Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chunk Walnut Cookies

My baby sis, who is not a vegan *yet*, loooooves my chocolate chip walnut cookies. It's one of her favourite desserts ever and if she had her way, I'd be making it every week! A few weeks ago, she went out with our dad to shop for nuts at this speciality store called Manak Mewa which stocks a huge variety of high quality dry fruits and nuts and sells them at reasonable prices. Ever since my parents attended the Reversing Diabetes seminar by Dr. Nandita Shah last November and turned vegan, my dad started to munch on a few nuts and raisins with salad for his mid morning snack instead of the crappy processed biscuits and stuff that he used to eat before. It's turning out to be healthier and cheaper but it calls for a regular visit to Chickpet to shop at Manak Mewa.

But I digress. I was telling you about my sis at the store. She called me with great excitement in her voice and said in one breath, "Akka, you said your stock of walnuts was over no? There's plenty here. I'll bring some, you make me choco chip cookies." She wanted a whole batch to herself this time, as opposed to the one batch I make and share with her, so she asked me to make two batches, "one for you, one for me". I agreed to spoil the brat this time.



The vegan chocolate chips I'd brought back from the US was long over so I told her to pick up some vegan chocolate bars on her way here. Since chocolate bars are a tad overly sweet in my opinion, I halved the quantity of sugar and the cookies were perfect!

I also wanted to make the cookies slightly healthier so I tweaked the recipe around a bit. So these turned out quite different and much much more scrumptious than the already delicious basic chocolate chip cookies I have been making all these years. These have a softer crumb and a texture that's in between a chewy cookie and a cake. It's just amazing what flax seed powder and Bajra can do to baked goods!!

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chunk Walnut Cookies

Dry ingredients:
2 C All Purpose Flour (Maida)
2 C Pearl Millet Flour (Bajra)
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
2 T Cocoa Powder
Pinch of Salt

Wet ingredients:
1 C Sugar
1/2 C Olive Oil
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
3 T Flax Seed Powder
2 1/4 C Water

Additions:
1 C Broken Walnuts
4 Bars Dark Chocolate Cut into Chunks

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil.
Sieve together dry ingredients.
Whisk together wet ingredients for a few minutes.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chunks.
Drop onto cookie sheets by spoonfuls.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes.
Transfer to wire rack and cool some more.
Serve warm.
Bite into the soft, gooeyness and be transformed into a state of bliss.



While the cookies were baking, a strange phenomenon occurred. I had negligently left one unbroken walnut half lying around on my kitchen counter (apparently on white paper to get the perfect lighting :oP). I heard a soft shuffling sound and when I looked, I beheld three little zombie veganosaurus monsters walking towards the walnut half with a greedy gleam in their eyes. "Brains, brains, brains", they said. But suddenly...

Mango Ginger Ice Cream - vegan, almost raw

This gingerlicious mango ice cream is not for the faint of heart. Last year, when I made mango ice cream, I thought I'd add a small piece of ginger into the concoction while grinding and loved how the flavors melded. But once I froze it, the ginger got overpowered by the mango.

So ever since this year's mango season started, I'd been really wanting to make a mango ice cream with a super strong ginger kick. When the time came to add ginger into the mixie jar, I did not hold myself back. And boy oh boy did it turn out amazing!!



I ran out of raw agave nectar so I used sugar. If it hadn't been for the sugar, this ice cream would've been categorized under "raw food".

I was feeling lazy and didn't want to wash the ice cream maker, so I decided to use the freeze/whip/freeze method to make this ice cream. I wanted it to have a slightly icy texture for an added crunch, so I didn't let it get too creamy during the freezing process.

Almost Raw, Vegan Mango Ginger Ice Cream

3 Ripe Mangoes - peeled and diced
2 inches Ginger - sliced
1 T Sesame Seeds
1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Sugar
1 T Flax Seed Powder
A pinch of Salt
2 C Filtered Water

Grind the cashews and sesame seeds together in a dry jar until they start to release oil and begin to turn slightly buttery.

Add the ginger, sugar, salt and flax seed powder and process.

Add the mango and process till smooth and creamy.

Add the water and blend well.

Let this mixture sit in the fridge (not freezer) for a day to chill thoroughly.

Transfer to an airtight container and whip well with a whisk.

Pop in the freezer for half an hour.

Whip again.

Freeze again for an hour.

Whip again.

Let the mixture freeze for 6-8 hours.

Transfer this icy mixture into a blender jar in batches and process for a few minutes.

Transfer back into the airtight container and freeze for two hours.

To get beautiful scoops, let the container thaw inside the fridge for five minutes before you serve each time.

Scoop and serve.

Enjoy! :)

Rustic Okara Khara Veggie Bread

Okara is the soy bean pulp that's left behind after the soymilk has been extracted from it. Since I regularly make soymilk at home in my SoyaJoy, I always have some Okara sitting in my fridge. It has a very short shelf life so if it isn't used up quickly, its fate will be to end up in the compost pile.

Because it's got a lot of health benefits, I have been trying to include it in different foods that I make. The problem is that it's pretty tasteless , so I have to be careful about how much I add in each dish. A tad more and the whole dish becomes bland.

I used to mix it into Chapathi dough before but now I don't make much Chapathi to begin with and when I do, it's in Phulka form so the dough can have nothing but wheat flour, salt and water in it.

The one place where Okara benefits taste and texture is in yeast breads, when used in the right quantity.



If you don't make Okara, then just switch it with an additional half cup of vegan mylk and half cup of whole wheat flour and you're set.

Khara means spicy in Kannada (and a few other Indian languages). During my pre-vegan days, I used to really enjoy the Khara Breads sold at small, local bakeries. But now I make my own and even though I miss walking into a bakery and buying fresh buns, it's a great trade off because home made breads are so much more rich, moist and wholesome. And of course, they leave my kitchen smelling amazing! :D

Rustic Okara Khara Veggie Bread

1 C Warm Soymilk or other Vegan Mylk
2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Mix the above together in a large mixing bowl and keep aside for about 15 minutes, to let the yeast froth and bubble.

Then add:

1 C Okara
2 tsp Salt
3 T Coconut Oil or Sesame Oil
2 T Flax Seed Powder
1 T Sesame Seeds
6 Crushed Spicy Green Chillies
1/4 tsp Asafoetida Powder

Beat with a whisk. Then stir in:

2 C Grated Veggies - I used 2 Beets and 3 Carrots in this bread
2 Finely Chopped Onions
1/4 C Chopped Cilantro
1 tsp Crushed Dried Curry Leaves

Whisk together and add (a little at a time):

3 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour

Knead into a very moist and sticky dough.

Cover the mixing bowl with a plastic bag and place in a warm spot to rise for 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two portions.

Place one portion in a loaf pan lined with wax paper. Cover and let it rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Roughly shape the other half of the dough into rolls on a cookie sheet lined with aluminium foil. Cover and let it rise for 1/2 an hour. They will expand sideways, rather than upwards. So they resemble something between flatbreads and buns.

For the buns, preheat the oven to 190 C. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to sit in the turned off oven for 5-10 mins. Remove tray from the oven and allow the buns to cool in it for 10 mins. Transfer buns to wire. They taste best when slightly warm.

For the loaf, preheat the oven to 200 C (it won't take long because the oven is already hot from baking the buns). Uncover the loaf pan and bake on the middle rack for 1 hour. Allow to sit in the turned off oven for 20 mins. Remove pan from the oven and let the bread cool in the pan for 20 mins. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Peel off the wax paper.

Slice and enjoy! :)

This bread needs to be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep outside for only about half a day because of the vegetables.

Dadar Gulung Newtons with Golden Mylk: Guest post by Bou Shin of Shin's Vegan Lovin

Today I'm happy to welcome Bou Shin of Shin's Vegan Lovin' to my blog for a delicious guest post. I clearly remember the first post I ever read on Bou's blog, it was for Oatmilk Yogurt. But I soon discovered her bentos and learnt that they are the prime attraction of her blog.

These adorable bentos are Shin's forte. One can clearly see the whole lot of love, care and creativity that goes into each one. And the themes she generally chooses totally appeal to the geek in me! Can you guess who these three guys are? :D




Once you're done guessing, click on each bento image to be taken to its original post on her blog where you can learn how to make it yourself.

Today's guest post by Shin is a delicious dessert recipe. Well two recipes actually - Dadar Gulung Newtons and Golden Mylk. She has used something called Pandan extract which comes from the leaves of a specific plant which is used in East Asian cooking. This was the first time I was hearing about this ingredient and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be all that easily available to most of my blog readers. So I asked Bou if it can be replaced by something that's more globally accessible to people. She replied that it can be substituted with Vanilla extract, but it should only be half of the amount of the Pandan.

Now on to Shin's post.

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When I was a little girl my favorite cookie to eat was always a Fig Newton (actually, the whole pack...) but as I slowly became more health conscious I lost touch with these soft pillows of tasty goodness. I don't believe that either Newtons can be considered "healthy", but when I decided to take a spin on two of my favorite treats (Fig Newtons and Dadar Gulung, a pandan crepe stuffed with coconut) I was instantly happy. There are two ways to make these treats and to gobble them down with, I've provided some delicious and silky, smooth golden milk.

Dadar Gulung Newton Filling:

4 large Dates, minced (or Date Paste)

1/4 cup of Unsweetened, Toasted Coconut

1 tsp of Raw Sugar

A mix of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cardamom and Allspice

1/2 tsp of Virgin Coconut Oil

Toast all of your dry ingredients together, let them cool partially and then add in your coconut oil. Set aside and make the dough.

Dadar Gulung Pastry Recipe:

1 cup of Oat Flour

1/2 cup of White Whole Wheat

4 tbl of All-Purpose Flour

2 tsp of Raw Sugar

1/4 tsp of Baking Powder (omit if you want them crunchy)

2 tbl of Virgin Coconut Oil (semi-solid)

About 3 tsp of Pandan Extract

Enough Coconut Cream to Mix

Mix your dry ingredients together first, then fork in your coconut oil. Dribble in your pandan extract and coconut cream, then knead your dough until it becomes a smooth ball. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and reminisce about your childhood in the meantime. Roll out to your preferred thinness, taking mind that this will puff up only slightly, and then put your coconut filling in the middle. Pinch your sides up and moisten lightly with the leftover coconut cream, then roll onto the newly formed seam and cut even pieces from your dough log (which should be a rectangle by now). Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cooked to your liking and serve with golden milk



They look like mini-burritos, don't they? If you have any extra dough you can roll it in some chocolate chips and bake for the same amount of time, or you can make a fantastic and pretty healthy pie crust. Even better, you can use them as breakfast cereals and (un-filled) cereal straws as they don't get soggy quickly. It's all up to your imagination!

Golden Milk Recipe:

1 cup of Non-Dairy Milk

1/2 tsp of Turmeric

1 tbl of Raw Sugar or Agave Nectar

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cardamom, Allspice and Cloves (to taste)

Warm all of your ingredients together and strain, let cool and strain if necessary.



Thanks for visiting my post and many thanks to Susmitha for hosting me! I hope that you all have enjoyed this short experience as much as I have!

Mango Mint Kokam Juice Cooler

This is one of those totally experimental recipes which I concocted on a whim. Even though the flavours seem like an unlikely combination, I'm very pleased to say it turned out pretty darned slurpable! :)

Kokam juice is a locally available health drink made of Kokam berries. It is most commonly available in a concentrated syrup/squash form which can be mixed with water to make a kind of sherbet. It has a very cooling and hydrating effect on the body and is a perfect drink for hot hot summers, like the one we're experiencing right now.

In this recipe, I've used the Kokam syrup as the sweetener. If you decide to use the Kokam juice that is available in tetra packs (instead of the syrup), just eliminate the water. I don't recommend any additional sweetening though.



2 Ripe Raspuri Mangos - peeled and diced
1 Small Yelakki Banana - peeled and chunked
Handful Mint Leaves
2T Kokam Syrup
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Pinch of Black Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper Powder
1 C Cool Water

Blend everything together with ice.
Enjoy! :)