Peanut Butter and Banana Fusion Smoothie

Peanut Butter and Banana smoothies are pretty common these days. The first time I tasted one was at a local vegetarian, organic restaurant called The Green Theory. Their smoothies are more like milkshakes - decadent, creamy and well, fattening (hey, I'm not complaining :D). If you let them know in advance that you'd like your smoothies to be made with soy mylk (instead of animal milk), they usually oblige.

Bikash Parik, who owns the restaurant, is a really nice guy and very helpful and accommodating. I've seen him there almost every time I've visited. He's the tall guy wearing the glasses. If he's around, then it's a guarantee that you'll have a good, vegan dining experience after explaining to him that you're vegan upon entering the restaurant.

Coming back to my smoothie, I personally feel that a smoothie doesn't need any sort of mylk to be added. Especially not one with peanuts or bananas in it. You have all the creaminess required right there, in those two ingredients. Here's my version of the Peanut Butter and Banana smoothie. I added a small pinch of a special ingredient to give it a more Indian flavour. Hence the 'fusion' in the title. :)

1 big scoop of Peanut Butter
1 large, ripe Bananas (the Pachbale kind) - peeled and cut into large chunks with a few small slices kept aside for topping
4 Dates - seeds removed
2 tsp Sugar (optional for additional sweetness)
1 T Cocoa Powder (optional)
A pinch of Pachha Karpura (Edible Camphor)
A pinch of Salt

Blend everything (you can adjust thickness with a little water if you like).
Serve into tall glasses.
Top with banana slices.
Dust with cocoa powder.
Enjoy! :)

Marbled Green Smoothie Banana Bread

Why is banana bread called banana bread? Fruit, flour, sugar, soda, oil...one could say that banana cake would be a more appropriate name. Perhaps calling it bread is just our way of cheating. You know, you could polish off half a loaf of bread and feel pretty smug about it, but imagine eating half a cake. Egad! Guilt trip galore!! :oP

DH and I spent a long weekend at Chennai having a super duper fun time playing with our nephew and nieces. There were run off the mill games like hide and seek, chinese whispers, running and catching, lego connect four and there were crazy ass made up games like evil robot, mind reading and pretending to be asleep because we were so freaking tired by the end. Well that last bit was just hubby and me. Try keeping up with a pack of highly active kids and you'll know exactly what I mean.

Anyways, we came back home from these three days away to find some verrrrrry ripe bananas on the counter. When we'd left on Friday night, they were raw, but three days is plenty of time to ripen and ripen some more. I love eating bananas in this state but there are only so many I can have. Hence, I decided to make banana bread.

I found a nice marbled chocolate-banana bread recipe on the PPK and used that as the base recipe. But as much as I luuuurrrrve chocolate, I wanted to make something non chocolatey. So I thought about the things that go well with banana, and spinach suddenly popped into my head. If spinach and bananas can be a great duo in green smoothies, why not in bread, right?

And while I was at it, I adjusted the ingredients a bit and made it even more healthy by substituting a portion of the white flour with pearl millet flour. So here is my Marbled Green Smoothie Banana Bread. I feel comfortable calling it bread now. :)

Dry ingredients:

3/4 C Pearl Millet Flour (Bajra/Sajje Hittu)
3/4 C + 3 T All Purpose Flour (Maida Hittu)
3/4 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Baking Soda

Wet ingredients:

1 C Mashed Very Ripe Bananas - about 3 large bananas (Pachbale Hannu)
3/4 C Sugar
2 T Coconut Oil - at room temperature
1/3 C Vegan Mylk - soy, almond or cashew
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Additional ingredients:

1/4 C (tightly packed) Blanched Spinach
5 T Boiling Water

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F.

Line a loaf pan with aluminum foil.

Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk a few times to mix well and incorporate air. Transfer 3/4 C of this flour mixture to another large mixing bowl. 1 C of the flour mixture will remain in the first mixing bowl.

Beat together all the wet ingredients (not the spinach and water). It should come to about 2 C.

Bring 1 C of water to a rolling boil.

Meanwhile, blend the blanched spinach with 3/4 C of the banana mixture to form a smooth, creamy liquid.

Pour the spinach mixture into the mixing bowl with the 3/4 C of flour and mix lightly. Add 2 T boiling water to this and mix well with a fork to get a smooth paste.

Pour the remaining 1 1/4 C of banana mixture into the bowl with the 1 C of flour and gently mix. It's okay if some flour can be seen but DO NOT OVER MIX. Add 3 T boiling water and mix quickly with a fork until fairly smooth.

Now pour about 1/2 C of the plain banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Top this with about 1/2 C of the green banana bread batter. Keep alternating them until you've finished transferring all the batter into the pan.

To form a pretty, marbled pattern, take a butter knife and swirl it through the batter in circles for a few seconds.

Bake in the preheated oven at 170 C / 340 F for 60 minutes. Increase the temperature to 180 C / 350 F and bake for 20 minutes.

About 10 minutes into the 180 C baking, test with a butter knife poked into the center for doneness.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.

Lift the bread along with the foil and transfer to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy! :)

Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies: guest post by Harini of Tongue Ticklers

Today I have a very special guest on my blog - Harini of Tongue Ticklers. I have mentioned her beautiful vegan blog here many times before and I also guest blogged for her early last year.

I 'met' Harini on a Facebook group (way back when her blog was called Tum Yum Treats) and we became friends because of our shared passion for vegan food photography and blogging. I should thank Preethi of Krya for connecting us, otherwise I might not have seen Harini's blog when I did.

I have since then had the pleasure of meeting Harini in person. And today I am really happy to finally have her here with a recipe for delicious Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies. I am especially thrilled to have Harini's GLORIOUS photographs of the cookies here on my blog.

In the pic above, I want to have my mouth open at the end of the white slab so the cookie comes rolling right into my mouth. :oP

Harini, thank you so much for taking the time to do this blog post on Veganosaurus and for all the love and effort you have put into the photographs. :)

Now on to Harini's post...

--

Susmitha and I are very well acquainted but I am not sure whether you know me. Since I believe in forging bonds over food, I won’t take up much of your time. Let’s proceed quickly over to the introduction to what I think are the best vanilla sugar cookies I have ever baked. Does that make you curious?

Calling these ‘my vanilla cookies’ is not entirely correct. I made them mine but they originally belonged to Maggie Beer. I don’t think she will be able to tell that because they have taken quite a turn from the original recipe. So much that I do not recall the original recipe anymore. I first came to know Maggie Beer through MasterChef Australia, and most of her recipes introduced in the show sounded well. You know what I mean, don’t you? I do not try recipes that do not ‘sound’ good, by which I mean that reading the recipe should make my mouth water, must look good and look technically sound. Most of Maggie Beer’s recipes are just that, except that they are not vegan. They are, however, easily adaptable.

You do not need any special or hard-to-find ingredients for making these cookies. All ingredients, save the olive oil, are usually available in any pantry.

Recipe: Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies
(Inspired and modified from a Maggie Beer recipe)
Yield: 24 cookies, about 1.5inches in diameter

Ingredients:
Refined flour – 2 cups | 288g
Soaked and ground cashewnut paste – 2 tbsp | 32g
Pink salt – 2 generous pinches | 1g
Baking powder – about ½ tsp. | 3g
Vanilla seeds from 2 vanilla sticks
Olive oil – ½ cup | 80g
Caster sugar – ½ cup | 88g
Soy milk / Water / Coconut milk – 1-2 tbsp.

Method:

Place flour, cashew paste, salt, baking powder and vanilla seeds in a blender and blend till even. Remove the blended dry flour into a mixing bowl.

Blend olive oil, caster sugar and 1 tbsp. of soy/coconut milk/water lightly and add this to the dry mixture to form a soft dough. Do not knead. Make the dough by mixing with your finger tips, gather and press with your palm. The resultant dough should be soft but break when pressed. Add more milk only if needed. Adjust consistency by sprinkling a teaspoon of flour if too soft. You should not feel the liquid on your finger tips while gathering.

Divide the dough into two thick discs. Wrap them in separate cling films and refrigerate for at least an hour, or till needed. I usually prepare the dough in the night and bake the cookies the next morning.

When ready to bake, remove the dough and let thaw till it softens slightly and you can handle it. Pre-heat oven to 160 deg. C.

Sprinkle your platform with a little flour; place the disc with the cling film on it. Open the cling film and fold it back a little loose. Dust the rolling pin with flour and roll the disc to desired thickness, preferably 3-4mm. The cling film may break as you roll but that should not be a bother. When rolled, peel away the cling film.

Using a 1.5 inch circular cookie cutter, cut several circles. Place them on a baking tray lined with foil/baking sheet. Gather the remnants into a ball, flatten into a disc, place inside the cling film and roll again. Cut and continue making cookies as before.

These do not spread much after baking; hence they can be placed close, separated by just an inch. Place the baking tray in the center rack of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or till the cookies start turning golden around the edges.

Remove and using a flat spatula, carefully transfer the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Store in air-tight containers till needed. If you are traveling, stack ten cookies and roll them in cling film, and again with foil. Fold the ends. They will travel well this way without breaking.

Healthy Steamed Chocolate Cake - my guest post on Shinsveganlovin

Ooooo what do we have here? It's a ridiculously healthy and incredibly tasty vegan chocolate cake. It has no oil, no white flour and here's the kicker... it's not baked, it's STEAMED! *gasp*

Wanna know what went into it and how my friend Arun (one of the awesome guys behind Samabhava) is responsible for it? Of course you do! :D

Well, you can find all the details in my guest post on my friend Bou Shin's blog - Shin's Vegan Lovin'.

You won't be able to resist trying it out. When you do, come back here and let me know how you like it. I'm sure Arun will be very happy to hear the results.

Arun got the original recipe from another of our vegan friends, Sneha. She is also a great vegan chef and comes up with all kinds of yummy concoctions while experimenting in her kitchen.



The recipe on Bou's blog is a modified version by me with ingredients I had on hand. If you'd like the original recipe that Arun sent me, here it is, directly copy/pasted:

Dry Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour: 1.5 cups,
Sugar: 1 cup, (I use white)
Cocoa Powder: 1/3 cup,
Baking Soda: 1 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt: 1/2 tsp

Wet Ingredients:
Apple Sauce: 1/3 cup
Apple Cider Vinegar/Lime Juice: 3 tsp,
Vanilla Flavour/Essence: 1 tsp
Water: 0.8 cup

Put some water in a cooker and allow it to come to a boil.
Grease a container for the cake.
Mix dry and wet ingredients separately well, and then combine them and quickly transfer to the greased container.
Immerse a plate inside the boiling water in the cooker, place the container containing cake mixture inside the cooker, cover it, and allow it to get cooked like idly (don't put weight).
After 30-45 mins, check for done-ness of the cake by inserting a toothpick at the center, and checking if it comes out clean.

Notes:
- We can keep the cooker open after 30 mins or so, if we feel that the mixture is still wet. Opening the cooker will let the steam go, and can reduce the moisture of the cooking environment (but keep cooking).
- Original recipe for oven calls for 1 cup of water, but since there will be a lot of moisture inside cooker, I added less water (convection mode blows dry air; steam is wet and hot).
- Apple sauce: Peel apple (eat skin), chop into fine pieces, add 1/4 volume water, and blend it. If we are using it just for cake, we can use just this juice. If we want sauce, we need to heat the juice in low flame for 10 mins.

Vegan Gokulashtami: Uppu Seedais and Vella Seedais

While I was growing up, Gokulashtami was a small festival, with a couple of very simple dishes for naivedhyam. It was only after I married my Iyer boy that I discoverd these crunchy, delicious, deep friend snacks called Seedais.



Hubs and I are not very religious and our poojas are always very quick, but we do enjoy the cultural aspects of our traditional Hindu festivals. And of course the food! :)

On our first Gokulashtami back home in Bangalore, hubby insisted that we make Uppu Seedais and Vella Seedais together and make baby Krishna footsteps kolam too. It was so much fun that it became a yearly tradition for us. Now, as long as we're here in Bangalore during Gokulashtami, we don't miss out on celebrating it in our small way.



Now after so many years, I've become fairly good at making the Seedais and a pro at shaping the footsteps out of rice flour paste.



People often take the easy way out with the kolam by just drawing an 8 with a flattened top and quickly putting dots for the toes, but we always insist on using the more traditional, side-fist method. Takes a bit more patience but it's worth the effort. Clench palms into tight fists, dip them in rice flour paste and press them onto the floor, right fist for the right foot and left fist for the left foot, then finally dot the toes on top with the index finger. If there are real little babies at home, then their wee feet are used as the tools for making the footsteps. :oP



For those who have no clue about what I'm talking about, Gokulashtami aka Krishna Janmashtami is a festival in celebration of Krishna's birthday. The little footsteps on are drawn from the main door of the house, all the way up to the pooja chamber/altar. They represent baby Krishna running into our home happily and jumping up onto his place in the altar in front of the yummy food offerings. The idol on the altar is of an adorable baby Krishna in a little cradle.



All Hindu festivals basically involve these steps: prepare the favorite foods of the God or Goddess who is being celebrated and place said food on the pooja altar, in front of the idols/symbols/pictures which represent the deity. Light Lamps of sesame oil and incense sticks with a pleasant, calming fragrance. Chant ancient prayers (this part of the ritual could be long or short and would involve ringing a brass or silver bell and lighting a few pieces of camphor on fire to purify and cleanse the house). Next, express gratitude for our many blessings. Offer the naivedhyam food to the God or Goddess in question. And finally proceed to gleefully stuff our faces with the delicious festival goodies.

Little Krishna is known for his love of butter and curds, but we believe that if he lived on Earth today, he would definitely be vegan because he loved cows with all his heart and would never put up with the cruelties inflicted upon these gentle creatures by humans to satisfy our greedy desires. So of course all the goodies we prepare are completely vegan.

This year I made Tapioca Payasam, Vella Appam, Uppu Seedai and Vella Seedai.



For the Vella Appams, I followed the recipe from Subbu's Kitchen. Instead of deep frying them however, I shallow fried them in my Paddu/Paniyaram Pan. This helped them hold their shape well.

For the Uppu Seedais and Vella Seedais, I followed the recipes from Chefinyou, with a few modifications.

Uppu Seedais

Uppu Seedais are known to be tricky little buggers. I've heard that they often turn into little bombs while being fried and splatter oil all over the kitchen. But thankfully, my little Uppu Seedais have always been very well behaved. It's possibly because I use coconut oil instead of butter and dry coconut instead of fresh coconut, which reduces the moisture content in the balls, hence drastically reducing the risk of air pockets being formed inside. Or perhaps it's simply vegan karma at play here. :oP



1 C rice flour
2 T urad dal flour - I followed this recipe to make it and sieved through a cheesecloth to get a very fine powder
1/4 C white sesame seeds
1/4 C dry/desiccated coconut powder
2 T coconut oil
1 tsp asafoetida powder
Salt to taste
Additional coconut oil for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients together.
Add a little water at a time and form a stiff dough.
Shape the dough into small, about 10mm thick, balls.
Heat the coconut oil for a couple of minutes and drop the balls into it in batches.
Fry them on a medium flame and stir once in a while to ensure even cooking.
After a couple of minutes, the balls will turn to a light, golden colour.
Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on tissue paper to absorb excess oil.
Enjoy! :)

Vella Seedais



1 C rice flour
2 tsp urad dal flour - I followed this recipe to make it and sieved through a cheesecloth to get a very fine powder
1 T dry/desiccated coconut powder
1/4 C white sesame seeds
1 cup jaggery - dissolved in 1/2 C of hot water and strained
1 cardamom pod's worth of crushed seeds
Small pinch of salt
Coconut oil for deep frying

In a dry, heavy bottomed pan, roast the rice flour on a low flame for a minute or so, being careful not to burn it and set aside.
Lightly toast the sesame seeds and coconut powder.
Mix everything, except the jaggery syrup, in a large bowl.
Slowly knead in the jaggery syrup and form a stiff dough, using only as much jaggery syrup as required.
Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for half an hour.
Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and keep aside.
Heat the coconut oil for a couple of minutes and drop the balls into it in batches.
Fry them for a few minutes on a medium flame and stir once in a while to ensure even cooking. If the balls brown too quickly, reduce the heat a little more.
They are done when they turn to a dark golden brown colour.
Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on tissue paper to drain away any excess oil.
Enjoy! :)