Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes and Preparing for Vegan MoFo 2013

It's looming and I'm going crazy! Yes, it's that time of the year again. The time to freak out and go nuts because yet again I've committed to blogging about vegan food every day (or at least every weekday) of the month for a whole month.

Vegan MoFo 2013 is in September this year, folks. And guess what, *someone* decided that the stress of daily blogging just wouldn't be enough. Yep! I had to go and add a challenge into the mix. I'm doing a RAW VEGAN FOOD theme this year.

My hubby is partly to blame for this because *he* was the one who was like, "oooooh why don't you do a smoothie for every day of Vegan Mofo?" And since the raw food idea was already in my head, all I needed was his oh so helpful suggestion to make me believe creating 20-30 raw food recipes in a short span of time would be a super bright idea. So I replied, "yeah, totally! Smoothies are a great idea and instead of just smoothies, I'll do all kinds of raw foods." And before I knew it, wheeee I was signing up for Vegan MoFo and typing out my theme as Raw Vegan Food.

So now you know why my blog's been recipe-less for a couple of weeks now. I've been so busy thinking up recipes for next month that I just haven't been able to share my non MoFo recipes with you here.

Today I thought, before the excitement and the mad rush and the sheer awesomeness of Vegan MoFo begins and takes over my blog, I'd better drop in here and give you all an update. And while I'm at it, here's a nice baked baby potatoes recipe I made recently.

Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes

1/2 kg Baby Potatoes

Marinade ingredients:
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Jaggery Syrup
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp Coconut Oil
Thyme
Salt

Optional for drizzling:
Tabasco Chipotle Sauce (which I very lovingly refer to as "glug glug")

* Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil.
* Wash and scrub the potatoes well.
* Pierce them all over with a fork.
* Drop them into the boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes.
* Drain and keep aside.

* Meanwhile, whisk all the marinade ingredients together.
* Toss the baby potatoes in the marinade, cover and allow to soak in the flavours for 6-8 hours.

* Line a baking tray with aluminium foil or wax paper.
* Pick the potatoes out of the marinade and arrange them on the baking tray (save the remaining marinade liquid).
* Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 400°F.
* Bake the potatoes for 30 minutes.
* Increase the heat to 250°C / 450°F and bake for another 15 minutes.

* Serve the potatoes hot, drizzled with some of the marinade liquid and Tabasco Chipotle Sauce.
* Enjoy! :)

Announcing the winners of the Krya Vegan Challenge and Giveaway

Last month, I hosted a giveaway for Krya's products here. Two people entered and they are going to receive these awesome Krya goodies - Krya Natural Detergent and Krya Natural Dishwash. The rest of you people who were too lazy to enter, you can go ahead and feel very jealous now. :D

Congrats Gina Vijaykumar and Logasaraswathy Kathiresan! :)

Thank you so much for entering, Logasaraswathy and Gina. Please send your mailing address with a link to this blog post to Preethi at goodies@krya.in and she will send you your prize packs. Enjoy! :)

Here are the entries:

Gina, who is not vegan, shared her completely vegan meal and her thoughts on vegan food:

"This was our simple Sunday lunch of mixed veg fried rice with lobia curry. Vegan meals are much lighter on the system - you do not feel bloated or sluggish. We enjoyed our meal sans animal products. We are vegan a couple of days a week. Today is one of those days :)"



Logasaraswathy, who is a vegan, entered the challenge with two recipes she tried from my blog:

1. Vegan Very Vanilla Cake



2. Vegan 'Rasmalai'



This is what she had to say:

"The 'Rasmalai' is not 'raw' in my recipe, as I had added sugar. I will surely try it with agave nectar soon!

Why I feel, I should win this prize?
Because (just two reasons!)
1. Apart from being Vegan, I'm trying my best to be Eco-friendly, by buying and using organic products; and also trying to minimize my wants. I'm a regular customer of Krya.
2. I'm a regular visitor of both the Blogs - Veganosaurus & Krya!"

Creamy Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse

As many of you know, I really love tofu. I enjoy it in all kinds of forms - marinated and baked, grilled, scrambled, stir fried, seared...the possibilities are endless with this versatile ingredient.

Tofu was one of the first new (to me) foods that I started to experiment with in my early years of vegan cooking. Though I mainly enjoy it in flavourful, savoury dishes now, in those days, tofu usually got turned into some form of dessert. I have made puddings, mousses, ice creams and cake toppings with it. I have even tried (unsuccessfully) to make jamoon and rasgulla with tofu.



Today I've found other, sometimes better, alternatives for many of the desserts, but when it comes to vegan mousse, nothing comes close to tofu, and silken tofu at that. No other kind of tofu can match up to the creaminess and flavour of the silken kind. Believe me, I've tried with all the local tofus available and though I enjoy many, if not all, of them in other dishes, silken tofu is the only one which hits the spot with mousse.

In India, the only brand of silken tofu I've seen is Mori-Nu. Though I would not normally trust soy products that come from USA, this one I'm more than happy to use because it's clearly labelled as Non-GMO. Plus, they also claim that they don't use any preservatives so that's a bonus.

If it isn't Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, then the only other tofu I would prefer to use in my vegan mousse is tofu that I've made at home from scratch. But I haven't done that in a while now because it's a lot of work. :p



I personally truly enjoy eating good old dark chocolate mousse all by itself, but sometimes I make variations on it when I have visitors over. I mean, one can't keep serving the same dessert to guests over and over again no matter how much they love it. :D

This Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse is delicious way to wind up a dinner party. It's fairly easy to make and it has a fancy look and texture to it because of the layers. When I've served it to my friends and family, it has definitely made an impression.



Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse

For the Couscous Base Layer:
1/2 C Couscous
1 T Cocoa Powder
1-2 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
1/4 C Sugar (adjust quantity to taste)
1 T Coconut Oil
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract or Seeds Scraped out from half a Vanilla Bean
Splash of Malibu or other Rum
Pinch of Salt

* Bring 1/2 C water to boil in a heavy bottomed pan.
* Add couscous, stir and turn off the heat.
* Cover and keep aside for 5 minutes.
* Add all other ingredients, except rum and vanilla extract, and 1/4 C of water.
* Stir continuously and heat for a few minutes until the water is absorbed.
* Take the pan off the stove, add rum and vanilla and mix well.
* Allow to cool to room temperature.
* Place in fridge.

For the Mousse Layer:
1 block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
1/2 C Cashews
1 T Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
3 T Coconut Oil
1/4 C Sugar (adjust quantity to taste)
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract or Seeds Scraped out from half a Vanilla Bean
Generous splash of Malibu or other Rum
Pinch of Salt

* Blend all the ingredients together.
* Add a little water and blend into a thick cream.
* Taste and adjust sugar and flavourings as desired.
* Whip for a few minutes.

To assemble:
* Place some of the mocha couscous in a few serving cups/glasses and press.
* Spoon mousse layer over the couscous.
* Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
* Serve cold.
* Enjoy! :)

Notes:
* Malibu is the best rum to use in the mousse to enhance the coconut flavour but plain rum can be substituted.
* Alcohol can be skipped entirely but mousse tastes best with at least some amount of alcohol in it.
* The cocoa powder has to be of excellent quality.
* I like using Bru Gold instant coffee powder in my recipes but any other high quality, 100% pure, instant coffee powder can be used too.



If you live in India and would like to make this recipe at home, you can source the special ingredients easily by purchasing the Creamy Coconut Mocha Couscous Mousse Rare Ingredients Chef's Box that's been put together by Global Graynz.

Vegan Baking Demo at Carrots on Saturday, 20th July 2013

About ten days ago, I had a vegan baking demo at Carrots, The Healthy Kitchen and Store. I've mentioned Carrots, the first vegan restaurant in Bangalore, in my blog posts many times this year.



A few weeks ago, Krishna, the co-founder of Carrots, invited me to teach baking/cooking classes to his staff. Many people who follow my blog and facebook page have asked me to conduct vegan baking classes, so I figured that since I was going to teach some recipes to Chef Ram (Carrots' new Bakery Chef), we could extend that into an interesting demo event. We decided on a Monsoon Afternoon Chai and Baked Goodies theme.

About 11 people signed up to attend the event but we had a bunch of walk-ins and ended up with a total of 15 participants. A couple of them were my good friends who attended to support me but most others were people I met for the first time. I was very happy that I got to meet and speak with all these new, interesting people. It was also nice to hear that some of them have been following my blog and trying out the recipes here for a while now. :)

The event went well for the most part and despite certain imperfections, many participants said that they enjoyed the demo and would be trying out the recipes at home once I posted them here.

My darling hubby, Milesh, patiently recorded the demo. It has taken me some time to edit the videos. I wanted to do this last week but I was travelling. As soon as I got back this week, I started working on the videos so I could share them here along with the recipes. I've divided them into multiple parts for the purpose of organisation.

I apologize in advance for the annoying background noises in the videos. The screaming toddler, creaking buffet vessels, clanking cutlery, the buzz of customers and staff talking in the background - we hadn't anticipated any of these disturbances. The expectation was that the buffet would be closed and the crowd cleared out by 3:30 or so, leaving us with a fairly silent space to do the demo. The participants themselves were watching the demo with rapt attention and were NOT the ones responsible for the ruckus. :p

Now without further ado, let's move on to the recipes you've all been waiting for.

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Basic Vegan Chocolate Cake



Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour or Maida
3 T Good Quality Cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder (or 1/2 tsp Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp Baking Soda)

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 C White or Brown Sugar
5 T Coconut or Olive Oil
1 T White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Coffee Powder - or Vanilla/Orange/Almond/Mint Extracts
1 C Cool or Cold Water

* Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
* Lightly grease an 8 or 9 inch, round or square cake pan (no greasing required if using a non-stick pan).

* Sieve the dry ingredients together a few times.
* Whisk all the wet ingredients (except oil) together until at least half the sugar has dissolved.
* Add the oil and whisk some more.

* To make the cake batter, pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and quickly mix until there are no large lumps.
* Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and immediately pop it into the preheated oven.
* Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a few cracks have formed on the cake's surface.
* Cool completely in the pan.
* Slice and Serve.
* Enjoy! :)

--

Whole Wheat Buns



For the yeast proofing:
1/2 C Warm Water
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 T Sugar

Dry ingredients for the dough:
3-4 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C Sugar - can be less
2 tsp Salt
2 T Flax Seed Powder

Wet ingredients for the dough:
1 C Vegan Mylk or Water
3 T Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

* Add 2 T sugar and yeast to 1/2 C warm water.
* Stir and keep aside for 10-15 minutes, until the yeast has dissolved and is frothing a bit.

* Mix 3 C of the whole wheat flour with the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl.
* Add the oil and mix.
* Add the yeast mixture and 1 C vegan mylk or water and whisk.

* Gradually add whole wheat flour and mix until the dough comes together into a rough ball.
* Transfer to a floured surface and knead very well until you get a soft, elastic ball of dough.
* Pour some oil in the large mixing bowl, place the ball of dough in it and twirl to coat with oil.
* Cover and allow to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours, until doubled in volume.

* Press down on the risen dough and shape into buns.
* Optionally stuff the buns with your favourite vegetable mixture (a potato palya filling tastes yum).
* Place the buns on a tray, cover and keep aside for 1 hour, until the buns have risen well.

* Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F.
* Bake the buns for about 40 minutes.
* Cool in the tray for 10 minutes.
* Transfer to cooling rack and cool well.
* Enjoy! :)

--

Quick and Easy, Gluten Free Almond Coconut Cookies



1 C Almond-Sesame Flour (grind almonds and sesame seeds in a ratio of 3:1 to get this flour)
1 C Desiccated Coconut Powder
1/2 C Bajra (Pearl Millet) Flour
1/2 C Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
Water

* Preheat oven to 250°C / 480°F.
* Lightly grease a baking tray or line it with aluminium foil.

* Mix all the dry ingredients.
* Add a little water at a time to form a stiff dough.
* Pinch off small balls of the dough and flatten into 1 1/2 inch cookies that are about 1/4 inch thick.

* Bake for 10 minutes.
* Allow to cool slightly and transfer to wire rack.
* You can have it warm or at room temperature.
* Enjoy! :)

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Vegan Mylk and Masala Chai



For the Nut and Seed Mylk:
1/4 C Cashews
1/4 C Sesame Seeds
1/4 C Flax Seeds
Water

* Grind the nuts and seeds together into a fine powder.
* Add a little water at a time and blend to get a smooth, creamy paste.
* Add more water and blend until you reach the desired consistency.

For the Masala Chai:
3/4 C Water
3 Cloves
1 Cardamom Pod
1/2 inch Cinnamon Stick
1/2 inch Fresh Ginger - crushed
5 Black Pepper Corns - crushed
1/2 to 1 tsp Sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp Tea Powder
1/2 to 3/4 C Nut and Seed Mylk (should not be too thick)

* Boil the spices in the water for a couple of minutes.
* Add sugar at this point and boil.
* Add the tea powder and boil for a few seconds.
* Reduce the heat to low, quickly pour in the mylk and stir.
* Bring to a short boil and turn off the heat.
* Strain and serve hot.
* Enjoy! :)

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If you attended the demo, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how you liked it and how we can make future events a better experience for you.

Thanks for reading and watching all the videos. When you try out the recipes, do leave a comment here letting me know how you like them. :)

Happy Morning Banana Mocha Smoothie

Monday morning zombiness? Treat yourself to a large mug full of Happy Morning Banana Mocha Smoothie and zip through your week like a boss! :D



I'm probably going to be hated for saying this, but Monday mornings aren't such a big deal to me. :p Considering I work for myself, on my own schedule, I sometimes like to extend my weekend until late afternoon on Mondays. But, this means my Fridays are very packed. I want to finish off all pending work and household chores from the week so that I am mentally free during the weekends.

This last Saturday was a busy one for me. I had a baking event at Carrots where I demonstrated how to make vegan brownies, cookies, bread and tea. I'll be posting the event video and recipes next week. So Friday was an especially busy day for me because I had a lot to get done. I made this awesome smoothie for myself on Friday morning and it really helped me buzz about my day's work super smoothly. :D

I figured, Monday would be a great day to share this recipe with all of you. Here's a step by step tutorial: