Gluten Free Vegan Bajra (Pearl Millet) Flatbread

I've often seen Gluten Free baked goods pop up when I'm browsing in the Vegan blogosphere. I never really paid too much attention to GF baking though because most GF cakes and breads called for certain gums and such. Besides, I figured, why put the extra effort when GF was meant for people with wheat allergies?

Then I came across Hobby and More's Vegan, Gluten Free Breads. Even though she doesn't *need* to follow a wheat-free diet, Richa of Hobby and More makes amazing looking GF breads and that got me very interested. I kept thinking I should attempt some of her GF bread recipes using her innovative steaming method but kept procrastinating because I needed to go out and buy potato or tapioca starches.

Then Rithika of Vegan on the Prowl made this Very Versatile Gluten Free Flatbread. She based it on Richa's recipe and switched up the ingredients to things that are more easily available in India. Now I had no excuses left!

Plus, a few weeks ago, hubby and I decided to follow a GF diet and see if it makes any difference in general health and energy. I'd been making rotis with various grain flours (jowar, bajra, makki...) but was jonesing for something more bread-y. This was a perfect time to try out the GF flatbread!

I made this bread twice. The first time around I followed Rithika's recipe exactly. But the next time I wanted to use a local grain (as opposed to the ground oats) and I remembered Harini of Tongue Ticklers mentioning that Bajra (Pearl Millet) is good in GF recipes. Harini has years of experience making delicious Gluten Free baked goods because her daughter requires it so I confidently took her word for it. I'm glad I did. Bajra turned out to be an excellent replacement for wheat! I've continued to use it in all GF baking recipes since.

Also, I was out of arrowroot powder. So I used the last of my organ egg replacer powder stock instead since it is made of starches. And I eliminated the baking powder because the egg replacer contains leavening agents. But in future recipes I'll be going back to using arrowroot powder and baking powder.

Here's my version:

2 heaping C Bajra (Pearl Millet) Flour
2/3 C Orgran No-Egg Powder
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
5 tsp Organic Jaggery Powder dissolved in 1/4 C Hot Water
2 T Coconut Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
1 - 1 1/4 C Warm Water

Mix dry ingredients.
Add wet ingredients (except water) and mix.
Add water, a little at a time and knead into a sticky dough.
Cover the bowl with a plastic bag and let it sit for 1 1/2 hours to let it rise.
Punch down dough and break off balls.
Tap each ball into a flat shape on wax paper.
Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
Place the flattened dough along with the wax paper in a tray inside a steamer and steam for 5 minutes.
Peel off the wax paper and let the bread cool.
Toast on a griddle or grill in an oven.
Enjoy! :)

Vegan Demo and Lunch at Vivanta by Taj Bangalore

Lounging on comfy bar seats around an open kitchen, friendly conversations, sips of green tea and Mojitos, watching the chef and his team whip up a delicious vegan lunch, then proceeding to relish said lunch...that's the definition of a perfect, relaxing weekend afternoon!

We got to enjoy exactly such an afternoon last Saturday, thanks to Sous Chef Uday and his colleagues - Anish, Pushpendar, Ashvin and Giri - at Graze, the high-end European cuisine restaurant at Vivanta by Taj.

Formerly known as Taj Residency, this 5 Star hotel is a part of old Bangalore and after all these years, it still retains its charm. I have fond memories of going there as a kid to attend their exclusive lifestyle exhibitions (this was long before these kinds of exhibitions became a dime a dozen) and eating hot jalebis afterwards. Graze is one of their 3 restaurants and it is situated just across from the pool. Even though some of the poolside tables are tempting, the indoor setting of the restaurant is appealing enough to make one want to stay inside. What can I say? I truly appreciate places with cozy lighting and soft jazz playing in the background.

The attendees consisted of a small group (about a dozen) of vegans and non-vegans. And all of us enjoyed the demo and the food alike. Throughout the whole event, Ashvin (the Restaurant Manager) and Giri were very attentive, friendly and helpful. They took good care of us while Uday, Anish and Pushpendar taught us how to make simple yet gourmet vegan delicacies. A well planned four course meal. By the time the demo was done, the wafting flavors of spices and vegetables had us all famished and we were about ready to wolf down everything that was placed in front of us. And what a treat it was! The flavors, the textures...I'd say we were transported into another world but the ambiance at Graze was too perfect for that to happen. :)

This vegan event was the fruition of many weeks of planning and veganising. I spoke about the background and my involvement in it in an earlier blog post. Now here are some captured moments from the event itself.

The Cooking:

The Close Up Views:

The firm feel of a tomato after being blanched in boiling water for about 8 seconds and immediately dunked into ice water. Just the peel is cooked so it comes off easily.



The simple and versatile tomato sauce.



Finely sliced lemon rind for the Polenta. These pieces were so tiny and uniform. Truly the work of a patient and skillful person!



Neatly seeded and diced provençal vegetables for the Polenta dish - Zucchini, Onion, Aubergine (Brinjal), Red Pepper, Mushroom.

Video Tutorial:

Mixing and shaping the Gnocchi.

Plating:

Sampling:

Everyone wanted a taste of the raw cashew butter that was used to make cashew cream for the vanilla ice cream.

The Scrumptious Meal:

Bread Rolls.



Chunky Chick Pea and Olive Oil Dip for the Breads.



Chilled Melon Gazpacho infused with Mint and Thyme.



Salad Platter. The greens were tossed in an amaaaaazing Raspberry Vinaigrette!! *slurp* And the pickled onions topped with fried capers were yummy! I wish there were more onions and capers in there.



Hearts of Palm.



Wine Steeped Mushrooms. These were brilliant!! The colour and the flavor really added to the whole appeal of the Salad.



The Palette Cleanser. A truly refreshing Cognac and Tamarind Sorbet. Yum yum *hic*. :oP



The main course choices.

"Milanese" Polenta topped with Grilled Provençal Vegetables and served with this *heavenly* Essence of Sweet Red Peppers sauce. This signature concoction of Graze, was bursting with citrus-y flavors and was the star of the dish! All of us who ate it were completely blown away. It took me a lot of self control not to start licking the last drops directly off the plate after I'd had every bit my forkfuls of Polenta could sap up. *slurpity slurpity*



OR

Deep Fried Gnocchi tossed in a chunky Tomato, Red Pepper Sauce and topped with crunchy, tender Asparagus.



The desserts were Vanilla Ice Cream made of Cashew Cream and Poached Pears and Figs in an Almond Tart Shell.





There is another vegan demo/lunch coming up at Graze this Saturday, May 5th 2012. The menu will be completely different.

Course 1 - Gazpacho of cherry tomatoes – served chilled.

Course 2 - Marinated beets, fresh greens, sherry vinaigrette and walnut oil.

Course 3 -“Spanakopita” of spinach, tofu and mushrooms, smoked red pepper compote and aged balsamic OR Pumpkin risotto, roasted salsify, crisp shallots and cashew sour cream.

Course 4 - Tofu chocolate mousse with cinnamon coconut milk ice cream.

The event starts at 12 noon. The price is Rs.1200 plus taxes. If you'd like to attend, call and register with Ashvin at +91 80 6660 3270 or +91 77606 35477. They're limiting the number to 15 so that the event is more personal and interactive.

Here's a picture of the dessert to tempt you. :oP



Most of these vegan dishes are going to be a part of a new vegan menu section to be launched at Graze. They also plan to have more vegan demo-lunches in the future.

Video of my first vegan demo at Vivanta by Taj Bangalore

A few weeks ago, a friend from Mumbai contacted a few of us Bangalore Vegans to let us know that the Taj was planning to hold a vegan demo and lunch event and the chef had mentioned to FIAPO, the event facilitators that he needed help with veganising the food. This project interested me very much and I went to Taj Residency (aka Vivanta by Taj) to meet Sous Chef Uday Nathan of Graze (their European cuisine restaurant).

Uday said that he thought veganising food would be very difficult and asked me to help him with the menu by cooking with him for the next few days and also on the days of the demos (they planned to have two and then maybe more later). I laughed and assured him that vegan food can be very simple to make and he just needs to stop thinking in terms of what he cannot use and start looking in the direction of the various dairy better-natives.

On the next day I got a chance to step into their kitchen and I taught him how to make almond milk, cashew milk, cashew cream and vegan ice cream. I also gave him a few more recipes and pointers on veganising stuff. That one session was all it took for Uday to see how easy vegan cooking can be. "Deceptively simple" is what he called it. :)

Over the following weeks Uday designed two delicious menus for 4 course meals and he consulted me for a few inputs here and there (mostly over the phone). I taught him how to make vegan chocolate mousse with tofu for when the press people (The Hindu and The New Indian Express) visited and there wasn't enough time to make the espresso brownies as originally planned. The mousse was such a big hit that it quickly replaced the brownies in the menu.

The first demo and lunch was on last Saturday, 28th April and I got a chance to do a mini demo at the end of Uday's main demo. I showed the process of making almond milk and also explained how to make nut milks, nut butters, nut creams and vegan ice cream using these. The next demo is on 5th May and I'll be demoing something else on that day.

I'll be sharing a fully detailed blog post, bursting with pictures of course, of the demo and the delicious meal we had as soon as I'm done working on the pics. For now, here's a video of my mini demo that hubby shot.

Cherry Nirvana Vegan Ice Cream

A few days ago my dear friend GiGi of Veganville said to me, "you are an ice cream inspiration". I know I have made some kickass vegan ice creams but so have many other vegans I know, including GiGi herself. So I never really thought of myself as an inspiration in the field until she said those words. Now when someone gives you that kind of a heartfelt compliment, you just *got* to live up to it. Thank you Geegers! :)

Turtle Mountain is hubby and my most favorite vegan ice cream company. Whenever we go to the US, we fill our freezer and our tummies with Purely Decadents and So Deliciouses to the point of bursting! If they branched out to India, we'd be their biggest (pun intended :oP) customers. Hubby wrote in and told them this. Sadly they don't plan to come here in the near future. :( Something about logistics and maintaining optimum temperatures while shipping overseas blah blah blah. Excuses, excuses! We can find all kinds of international puscreams on the shelves here so I don't see why veganlicious TM can't come too. Humph! But enough of the ranting, because making something happen is waaaay more rewarding than sitting around pining for it.

I have tapped into my vegan ice cream ninja powers and there's going to be no vegan ice cream that I will be left desiring for. Whether it's an existing flavor from a brand that isn't available to me or a new combination that suddenly clicks in my head, it's going to get created in my kitchen. So there!

I started by making an ice cream inspired by one of Turtle Mountain's *best* offerings... Cherry Nirvana. It's hubby's absolute favorite and when I grabbed a can of dark cherries in syrup to make Black Forest Pastries, I decided to save some and attempt Cherry Nirvana. The result wasn't the exact same as the original of course, but it was pretty close and extremely delicious.

Cherry Nirvana Vegan Ice Cream

2 C thawed but cold unwhipped non-dairy whipping cream (Rich's is the commonly available vegan one in Bangalore but there are other brands too and this time I used something called Value Star which I found at Metro)
2 C chilled soymilk
1/2 C sugar (or more if you like)
pinch salt
drop of almond essence
1/2 C dark cherries along with the syrup
1/2 C dark chocolate chunks (I broke into chunks Trader Joe's Almonds in Dark Chocolate Pound Plus bar which a very kind friend brought back for me from the US, but any other vegan plain dark chocolate bar can be used too)

Blend the first five ingredients together. Add the cherries in syrup and pulse a few times so there are cherry pieces floating around.

Chill in the fridge for a a few hours.

If you have an ice cream maker:

Pour into your ice cream maker and process.

In the last few minutes, add the chocolate chunks.

Transfer to airtight container and freeze for another hour at least before serving.

If you don't have an ice cream maker:

Whip the thoroughly chilled mixture with a wire whisk for a few minutes.

Mix in the dark chocolate chunks.

Pour into an airtight container and pop it into the freezer.

After half an hour, take it out, whip it with a spatula or fork and freeze it again.

Continue doing this every half an hour for about 2-3 hours until you reach the desired ice cream consistency.

Note: Whether you use an ice cream maker or not, after a day of freezing the ice cream, you will need to thaw it for a few minutes each time to be able to scoop it into neat, round servings.

Enjoy! :)

Vegan Avial South Indian Yogurt Vegetable Stew

We have various festivals in India which mark the start of a New Year. People from different states and languages mark the beginning of their year based on moon cycles, star cycles, seasons etc. Two weeks ago we had Ugadi here in the state of Karnataka. We celebrate this every year at my parents place where we do the customary eating of "bevu bella". The neem flowers (bevu) are bitter and the jaggery (bella) is sweet. We mix them in a little plate and place it at the holy altar and begin our day by eating a large pinch of this mixture while saying "neem is sweet, jaggery is bitter". This is to signify our acceptance of all bitter experiences and sweet experiences that life throws at us as equal and that without either, life would be incomplete.

After this, we proceed to stuff our faces with delicious festival foods. This year my mom and both my grandmas together made a bunch of stuff, the key ones being maavinakai chitranna (mango and lemon based rice dish), holige saaru (a sweet and sour liquid that we mix with rice and slurp) and holige/obbattu a thin flatbread made of semolina and flour, stuffed with a sweet lentil and jaggery mixture.

I didn't take pictures of any of these because I was too busy enjoying myself with my family and stuffing my face that day. But on hindsight, I did feel bad that I didn't capture everything to share here.

So I decided that since yesterday was the Tamil New Year festival which hubby and I celebrate here at home, I should share at least one recipe with you all.

Avial, is a special South Indian stew (hailing from the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala) of vegetables simmered in a spicy coconut and yogurt based sauce. It's a very simple recipe but takes time to make because of all the vegetable cutting involved. Traditionally vegetables like yam, drumstick, plantain (raw banana) which are native to South India play the main role in Avial. Other than these potatoes, carrots, french beans and peas are included. Veggies like capsicum (bell peppers), radish, beets, turnips etc... are avoided because they change the texture completely (being very soft when cooked) and don't go well with the yogurt base.

This is what went into my Avial yesterday (I didn't have plantain and drumstick on hand otherwise I'd have definitely included them).

3 C Vegetables cut into long (approx 1 inch) pieces - yam, carrot, beans, potato, baby corn, peas
1/4 tsp Turmeric
Salt

5-6 Green Chillies
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 inch piece Ginger
2 C Dry Coconut Powder (grated fresh coconut is even better)

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
Curry Leaves
1/8 tsp Asafetida Powder
3-4 Dry Red Chillies (each broken into 3-4 pieces)
Coconut Oil

1/2 C Vinegar
1/4 C Lemon/Lime Juice
2 C Peanut Yogurt

Toss the chopped veggies in turmeric and some salt and steam them until tender (about half an hour).

Grind the coconut, ginger, green chillies, cumin and a little more salt together into a paste using water as required.

In a large, heavy bottomed vessel heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil and add the mustard seeds and cover loosely. As soon as they have stopped crackling (half a minute), add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and asafetida.

Add the steamed vegetables and spicy coconut paste and mix together. Add a cup of water, cover and simmer everything together for a few minutes.

Turn off the flame and mix in the vinegar, lemon juice and peanut yogurt. Taste and adjust the salt and sour ingredients.

Serve over steamed rice.

Enjoy! :)

--

Apart from the Avial, I also made two other things (these are old pictures that I clicked a long time ago though):

Jevvarisi payasam - a tapioca pudding of sorts.

Parappu vada - spicy, deep fried fritters made of a combination of lentils which can be enjoyed plain or soaked in vegan yogurt.

I'll share recipes of these at some other point. For now, make yourself some Avial and enjoy! :)