

Sift together the dry ingredients.

Beat together the wet ingredients.

Mix everything together.

Pour into the baking pan and quickly and lightly spread to make a more or less even layer.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve warm.

Enjoy! :)


*Note: I tried using water instead of Vegan Mylk and it really messed up the texture. I think a certain amount of protein/fat is required in the liquid for the crumbs to come out perfect.

Saffron Infused Almond Dessert - Vegan MoFo post 5

As this highly addictive veganmofo madness continues, I have been feeling extremely grateful for my prior procrastination! Over the last few months, I had created a bunch of stuff in my kitchen and taken pictures, but I hadn't updated my blog with all of them. So now, during vegan mofo, since blog hopping and commenting has taken over my online life, I'm able to keep my blog up with the activity because the yummy food pictures are already waiting to be linked here. Phew! See, being lazy has its benefits. :D

This is an almond cream based mousse like dessert I concocted a while ago. It's raw, except for the little bit of agar agar (which needs to be cooked to work well). Pretty simple to make too! It would also have been a super quick dessert if it weren't for the slightly painful almond skin peeling step. But hey, even that is something you get a hang of over time. I've become a lot faster at it now than I used to be during my initial attempts.



1 C Almonds
2 pinches Saffron Strands
Raw Agave Nectar (to taste)
2 T Agar Agar flakes

Soak almonds overnight in filtered water to start the sprouting process.

In the morning, throw out the water and rinse the almonds thoroughly. This step ensures that your body absorbs the enzymes in the almonds better.

Now the part which involves effort. Patiently peel the skin off the almonds. You can pour more water over them so they stay moist through the peeling process, making it easier and quicker.

Blend the peeled almond into a smooth, creamy paste adding a wee bit of of fresh, filtered water.

Add the saffron and agave nectar and blend again. Taste and adjust the level of agave. Keep aside in the blender jar.

Boil 1/2 C water and add the agar agar flakes. Stir and cook on medium flame until the flakes have dissolved. Let it cool for a few minutes until slightly warmer than room temperature.

Pour this agar agar mixture into the blender jar with the almond paste in it and blend for a few beats just to get everything mixed well and whipped up.

Pour the almond cream into individual dessert bowls and chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Serve cold and enjoy! :)