Week 2 Flashback and a Video - Vegan Mofo Post 14

So last week was super duper busy and as we got closer to the weekend, things got busier. I'm a stay at home kind of girl so busy for me = going out anywhere. And if I go out three days in a row, even if it is to have fun, that takes a toll on my homebody self. So come Friday, when I had to go out again in the late afternoon (for something nice but more on that in tomorrow's post) and returned home only by 9pm after which dinner was made and eaten only past 11pm (yeah, super late for eating, I know!) I just didn't have it in me to do a Vegan MoFo post. So I gave in and figured I'd take a day or two off.

However, two days of staying away from the fun is enough. I'm back now, and equipped for the week to come I might add. And because I took off for the two days, I thought I'd share something extra special with you all for today's post... My first Veganosaurus monster video! :)

But before that, let's take a quick look at last week's entries on my blog:

Day 8 - Round up of Vegan MoFo week 1's activities followed by a huge bunch of random photos of vegan food made by me.

Day 9 - Another photo blog post filled with images from my first professional photography session at In The Pink.

Day 10 - A focus on two of my favorite simple and tasty festival foods - a sweet and a snack.

Day 11 - A quickie organic salad that I make often.

Day 12 - One glorious vegan burrito!

Day 13 - This delicious potato baked dish that I concocted in a jiffy.

Day 14 and 15, I rested.

And now for the star of today's show.

This one's a quickie 2 second claymation video but there are plenty more, perhaps longer ones to come because I had so much fun making this one and playing it over and over again. :oP

Back story:

Someone had been surreptitiously taking big bites off my vegan chocolate chip cookies and DH claimed he was innocent. A hidden camera caught this shot of the little burglar.



Finish those vegan cookies while you can because this little guy has the ability to teleport into your cookie jar.

Have a great week ahead! :)

Cheezy Potato Rosemary Casserole - Vegan MoFo post 13

Sometimes the foods you put together in a hurry can have an unmatchable taste. This Cheezy Vegan Potato Rosemary Casserole was definitely one of them.

I was so hungry on Monday night and I hadn't even begun to think of what to make for dinner. Suddenly I remembered this delicious potato casserole thingy which we used to enjoy at Casa Piccola during our pre vegan days (yeah, apparently extreme hunger causes long forgotten favorite dishes to pop up in ones head). So I did a quick google search for vegan potato casserole and a whole bunch of recipes came up. I skimmed through a few of them and absorbed ideas. Then I walked into my kitchen and commenced slicing the large, organic potatoes I'd gotten from In The Pink last week.

Since I baked this at night, I wasn't able to get a good picture of the whole thing in the casserole dish. If you think the potatoes look good in this picture, you should have seen them fresh out of the oven. Yum!



Preheat oven to 215C/420F

For the potatoes:

3 Large Potatoes (scrubbed clean under running water and thinly sliced)
3 T Olive Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)
1 T Fresh or Dry Rosemary (gently crushed)
Nutritional Yeast
Black Pepper (freshly crushed)
Salt

Put everything together in an oven safe dish, cover and toss well and keep aside.

For the creamy, cheezy béschamel sauce:

3 T C All Purpose Flour
3 T Daiya Vegan Mozzarella Cheeze
1 C Water

Lightly toast the all purpose flour in a dry pan on a medium-low flame.
Add the daiya, mix well and reduce the flame to low.
Slowly add water and keep stirring continuously until the sauce thickens and becomes creamy (there might be a few small lumps left but that's okay).

How to proceed:

Pour the sauce over the potatoes and mix well.
Cover the baking dish.
Place in the preheated oven.
Bake covered for half and hour.
Then uncover and bake for another twenty minutes.
Turn the oven off and leave the casserole inside for another ten minutes.
Serve hot drizzled with Tabasco sauce and freshly crushed pepper.

Enjoy! :)

Super Loaded Burritos - Vegan MoFo post 12

So earlier this evening my internet suddenly went off and didn't come back on even after three modem reboots. My first thought was, "Egad! There's no Vegan MoFo post!!"

Thankfully, after about an hour it came back on. *Phew*

I'm seriously reconsidering the post scheduling thing once again. It's been nice to update the blog everyday with a new post, something special to look forward to each day. :) But if I line up a few posts, I think it'll give me more peace of mind.

To schedule or not to schedule, that is the question. Hmm.

Anyways, since today's post involves a long back story and even longer recipe (which is TOTALLY worth the hard work), let me get on with the Burrito talk.



On Sunday a couple of my vegan friends were planning to come over to our house and the plan was for all of us to make Burritos together. Each of us were assigned certain parts of the dish and whatever could be pre-made at their houses, they would prepare that and bring it here.

Mr. Vegantastic is the Burritomeister of our gang. He's been making Burritos for a while now and has this specific set of recipes which he follows. He is very particular about the exact ingredients which go into each thing so he took the trouble to create little document files for each dish and e-mailed them to the rest of us.

My portion of the work involved tortillas and beans. As I've mentioned before, I normally prefer to do a quick soak for beans, but Mr. Vegantastic control freak (and I say that term with love because I am one too when it comes to cooking) was particular that the beans be soaked overnight. So on Saturday night I soaked the beans.

Then on Sunday morning Ms. Pepa's flu took a turn for the worse, poor thing. So she had to drop out. The rest of us thought it over and decided to just throw the plan out the window entirely. But then, I was already in the mood for Burritos so I just decided to take whatever ingredients I had at home and adapt the recipes to my tastes and just make those Burritos anyways.

Cooking alone was less fun, but... on the up side, I could add as many chillies as I liked and there'd be no spice-wusses around to cry about it. :oP

Besides, you know me, I am incapable of cooking by following exact instructions. Intuitive cooks can be like that. ;) So I started with a couple of the basic recipes that Mr. Vegantastic sent, turned them into something else and added a bunch of other ingredients. The end result was amazing! So much so that I over ate and suffered big time. hehe

Thanks for the inspiration Mr. Vegantastic! :)



Wheat and Corn Tortillas:

1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C Corn (Maize) Flour
2 tsp Coconut Oil
1/2 tsp Salt

Mix everything together with warm water and form a soft dough. Cover and keep aside for an hour or so.
Pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough, dip in flour and roll into large tortillas on a flat surface (I am most comfortable using my cleaned kitchen counter top).
Toast on a hot pan on both sides.

Herbed Rice (I've commonly seen basil rice inside burritos but I made this with chives instead):

1 C Rice (Red or Black or Brown)
2 C Water
1 tsp Dried Chives
1/8 tsp Salt

Wash the rice.
Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot.
Add rice, cover the pot and reduce flame to lowest setting.
Let it cook for half an hour.
Check once and see if the rice is fully cooked and the water has been absorbed. If not cook for another 5-15 mins (cooking time varies by type of rice).
Mix in the salt and chives.

Chilli Beans Spread:

1 C Kidney Beans (Rajma) - not the red ones but the other kind, creamy colored with the dark pink blotches.
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Cumin Powder
1/4 C Olive Oil
Rock Salt (to taste)

Wash and soak beans overnight and drain the water in the morning.
Bring fresh water to boil in a pressure cooker.
Add the soaked beans with the oil, chilli powder, cumin powder and a pinch of salt.
Pressure cook until the beans are very well cooked and soft (time and number of whistles will vary according to your cooker).
Alternately, you can boil it in a large pot too but this will take a lot more time.
Add the remaining salt and cook on a low flame while mashing and stirring.
Most of the beans should be mashed with some chunks left.

Spicy Salsa:

2 Large Tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 Onion (chopped)
5 Cloves of Garlic (chopped)
1/8 tsp Cumin Powder
1 T Olive Oil
Tabasco Sauce
Ketchup

Heat the oil on a medium-low flame.
Add the garlic and onion and saute briefly until softened but not browned.
Mix in the cumin and stir gently until well incorporated.
Increase heat to medium and add the tomatoes.
Stir and simmer gently for a minute or so.
Turn off the flame, add the sauces and mix well.
Cover and keep aside.

Avocado Pico De Gallo:

1 Large Avocado
2 Tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 Onion (chopped finely)
2 Green Chillies
1 Clove of Garlic
Fresh Cilantro (finely chopped)
Lime/Lemon Juice
Salt

In a mortar and pestle, crush together the green chilli, garlic and salt.
In an airtight container, mash the avacado with your fingers.
Add in all the ingredients and mix well.
Cover tightly and store in fridge.

Roasted Yellow Bell Pepper Salad:

3 Yellow Bell Peppers
1/2 Onion
1 Tomato

Grill the whole bell peppers directly on a flame.
Cover in an airtight container and keep aside for a few minutes.
Slice the onions, tomatoes and bell peppers and mix together.
Keep aside in a closed container to let the flavors of the veggies blend in.

Cashew Sour Cream:

1 C Cashews
2 T Lemon/Lime Juice
2 T Vinegar
1/8 tsp Salt

Soak the cashews for an hour.
Drain the water and rinse.
Put the cashews along with the salt, vinegar and lemon/lime juice in a blender jar.
Process into a smooth, fluffy paste, adding a little bit of water as desired.
Transfer to airtight container and store in the fridge.

Putting the burrito together:

Place a tortilla on a plate.
Spread some beans in the center.
Put some guacamole over it.
Add some rice on top.
Spoon salsa over.
Top with salad.
Drizzle generously with sour cream.
Roll up and prepare yourself to bite into a delectable chunk of heaven.

Enjoy! :)

Nice Big Salad - Vegan MoFo post 11

So I spent the last hour editing pictures for the burritos I made on Sunday so I could make today's post all about them. But... I woke up early this morning (9am gaaah!) to meet up with a few of my dear Reiki friends (I wouldn't start off my days so early for just anyone, so you can appreciate how important these people are to me) and therefore I am extremely sleepy right now.

How shameful is that? It isn't even midnight yet! *Tsk Tsk*

Anyways, long story short, if you've been following my blog to get recipes for your daily cooking, today you won't be eating burritos. Here's a healthy and super delicious salad instead.



Organic lettuce, organic cherry tomatoes, organic cucumber, pecans, apricots all tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, black salt and chilli powder. Optionally Tamari, Balsamic Vinegar and Nooch can be added too.

Done.

This must be my shortest Vegan Mofo post eva!

Sundal and Payasam - Vegan Mofo Post 10

Last week we had a series of festivals called Dussera (also known as Navarathri). Traditionally we have ten days of celebration and this means lots of sweets and snacks. The most important of these festivals for us is Ayudha Pooja. It's a special occasion reserved to give thanks to all the tools, machines and vehicles we are blessed with.

On the day of Ayudha Pooja this year, hubby and I made a simple sweet and snack combination for Naiveidhyam (offering to the Gods and Goddesses). Something quick and delicious which we could eat and share.

Whatever is cooked with the intention of being placed at the altar as a food offering should only be eaten by us after the ritual is over. So while we prepare the food, we don't have the luxury of tasting and adjusting. But for some reason, every time we make Naiveidhyam food, it turns out perfect! This always reminds me that the taste of a dish is largely dependent on the energy and intention of love that goes into preparing it. Positive vibrations always yield beautiful results. :)

Sundal is a savory dish made of Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas. We can use any kind of chick peas to make these but this time we had Kabuli Channa (the larger ones) on hand so we used them. I normally follow the quick soak method to soak pulses but this time I soaked them overnight.



1 C Dry Chickpeas
2 Chopped Green Chillies
2 tsp Coconut Oil
Mustard Seeds
Curry Leaves
Asafoetida Powder (a pinch)
Dessicated Coconut
Chopped Cilantro
Lime Juice
Salt

Wash and soak the chickpeas over night (about 8 hours). Throw out the water, add fresh water and steam for 45 minutes or pressure cook for about 15 minutes until the chickpeas are soft.

In a wide, heavy bottomed pan heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add the chopped green chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and stir for a half a minute.

Now add the cooked chickpeas and salt and a wee bit of the cooking liquid and cook on medium high heat while stir frying continuously. After about 5 mintues of this, once the water has evaporated, add the dessicated coconut and toss well and turn off the heat.

Mix in the lime juice and garnish with the chopped cilantro and serve hot.

--

Payasam is a liquidy dessert which is best eaten hot. It is served at the beginning of traditional South Indian meals.

Payasam can be made with many things - Rice, Dals, Tapioca, Semiya (fine semolina noodles), Broken Wheat etc... This time we made Channa Dal (Split Bengal Gram) Payasam.



1 C Channa Dal
1/4 C Dessicated Coconut
1/4 C Grated Jaggery
6 tsp Sugar
1 T Chopped Cashews
1 t Raisins
2 Cardamom Pods (crushed well with a stone/hammer/mortar and pestle)

Soak the channa dal for an hour. Add dessicated coconut and steam (in the soaking water) for half an hour.

Meanwhile, dry roast the cashews to a golden color, add the raisins and stir for a few seconds, until they brown slightly. Keep aside.

Once the channa is ready, add jaggery and sugar and mix well. Bring to a simmer on medium heat and stir till the sugar and jaggery have dissolved. Add the crushed cardamom, lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes.

Turn off the heat and serve hot.