Spaghetti and Neat Balls Vegan MoFo day 19

This will be my last Main Course recipe for Vegan MoFo this year. And I've been saving my best recipe for last. :)

I'm so happy to have touched nineteen posts so far. I haven't decided what I'll do for my twentieth and final day. It might be a round up/flash back type post like I did for day #10. Or perhaps just some yummilicious vegan food piccies, without recipes, since I have no intention of stepping into my kitchen over the next few days! Methinks, I've earned some well-deserved eating out and self pampering. :D

One more thing, I am staying well away from the internet this weekend! We all need a nice break away from blogging and facebooking once in a while and what's a better time than right after all the Vegan MoFo madness? So I shall resurface with my next post on Monday or Tuesday.

On Thursday next week, my blog will be a part of the super innovative, one-day blogging event, Virtual Vegan Potluck! :) This is an idea conceived by my friend Ann of An Unrefined Vegan. They had the first VVP earlier this year, which was when I discovered Ann's blog (among many other awesome ones) and I just knew that when the next VVP happened, I would definitely want to be a part of it. That's why, even though it's right after Vegan MoFo, I singed up for it. Since I've made desserts, salads, soups, starters/snacks and main courses all this month, I decided that I'll be bringing a beverage to the potluck. You can see what it is when you come back here on November 1st. :)

Now on to today's recipe Spaghetti and Neat Balls. I first ate balls made of tofu at my friend Karol's house, way back in 2009. She had put crumbled tofu, almonds and spinach together with some spices to make these yummy balls. I based the basic idea for my Neat Balls from the ones Karol fed us. :)

This is one of the most scrumptious main courses I've made in all my vegan life. It turned out sooo sooo soooo good!! I'm not going to spend time describing it further. It's really very simple to make. So you can try it out for yourself and experience the deep satisfaction. :)

For the Neat Balls:
1 block tofu (I like the Ka Kim's brand in Bangalore or the one from Towness) - drained, patted dry and crumbled
2 carrots - grated
1 very small turnip - peeled and grated
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 T flax seed powder
2 T corn starch
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1/8 tsp red chilly powder
1/4 tsp liquid jaggery (or any other liquid sweetener)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp Salt
2 T nutritional yeast (optional)

For the Tomato Sauce:
5 medium ripe, juicy tomatoes
1 T garlic powder
2 spicy green chillies
1/4 tsp jaggery or liquid jaggery (or any other sweetener)
1/2 tsp Salt

Additional Ingredients:
250 gms spaghetti - cooked in lightly salted water, drained and rinsed
1/2 C Italian basil - chopped fine
1 large green bell pepper/capsicum - sliced and nuked
1 T Daiya pepperjack cheeze (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Knead together all the ingredients for the balls and shape them into... well, balls! haha

Blend the tomato sauce ingredients into a smooth paste, using a few splashes of water if required.

Toss the spaghetti, basil, capsicum and Daiya (if using) together.

Pour the tomato sauce over them, mix and place in a baking dish.

Place the balls over the spaghetti.

Bake for around 30 minutes.

Mix lightly with a fork to coat the balls with the sauce.

Serve hot with crushed pepper and drizzled with Tabasco Chipotle or other hot sauce.

Enjoy! :)

Note: This dish tastes best when baked, but in case you don't have an oven, then you could try frying the balls. I wouldn't recommend boiling or steaming though. Also, if you're not baking, then simmer the tomato sauce for a few minutes before tossing everything in it.

Asian Fusion Vermicelli Vegan MoFo day 18

I'm a big fan of fusion food. It's a lot of fun to take the best of various cuisines and meld them together into a unique, experimental dish with its own personality. One of these fusion concoctions that I make often is an Asian vegetable and tofu stir fry tossed with Vermicelli/Semiya (South Indian, semolina based thin noodles).

My favorite local Semiya brand is Anil Roasted Vermicelli. These are really thin and extra long and none of the other brands match Anil's taste and texture.

Since any semolina based noodles or pastas aren't very nutritious, I usually mix a *lot* of veggies with a small amount of Semiya. This ensures that there's a lot of healthy goodness in the meal with just enough grain content to satisfy the carb craving.

I would recommend Tamari for this recipe because it's just amaaaaaazingly delicious (almost drinkable straight out of the bottle *slurp*). I pour it into any of my Asian dishes as well as all salads. But, as I mentioned in last week's Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce recipe, unfortunately I ran out of my stock from the US long ago and it isn't available here. :( So I've just settled for plain old dark soy sauce that can be picked up at any grocery store.

Asian Fusion Vermicelli

3 C Cabbage - shredded or sliced
1/2 C Beans - chopped to 1 inch pieces
1 Carrot - sliced
1/2 Capsicum - sliced
1 block of Firm or Extra Firm Tofu (200 gms) - drained, blotted and cubed
1 Onion - thinly sliced
1 T Garlic - roughly chopped
1 inch Ginger - grated
1 Green Chilli - chopped into rounds
1 tsp Thai Basil - chopped
1-2 T Dark Soy Sauce
3 T Gingelly (Sesame) Oil

2 C Anil Roasted Vermicelli
1/2 tsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
2 C Water
pinch of Turmeric

Peanuts - roasted and crushed
Tabasco Chipotle Hot Sauce

Pre-cook cabbage, carrots and beans in the microwave for about 5 minutes to make the stir frying go quicker.

Heat gingelly oil in a heavy bottomed wok (baandli).
Add ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir fry for half a minute.
Add onion and Thai basil and stir fry until onions become partially tender.
Add tofu and gently stir fry for a few seconds.
Add capsicum and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Add remaining vegetables and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Add soy sauce and heat for half a minute while mixing well.
Turn off the heat and keep aside.

In a pot, bring 2 C of water to a rolling boil with the pinch of turmeric and peanut butter.
Add the vermicelli and keep stirring on medium heat for a few minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed and the vermicelli has been cooked.

Add the stir fried veggie-tofu mixture to the cooked vermicelli and mix very well.
Garnish with roasted, crushed peanuts.

Serve hot drizzled with Tabasco Chipotle Sauce. If you've been reading my recent blog posts, you might already have realized that Tabasco Chipotle is my new best friend. Hubby and I have been pouring it over everything! It's nuts. hehe

Enjoy! :)

Pasta Shells with Mint Tamarind Tofu Vegan MoFo day 17

Hubby and I drastically cut down on buying packaged dry pasta a while ago. Semolina is basically white flour in a grainy form. There isn't much nutrition or fiber in it. Plus, pasta prices have been hiked up quite a bit. Rs.150 for 500 gms is the lowest price I've seen in the recent times and that seems way too much to pay for half a kilo of semolina and salt.

There are healthier whole wheat pastas and gluten-fee rice/corn varieties available in the market now, but those are double, triple, quadruple the price. I can understand that it's slightly more expensive to produce GF products but just because something is gluten-free, doesn't mean it should cost an arm and a leg.

But giving up pasta entirely is not something I'm willing to do. For starters, it is so darned yummy. On top of that, it's unbelievably easy to whip up dinner when there's a pack of dry pasta on hand! So once in a while, we indulge and buy a big pack of pasta and then use it sparingly.

Conchiglioni and Farfalle are my very favourite kinds. The sauces and flavours get into all the little nooks and crannies and make the end result extra yummy. :)

When hubby and I discovered that Bambino, an old, Indian company known for its Semiya Vermicelli and Elbow Macaroni for many years now, has started to produce Shell Macaroni, we were super happy! Being a local brand, we knew they'd price their products quite reasonably. Nevertheless, we were delightfully surprised to see that they sell nearly 1kg (950 gms) of their Shell Macaroni at Rs.60!!!

Granted that Macaroni Shells are thinner and smaller than regular Conchiglioni Shells and they don't cook to a firm, al dente finish, but the difference isn't that big of a deal really. Especially if one's not looking to make anything fancy but just have an easy and delicious weeknight meal.

I don't have any fixed recipes I follow while making pasta. I just put together things depending on my mood and what's available on hand. I made this dish of Pasta Shells with Mint Tamarind Tofu in the last week of September and wrote down the recipe so I could share it during this last week of Vegan MoFo.

For that matter, most of the Main Courses that'll be on my blog this week have been made in September, while I was preparing for MoFo. So I'm thinking it's going to be a fairly chilled out week. :)

Pasta Shells with Mint Tamarind Tofu

For marinaded mint tamarind tofu:
1 block (200 gms) Tofu
1 small Capsicum
1/2 tsp Tamarind Concentrate Paste
1/8 tsp Turmeric
15-20 fresh Mint Leaves
Tabasco Sauce
Salt

For pasta:
1 1/2 C Shell Pasta
Salt

For final baking:
5 medium Tomatoes
Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
Black Pepper
Salt

For tossing:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Vegan Parmesan* (optional)

Rinse and press tofu between tissue paper to remove as much moisture as possible.
Thinly slice capsicum.
Finely chop mint leaves.
Mix everything with the rest of the marinade ingredients and toss well.
Cover and keep aside for 1-2 hours.
Bake uncovered in a preheated oven at 250 C for 15-20 minutes or bake in the microwave using the dual Micro-Convection mode for 5 minutes.

Bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil and add salt.
Add the pasta shells and cook for 5 minutes, while stirring once in a while.
Turn off the heat, cover and keep aside for another 5 minutes.
Drain and rinse in cool, running water.
Set aside.

Chop tomatoes into large chunks.
Add the cooked pasta and chopped tomatoes to the tofu dish.
Generously shake Tabasco Chipotle Sauce, crush black pepper and sprinkle a dash of salt over everything.
Toss well.
Cover and bake in a 250 C oven for 15-20 minutes or in the Micro-Convection mode for 5 minutes.

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle vegan Parmesan* and toss well.
Serve hot.
Enjoy! :)

*Vegan Parmesan: I mix the pulp leftover from making almond mylk with nutritional yeast and salt and dehydrate it. Then I store the dry 'Parmesan' in an airtight container in in the fridge and sprinkle it over all my pasta dishes.

Mashed Potato Sweet Potato Bake - Vegan MoFo day 16

After a crazy, whirlwind three weeks, we have reached the final week of Vegan Mofo!! *phew* Technically, next week is the final week but that's just got three days whereas this week is the last full week of MoFo goodness. :)

I pre planned a lot in September to have many of the posts scheduled and ready in advance so that during MoFo, I could blog hop and enjoy the delicious vegan food posts all over the blogosphere. It didn't matter, things got crazy anyway, as they always tend to during MoFo month. So I am very proud to have reached 16 posts so far. And I am also quite happy to say that I have met so many awesome Vegan MoFo bloggers over the past three weeks. The Newsify google reader app on my phone is full and bursting and I'll continue to visit 2012 MoFo-ers blogs right until MoFo 2013, when I will have a fresh set of RSS feeds. :)

I've followed a theme throughout Vegan MoFo. Each week was reserved for recipes for one course of a Super Scrumptious Four Course Meal.

Week 1 was Desserts (the sub-theme being 'Mostly Raw') - Avocado Orange Chocolate Mousse, Fig and Cinnamon Ice Cream, Hazelnut Mocha Cheezecakes, Cashew Barfi Truffles and Banana Walnut Cinnamon Vanilla Crème.

Week 2 was Soups and Salads - Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari, Nalli Kai Salad, Spinach Coconut Mylk Soup and Masala Mandakki.

Week 3 was Snacks and Starters (sub theme was 'Fairly Healthy') - Kandu Unde, Baked Akki Rotti Bites, Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce and Sesame Encrusted Roasted Vegetables with Pumpkin Banana Poppy Seed Dip.

Yesterday I had a Bonus Dessert Recipe for Vegan Jamoon.

And now I begin Week 4 with Main Courses.

Today's dish is filling, delicious and really simple to put together. I based the general idea of the recipe on a yummy dish called Epinard à la Crème which I used to enjoy at a local restaurant called Casa Piccola many many years ago (during my pre-vegan days).

I made my baked dish out of potatoes and sweet potatoes mashed together with basic spices. The creamy spinach and tender baby corn go beautifully with the potatoes. The bread crumbs were a last minute addition and ended up being a great, crunchy touch!

We ate this by itself but it can also be served with toasted garlic bread or a nice, leafy salad on the side.

Mashed Potato Sweet Potato Bake

5 medium Potatoes
2 Sweet Potatoes
1 C Spinach
10-12 Baby Corn
Pepper powder
Olive Oil
Salt
Tabasco Sauce
Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 225 C.
Boil, peel and mash potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Blanch spinach and chop roughly.
Slice baby corn into rounds.
Mix all ingredients, except Tabasco Sauce and bread crumbs.
Press into a baking dish.
Sprinkle generously with bread crumbs and press lightly.

Bake at 225 C for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180 C and continue baking for 30 more minutes.
Let it cool in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Serve hot with Tabasco Sauce drizzled on top and optionally a bit of ketchup on the side.
Enjoy! :)

Sweet Potato Jamoon Vegan MoFo day 15

Umm remember how I didn't do a blog post on Friday? Well, today's post is going to totally make up for it, plenty and more. It's a super awesome Vegan Jamoon recipe!!! Yeah!

Yes, yes, I do know it's not a part of this week's Main Courses theme, nor last week's Snacks and Starters theme for that matter, but who cares? It's Dessert! And *everything* moves aside for Dessert. :D

Many of you might already know about my lengthy quest for the perfect Vegan Gulab Jamoon. I even spoke about it on a video two weeks ago when GiGi interviewed me for her weekly program, Who Dat Vegan on her blog Veganville.

It started way back when hubby and I lived in Bloomington, IL. I had made a *large* quantity of Vegan Therattu Paal (Khova) out of soymilk. It's a traditional dessert made by boiling milk while stirring continuously until it turns into a thick cream, then adding jaggery (or sugar) and cardamom and cooking it to a very thick, shape-able consistency. I think I'd made it for some festival and after hubby and I had eaten plenty, the rest had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days.

One evening, I decided to attempt making Jamoon out of it. I vaguely remembered how my grandma used to make them out of Khova when we were living in a big, happy joint family. My grandpa used to bring these pre made packages of Khova and grandma, my mom and my aunts used to mix it with maida (white flour), shape balls, deep fry them and soak them in sugar syrup.

So I mixed a random quantity of flour and a pinch of baking soda (or was it baking powder?) with the Khova and made Jamoons. I was thrilled with the results! The Jamoons seemed especially delicious since it had been over a year since I'd become vegan and I hadn't even eaten non-vegan Jamoons for a long time before that. But alas, I never wrote down the quantities or exact method I followed to make the Jamoons and to this day I regret it!

After that, my next attempt at Jamoons was only after returning to Bangalore. The result was a huge disappointment! The balls were thick skinned and rubbery and did not absorb any sugar syrup. :( This was especially painful since I'd spent over an hour in front of the stove, stirring soymilk to turn it into the Khova that went into the Jamoons. And that was only the first of my frustrating Jamoon attempts.

I unsuccessfully tried making Jamoons with a soymilk powder and tofu a few times over the years. With each attempt that was a flop, I used to get disheartened and swear I'd never bother making Jamoons again. Then again on a day I was in a particularly adventurous mode, I'd give it another go and end up feeling disappointed all over again.

Then last year during Vegan MoFo I made Jamoons again, following Richa's recipe from her blog Vegan Richa. They were made of almonds and oats and were delicious, but their texture pretty different from the Jamoons I had eaten while growing up.

My next attempt was a few months later, when I suddenly had a light bulb moment of deep frying cupcake batter and soaking that in sugar syrup. The result was yummy! Slightly more close to 'real' Jamoons. But I had made the mistake of frying the Jamoons in coconut oil, so upon refrigeration, they became hard and more like Baadushas than Jamoons. I figured I'd make them again with oil that doesn't harden upon chilling and then share the recipe here but I guess I must've finally gotten bored of trying to make Jamoons, so I never got around to doing it.

I finally remembered Jammons again last week, after all this time, when someone on our Vegan Bangalore facebook group asked for a vegan Jamoon recipe. That's when Dr.Varadarangan shared a link to his wife's fantastic Sweet Potato Jamoon recipe on their website, Prevanka. The moment I read the recipe, I just knew I had to try it out. And the next thing I knew, I was ordering sweet potatoes.

This Jamoon recipe is the closest I have ever gotten to my grandmother's Khova based Jamoons. They could be a little more soft so they absorb the sugar syrup better, but other than that, the taste and texture were really impressive. All I need to do is learn to mix the dough with a lighter touch to make the balls more fluffy and I know I'll hit the perfect Jamoons. Finally! :)

I reduced the quantities a little and added a bit of saffron for garnish, but other than that, I pretty much followed Ms.Veena Varadarangan's original recipe. I thought I'd expand on the step by step details of the method below, so that people who would be attempting Jamoons for the first time don't make the mistakes that I've made in my previous Jamoon-making experiences. A reliable recipe is the key to making good Jamoons, but the precise method of making them is just as important.

Vegan Sweet Potato Jamoons

For the Jamoon Balls:

500 gms Sweet Potatoes (3 large sized ones)
1 C All Purpose Flour (loosely packed)
1/4 tsp Baking Soda (I think I'll try Baking Powder next time)
2 tsp Sugar
Pinch of Salt
Sesame Oil for Deep Frying.

For the Sugar Syrup:

1 C Sugar
1 C Water
2 pods Cardamom
Pinch of Saffron

Steam or boil the sweet potatoes until tender.
Peel and mash them well.
Sieve together the all purpose flour and baking soda.
Add the flour to the sweet potato and mix gently, without kneading.
Do not add any water, just mix in enough flour to form a soft dough.
Cover and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
Pinch off bits of dough and very gently and quickly shape them into 1 inch balls (I got around 30-35 balls).
If the balls get pressed too much, they will become dense and not absorb the syrup, that's why it's important to get the balls as smooth as you can without pressing too hard.
Cover and let the balls sit for 5-10 minutes.

Heat the sugar and water together in a wide pan.
Stir until the sugar melts.
Crush the cardamom pods to coarsely powder the seeds and add.
Simmer on a low heat for a few minutes, until it becomes a thin, sticky syrup.
Turn off the heat and add a few strands of saffron.
Cover and keep the syrup warm.
If the syrup cools a lot before the balls are done, then warm it up again on a low flame, for a few minutes before adding the balls.

Heat sesame oil in a wok and deep fry the balls until they are golden brown.
The heat should be on medium-high so the balls cook well on the inside and outside.
If the flame is too low, the balls won't expand and if it is too high, then the outside will brown too quickly and the insides won't get cooked.
Place the balls on a tissue paper to drain out excess oil and let them cool for at least 5 minutes.
It's very important to let the balls cool before adding to the syrup, otherwise they'll collapse and become rubbery.
I just deep fry the whole batch of balls and then add them to the syrup together after a few minutes.

Cover and let them soak for at least 2 hours.
They taste best after sitting in the syrup overnight, in the fridge.
Jamoons taste equally delicious when served cold or hot (20 seconds in the microwave).

It's tempting to pop them in your mouth whole, but slice through them with a spoon and have each bite with some sugar syrup for the full experience.

Enjoy! :)