Hobby And More

Quinoa Oat Flat bread Mini Pizza with Spinach hummus, Roasted Beets and Red bell pepper. vegan glutenfree, gumfree

2012-01-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

So I was thinking of making a long post with gf buns, but then I made these individual pizzas the other day and thought that these could make a great superbowl snack!

The flat bread is glutenfree and has cooked quinoa, oats and potato starch, no gum, soy or corn. It is a slightly dense bread. Add 2-3 Tablespoons more potato starch to make the dough lighter. The oats can be substituted with half sorghum half starch. I like my breads light and airy, but for gf breads to be really airy, you need a lot more starch and of course it needs to be steamed to really get them air bubbles!

For a with gluten, wheat flour version of the flat bread see Tomato Sprouted Quinoa Flat bread here.

The cooking method used for this flat bread, is stove top with some steam. This stove top method can be used to make the Glutenfree Naan bread I posted earlier. I made some gf Naan on stove top, kept the Naan bread thinner and it comes out soft and airy! not as super airy as the steamed one, but good enough.

This is a protein filled snack with the Quinoa and hummus and some grilled veggies. Sure to keep you full for the game. You can serve the flat bread sliced up like pita with hummus as well. I stored one in the refrigerator overnight, and put it in the microwave to lightly warm it..and it was soft again.

For more Snack ideas like Beet Chickpea burger, Apple Fries, tempeh kebab bites,, check out the Savory Snacks Album on my facebook page here. Pictures with recipe links!

Method:

Spinach Hummus:

In a pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil, 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon tahini or sesame seeds, 1 dry red chili. Cook on medium heat for half a minute. Add 1/2 cup cooked or canned chickpeas, 1/2 teaspoon salt or taste. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup packed chopped spinach and mix well. Cook for a minute or so, until most of the spinach just about starts to wilt.

Cool to warm and puree with a little water into desired consistency.

Tomato Quinoa flat bread: Makes 4, 5 inch breads

1/4 cup quinoa, uncooked

1/2 cup water, to cook quinoa

1/2 medium tomato chopped

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon flaxmeal

1 Tablespoons organic canola oil

1/3 cup rolled gf Oats, ground fine

1/4 cup potato starch (add 3 Tbspns more for a lighter bread)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3+ Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon active yeast

1 teaspoon raw sugar

2/3 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cumin powder and dried basil flakes

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes or powder or cayenne or omit

Directions:

Cook the 1/4 cup Quinoa in 1/2 cup water,in a covered container till done. Let cool to a warm state.
In a bowl, add a Tablespoon of warm water, yeast and sugar. Mix and let sit until frothy,
In another bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients(oats, starch, salt, spices, baking powder) till well combined. Add this to the yeast mixture. dont mix yet.
In a blender, blend the cooked quinoa, oil, flaxmeal, vinegar and the Tomato and 2 Tablespoons water, just enough so the tomato is well blended.
Add this mix to the yeast and flours and and mix well for a minute to get a stiff batter.
Spritz the top liberally with water and Let this mix sit in a warm place, covered, for 1-2 hours.
The batter will be more doughy since the Oats will absorb some moisture. Oil hands and knead to get it all together. The mix will now be doughy and handle-able. If too dry, spray some water.
Make 4 balls and pat each of them to desired thickness on parchment. Keep them thin 1/8 inch.
Spray water on top and cover with a damp towel and let sit in a warm place for 40-45 minutes.
Heat up a pan or girdle which has a well fitting lid, on high heat until hot.
Reduce heat to medium-high. Take one of the flat breads. Peel the parchment away from the bread and not the bread from the parchment.(flip the parchment on your hand and peel it slowly off the bread, while the bread is resting on your hand)
Place the bottom of the bread(which you just peeled from the parchment, the more moist side) on the heated pan.
Quickly spray the top of the bread and the surrounding with water and close the lid.
Cook for a minute to minute and a half. Open lid, and flip the bread. make a small trial bread to figure out cooking time since each pan and heating method(gas, electric stove etc acts differently).
Cover and cook the other side for a minute. Take off pan and continue with the rest of the breads. I cook only one at a time in the pan, because once the top has been sprayed, you want to close the lid soon to trap a little steam. Let bread rest for 2-4 minutes.
These breads dont go dry or go stale in the refrigerator for 2 days. You can make these ahead of time or right before serving. Top off the cooked side with the hummus, beet and grilled Red bell pepper while the other side is cooking. Close the lid for a minute and everything will get heated up to serve.

Arrangement:

If you have the breads, hummus and roasted veggies made before hand. Then arrange the bread, top with hummus and roasted/grilled veggies, vegan cheeze, and broil for 1 minute to 1.5. or microwave it for 30 seconds per flatbread. I'd actually love me some fresh crumbled falafel and pomegranate on these breads too!

Roasted Beet:

Take the whole beet and wrap it nicely in a foil. Place wrapped beet on a tray and bake it at 365 degrees F for 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the beet.

Take out of the oven, let cool. Peel, chop, use or refrigerate for 3-4 days.

Phew, one down, 2 more snack posts to go! What are your plans for the weekend.

This mini pizza filled with love is headed to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Ricki's Wellness Weekend and Cara's Valentines bake off. Well do you see those pretty heart shaped red peppers.. i say i am done with sweet valentine!

The 4th picture below is the wheat Tomato Sprouted Quinoa non gf flatbread.

Red Beet, Pear, Minneola orange and Apple Smoothie. vegan, glutenfree

2012-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Another way to use up the Seasonal fruits and veggies. A pretty colored smoothie. Lightly cooked and spiced! and as hubbs points out.. a gorgeous color for a love potion!

It is one of those days when I have like a 1000 pictures to look through, select and edit and cant decide which recipe pictures to edit and post! So I chose the simplest one :) I made a fun green smoothie the other day, but it just feels like a bright color kind of week.

Check out more fun smoothies/coolers like Strawberry Mango Mint cooler or the spiced Blueberry Strawberry or the Pomegranate Apple Satsuma!

Method:

In a pressure cooker or deep pan, add a cup of water, 1/2 medium red Beet peeled and chopped, 1 Pear chopped, 1 Apple chopped and juice of 1 Orange( you can even add some seedless pulp).

Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon rock salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon raw Sugar or agave, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or 1 tablespoon cilantro or any herb of choice. (I sometimes add 1/2 an inch of young ginger. Dont add mature and fibrous ginger)

Pressure cook for 1 whistle or cook covered for 10-15 minutes on low-medium heat until most fruit is tender.

Cool and blend to a puree. Taste and adjust water consistency, salt, sugar. Garnish with black pepper, cumin powder or dried herbs. drink! Of course, you can spike it with your favorite liquor in the evening.

This pretty smoothie is headed to Sugar free Sunday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, Allergy Free Wednesdays,

Continuing with the cause from my previous post about abandoned girls, and a Fund raiser by Siri to help one of the Ashrams working to help those girls with care and education.

Why are there so many abandoned girls you say. You will find the answer in this documentary below.

The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today because of this so-called "gendercide".
This documentary film tells the stories of abandoned and trafficked girls, of women who suffer extreme dowry-related violence, of brave mothers fighting to save their daughters' lives, and of other mothers who would kill for a son.
Learn more about the film at www.itsagirlmovie.com

Find them on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ShadowlineFilms

Watch the trailer below. There is no gore in the trailer, just words, but the spoken words are brutal. Viewer discretion is advised.

Panch Phoran Shalgam(Turnip with indian 5 spice mix). Vegan glutenfree. And a Fundraiser for Vaidehi Ashram

2012-01-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

Belated Republic Day wishes to all fellow Indians. Fund drive information below the recipe.

A quick dry veggie side today. The spice mix used for this turnip preparation is called Panch Phoran. is a spice blend used in Bangladesh and Eastern India, especially in Mithila, Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cuisine. The name literally means "five spices". The spices typically used are fenugreek seed, Nigella seed, cumin seed, radhuni and fennel seed in equal parts. Celery seed sometimes is used in place of radhuni. I usually substitute mustard seeds for radhuni. Usually this spice is mix has whole spices and is used as is, sometimes I coarsely grind the mix for a more mixed up flavor. This spice mix is fantastic both ways. If you are not a fan of the heat in garam masala or the bland in the yellow curry powder, give this mix a try in dry veggie subzis.

You can find the mix in an Indian store or make your own with the whole spices in equal quantities.

This spice blend can be used to make any dry vegetable side dish. Try it with cauliflower, belleppers and potatoes, just potatoes, or any not too sweet chunky vegetable. The nigella seeds have a distinctive onion-garlic-pickle kind of taste, so its not necessary to add garlic or other strong flavors. Fenugreek gives the bitter and fennel and cumin the fresh taste.

Panch phoran- Mix equal quantities of Fennel, Fenugreek, brown mustard, Nigella and Cumin seeds.

Directions: Serves 1

In a medium pan, add a teaspoon of organic canola oil and heat at medium.

When the oil is hot, add 1-2 teaspoons of coarsely ground Paanch phoran. Start with 1 teaspoon, you can add more later to taste. The spices have quite a strong individual taste.

Mix for a half a minute till the spices start to give out an aroma.

Add 1/4 cup chopped onion and mix well.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until translucent.

Add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and mix.

Add 3/4-1 cup peeled and chopped/cubed Turnip, 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste and chili flakes or black pepper to taste.

Mix well, cook covered on low heat for 10-12 minute, or until tender(depends on the size of the cubes) Stir occasionally in between. Also, taste test when just about done and adjust salt and spice mix.

Serve hot as a side.

This quick Turnip is headed to Ricki's Wellness weekend, Amee's Fit and Fab Friday and Allergy Friendly Fridays, Simple and in Season Jan

Siri, a fellow food blogger based in India is giving away goodies and raising funds for Vaidehi Ashram, a home for destitute girls, which provides shelter, food, education and nurtures the child for holistic growth. You can read about Siri's vistis to the Ashram here.

The girls here are also taught fine arts such as music, painting, dance and handicrafts etc. They are also provided with sufficient knowledge about good food and health which they in turn use to educate and empower women in nearby slum areas. The Ashram has girls of all ages, Teenagers to Toddlers, who have never known the meaning of parents or a family.

If you read about Siri's trips, you will see how dearly the girls at the Ashram value what they have, they do not waste even a single grain or lentil that is served for meals.

If you would like to participate, there are more than 40 items like Books, Camera lenses, props for food photography, Ice-cream maker, vouchers and more(Available for shipping in US, India and some worldwide), donated by the food blogging community. You can donate via the chip in below, or on Siri's page here, $10 gets you 1 Raffle ticket), you can use that raffle ticket towards any of the 40 donated items. email Siri at info(dot)siri(at)gmail.com with your donated amount and raffle preferences. Detailed instructions on Siri's page here.

Grape Multigrain Sandwich Bread Loaf. Vegan

2012-01-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

I made this bread early December, and another few times since then too, when hubbs got a package of ripe juicy huge California Seedless Grapes, ate half the pack and promptly forgot about them for the next few days. You know me, I put all sorts of fruits and veggies in my breads and use them up!
Sometime last month, I took a break from baking breads to try out some new Vegan and Mutigrain options from the market and also try my hand at some gf yeast bread baking. There was obvious comparison of the market breads with my home made breads, And as my kind hubbs so sweetly says about home made breads..
1. They do Not taste like cardboard
2. They do Not break your teeth(my teeth are not super hard walnut cracking machines and some of those 10-15 grains in some breads are just not very chewable or fun, even for hubbs)
3. They hold up very well in Sandwiches and french toasts(hello soggy supermarket bread french toasts)
4. Chewie likes them(he does not like 100% whole wheat cardboard bread. can you imagine that! He will do 5 rollovers even for my burnt bread!, here's a vid of him doing the rollover, with my mom)
5. The breads are fluffy, soft and muchable by themselves, even when filled with a good amount of whole grains..
6. They do Not taste like cardboard....

The addition of fruits adds a mild flavor to the bread and balances out some of the bitterness from some grains and it also helps keep the bread more moist and soft. These breads might not be 100% whole wheat or filled with 20 grains, but there is a good balance in there. You can eat a slice of my bread as is and not get a white carb sugar high! Most of my breads can be found on my Pinterest Bread and buns board here.

Name any fruit and you will find a bread with it. Blueberries, strawberries, apples are my faves. There's Beet, Spinach, Pear, carrots, Mango and more in some of my Breads!

I used Arrow head mills 4 grains + flax hot cereal in this loaf. It has barley and rye grits, steel cut oats, cracked wheat and flax. I add my own cooked whole grains sometimes like cooked Quinoa, oats, millet and wheat berries.

Ingredients:

2+ cups bread flour

1 cup Whole wheat flour

1/3 cup millet or sorghum flour(I used millet)

1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten(optional)

1/2 cup hot cereal(I used Arrow head mills 4 grain+flax. becomes more than a cup after cooking) Use 1/3 cup whole grain cereal, to keep dough more handle-able.

1 cup water to cook cereal

2 Tablespoons warm water

2 teaspoons active yeast

1 cup ripe fat organic Grapes

2 Tablespoons raw sugar or equivalent sugar substitute

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon coconut oil

2 Tablespoons organic canola oil

Directions:

Cook the hot cereal in double the amount of water on low-medium heat, till the grains are soft(around 10 minutes). Let cool to a warm state. You can also add other cooked grains like Quinoa, barley, millet etc. Add a total 1 cup of cooked cereal.
Blend the cereal, raw sugar and grapes into a puree and keep ready.
Warm 2 Tablespoons water and add 1 teaspoon raw sugar and yeast, mix and let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy. (If using stevia, dont add it to yeast mix. Add a teaspoon of flour instead of the sugar, mix and let it get frothy. Add stevia or natural sweetener to the grape mix.)
In the mixer bowl, add the flours(start with 1.5 cups bread flour), salt and whisk.
Add in the oils, and yeast mixture and mix a bit.
Add in the warm grape puree and knead for 6-8 minutes, scraping the sides every 2-3 minutes into a not too sticky and soft dough. Add more bread flour or water if needed.
Place dough in well greased container. Spritz top with water, cover and let rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled( depends on ambient temperature)
Take dough out, knead it for a minute using a little more bread flour to reduce the stickyness(the fruit makes the dough stickier because of more moisture)
Shape into a loaf by pulling on all sides, or by patting dough into a rectangle and rolling it like a jelly roll.
Place in parchment lined regular bread loaf pan (with seam side down if jelly roll).
Spritz top with water and then with oil and cover and let rise in a warm place,for 45 minutes or until doubled.
Bake at 365 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, or until a tap on the top sounds hollow.
Take bread out of the pan soon after removing from the oven.
Let cool for an hour before slicing. I usually refrigerate it another hour before slicing for less crumbly slices.

This bread is headed to Susan's Weekly Yeastspotting,Hearth and soul blog hop,Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,

Farfalle with Swiss Chard Pesto. vegan

2012-01-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Another quick weeknight meal or lunch idea. Both the pasta and the pesto can be prepared ahead of time and kept. Warm, assemble, refresh with some pepper, cashew or dried basil and serve! Swiss chard gives the pesto a bright green color and it stays that way even when refrigerated. Use glutenfree pasta for a gf meal.

Swiss Chard is one of the most nutritious vegetables around and ranks second only to Spinach in total nutrient-richness of the World's Healthiest vegetables. Cooking it lightly also helps reduce the oxalic acid and hence letting the body absorb more calcium and other nutrients. Chard along with some fortified pasta and nuts and you have a well balanced meal!

We usually get like 12-15 stems of different greens every week! So What else can you do with a bunch of chard?

Add a finely chopped leaf to any of the Daal soups.

Make some Cremini mushroom, rainbow chard and Shallots soup.

Add some to the stuffing to add to a Stuffed Naan flat bread.

or to your morning Chilla- gf breakfast thick crepe!

Ingredients: Serves 1 hungry person or 2 not so hungry.

1.5-2 cups farfalle, cooked al-dente with salt ( or any pasta of choice. Use gf pasta for a gf meal)

5 big Swiss chard leaves and ribs
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil or organic canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or black pepper
1/2 cup packed basil ( or use 2 Tablespoons basil pesto)
1/4 cup raw cashews
1-2 Tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil

1/4+ cup water (coz my blender needs some water to blend well. and hence made about 1 cup of pesto)
Directions:
Heat olive oil/canola in a pan on low-medium heat, add garlic and chopped Swiss chard. Cook covered on low for 4-6 minutes or until the chard just about starts to wilt.
Blend with basil, pepper, EVOO, cashews and a little water if needed. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, without any change in color.

Cook pasta, and serve topped with the pesto.

Garnish with some powdered Raw cashew mixed with nutritional yeast and pepper flakes.

This pasta is headed to Hearth and soul blog hop,Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,Ricki's wellness weekends, Allergy Friendly Fridays.

We had some leftover pesto, so I roasted some large Turnip slices with salt and a little oil the next day, added some fresh chopped tomatoes to the pesto, and topped the Turnip slices with it for a delicious snack!

A thought provoking statistic. One-hundred years ago there were 497 varieties of Lettuce available commercially. Today, there are less than 38. You can participate in the discussion on facebook here

Quinoa Pilaf with Red bell pepper, Leek, Carrot, Peas. vegan, glutenfree

2012-01-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

The snow is all gone and finally we got a partly sunny day, though it was still extremely cold.. I froze my toes! Chewie also feels the cold, if we take him on a longer walk he starts jumping instead of walking. Since we were snowed in all of the week, there was a lot of cooking and trials of glutenfree breads and dinner rolls! The dinner rolls were great if you like the sorghum taste..:) I am getting a hang of it now and liking sorghum(Jowar). I will play around with some millet and other whole grains too, lets see.

This pilaf is a quite neutral flavored(no sharp spice or herbs), so it can go well with any spread.

I also met with Eileen this weekend, the founder of Help Animals India , which is an all-volunteer USA non-profit 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to supporting efficient and effective animal protection organizations in India.

The organizations supported by HAI are well known for their work and dedication towards animals, be it spay neuter campaign for street animals, vegan outreach, cows, wildlife rehabilitation and more.

If you have some fun ideas for raising funds for these amazing organizations, please so send them my way!

Directions:

Cook 1/2 cup Quinoa according to instructions(I usually cook 1/2 cup quinoa it in a little more than 3/4 cups water, roughly 1.5 times water, for about 15 minutes). You can also toast the quinoa a little before adding water for a fluffier nuttier quinoa. Fluff it up as soon as cooked.

In a pan on medium heat, add 2 teaspoons Oil, 1/4 cup chopped Leek, 1/3 cup chopped Carrots and 1/3 cup chopped Red bell pepper. Add other veggies like celery, mushrooms, greens of choice in quantities depending on the amount of cooked quinoa.

Cook for 3-4 minutes, uncovered, until Leek and Carrots start to get brown on the edges.

Add 1/4 tsp or to taste chili flakes or chopped green chili, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil and 1/4 cup Peas and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add in the cooked quinoa, 2/3 teaspoon salt and 1/2 tsp lemon juice and mix well.

Cook covered on low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with roasted nuts(cashew or almond slivers, optional), chopped cilantro and serve hot!

This Pilaf is headed to sugar free Sunday, Hearth and soul blog hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, and Allergyfree Wednesdays, Ricki's wellness weekends.

Carrot, Leek, Parsnip soup. vegan glutenfree

2012-01-20T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hey its friday! We are still snowed in, but the snow is now melting away, so hubbs is off to office.. back to the grind! So we got a big parsnip in the local farm delivery and after peeling it I was like, hmmm.. i dont think I like the smell of that thing.. It is quite a pungent smell/taste when raw.. You either like it or you dont. I added some of it to this soup for a warm wintery evening. The carrot and leek help alter the taste for someone who falls in the not a fan of parsnip group :)

This soup is easy and quick.. I think some lemongrass, ginger or some five-spice mix would go well with it too.

Some other yumm soups to check out

Creamy spinach soup ready in 10

Cremini mushroom, rainbow chard and Shallots soup.

Carrot Celery Leek Potato soup

Ingredients:

1 cup carrots chopped

2/3 cup leek chopped

2/3 cup parsnips chopped

1 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon cajun spice blend

freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes to taste

about 1 cup water

Directions:

In a pan, heat oil at medium heat and add leeks to it.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden.

Add the carrots and parsnip and cook covered for 2-3 minutes until parnips start to get tender.

Blend these with 1/2 cup or more water into a puree and pour puree back into the pan.

Add salt, cajun spice and freshly ground black pepper to taste, mix well and bring to a boil.

Taste and adjust, salt spices and water content.

Serve hot topped with parsley or cilantro.

This soup is headed to Ricki's Wellness weekend, Allergy friendly fridays, Amee's Fit and Fab fridays, Simple and in Season Jan

In other news, Please join us in stopping a Dolphinarium in India.

Online petition here:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/9/stop-the-building-of-a-dolphinarium/

Other action items here: http://fiapo.org/index.php/component/content/article/36-action-alerts/347-act-with-fiapo-to-stop-dolphinarium.html

In October, 2011, the Government has approved a Rs 510 crore project to build a dolphin park, with a giant aquarium and a facility to train and keep dolphins along the Arabian Sea coastline in Sindhudurg. Such cruel dolphinariums have been criticised and banned in many countries and yet plans are in place to bring them to India.

Dolphinariums are little more than prisons, for what are sentient marine mammals. In fact, whilst the age of dolphins in the wild is 45 years, 53 per cent of dolphins die within three months of being kept in captivity.

Thank you for your support. For more news of animal welfare in India, please do drop by the FIAPO facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/pages/FIAPO/120832497945926.

Almond Oat cake with Candied papaya. vegan

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mom got us some colored candied papaya(tutti-frutti as it is called in India) last year when she visited, and I made this cake for Dad's birthday then. He fell in love with it and I made it twice more for him and also packed some for his flight! I keep making it with different nuts every few weeks, and soon I will run out of my candied papaya stash. Dad likes crumbly, not too eggy cakes, with sweet dried or candied fruit and both mom and dad were surprised by this moist and melt in your mouth cake, without any eggs or butter! It is always fun to debunk the age old myths about perfect recipes:).

Some other cakes posted before

Carrot Almond Cake

Cranberry Blueberry Upside down cake

Blueberry Apple compote cake

On another note, I am making some picture collections on my facebook page.. Check out the Savory snacks and breakfast collection.

You can use the non colored candied fruit mix(I think it is called hawaiian mix) which has candied papaya, mango and pineapple for the cake too. Or you can make your own candied fruit like Candied beet here.

Mom and Dad have also decided to stop eating Parle-G(its a cookie/biscuit, which is omnipresent in almost all houses in India.. marketing 101!). They got some with them when they were visiting and chewie would get a tiny piece very morning and evening during their tea time.. and he started shedding bunches of hair! now if that doesnt tell you what processed stuff is in that never expiring cookie..:)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup almonds, ground (can be substituted with cashews)

1/4 cup oats, ground

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2/3 cup self rising flour Or all purpose flour +1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3-1/2 cup candied papaya(sweet preference)

1/4 cup raw sugar( the cake itself is mildly sweet since the candied fruit is very sweet)

1/2 cup water

1 Tablespoon flax meal

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil

2 Tablespoons organic canola oil

1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves powder

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

Directions:

In a bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water, flax, oils, vinegar, spices and sugar and whisk for a minute till sugar is well combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Whisk all dry flours, nut flour, baking powder in another bowl.

Add the dry ingredients and candied papaya in the wet mix. Mix till just about combined.

Pour batter in two 4 inch inch ramekins or one 7 or 8 inch round, greased or lined with parchment.

Bake in preheated 360 degrees F for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick from the center comes out clean.(Smaller ramekins will bake quicker)

Cool on rack for 15 minutes before slicing.

This cake is headed to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Hearth and soul blog, Allergy friendly fridays

Whole Red lentil and Mung bean Daal soup with shallots and tomatoes.(Sabut Masoor aur Mung ki daal). vegan glutenfree

2012-01-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

One needs a break doesnt one.. after some eureka moments as posted day before(the glutenfree steamed Naan flat bread and the regular Naan bread ).:).. so here I am after a day's break with some comfort food. Indian Daal.

Most dal soups and curries/gravies are naturally glutenfree and generally vegan if not cooked in butter or cream. Daals are an everyday staple in my house and most days I forget to take pictures. I started adding Kale and chard to the Daals lately, amps up the nutrition and tastes great too! Check out all my Daal posts here.

A quick, nonpressure cooked Yellow Daal here.

There are several different lentils and beans, whole or split, which we cook one type at a time or in combinations of 2-3-4 or 5.. My dad's favorite is the paanch rangi daal(5 color daal, with 5 lentil/beans).

The basic Tadka/Tempering is similar for all daals with variations in the spices used(basic: oil, spices, chili, ginger, garlic, onion, tomato) The same Daal/lentil/beans can pick up a completely different taste with different spices. Here are some changes you can make to the tempering.

-Fennel (Saunf) and Nigella (kalonji)seeds compliment each other, esp with split lentils

-Mustard and cumin seeds, or mustard and coriander seeds

-Cumin and carom(Ajwain) seeds,

-add a bay leaf and/or add cloves(Laung)

-add garam masala

-add only garlic or only ginger

-burn the garlic till it is crisp brown

-skip onions/shallots or skip tomato

-add fried onion or fried shallots or fry some fresh cilantro with the spices

There are also regional preferences, like some regions in india prefer mustard seeds in all Tadkas while my mom cannot live without some cumin. I like fennel seeds with whole lentils,(red and mung bean). and coriander, nigella and mustard in yellow lentils.

You dont need all the spices. you can use just garam masala in the tadka. Add some garam masala to hot oil, add onion and then tomato and cooked lentils!

Curry powder is a modified version of garam masala with added spices that make it not so authentic. Keep an eye out for my mom's home made garam masala which I have to remember to get from her today!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole red lentils (masoor)

1/2 cup whole mung beans(green gram)

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

2.5 cups of water

Tempering/Tadka:

1 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin or fennel seeds

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 bay leaf

1 Serrano chili pepper

5 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 inch ginger chopped

6-8 curry leaves

1/8 teaspoon asafetida(hing)

5-6 fat shallots chopped

1 medium tomato chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

chopped cilantro for garnish.

Directions:

Soak the lentils for atleast 2 hours to overnight. Drain the water and keep ready.

In a pressure cooker, add the oil and heat at medium.

When the oil is hot, add mustard and cumin/fennel seeds and cover(the seeds will sputter out of the cooker).

Add in the curry leaves, asafetida(hing), coriander powder and green chili. Mix for a few seconds.

Add the ginger, garlic and shallots and cook for 2 minutes until shallots turn golden.

Add in the chopped tomato and turmeric powder and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes until tomato is mushy. This is the Tadka.

Add the drained and washed lentils, water and salt and pressure cook on low-medium heat for 3-4 whistles.

Let the pressure release by itself before opening. Serve hot topped with fresh cilantro.

To refresh the daal, add a fresh tadka/tempering. heat oil, add mustard and cumin seeds and some red pepper flakes and pour over the daal.

You can also pressure cook or slow cook the lentils till done and keep, and then add the tempering/tadka to it before serving, simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

Serve hot with Indian flat breads like Roti, Paratha , Naan, or with Rice or pilafs.

This Daal is headed to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Hearth and soul blog, Ricki's Wellness weekend and Glutenfree Wednesday

Glutenfree Naan flat bread! Vegan. Gum, Soy, Nut free

2012-01-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

Pictured above..Naan Take 2. See them holes!

I got requests after my veganized Naan post, for a GF Naan. and I got obsessed with trying to figure out how yeast breads work glutenfree! I started baking breads back in early 2009 and it took me about one whole year to figure out gluten.. ha! and now I had to figure out what to do without all the gluten that makes the bread so airy, soft and in general bread as I know it!
For the regular Vegan-ized, but with gluten Naan - 4 ways(Plain, Avocado, Garlic and Stuffed with Cauliflower, see here.

Naan take 2.

I was initially going to make this post a story of how I got here with several other breads, but this is already going to be a picture heavy post... so another post will be dedicated to the gf sandwich loafs, tarts and buns.

I baked 2 bread loafs with Bob's All purpose GF flour. One had pureed blueberries in it and tasted decent, but the top fell most likely because of a little extra moisture. The second Bob's Gf loaf didnt fall, but I couldnt take the chickpea aftertaste in it. Then I made my own sorghum + rice + starch mix and made a loaf, tart and buns with it. The problem I had with those were a- I used long grain white rice flour and that is a bit gritty and b- I think my taste buds have not got accustomed to the sorghum taste yet.
Most of these were very edible, The tart and buns were consumed, the blueberry loaf was gone, the bob's chickpea loaf and the sorghum loaf were a tad bit dry, so they were not going to be eaten without some intervention. I made crackers out them.. Made bread crumbs and then added a binding flour, water and spices and voila.. crackers! and they were gone in a day.

Naan Take 1 with a little Sorghum. Its a teeny one, hence well shaped.

If you have heard of glutenfree steamed Indian cakes like Idli (Rice and Lentil steamed cakes) and Khaman/Dhokla(Chickpea flour savory cakes), you will know why I thought of steaming the bread. The steamed cakes are very moist and soft.
And I used oats and potato starch as major ingredients, because I kinda know what to expect in terms of taste and texture with them. Please make sure to use glutenfree oats.
I need a glutenfree sampler person who knows these new tastes, to give me feedback about if the final product is supposed to be the way it is. I mean to accept that this is how a gluten less bread would feel, texture wise., or this is how sorghum tastes like! So, if you are close to Seattle downtown and would love to sample some gf goods, ping me!:) I promise I will pass on only the good stuff.

This is gum , soy, nut free.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely ground gf Oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup Potato Starch
1 teaspoon active yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons agave syrup
1 Tablespoon organic canola oil
1/4 cup warm water +1.5-2 Tablespoons water
spices:
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon carom or fennel or nigella seeds
top with nigella or sesame seeds

Directions:
In a bowl, add 1/4 cup warm water and yeast and let it sit until frothy. 10 minutes.
In another bowl, whisk oats flour, potato starch, baking powder, seeds, salt, cumin powder, black pepper, very well.
Add in the dry ingredients to the yeast mix. Add salt, agave and oil and mix well to combine.
Add a tablespoon of water at a time to make a thick batter (not really flowy) . Pictures of the process are from Naan take 3.

Spray top with water so the dough doesnt dry out.
Cover with damp towel or plastic wrap with enough space to double, and Let sit in warm place for 1.5-2 hours or until doubled.
The batter will turn doughy because Oats will absorb the extra moisture.

Below- after rising for 1.5 hours.

Oil hands and pick the dough up and gather into 1 or 2 balls. You can make two, 6 inch flat breads, a bit less than 1/4 inch thick. I made one 8 inch 1/4 inch thick and a small dinner roll for Naan take 3.

Pat the dough into desired shape on parchment. Use parchment size that will fit in your steamer and leave some space for the steam to circulate.

Sprinkle some seeds on top and pat them in.
Spritz top with water. Cover with towel and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour, until almost double.(Let is Rise well. (below, after 45 minutes of rising)

Start up the steamer. Place parchment on steamer tray. Place steamer in container when water is boiling(steam is getting produced continuously).
Cover and steam for 15-16 minutes.
Carefully lift tray or parchment out. Lift up the flatbread and flip it and place on dry parchment, so the bottom doesnt get soggy. (below, parchment has been peeled off the bottom)

You can leave it be at this point and serve after a minute. Or do a quick grill.
Start up a pan on high heat.
Place the flat bread with bottom on heated pan.

Cook for half a minute. Flip and cook for another half a minute.

Let bread cool for half a minute before serving. Serve hot with any favorite indian curries or lentil soups. or cut it up to use as pita or a side.

Substitute spices with dried basil and olive oil to make a pizza base. Top with roasted veggies, cheeze, do a quick broil and serve!

You can also make small dinner rolls and steam them. This quantity will probably give 6.

Store in refrigerator for not more than 2 days. Freeze with parchment separating the flatbreads and ziplocked with least amount of air.
Reheat on pan or toaster and use.
(below fresh Naan bite!) Naan take 3.. gone in 3!

It looks like a long process, but most of it is just rise time. Once you have the breads patted and ready, you can steam them 2 at a time on the steel steamer, or more if you have multilevel bamboo or digital steamer.
I had used 2 Tbsps sorghum flour and 1 Tablespoon cornstarch in the first batch. And the dough was similar.
If you want to try variations, keep atleast 40% Oats and 40% starch and add other flours of choice in the other 20%. Keep the batter moist and let it rise well.

Naan take 2.. day 2 after refrigeration.. still soft and airy!

There are other ways of cooking I have tried and I will do a post about them, but steaming gives the softest bread, and it doesnt get hard or stale as quickly.

If you do try the bread, please do leave me feedback!
This bread is starchy and I will work on a less starchy, more flours and a sandwich loaf version. Till then.. Wish me luck in more successful adventures with gf breads!

This fluffy allergen free flat bread is heading to Cybele pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday, Sugarfree Sunday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Hearth and soul blog, Ricki's Wellness weekend and Susan's Yeastspotting.

Pink Coconut Balls with Beet and Orange. Vegan glutenfree

2012-01-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

Fresh Coconut easy balls for the sweet tooth! And these balls are picking up some pink for Valentines day, else why would I think of adding Beet in them:). These pink balls are just that.. beety balls of coconut and sugar, and a hidden hint of citrus. No other nut or Oil. You cant blame me for adding fresh citrus zest to everything.. it is so refreshing and reminds me of summer, though its cloudy and super cold out. I used raw sugar which makes a light brown syrup, hence causing the pink to be a bit warmer and darker.

Freshly grated coconut yields the best results. But where will you find a coconut, who will break it open, scrape it out and then who will grate it! Well, I might find one in an Indian store, get hubbs to break it and then we both will look at each other about the grating.. And since hubbs is uber busy.. I used frozen shredded coconut..:)

You can find frozen fresh coconut in indian stores and a whole coconut in any asian supermarket.
Want some more coconut.. check out Coconut Almonds Rum Balls, ready in 5 minutes! made with dried shredded coconut flakes. They taste heavenly after a few hours of Rum getting absorbed in each small flake!

These pink balls are heading to Cara's Valentines Day Bake off!
3 Winners will be chosen, with 75$ giftcard to any store of choice! So if you have some fun Vegan and Glutenfree Valentiny ideas.. drop them off at Cara's before Feb 6th. Feel free to grab the below badge for your posts.

Ingredients: 8-10 balls
7.5 Tablespoons raw sugar or jaggery
3.5 Tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 Tablespoon grated red beet
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder or spice of choice
1+ cup shredded fresh coconut, not dried (depends on whether you are using freshly grated or frozen)
2 Tablespoons dried coconut flakes for rolling
Directions:
In a pan, mix the sugar and water and bring to a boil, Add zest, beet and spice and keep boiling on low till the syrup reaches soft ball consistency (a drop of syrup in cold water will form a soft ball and not mix in the water).
Add shredded coconut and mix. Add enough coconut so the mixture is a slightly stiff batter instead of liquid. If using frozen coconut, there will be some moisture and you might need to add more coconut after a minute of cooking.
Keep cooking the mix on low heat, stirring occasionally, till it comes together as a ball(15-20 minutes).
Pat this mix on parchment lined tray(6 by 3), let cool for 10 minutes and then cut into squares, or use a heart shaped cookie cutter, or roll into balls. Roll balls into dried shredded coconut. You can also dip the balls or heart shapes in some melted vegan chocolate! Dip and let set on parchment.
Put in pink tissue lined boxes and gift.

These pinkies are also headed to Ricki's wellness Weekend, Amee's Fit and Fab fridays, Slighlty indulgent Tuesdays

General Tso's Tempeh. vegan glutenfree

2012-01-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

This is non fried version of the General Tsos saucy Tempeh with a citrusy twist. Add some blanched Broccoli or bok choy to it for a bigger portion and some greens. You know who reads my blog on her Iphone these days? My mom! She has one from her visit here in october and she is adept at all things I- ... Ipad, Iphone. She reads the blog and gets her own creative ideas and makes things.. She saw my Naan post and made some with baking powder, yogurt and whole wheat flour and surprised Dad!

I usually either marinate the tempeh for a few hours or cook it in broth, for a more flavorful result. Tempeh and soy sauce or other sauces can have gluten. Use glutenfree version to make it gf. You can use Tofu or bean patty cubes instead of Tempeh.
Also, Thank you Laura from GlutenfreePantry for the Liebster award!
Some other versions to help use Tempeh to sub meat.. Try the Tempeh Seekh Kebab patty, its a long recipe, but with all the spices and crumbled tempeh, there is no beany taste or texture! Or Try some of the Indian curries like Kadhai Tempeh and Cauliflower.

Method: Serves 1.

In a deep medium pan, add 3/4 cup of cubed Tempeh(4 oz), 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon orange juice( I used freshly squeezed Satsuma), 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon raw sugar. Mix well and cook covered on low heat, until all liquid is absorbed(12-15 minutes).You can also marinate the tempeh in the mix for half an hour before cooking.

In another medium pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil and heat on medium heat.

Add the cooked tempeh and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes until some sides are brown/crisp.

Add 2 garlic cloves chopped, and 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped ginger and mix for half a minute.

Add the following

1+ Tablespoon soy sauce/tamari

1 teaspoon raw sugar (raw sugar is sweeter than white refined sugar)
2 teaspoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or Sriracha

1 teaspoon white wine or rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sherry(optional)

2-3 teaspoons vegan hoisin sauce to taste (I used just about 2 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water(depending on your preference of quantity and consistency of sauce).

Mix well to coat and cook on low-medium heat until the sauce thickens(5-7 minutes). Adjust spice and sauces if needed to taste.(depends on the sauce brands, each has different flavor depth)

Serve hot with a cup of white or brown rice, topped with chopped green onions/scallions and a slice of mandarin orange.

You can add blanched/steamed broccoli to the pan once the tempeh is browned and continue with the rest of the steps. Other veggies that can be added.. bok choy, carrots. I was out of broccoli, since hubbs wanted the pickle spice Broccoli curry day before:)
The recipe can be easily doubled or tripled, add red pepper flakes to taste and you might need more cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

This saucy Tempeh is headed to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy friendly friday and Citrus Blog hop

This year, lets reduce our plastic dependence. Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. 85% of consumer plastic waste ends up in Landfills or elsewhere in the US. A good amount of that ends up in the Oceans. Over 7 million tons of plastic in the Pacific, spanning an area twice the size of texas, destroying our oceans and harming our food chains. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Breaded Brussels Sprouts on pasta with tomato basil sauce. vegan, glutenfree option

2012-01-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

This is one of those posts, which wants to sit in the drafts! I think mainly because the cookie post before this was so pretty! Well.. lets just get on with these brussels sprouts. here you go. I found these super fun breaded Zucchini and Eggplants at Jesse's and decided to use something similar on them Brussels sprouts.. I think this vegetable needs to be used more, apart from the usual roast salad thingamajigs. If you havent seen the previous delicious avatar of BSprouts on the blog, check them out all dressed up in a Brussels sprouts in a simple tomato curry here!

Another reason, not to underestimate the creations.. these BSprouts featured on TheKitchn! The breaded Bsprouts are glutenfree. Use glutenfree pasta to make this gf. The breaded Bsprouts can be prepared and refrigerated for 2-3 days, though they do taste best freshly out of the oven. Also, join in and link up your citrusy creations from January on the Citrus blog hop post here.

Below, BSprouts ready to go into the oven.

On another supercool note, PPK's top 100 is out, The 100 most inspiring ingredients, recipes, chefs, restaurants, tips, cookbooks, tools and websites from 2011! and I am on it!! My home town's spice filled Saoji Tempeh curry features on number 76! Thank you PPK and everyone who works to get vegan goodies out there!

Pictured below. BSprouts Crisp out of the oven

For the Breaded Brussels Sprouts: Serves 1 very hungry person

You have 3 options

1. Make a thick batter of 1/2 cup chickpea flour, salt, pepper, dried basil , water, coat BSprouts in it, and bake.(these will be more like fritters)

2. Use the happygoluckyvegan's , dip in flax egg and then brown rice bread crumbs version.(add some dried basil)

3. The version in pictures on this post with rice flakes.. recipe below.

Ingredients: Glutenfree

1/2 cup of thin rice flakes ground coarsely

2+ Tablespoons chickpea flour

1 teaspoon flaxmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne or black pepper or to taste

3-5 Tablespoons warm-hot water

1/2 teaspoon oil

8 BSprouts(brussels sprouts), stems cut, halved and outer leaves removed.

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients, except BSprouts, to get a thick pasty mix. Let sit for a minute. Then coat halved brussels sprouts with it. The mixture is not very sticky, so just press on both sides to cover as much as you can. (See ready for baking picture above) Adjust water and chickpea flour if needed.

Place on parchment with halved side up.

Bake in preheated 365 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the batter is dry and some outer leaves start to brown.

Pasta:

Prepare 2 cups of any pasta of choice. Add tomato basil sauce and toss. You can also use any pesto sauce with it.

Top with breaded brussels sprouts, nutritional yeast(optional) and chopped fresh basil.

Dig in!

My simple tomato basil sauce:

Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil in pan, add in 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped.

Cook for 1 minute on medium heat.

Add 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes and 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped.

Cook covered for 5 minutes.

Add in 3-4 Tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves or a teaspoon of dried basil and salt to taste(1/2 teaspoon).

Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy.

These BSprouts are heading to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop. and Ricki's wellness Weekend!

Citrus bloghop: Glutenfree Satsuma Multigrain cookies. vegan

2012-01-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the month again! and this month is #citruslove .

Satsumas are Japanese citrus fruits similar to mandarin Oranges, seedless and easy peeling and sweet! You can use any medium orange variety as a substitute. I have a bunch of Satsumas waiting to get used up. Most end up getting juiced, but I love the peel so much that I really want to zest all of them and preserve.. I think some marmalade will soon be cooked up.

Each bite of these wafery cookies is a burst of citrus! and you wouldnt be able to guess that these are gf and vegan!

I baked up some cranberry orange cookies too, but they look like the usual vegan oatmeal cookies:) So I made these citrusy round beauties. I used a small amount of Bob's glutenfree all purpose flour, and the flour has such a distinct garbanzo bean taste, which can be put some taste buds off especially in sweet baked goods. I think I am going to use the gf flour up to make Chilla(chickpea flour pancakes), since it has enough garbanzo bean. The gf flour makes up less than a quarter part in the recipe, it does still leave a very very slight aftertaste.. Disclaimer: my taste buds are atleast 3 to 4 times sharper than pretty much everyone in my family. :) Hubbs couldnt taste it at all! Use a different gf flour if you totally dislike garbanzo bean after taste. These cookies do not need gum, oats keep them together. They are the right amount of crackly and crisp, also because of some cashews in there.

Check out earlier #love blog hops - Pistachio Almond Thumbprints for Cookie love, and Vegetable and nuts Biryani for Ricelove.

Ingredients: makes 12-14

1 Tablespoon flaxmeal

2 Tablespoons hot water

1/2 satsuma juice(about 3-4 Tablespoons)

1/2 satsuma peel chopped finely( pith scraped as much as possible)

1.5 Tablespoons coconut oil

1 Tablesooon organic canola oil

1 Tablespoon agave syrup

4 Tablespoons raw sugar ( I use granulated sugar in the raw)

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup Bob's gf all purpose flour (substitute with Oats flour or Sorghum flour if you dont like the garbanzo bean flour after taste)

1/4 cup cashews ground

1/3 cup oats ground

3 Tablespoons rice flour

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

1/8 teaspoon cloves powder

Directions:

In a bowl, add flaxmeal and hot water and mix well. Let sit for a minute.

Add in melted coconut oil, canola oil, sugar, salt, ginger powder, cloves powder, satsuma juice and mix well(briskly) until sugar is well combined.(You can use any available orange peel and juice as a substitute)

Grind the oats with the baking powder, or mix baking powder in the flours well.

Add the flours, baking powder and ground cashew to the wet mix, and mix only till combined. The mixture should together as a not too sticky dough. Use more rice or oats flour if it is too sticky.

Oil hands and make flat 1.5 inch balls.

Place on parchment an inch apart, and flatten.

Bake in preheated 360 degrees F for 12-14 minutes. until the edges just about start to golden brown and the tops are not too soft.

Cool on rack for 10 minutes before serving with some hot coffee or tea.

Have a super fun day! These cookies are headed to Ricki's Wellness weekend. and feature on Sigona's Farmers Market Weekly!

Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up any Citrus recipe from the month of January 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #citruslove event! The twitter hashtag is #citruslove :). Citruslove is being co-hosted by these amazing bloggers!

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

AstigVegan ~AstigVegan @AstigVegan

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Easily Good Eats

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Food Wanderings ~ Shulie ~ @foodwanderings

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives ~ Lisa ~ @parsleynsage

Peaches and Donuts ~ Sylvia ~ @PeachesandDonut

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Teaspoon of Spice - Serena - @TspCurry

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

Cremini Mushroom, Rainbow chard, shallot soup. Vegan

2012-01-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

Lessons learnt in 2011!

1. Believe in yourself and your food creations:).. some self blabber, so I should stop second guessing the recipes, combinations or pictures and just go about posting them. And leave it on the readers to decide.

2. Cleanse yourself of judgement, whether judging yourself(point 1) or others. Creativity comes from the heart of every person.. It is an expression of beauty in whichever form it may be.

I keep trying to implement point 2 and there are days when the implementation slips a bit. Its the way all of us have grown up in the ultra competitive world of constant judgement. If you dont compare and judge, how will you grow? not worthwhile really in any sense. Growth is such a personal thing.

I realized I should pen it somewhere, where I can come back and read whenever I slip. The idea came to me after reading a dear friend's story. If you have a few minutes, please do read this special Zine featuring stories of courageous creativity. Each of the stories are unique and inspiring and My friend Devika features on pages 22-26.

Another reason behind these lessons, our very own super creative Cara from ForksandBeans! Her amazing culinary creations will hold your interest and some self talk will make you think, introspect and contribute!

These past few months, we have been trying to eat as much local and seasonal as possible...except tomatoes. I cant seem to live without tomatoes and they all come from CA or mexico. ahh..

This soup can be made glutenfree by omitting the pasta or substituting it with a glutenfree version. This soup can also be converted in a pasta meal. Just add a few Tablespoons of water or broth instead of a cup, 2 Tablespoons pinenuts or almond slivers and 2 cups penne! The key to this soup are the browned mushrooms, which give the broth their distinct flavor. The broth doesnt need much help from herbs or spices, if you are a mushroom sauce lover like me :)
This soup also features on my monthly column at OneGreenPlanet here.

Ingredients: Serves 2

10-12 Cremini mushrooms, chopped(quartered)

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 big shallots chopped

10 Rainbow chard ( ribs cut and leaves chopped, use only soft and thin ribs. compost the thick stems :))

1 cup elbows or small pasta cooked

Dried herbs( basil, thyme) 1/2 tsp or to taste

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2/3 teaspoon salt or to taste

1+ cup water(reserve from the pasta or vegetable stock or plain water)

1 teaspoon oil

Directions:

In a deep large pan, add oil, heat at medium heat and spread to cover the pan.

Add chopped mushrooms, garlic, chard ribs and shallots and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally for 4-6 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown on the edges.

Add in the chard leaves and cook for another 2 minutes until the chard begins to wilt.

Add in the water, herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and pasta. Taste and adjust.

Bring to boil (partially covered 5 mins) and cook on low for 2-3 minutes or until the soup reaches desired consistency.

Serve hot topped with green onions or herbs of choice.

You can substitute the pasta with glutenfree pasta or cooked whole grains like barley, millet or quinoa, or omit pasta.

This earthy soup is headed to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays and Hearth and soul bloghop, and Ricki's wellness weekend.

Sweet Potato Doughnut bites topped with Chai Spice caramel. (baked) Vegan

2012-01-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

So I was planning on baking up some sweet potato Gulab Jamuns(but the problem with baked goods is that the color doesnt darken to a deep brown like a fried donut..

So once these mildy sweet balls of fluffyness came out of the oven, I decided to drizzle them with a little sticky caramel sauce.. and the sauce was spiced with our favorite home made Indian Chai spice(recipe included below)! I bet some gingerbread spice would be fun in the sauce too! You can make these glutenfree by using your favorite doughnut recipe and top them with this caramel sauce! Here's a glutenfree version at Nannette in the raw.

These are baked and low fat, but of course a decent amount of sugar in the caramel sauce, almost healthy.. Its cold out here, so serve these up with a nice cuppa hot tea!

I have too many to do lists right now, too many draft posts, too many recipes to make and just too many things to do! And when I have one too too many, I cannot decide which one to pick first, which draft to post today and so on.. oh well.. coin flip.. doughnut it is:)

For doughnut balls - makes 12

2/3 cup self rising flour Or all purpose flour + 2/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup mashed sweet potato(I boiled mine and mashed it)

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

3-4 Tbsps water

1 Tablespoon coconut or organic canola oil

3 Tbspns raw sugar or equivalent sweetener of choice (the doughnuts are mildy sweet to balance the caramel)

1/8 teaspoon of cardamom powder or chai spice blend (chai spice recipe below)

Mix the sugar in the sweet potato mash and add all the other ingredients except water and mix for a few seconds. Add a Tbsp of water at a time and mix/knead into a soft non too sticky dough.

Oil hands, Divide mixture into an inch balls and place on parchment.

Bake in preheated 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops do not look liquidy.

For chai spice caramel sauce

Mix 3 Tablespoons sugar in 1 teaspoon water and heat at medium heat till it starts to melt(3-4 minutes). Add in 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil, 1/2 teaspoon chai spice, 2 Tablespoons coconut milk and keep mixing continuously, until you get a flowy sticky sauce. Add more coconut milk if needed. (I kept the sauce thin, since we dont really like very thick sugar coating on the small balls.)

Pour this sauce over the doughnuts and let it cool a bit before digging in!

We drink loads of tea, light, black, with cream or whichever way. But the tea is always loaded with chai masala!

Hubbs favorite tea involves boiling some nice east Indian tea leaves, along with the chai masala, freshly grated ginger and sugar to a rolling boil. Then adding non dairy milk or creamer and sipping the aromatic concoction every morning. I have been experimenting with different non dairy milks and will do a post on how they work in the Indian Chai soon, and which one seems to work closest to the creamy Tapri chai(tea you get in corner shops in India).

So, a bonus Indian chai masala recipe! Our chai masala is cardamom heavy. Thats the way we like it in the indian tea:). You can use half the quantity of cardamom, if the main purpose for using the spice blend is baking and not indian tea.:)

Chai Spice/Masala blend:

Grind 3/4 cup green cardamom pods, 1/4 cup cinnamon sticks or 2 Tablespoons cinnamon powder, 1/4 cup cloves, 2 Tablespoons whole black pepper, 2 Tablespoons ground ginger. 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds(optional). Store in airtight container!

These doughnuts are heading to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays and Hearth and soul bloghop.

Your favorites of 2011!

2012-01-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

2012 is here! and its time to kind of round up some of the reader favorites and some of ours from 2011. Heres hoping 2012 will bring lots more fun posts and and more friends! Happy 2012 everyone. Most popular!.. reader's favorites.

Apple Fries everyone!.. GF

I dint expect these to make it big.. I mean I just had some apples and was in the mood for some fritters and made these up.. Super fun though!

Roasted Garam Masala Chickpeas.. GF

Another addictive glutenfree snack! I think its the picture which made it that big.. I love this photo.. perfectly sunny day and the right camera settings.. one lucky picture!

Tiramisu Pancakes..

Like I need to say anything about these..

Chilla /Puda . Chickpea flour pancake/omelette/thick crepe.. GF

Another simple glutenfree breakfast or snack! I've started adding so much Kale to this.. since once of my 2012 resolutions is Eat more Kale!!

Chocolate Oatmeal Raisin chewy cookies.

There's a little quinoa in these to make them even more chewy.. a bit like lacey cookies.

Multigrain Multifruit Loaf...

Strawberry Blueberry Apple, Wheat, Oats, Quinoa.. all in one bread loaf!

Gulab Jamuns

These got hit because GJs are one very addictive and very non vegan indian sweet, usually made of milk powder and milk solids, fried and soaked in flavored sugar syrup, somewhat like a rich and milky soaked doughnut. But now you can have this vegan version!

Fluffy White Dinner rolls

I usually dont make white breads.. but I wanted to recreate the melt in your mouth dinner rolls without the butter and eggs. and heres a super liked dinner roll/burger bun/pita/naan or anything, versatile dough! These also made it to TheKitchn!

The all year most popular are a bit skewed, since the newer posts havent gotten enough time to become that popular:)

Some of my other faves .. though it is very difficult to choose.. :)

Oatmeal Puffed Rice Chocolate Chip Cookies. GF

I saw an oatmeal only gf cookie at chocolate covered Katie, and I wanted to add some fun element to it.. voila.. puffed rice! puffed rice make the cookie a bit lighter and chewy at the same time!

Beet Oat Chickpea Sliders

These cute little patties are super fun!

Tomato wheat, Sprouted Quinoa flat bread.

This was on fun savory fat flat bread, which we used for sandwiches and with dips!

Tempeh Sandwiches!

Tempeh cooked in spicy broth, then grilled a little and served with grilled veggies and grilled fruits.. try some grilled peaches in the sandwich.

Buckwheat soba with grilled Zucchini, pesto and cherry tomatoes

A simple light summer pasta meal.. Grilled zukes, pesto and cherry tomatoes.

And lots of lots of favorite cookies.. crisp Pistachio almond thumbprints, banana muffin tops, candied beet thins and so many more .. all under the Cookie tag! and the currently popular Naan- plain, avocado, Garlic and Stuffed! This virtual party is being hosted at Lite Bite.

Thank you all so much for the support.. With our slow, steady and permanent transition to a vegan diet all through the year and whole bunch of experiments, developing new tastes, veganizing old favorites, creating intriguing combinations and recipes and the best of all you all trying them and loving them! May this year bring you a lot of love, happiness, courage, prosperity, good health and solutions to all your problems.

Leaving you with a cute video on how to feed newborn orphan puppies! Filmed by Erika at Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur, India - a beautiful sanctuary for all beings. If you are ever vacationing in India, drop by the sanctuary for a few days to volunteer or just enjoy the beauty! They are also 501c3 in the US, so all donations are tax deductible.

This is a virtual blog party. To join in please see event details at Litebite here

Naan - plain, avocado, garlic, stuffed and more. Indian flat bread. vegan

2011-12-29T20:59:00.000-08:00

There are several types of indian flat breads.. some leavened like Naan, some unleavened like Roti/Chapati or stuffed unleavened like Parathas. The default bread of choice is Roti and Parathas. There are very few days when I make Naan at home. It is just what we grew up eating.. more unleavened breads(roti, paratha) at home and Naan outside in restaurants. The naans in Indian restaurants though are very likely to be non vegan. I've posted naan bread long before on the blog, using yogurt and butter/ghee and it was time to veganize it!

Also, check out my post about glutenfree steamed Naan flat bread.

Below are some videos on how to make some of the indian flat breads. Though the recipes in the videos are not vegan,, videos help with the steps and technique

Roti

Paratha stuffed with Cauliflower

Naan (oven baked)

Also see a couple of different methods to make Naan at Ecurry here(no video).

Naan Pictures are from different days, most made on stove top, some Thick to serve as pita bread, some thin and charred and some stuffed!

Pictured below. Naan Stuffed with grated cauliflower

This post was sitting in the Drafts for too long, mainly because I wanted to make better naans, take more pictures, perfect the thing and so on. Well finally I decided that these Naans are good enough.. for me.. super great according to hubbs.. really I should listen to him more:).

I make 2 variations of the Naan dough.. One is my Vegan dinner roll dough recipe (which will yield 6-7 naans) and the other one is using Avocados instead of the non dairy yogurt. Both Naans come out nice and soft, but I am a bit partial to the Avocado one. Of course it looks green:), but is so amazingly soft and stays soft forever!

Pictured below, one with Avocado.

Cooking time depends on the oven and pan used. You will have a better idea after making the first Naan in terms of how you like yours, cooked to a dark char spots or golden like a pita.

You can make these all bread flour or all Wheat. I usually dont put more than half whole wheat flour, to help with the rolling.

For 4-5 Naans

2+ cups flour( I used 1.5 cups bread flour and 0.5 cups whole wheat flour)

1.5 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 Tablespoons Oil (I use a combination of coconut and olive or organic canola)

3 tablespoons Soy yogurt or Cashew Yogurt (I will try coconut yogurt in the next batch) .. Or 4 Tablespoons Mashed Avocado mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice!

3/4 cup lukewarm water

Seeds for topping: Nigella(Kalonji), black Sesame(til), Carom(Ajwain)

Directions:

Dissolve active dry yeast and sugar in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.

Add salt and baking powder to 2 cups flour and mix well.

Add the oil and yogurt Or avocado and mix into the flour.

Add the water/yeast mixture and knead. Add a 1/4 cup water at a time to make into soft dough.

Knead for 5-6 minutes until smooth and non sticky. Place in greased container, spritz top with oil and let rise for 2 hours or until doubled.

Knead the dough for a minute, use a little flour to help reduce stickyness, and divide the dough into 5 equal parts.

Take each piece of dough, one at a time, and roll into 8-inch oval shape. Dust lightly with flour to help with the rolling.

Cook:

Oven Method:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F with pizza stone for at least half an hout.

Next turn the oven to high broil.

Before putting the Naan in oven, pat some sesame or nigella seeds on the top. Lightly spritz/spray the naan on both sides with water and place onto your baking/pizza stone into the oven.

Bake 2-3 minutes till it puffs and top gets golden.

Serve hot, topped with vegan butter or olive oil.

Stove top:

Use any large pan/skillet which can withstand high heat. Heat it on medium high heat until hot.

Pat some nigella, sesame or carom seeds on top and spritz the bottom with a little water.

Place the naan with bottom on the pan.

Cover and let cook on medium high till it starts to puff.

Flip after 1-1.5 minutes, and cook for half a minute( for pita style)

If you like a charred Naan, then instead of flipping to cook the other side, hold the uncooked side of Naan over the flame with tongs for a few seconds to cook and char some spots.

Serve hot, topped with vegan butter or olive oil with any Indian curry, Daal, vegetables, salad and pickle.

For garlic Naan:

Press finely chopped garlic and cilantro on the top along with the seeds of choice and roll the rolling pin over it, so everything is nicely embedded in the dough and then proceed with the cooking step.

Pictured below- inside of the Stuffed Naan.

Stuffing( can be any stuffing you use in Parathas.. some grated veggies, herbs and spices)!

Pictured stuffing

1.5-2 cups Grated cauliflower

1 green chili chopped

1 teaspoon ginger grated

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon rock salt(kala namak)

1/2 teaspoon carom seeds(ajwain)

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

Add 1/2 cup finely chopped greens like spinach, Kale, Chard to amp up the nutrition!

Mix everything and use. If the stuffing feels too damp, you can dry roast it for 2 minutes or microwave for a minute so the veggies absorb the moisture. The moisture is not a problem in Naans, but creates rolling problems when used for parathas(unleavened flat bread), because the dough is rolled quite thin.

Other stuffing ideas: mashed boiled potatoes, grated broccoli, zucchini, potato mixed with Beet, potato and Kale/spinach, grated radish, squash and lots more.

For Stuffed Naan:

Roll out the dough into a circle and place the stuffing like a calzone on one side, half inch away from the edge.

Apply a little water on the edge, Fold the other side and seal. press edges well.

Roll out this semicircle a little to form an oval and also distribute the stuffing.

Proceed to cook as above.

Phew long post.. I had my dentist appointment yesterday.. darn these cavity prone teeth.. so been eating soups and daals since then, and super bored of it.. now thinking of what else to eat! Hope you all are having super fun last few days of 2011!

The Naan got featured on Glamour.com!

This Naan is heading to Hearth and Soul Blog hop, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Rickis' wellness weekend and Susan's Yeastspotting.

Creamy Spinach Soup. vegan, glutenfree

2011-12-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is the soup hubbs asks for again and again!. Simple, quick and perfect with any meal.
Serve it with some garlic rolls or pita bread, some gf chickpea crackers or celery!

There is a mild spice from a little Kashmiri Garam masala, which contains Black cumin, Cassia, Coriander, Cardamom, Clove and Tellicherry Black Pepper and some cream from the cashews. This soup gets ready in 15 minutes with just one boil. No cooking for hours. You can also serve it raw. I dont digest most things completely raw, so a little heat does the trick for me.
Hubbs is still on vacation till the end of the year.. So it still is vacation time for me too.. Just sneaking in a short post..:) How are you all celebrating the new year!

Directions:
Add to blender the following,
about 3-4 packed cups of fresh spinach, washed and chopped.
2 garlic cloves
1 tomato chopped
1/2 green chili or chili flakes to taste
2/3 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon raw sugar(optional)
1/4 cup raw cashew
Blend all with 1/2+ cup water till nicely pureed.
In a pan, add a teaspoon of organic canola oil or coconut oil on medium heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Kashmiri Garam masala and mix well for half a minute till you can smell the aroma of the spices.
Add spinach puree and cook on medium heat till it comes to a boil 5-7 minutes. Mix, taste, adjust salt/spices and take off heat after a minute.
Serve hot topped with paprika, with crackers or garlic rolls.

We get lots of Fresh Spinach, the whole plant, roots and all from our local and organic farm! see those huge leaves in the pictures! This soup is headed to Hearth and Soul Blog hop, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays. and Rickis' wellness weekend!

Garlic, Scallion, Jalapeno savory Buns/rolls. vegan

2011-12-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! A short post today with some savory buns after all the sugar high! These tiny savory buns are super snackable..
These can be dipped and soaked in a hot Root Vegetable Carrot Leek Celery Soup posted earlier here!
A round up of some favorite Holiday Sweet things in the earlier post here, Fudge, cookies, flan, Cake, Stollen Bread and more.

See you all after a short holiday weekend break!

Directions:

In a large bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water, 1.5 teaspoons quick rise yeast and 2 teaspoons raw sugar. Mix and let sit for 10 minutes.
In another bowl, add 2/3 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder, 2 garlic cloves finely chopped, 1/2 cup of scallions/green onions- green parts finely chopped, 1/2 Jalapeno pepper finely chopped. Mix all well together.
In the yeast bowl, add 2 Tablespoons organic canola oil or olive oil and mix.
Add to it, the flour mixture and knead into a soft dough(knead 4-5 minutes). Add more bread flour if needed.
Spritz top with oil, cover with towel and let sit for 1.5 hours or until doubled.
Knead dough for a minute, and divide into small balls, half the size of the final bun size you want.
Place balls on parchment. Spritz top with water and sprinkle some sesame seeds. Cover with a towel and let rise for another 50 minutes or until almost doubled.
Bake in preheated 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.(until golden and a tap on top sounds hollow)
Cool on rack for 15 minutes before serving.
Serve with soups, olive oil, dips, vegan butter spreads or any which way!

These buns are heading to Ricki's wellness weekend..

Holiday Round up! Sweet. and Rescue spotlight!

2011-12-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Pictured above.
Butter free melt in your mouth Cashew Fudge - GF
Coconut Almonds Rum Balls - GF
Glutenfree Oatmeal Puffed rice Chocolate Chip cookies - GF
Cranberry Blueberry Upside Down cake

Someone's been busy baking, cooking, feeding hubbs, visiting, baking for bakesales and giving out cookies to everyone around, and getting sweet compliments from hubbs like, why dont the soup shops or office cafe ever serve spinach soups.. its so simple and absolutely delicious..:).. my response.. babe, coz its my recipe, which they do not have!
Also, lessons learnt from this season.. be prepared.. I am so unprepared with my gifting and gift packing supplies all out,. gaah.. hopefully i will plan much better next year.
Heres a round up of some sweet Christmasy ideas.. to give my eyes a break for a day or 2...

Pictured above
Pistachio Almond Thumbprints.. these would make great shortbreads too
Flan, Creme Caramel Custard - GF
Ginger Bread spice Chocolate Nut butter Truffles - GF
Christmas Stollen Wreath, Fruit cakey Bread
On another fun note, hubbs picked up some habanero coz they look so sweet.. and proceeded to make some hummus since I couldnt be disturbed while baking.. He grilled one, put it in half a can of garbanzo beans with some garlic, sesame seeds, olive oil and salt.., spread the hummus over garlic multigrain slice, proceeded to eat 2 bites non stop.. broke out in a sweat.. ! and then ate 4 of my cranberry orange cookies with a bottle of gatorade!.. thanks god for some sweet cookies always lying around..:D
This roundup is heading to Hearth and soul blog hop, and Ricki's Wellness weekend

Santa Chewie Says a big hello! He is collecting supplies in the building for the Seattle Animal Shelter.. We put up his santa pictures everywhere, since everyone in the building knows him! We are known to most as Chewie's parents/owners.. who can blame him.. fluffballs of cuteness, who wag bushy tails for everyone for a smile and kisses, always are famous! And Mr Fluffster himself has been adopted from a rescue!
Please Do Not Buy a puppy, Adopt one and give it a forever home this season!

Also check out VSPCA Visahka Society for Protection and Care of Animals at Visakhapatman, India, for their amazing work! A shelter spotlight article in conversation with Eileen Weintraub here. Over the years, the VSPCA has amassed a long list of Achievements for animals of all kinds.

For example, they have ended poaching of dolphins in the region and significantly reduced wildlife trafficking of many species through their area.They are currently working with key players to protect sea turtles and migratory birds, among other wild creatures indigenous to the area.

The VSPCA has engaged in and won many legal battles on behalf of animals. They have successfully brought convictions against slaughterhouses, circuses, and other groups. They brought humane spay/neuter dog population methods to Visakhapatnam and successfully outlawed dog poisonings. They won the battle to outlaw colored plastic bags illegal, which are harmful to wildlife.

Their animal shelter welcomes all species and houses over a thousand animals: birds, horses, cattle, goats, monkeys, turtles, and yes, dogs and cats. It’s won awards as a model shelter and even an eco-friendly shelter.

Chocolate whoopie pie cookies filled with spicy chile Chocolate Caramel! vegan

2011-12-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Some long name cookie this ..:)

I made these spicy chocolate cookies the other day with Theo's chipotle spicy chile dark chocolate bar.. The chocolate bar spice is balanced with the warmth of guajillo chile and cinnamon, the tanginess of pasilla chile and a subtle hint of citrus. There is only a mild spice kick to the cookies. The batch I made for a bakesale werent sweet enough. well sweet enough for me.. but not for the bakesale. So I whipped up this sweet Caramel chocolate filling with the same chocolate and filled the cookies with it! whoopie! The cookies are soft, but not super squishy and the creamy insides sets as it cools into a sweet and spicy creamy middle.

This month is turning out to be one bake fest! Been baking Chocolate Oatmeal Raisin and Oatmeal Cranberry pretty much every other day.. some Thumbprints once in a while too..next some shortbread!
Pardon the funky pictures.. I had only a few. and I went crazy with the film effects in picnik:)
Some Chewy Quinoa Raisin Cookies here
and Banana Quinoa Oatmeal Fat breakfast Cookies here.
More cookies, some glutenfree too, under the Cookie Label here.
and the 3 ingredient super yumm Ginger Bread Chocolate Truffles!! for some more chocolate!

Ingredients:
Cookie:
1/2 cup oat flour
2/3+ cup self rising flour Or all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoon cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons Theo's chipotle spicy chile dark chocolate melted
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
2 Tablespoons organic canola oil
2 Tablespoons orange juice
2 Tablespoons hot water
2 teaspoons flaxmeal
1 Tablespoon agave syrup
3 Tablespoons raw sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Filling:
3 Tablespoons raw sugar
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 Tablespoons Theos spicy chile chocolate pieces
2-3 Tablespoons coconut milk as required.(optional)

Directions:
Cookies:
In a pan, add hot water and flax meal. Mix and let sit for a minute.
Add in the oils, orange juice, agave, sugar, salt, spices, cocoa powder and chocolate. Mix everything vigorously. If the chocolate is not well melted, microwave the mix for a few seconds and mix well.
Add in the flours and mix till just about combined. Add more or less flour to get a doughy batter thicker than a muffin batter but not a stiff dough.
Using a scoop, drop the batter onto the parchment lined sheet. Press and shape with oiled hands.
Bake at preheated 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes.
Cool on rack for 5 minutes before applying caramel.
Caramel filling:
In a pan, add water, coconut oil and sugar and heat on medium heat. Stir continuously, till the sugar syrup darkens and thickens to desired consistency. 5-7 minutes.
Add in the chocolate and mix. If the syrup has become too thick, add in coconut milk 1 Tablespoon at a time, to get a creamy filling.
Take off heat and immediately fill the cookies and stick them together.
Wait for a few minutes for the caramel to harden and cool.. eat:)

These cookies are heading to Hearth and Soul blog hop and Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Cookie Blog hop!

Ginger bread spiced Chocolate Nut butter truffles. Vegan, Glutenfree

2011-12-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

Yummm is the only thing to say for these truffles.. Super easy and dangerously addictive! I made these with just one spice like cardamom or cinnamon, but the ginger bread ones were the clear winner! This one is another flexible recipe.. Add more or less chocolate.. or spice, taste in between and make your favorite truffles!

Just 3 main ingredients! Some nut butter, chocolate, agave and spices.. simple as can be!

Another fun holiday treat! Now I need to make some super fun fudge and a peppermint bark!
More baking ideas for the holiday season.. sweet..

Pistachio thumbprint cookies with Cranberry filling.

Coconut Almond Rum Balls!

A fruit cakey Stollen bread

Savory...

Chickpea Fennel Crackers

Roasted Garam Masala Chickpeas

This week I also baked up some Oatmeal Raisin Cranberry Cookies, Coconut Almond Protein bar, and Chipotle spiced Chocolate Whoopie Pies filled with caramel chocolate filling (recipes coming up) for Sidecar for Pigs Peace Bake sale, benefiting the Pigs Peace Sanctuary! Pigs Peace Sanctuary is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing a safe home for unwanted, abused or neglected animals in need and is committed to spreading the message of compassion and respect for all animals.

Hubbs is on vacation till new year.. and for the first few days.. he is hopefully going to help me bake for some more events! I think I need some savory crackers or something for a few days after these many truffles!

Ingredients: makes 12-16

1/2+ cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips

4 Tbsps roasted cashew butter ( I used store bought)

3 Tbspns agave
1 Tbspn raw sugar powdered ( optional, for a sweeter truffle)
1-2 Tbspns coconut milk or non dairy milk

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves powder
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg powder

2 Tbpns raw sugar powdered mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and clove powder for coating

Directions:

In a pan, add cashew butter, agave, spices and sugar and start heat on low.
Keep mixing till the butter, agave and sugar are well combined and flowy.3-5 minutes.
Add the chocolate chips and keep mixing so they melt and combine with the butter. If the mixture feels too stiff, add a Tablespoon, one at a time, of coconut milk or coconut creamer, and combine very well, to make a soft dough. You can use any non dairy milk or a little oil, to soften the mixture.(Or add a bit of Rum!)
Taste carefully( the mixture will be hot) and adjust spices and sugar and mix. Take off heat, and let cool for a few minutes.
Make balls when mixture is warm and not completely cooled, and roll them in the sugar spice mix. Use less or more spice per preference. You can also cover them in melted chocolate with ginger bread spices, and top with thin candied ginger strips! pretty!
Store in a cool place and eat within 3 days. These can also be refrigerated or frozen.

These truffles are heading to Ricki's Wellness weekend! and Slightly indulgent Tuesdays.

Pomegranate Apple Satsuma Spiced cooler!

2011-12-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Its been getting dark at like 3:45 pm already, reducing my cooking and clicking picture time to almost zilch.. and it is super cloudy on top of that..Most pictures come up all bluey and my night time studio does not have the right light.. baah.

And for some reason I was thinking it is Friday today and freaking out about all the cookies I need to bake! ahh.. its thursday! yay, 1 more day! then hubbs will be home rest of the month.. ok that means a whole lot of variety of food demands..hmmm. I dont mind that:) Anywhu, here is a simple cooler from all the fruits lying around in the refrigerator...

Those orange cute oranges are Satsuma, a seedless and easy peeling Japanese citrus fruit. I've made similar fruit/veggie smoothie or thinner cooler drinks before. The cooking just makes it easier to digest the fruits/veggies.. I cant digest some raw fruits well, but slightly cooked is all good! The drink taste also does not change over 3-4 days, stored in the refrigerator, and who doesnt like some spice! The hindi name for the drink would be Anar, Seb, Santara ka Panna!:) Checkout the Blueberry Strawberry Cooler

and my favorite Mango Beet Smoothie!

Also, if you are in or around Seattle, drop by Sidecar for Pigs Peace store for a Bake sale on Saturday Dec 17, 11 am onwards, benefitting the Pigs Peace Sanctuary!

Pictured below is the night time shot when I just pureed the drink.. bubbly!

You need seeds of one Pomegranate, 1 Apple finely chopped, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, a few leaves of mint or basil or skip, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon rock salt(kala namak), 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

Pressure cook all the above, for 1 whistle or boil till apple is a bit tender, in about a cup of water.

Add a juice of 1 Satsuma or orange when mixture cools a bit, with or without some pulp.

Puree the mix so there are no apple pieces.

Strain though large hole strainer to remove pomegranate seeds.

Adjust salt, pepper and sugar if you like it sweet.

Serve chilled! or at room temperature as we are already hovering in the low 30s F here.

Have a super day! This drink is heading to Ricki's wellness Weekend and Slightly indulgent Tuesdays

Brussels Sprouts and Potato in Tomato gravy. vegan glutenfree

2011-12-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

Told ya I would curry them Brussels Sprouts. Curry is such a broad term. It can mean stew, gravy, or dry vegetable preparation. Some of the indian dishes just cant be properly translated:) In this curried dish, brussels sprouts and potatoes are cooked in my basic onion tomato gravy. This gravy can be pretty much used as a base for most vegetables, lentils and beans. Depending on the veggies and beans used, the spices, quantities and style of cooking sometimes varies and you get a completely new gravy/curry! This is not a very liquidy gravy and makes for a great side with any meal.

Of course we made some roasted brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper( and added paprika). Roasted ones pretty much turn up whenever you look for a brussels sprouts recipe. I dont know why this vegetable has a bad name. I dont think we ate these often, mainly because we have so many other vegetables that we eat. and why would you pick it up by choice when you already heard not so tasty things about it.:). but, we got these bright and fresh locally grown beauties in our weekly farm delivery..So boo ya! we will make it so delicious that you bet you will go and buy them on your next grocery trip.. yes? no?

Brussels sprouts like Kale are cruciferous and rich in Vitamins K and C, and antioxidants!

Also checkout my mom's Black Eyed Peas in onion tomato gravy!

Ingredients:

8 Brussels sprouts, stems cut and outer leaves removed
1/2 cup small cubed potato
2 teaspoons oil
1/3 medium onion chopped
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asofetida(hing)
2 medium tomatoes
1/2 inch ginger chopped (can be substituted with ginger paste, also optional)
4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped (can be substituted with garlic paste)
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes or 1 green chili, to taste
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon Chana Masala powder blend or Garam masala (Or 1 bay leaf and 1/4 teaspoon each of coriander powder, cumin powder, pinch each of cinnamon powder, cloves powder, cardamom powder, black pepper, nutmeg)

Directions:

In a deep pan, add oil, heat at medium heat and add onions.
Cook until onions are translucent. Add in the chopped green chili, ginger, garlic, mix and cool for a minute.
Add in the spices, asofetida, garam masala or chana masala blend, mix well and cook for another minute.
Add in the chopped tomato and cook on medium, partially covered for 5-7 minutes until tomatoes are tender.
Add in the salt, potato and the halved brussels sprouts and mix well.
Add 1-1.5 cups water and cook covered on low heat for 20-25 minutes with occasional stirring, until potatoes are tender.
Serve hot topped with chopped cilantro, with long grain rice or flat bread(Roti/Naan).

These curried brussels are headed to Ricki's wellness Weekend, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, and Lisa's Allergy Friendly luncbox

Rice Pulao/Pilaf with Kale, cashews and veggies on OneGreenPlanet. Vegan, glutenfree

2011-12-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

My monthly column on OneGreenPlanet!

Kale is one fine thang! Its almost like this gigantic green full of nutrients.. Use it in salads, soups smoothies, bake and make Chips , steam, cook on stove top and add to curries, pasta, rice.. and you are good for the day! This cruciferous vegetable is rich in Vitamins K, A ,C, anti-oxidants, fibre, antinflammatory omega 3s and cancer preventing phytonutrients..Read more about the health benefits here

We started eating Kale all nicely packaged, or nicely cooked or in salads. But now we get local and organic huge and beautiful Kale from full circle farm! So, I keep trying some different ways to eat it at home.

To prep Kale, wash, pat dry, Cut up the thick stems, remove ribs and cut the leaves into desired sizes. Cook the stems before the leaves and for longer and then add leaves.

I added some Kale to Daal(lentil soup) and that turned out wonderful! This pulao is almost a one pot meal or a great side for a holiday spread!

Garnish with cilantro, lemon juice, pomegranate seeds or crumble some potato chips and serve!

Check out the recipe on OneGreenPlanet Here!

This Rice pilaf is heading to Hearth and soul blog hop,

Christmas Stollen Wreath! Vegan

2011-12-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

A simple Christmas Stollen.. veganized! Stollen is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus peel (Zitronat), raisins and almonds, and different spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla,other dried fruits and nuts and marzipan may also be added to the Stollen dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished cake is usually sprinkled with icing sugar.

Here is my simple recipe for a regular loaf or 6 inch diameter wreath. The bread can be shaped into a loaf or a wreath. I added 1/4 cup each pistachios, almond slivers, cranberries, and rum soaked raisins and 1 Tablespoon chopped candied ginger. You can add some dark chocolate, candied orange, lemon, papaya, or other candied or dried fruits like apricots, some marzipan and other fun things. You can soak all of the dried fruit in rum or brandy, or use them as is unsoaked for an alcohol free version. Have an amazing holiday season!!

Pictured above is a slice across the center. To make a double sized stollen, use 1.5 times the dried nuts and fruits and double everything else. Adjust flour and water while kneading to get a soft dough. make 2 loaves or a bigger wreath circle with a larger hole in the center.

Serve this warm with coffee, or for breakfast or any time of the day! A perfect holiday snack! Some other holiday recipes..

Pistachio thumbprint cookies with Cranberry filling.

Coconut Almond Rum Balls

Cranberry Blueberry Upside down cake

Tiramisu Pancakes!

and more under the holiday tag!

Ingredients:

3/4+ cup bread flour
3/4 white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond or coconut milk (I used So delicious vanilla)
3 Tablespoons coconut oil or organic canola oil
about 1 cup total of dried, candied or brandied fruits( I added 1/4 cup each pistachios, almond slivers, cranberries, and rum soaked raisins and 1 Tablespoon chopped candied ginger. You can add some dark chocolate, dried apricots, currants, candied orange, lemon, papaya, or other candied or dried fruits, some marzipan and other fun things)
2 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons active yeast
3 Tablespoons raw sugar (I use sugar in the raw, and that is sweeter than regular white sugar)
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ( or spices of choice like ginger bread blend)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla(skip if using vanilla flavored coconut milk)
zest of 1/2 a lemon or some orange
powdered vegan sugar for topping(optional)

Directions:

Warm 2 Tablespoons water and add yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar to it, Let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
Add to this yeast mix, 3/4 cup bread flour, warm coconut milk, oil and rest of the sugar and combine well.
In another bowl, take the whole wheat flour and add in the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.
Add this flour mix to the bread flour batter and knead for 4-5 minutes. Add bread flour or water to get a soft, not too sticky dough. The dough will be ready when some of the raisins feel like they will fall out. Initially the dough is sticky so the raisins stay inside. (If many dried fruits/nuts fall out, that means the ratio of dried fruits to flour is too high, add more flour and water to help distribute them and form a soft dough ball)
Let dough sit in a greased and covered container for 2 hours or until doubled. Spritz top with water and spritz oil before covering.
Take it out and punch and knead for a minute, use a little bread flour to help reduce stickiness. shape into somewhat of a rectangle of 1/2 inch thickness.
Roll this like a jelly roll. (you can also sprinkle some marzipan, chocolate chips or cinnamon sugar before rolling)
If baking a bread loaf, place this roll seam side down in a greased bread pan. If making a wreath, pull the sides of the roll to form a circle and use a little water to stick them to each other by pinching. Use a serrated knife or shears, make cuts at regular intervals.
Spritz top with water and then oil, cover and let rise for 50 minutes or until doubled.
Bake the loaf or wreath in a preheated 360 degrees F for 25-30 minutes until golden and a tap sounds hollow.
Cool on rack for 15 minutes. Sprinkle top with sugar. I like mine without. Slice and serve at room temperature. It tastes yummier the next day! Warm in the oven a little if serving later. Store in a cool place wrapped in foil for a few days.

This stollen is heading to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, and Vardhini's Bake Fest event hosted by Sangeetha at Spicy Treats, and Radhika's lets cook 10, ans Susans Yeastspotting

Maple glazed Delicata squash, cashews, baby spinach salad with creamy wasabi dressing. vegan glutenfree

2011-12-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

It is a soup and a salad kind of week. This is what we did with the rest of the delicata squash. Some of it was roasted with olive oil, salt pepper and rosemary and served on Thanksgiving!

This salad is on the go, randomly add whatever comes to mind, kind of salad. Hubbs wanted a lighter, fresh meal the other day, while I had cooked up some spicy chana masala. Told you, we eat a lot of chickpea in this house.. I should just grow some of my own!

We shared the salad, with the bigger portion for hubbs, and yes, the chana masala did manage to sneak onto the plate.. coz hubbs now knows that he needs to balance his meal with added protein to last a few hours.. all that nutrition discussion helped! We used to eat a very vegetarian meal at home in our pre-vegan days too, but at work, the default for hubbs was some meaty stuff. So when he started opting for vegetarian and then vegan options, some days he was stuck only with the salad bar and eat loads of greens and beets and fruits and then get hungry. After a balance in the meal discussion, he started adding beans, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh and asking the office cafe for other protein and vegan options., and found that the cafe already has a growing vegan menu! and they add requested items quite frequently.

There is always a bit of a learning curve with changes in diet, but there is nothing a bit of reading, knowing and asking cant solve.

Another yumm salad posted earlier Gingery maple glazed Tempeh, baby greens and cherry tomatoes.

Winter Squashes are a great source of Vitamins A, C, B6 and fiber! these squashes also make great substitutes for ribbon or angel hair pasta!

Directions

In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil and heat at low-medium. Arrange the delicata squash to fit in the pan. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and pinch of pepper.

Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes. flip them around and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add 2 teaspoons of maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce or tamari or to taste Mix well to coat and let cook for another minute.

You can also roast the squash. Toss it in salt pepper, oil, maple and soy to coat, and roast on parchment for 30-40 minutes until tender and browned on the edges.

Meanwhile ready your salad with spinach or other baby greens.

For the dressing, blend 1/4 a cup of soaked cashews or almonds with wasabi to taste, salt, pepper and vinegar.

Pour the dressing on the salad. Drop some sizzling squash on top and a good helping of cashews, walnuts or other nuts of choice, raw or roasted.

Eat.

To make the salad into a better meal, add cooked chickpeas or black eyed peas, or some Tofu.

This Salad is headed to Ricki's wellness weekend, and Allergy free lunchbox and Cybel pascals holiday Allergy friendly friday

Carrot Celery Leek Potato Soup. Vegan, glutenfree

2011-12-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

Another Thanksgiving Spread recipe finally up.. The week of Thanksgiving was our first week of local and organic grocery delivery by Full circle farms.

The story goes, that hubbs came across a deal, went through the options, realized they deliver to our area and have different sizes of boxes.. he signed up.. Now, if he would have signed up sometime last year, he would have looked at the " then unknown veggies" and most likely not confirmed the deal. But since we have been eating more vegetables and he also tries out new things at his office cafeteria, he knew a lot of the names and one fine day we got the delivery.

I dint know till that day morning that he had signed up and had no clue about what would be in the box....

So out comes some Pears, Pomegranates, apples, some looong leafy Celery, hugeeee Kale and pretty green Brussels sprouts, an overfed spring onion(Leek, he dint know what it was), Delicata squash(he liked the name :\) and some other things.. I was like :O.. you selected these things.. he was like.. Yeah some of them, and some others were default.. I was like :|.. ok.. we are eating a whole lotta green stuff this whole week:D ..

So keep an eye out for some super fun fruits and greens recipes.. and Oh yes, we curried them brussels sprouts! this is an indian household.. we curry everything.:P . Check out other recipes under the holiday tag here! Pictured below with leftover edges of the Chickpea fennel Crackers.

Serves 2

In a pan, add a teaspoon organic canola oil or coconut oil, Add 3 cloves of garlic chopped, chili flakes and cook for a minute on medium heat.

Add 1 cup chopped and washed leek and cook for another minute.

Add 1 cup chopped carrots, 1 cup chopped celery and 1/2 cup potato.

Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder and 1/2 tsp Cajun spice or spice blend of choice and mix well.

Cook covered for 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup of water, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon raw sugar or agave syrup and Cook covered on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring 1-2 times in between.

Take off heat and cool for a minute.

Blend this into a smooth puree and pour into the same pan. Add more water to get desired consistency.

Cook on medium heat in the pan till it comes to a boil. Adjust salt and spice..

Garnish with thinly chopped carrot, celery and/or leek.

Serve hot with Crackers or soft dinner rolls!

I think Cajun spice like a good garam masala can pretty much make everything taste great! This root vegetable soup is heading to Ricki's wellness weekend, and Hearth and Soul blog hop.

Cranberry Blueberry upside down cake! Vegan.

2011-12-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

It cant be holiday season without a cranberry upside down cake.. can it! And of course we ate most of it.. so just the one slice picture:D This is a cranberry blueberry mix as I love the balance of sweetness with the tart cranberries!

I used up the cranberries for the chutney, now waiting to get some more so I can make the cake again and put up a whole cake picture. or maybe do a step by step!

This cake is from our Thanksgiving spread. Other dishes from the menu

Roasted Delicata Squash with rosemary and olive oil

Flan, Creme Caramel Custard!

And some others should get posted soon..

The cake is mildly sweet, so add a couple of Tablespoons of sugar more if you like your cake nicely sweet.

Some other holiday cakes posted before

Carrot Almond super moist Cake.

Blueberry Apple compote cake.

And the simple and eat anytime Chocolate cake.

Hope you all love this simple cranberry tang! I am off to sleep now this afternoon after a painful visit to the dentist.. darn getting a filling done is tiring and the numbness is gone.. so painful now..grr.. ok i cant do grr.. it hurts.

Serves 2.. makes a 6 inch tiny cake. or 2 small ramekins

Take 3/4 cup total fresh cranberries and blueberries or just cranberries.

Toss them in 1 Tbsp melted Earth balance or coconut oil and 1 Tbsp raw granulated sugar powdered or any powdered sugar.

Put this mixture in greased or parchment lined pan and in the oven at 370 degrees F to cook for 15 minutes till you mix and add cake batter

In a bowl, mix in 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon each of spices(nutmeg, allspice, cardamom or cinnamon and pinch of clove powder). Mix well.

In another bowl, mix 1 teaspoon flaxmeal with 2 Tbsp hot water and keep for 2 minutes.

Add this flax mix to 1/3 cup water, add 1 teaspoon vinegar, 4 Tbsps raw sugar and 2 Tbsps coconut oil or softened earth balance butter, mix well for a minute till all sugar is well combined.

Add in the flours and mix until just about combined. Add more water if the batter is too thick. The batter should be like a thick pancake batter and not too runny.

Drop batter in the hot pan with cranberries and blueberries. Spread evenly and bake for 35-45 minutes until toothpick from the center comes out clean(no batter sticks to it)

Let the cake sit in pan for 5-10 minutes.

Remove from pan, Place upside down, drop any syrup if in the pan on the cake, and serve!

This cake is heading to Hearth and soul blog hop and Slightly indulgent Tuesdays. Vardhini's sinful delights, Vardhini's Bake Fest event hosted by Sangeetha at Spicy Treats, and Radhika's lets cook 10

Chickpea Fennel Crackers (Chana Murmura Mathri). Vegan, glutenfree

2011-12-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Another fun snack! Chickpea crackers.(Chana Murmura Saunf Mathri). with cooked chickpeas(garbanzo beans) ..These munchy crisp crackers are super addictive like the Roasted Garam Masala chickpeas I posted last week and simple too.. Mash chickpeas, add salt, pepper, spice of choice and a binder flour, knead and bake! These keep well in an airtight container for weeks! Or make fun shapes and pack them for a gift basket.

I made these several ways already.. The Wheat flour ones have gluten and are easier to handle in case you want to make some fun intricate shapes.

The first time I added half cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup oat flour and nigella seeds to about 1 cup of cooked chickpeas and made these.. I love nigella(Kalonji) in crackers!

The second batch, I had some chana masala leftover.. so I mashed that up with oats and wheat flour and baked them. The crackers had the tang from the tomato sauce and were super fun! Yes we make chana masala/chole in different or same way, every 10 days or so and some days we have leftovers:D.

Then I decided to try a Wheatless version.. and came up with these glutenfree Puffed Rice fennel crackers! recipe below.

the measurements are a bit approximate.. since I adjusted the dough as I was kneading.

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpeas(garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained if canned, soaked overnight and pressure cooked till tender if using dry beans)
1/2+ cup puffed rice (rice krispies)
3+ Tbsps chickpea flour
1/2+ teaspoon salt(depends on what chickpeas you use, the canned ones will already have a little salt)
1/4 teaspoon black salt(kala namak)
3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds (Saunf) you can also sub other spices like Cumin, carom or nigella seeds or herbs like thyme, basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil or organic canola oil

Directions:

Mash the Chickpeas well into a nice pulp.

Pulse the puffed rice to get a coarse flour. Add this flour, salt, pepper, spices and oil to the chickpeas and knead for 2 minutes until well combined. Taste test and adjust salt and spice. (Use Wheat flour to make the dough easier to handle in case you want to make some intricate shapes.)

Now this dough will be sticky but will mostly fall apart when you try to roll it out.

Add some chickpea flour and knead.

Depending on the chickpeas used(canned versus cooked), you might not need extra moisture. If the dough it too dry and crumbles, add a few teaspoons of water at a time and knead into a somewhat holding together dough.

Check by pressing a small portion out into a round disc. If it falls apart while pressing, then add a little more Chickpea flour and drops of water to make the dough smoother and stickier.

Roll this out between 2 parchment papers into a little less than 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out favorite shapes, or just cut parallel lines using knife or pizza cutter. Dont worry if each piece doesnt separate completely.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 25-35 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn the tray around and move the center ones out.. Keep checking the crackers for crispness. Time depends on the thickness of the crackers. The crackers are done as soon as the centers are not soft.

Snack with your favorite chutneys, hummus or dips! or as is or with soups.

These Crackers are headed to Ricki's wellness weekend, Hearth and soul blog hop and Slightly indulgent Tuesdays. and Vardhini's Bake Fest event hosted by Sangeetha at Spicy Treats, and Radhika's lets cook 10

Cookie BlogHop: Pistachio Almond Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies. Vegan

2011-12-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

Its the time for a Blog hop and This month's theme is Cookies!

There are sooo many cookies to choose from! I finally decided on making nutty, crunchy Pistachio thumbprint cookies!

Its also the month of festivities, cakes and cookies! I baked a Christmas Stollen wreath today and have to bake up a decadent Kahlua fruit cake over the weekend!:) What are you all baking up this month?!

These cookies are almost a protein bar(3.5 gm per cookies) with so many nuts and all unrefined whole ingredients! I topped them with cranberry pear simple chutney. You can use any cranberry jam or eat them as is!

Some other fun holiday treats from the archives..

Coconut Almond Rum balls

Butter Free Cashew Fudge

and lots of Cookies here.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw pistachioes
1/3 cup raw almonds
3 Tablespoons walnuts
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons raw sugar
2 Tablespoons agave
2 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil or organic canola oil or Earth balance butter
1 teaspoon flax meal
3 Tablespoons warm water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder or spice of choice
jam or chutney for filling( I used cranberry pear chutney)

Directions:

In a bowl, add hot water, flax meal and coconut oil. Mix well and let sit for 5 minutes.
Add in the vinegar, sugar, salt, agave and spices and mix for 2 minutes till well combined.
Grind the pistachios, almonds, walnuts separately using pulse so they dont become too buttery.
Add in the ground nuts, and sift whole wheat flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients and mix well.
The mixture will be a slightly stiff but still sticky dough. Add more flour if the mixture is more like a batter.
Oil hands or spoon and shape into balls. Place on parchment and make a deep dent in the center.
Bake in preheated 350 degrees F for 14-16 minutes depending on cookie size and thickness.
Cool on rack. The cookies might be soft when right out of the oven but will solidify to a biscuity texture. Fill thumbprint with jam or any other filling of choice!
Cranberry Pear Chutney: Cook 3/4 cup cranberries and half a pear pureed with 1 Tbsp jaggery/raw sugar, ginger powder, cinnamon, pinch of salt till all cranberries pop and chutney thickens.

Nutrition Facts

Amount per serving 1 cookie

Calories: 130.6 kcal

Carbohydrate (42%) 14.07 g

Protein 3.5 g

Total Fat (49%) 7.61 g

Monounsaturated 2.54 g

Polyunsaturated 2.12 g

Saturated 2.51 g

Cholesterol 0 mg

Dietary Fibre 2.25 g

Vitamin A 29.79 IU

Niacin 0.85 mg

Vitamin B6 0.13 mg

Folate 9.84 mcg

Vitamin E 1.03 mg ATE

Calcium 18.69 mg

Iron 0.8 mg

Magnesium 31.79 mg

Phosphorus 81.47 mg

Potassium 124.77 mg

Sodium 0.67 mg

December is #cookielove month! I am co-hosting this bloghop with some amazing bloggers.. do drop by to check their wonderful creations!

Badger Girl Learns to Cook/ Kimberly Aime/ @BdgerGrl

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves/ Becky Higgins

BigFatBaker/ Erin Meyer/ @BigFatBaker

Bloc de recetas/ Salomé/ @Blocderecetas

Bon a croquer /Valerie/ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog/ Terra Baltosiewich / @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess/ Lora/ @cakeduchess

Creative Cooking Corner/ Karriann Graf/ @KarriannGraf

Easily Good Eats/ Three-Cookies

Georgiecakes /Georgie Kubarych /@georgiecakes

Hobby And More / Richa/ @betit19

knitstamatic / Deb/ @knitstamatic

Mike's Baking / Mike R./ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos / Junia/ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies / T.R./ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake / Jessica Hose/ @jesshose

Queen's Notebook /Elizabeth Quirino/ @Mango_Queen

Savoring Every Bite /Linda Geiler/ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem / Reem /@simplyreem

Soni's Food for Thought / Soni/ @sonisfood

Teaspoon of Spice /Deanna Segrave-Daly/ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!/ Liz / @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food / Laura /@TAofCRF

The Spicy RD / EA Stewart /@thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian /Susan Pridmore /@chezsuzanne

Vegan Yack Attack! /Jackie Sobon/ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Taste Buds/ Raji / @vegtastebuds

Please join in on the #cookielove fun by linking up any cookie recipe from the month of December 2011. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #cookielove event! The twitter hashtag is #cookielove :).

Savory breakfasts. Oats Poha, Potato hummus sandwich and more. vegan, glutenfree options

2011-12-01T22:18:00.000-08:00

Breakfast.. the most important meal of the day! It needs to be a good balance of nutrients and a healthy dose of protein. I cant really digest raw fruits, so I havent caught on to the smoothie option yet.. But theres lots more than just pancakes, waffles and smoothies!

Thanks to Mona for the idea of using oats for the savory Breakfast poha! The oats poha tastes very similar to regular flattened rice flakes poha. I posted the detailed rice flakes breakfast poha recipe sometime back here. I've started making this morning fave breakfast with half Oats and half rice flakes. Oats add much more in terms of nutrition than just the white rice flakes! Lots of antioxidants, fibre, minerals and heelp stabilize sugar levels and lower cholestrol!

The recipe is the same. If using quick cooking oats, you dont need to soak them, just sprinkle some water to dampen then and add to pan, If using old fashioned or thicker oats, soak them in warm water for a few minutes.

Serves 2

Soak the rice flakes(thick Poha 1/2 cup) in hot water, for 5 mins( just enough water to cover all).

Add in old fashioned oats(3/4+ cup) to the damp rice flakes, mix and let sit for 2 minutes ( Or you can make this with only Oats. Add enough hot water to dampen them and let sit for 2 minutes)

Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Spread oil to evenly coat pan.

Add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds when the oil is hot. As soon as they start to sputter, add a few curry leaves and give it mix. Add 3-4 Tbsps diced onion and 1/2 tsp green chilies or chili flakes to taste. Cook until onions are translucent.

Add nuts(chopped cashew/peanut) and cook for half a minute. Add chopped cooked(boiled/baked) potatoes and some turmeric powder, mix and cook for a minute. If you dont have cooked potatoes, chop uncooked ones into smaller pieces, microwave them a minute at a time till almost cooked, and then add to pan, or you can skip potatoes.

Add other veggies like small chopped carrots, peas or zucchini, bell peppers. Mix and cook for 2 minutes.

Add soaked oats and rice flakes, salt and mix well. Cook covered on low-medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Open, mix well and cover and cook for another minute.

Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro and lemon juice and serve hot!

Leftover sandwiches.

The pictured one is boiled potato, hummus, tomato sandwich in multigrain bread. served with fruits!

Other times, I use up leftover veggie dishes from the day before or add some tofu scramble, Add some hummus or other nut butter(almond/cashew/peanut) or nut(cashew mayo)/bean proteiny dressing and its good to go.

Some other savory breakfasts from the last few months, which we eat often below. Wacth out for the sweet breaky roun up later this month.

Chilla - Chickpea flour omelette/crepe- glutenfree

Upma- Cream of wheat or rice with veggies and nuts. glutenfree option

Bean sprouts - glutenfree

Savory Chickpea French Toasts. glutenfree option

This breakfast is headed to Ricki's wellness weekend, Allergy friendly friday.

Kadhai Gobi, shimla mirch, Tempeh(Tempeh, cauliflower, bell pepper in spicy tomato gravy) Vegan, glutenfree and holiday ideas!

2011-11-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

Kadhai /Karahi is an indian wok, usually made with cast iron or steel and used for shallow or deep frying or high heat dishes!

Kadhai paneer(cottage cheese) or Kadhai Chicken/other meat is another one of the main course curries found on most Indian restaurants. So another one for me to veganize! Kadhai paneer or Paneer Tikka Masala was also one of the dishes served on special occasions or get togethers at our home in india while growing up. I am from North India after all, with a good consumption of Paneer stuff. I dont know why most indian restaurants serve only north indian inspired, meaty, and creamy curries, when there are several cuisines of each of the states in india, most of them unique in their own way and vegetarian. Thats globalization for you.

A few pictures today, we usually eat the curries up before I can click! This is a tangy and spicy curry and goes well with vegetables as well. I usually add cauliflower, green and red bell peppers, onion slices, carrots and other veggies to it. The pictured recipe has tempeh, cauliflower and bell peppers. I made it when my parents were visiting in October to give them a taste of tempeh. Tempeh is fermented soybean patty. It can be substituted with tofu or any lentil loaf. I forgot to add that I am so proud of my parents for adjusting so well to our dietary preferences, and trying out the substitutes. They are the sweetest and now are trying to implement some of the things back home in India!

For more Indian curries, check out the curries round up here.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 8 oz tempeh package or about 2 cups small cubes tempeh.

1 medium green bell pepper (shimla mirch, capsicum)

1 cup cauliflower florets( big ones chopped)

1/2 medium onion chopped

2 Tablespoon oil

4 medium tomatoes

1/2 inch piece of ginger

5 cloves of garlic

1 green chili

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (Punjabi garam masala works best)

3/4 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

a cup or so of water

Method:

In a large kadhai or any deep pan, add oil and heat medium-high heat.

Add in the chopped tempeh and cook for a minute, stir and cook for another minute or 2 until some of the sides turn golden. Remove tempeh and keep aside.

Add in the bell pepper and cauliflower and cook stirring so some of the edges get golden. Remove and keep aside( you can skip this step and add them later to the curry directly as well)

Add in the cumin seeds and onions to the same oil and cook for 5-7 minutes until translucent.

Add in the spices and mix well, cook for a minute.

Blend the tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chili to make a puree.

Add puree to the the onions and mix well.

Add in the tempeh and salt, sugar, mix and cook on low-medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until the tomato gravy thickens enough and sticks to the tempeh.

Add in water(depending on how dry or wet you want the final dish), lemon juice, bell peppers and cauliflower. mix well, adjust salt and spice to taste.

Cover and cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes until cauliflower is tender.

Serve hot topped with chopped cilantro, with flat bread(Naan, roti) or Rice!.

Heres a video for a dry version of kadhai paneer. The only difference in cooking paneer vs tempeh is that tempeh takes longer to absorb the flavors, so cook it with the gravy.

Lots of things to do this holiday season.. bake up a storm.. meet up with friends! Join me in doing some of the following too!

Sponsor dogs, cats or animals in sanctuaries. We usually sponsor some at our local senior dog sanctuary(Old dog haven) and some in India(Animal aid India, and Help animals India). Check out Savannah's collection of Shop to help animals international charities list here. If sending gift cards, find some rescues and charities offering gift cards and calendars with all or most of the profit going to the rescue.

Check out VeganEtsy!! and Vegtastic's finds for some vegan finds on etsy(the list of vegan sellers here. and some cruelty free shoes at Veganchic!

Find local artists offering one of a kinds gifts and support small businesses!

Send out happy prayers , thoughts, ecards, give a hug, a smile, head out to your local shelter to play with the pups who dont have a home yet, deliver meals and gifts to families who cant afford it this year.. lots to do.. !

Thank you all for the support! If you are in Seattle, drop by to say hi and grab some goodies.. We are in belltown, 4 blocks from the needle! Happy holidays!

This curry is headed to Ricki's Wellness weekend,Hearth and soul blog hop, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays and MLLA november at simona , started by Susan

Flan, Caramel custard/pudding Vegan, glutenfree

2011-11-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

Fresh cranberrrieeess in season now.. and I served some along this beautiful caramel flan! Also made some cran-blue berry upside down cake..all a part of our thanksgiving spread. The entire spread pictures and Roasted delicata squash recipe here.

I was looking to veganize the eggy flan for a while. Flan or creme caramel or custard pudding with soft caramel is one of the desserts which have sweet childhood memories associated with it. My maasi(mom's sister) would make us some caramel custard for special occassions, and it was perfect, with the perfect sweetness, the perfect burnt sugar, and better than any flan I've had in restaurants. I cant beat her perfection, but this flan comes quite close! I found some references to Cafe con leche flan in Viva vegan and another version somewhere online used tofu. I decided to cut out the soy and here is my recipe!

More caramel and silkier flan!

makes two 3.5 inch ramekins

Caramel:

5 Tbsps raw sugar, brown sugar or sucanat

1 Tbps water

Pudding: 1.75 cups + 2 Tbsps So delicious vanilla coconut milk

2 Tbsps raw sugar or other sweetener to taste

1/2 teaspoon agar powder

1 Tbsp cornstarch

vanilla extract if using regular coconut milk

Directions:

Caramel: In a pan, add in the sugar and water for the caramel and mix on medium heat. Let it come to a boil, reduce heat to low and keep stirring occasionally till it gets dark and thick. Pour the caramel in the ramekins and spread around while still hot. reserve the pan.I like my caramel dark and burnt and bitter.
Pudding: In a bowl whisk the agar powder into the coconut milk and add it to the pan in which you made caramel, on low heat.
Keep stirring frequently and let it come to a boil.
Add the cornstarch to a couple of tablespoon of cool coconut milk and mix well.
Add this cornstarch mixture and the sugar to the boiling milk and keep boiling for 7-10 minutes, or until desired thickness is reached.
Pour this boiling mixture in the caramel covered ramekins.
If your caramel is a nice thick layer, then bake the ramekins for 3-4 minutes in 375 degrees F, so the caramel melts and the mixture just begins to bubble on the edges, and the caramel mixes well with the bottom.(I like this version better.)
Let it cool for 10 minutes then refrigerate for atleast 2 hours.
You can also use soy/almond milk or creamer with vanilla extract to make the pudding and add half cup blended silken tofu just before almost done, bring to a boil and take off heat. Mix well and pour immediately into ramekins covered in caramel.
I made another batch with 1/2 cup coconut creamer, 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1/4 cup tofu and that was so creamy!
To serve, run knife gently along the sides to loosen the flan and invert it on the serving plate. If the flan doesnt slide out easily, then dip the bottoms of the ramekin in hot water for a minute and invert. Serve as is, or with fresh fruits.

What favorite desserts do you plan to make this holiday season?

Agar powder is a gelatinous substance derived from algae and a great substitute for gelatin. You can find it whole foods or health stores, though it is much cheaper if bought online from iherb, swanson or amazon!

This flan is headed to Hearth and soul blog hop, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Ricki's wellness weekend, and Amee's Fit and Fabulous Fridays

Roasted Garam masala chickpeas. Vegan glutenfree

2011-11-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

A very addictive protein filled savory snack anyone!

I made a batch with garam masala, another batch with my home made Chana masala spice blend. And a batch with cinnamon and maple. crrrunnccchh! You can find garam masala or chole masala in any indian store. Put them in pretty pouches and add to your holiday gift box, for a crunchy savory option!

Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas are an amazing source of a good number of minerals and protein. They have a good amount of fiber to help your digestive tract, unique supply of anti-oxidants, help with better regulation of blood sugar and increased chances of satiety and hence weight control. What more could you want from a bean and it is one versatile bean easily incorporated in so many cuisines.

Inspired by Fajita Chickpeas from Natural noshing

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas in a colander. Or cook the overnight soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles until tender.

Drain them well, shaking excess water let air dry or pat dry with towel.

In a bowl, add chickpeas, 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste, 1/2 teaspoon Garam masala or Chana masala spice blend/chole masala, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and toss to coat the chickpeas well.

Spread the chickpeas onto parchment lined baking sheet/pan in a single layer and bake for 35-50 minutes (time depends on the amount of chickpeas and your oven) until crispy, shaking pan twice or so in the middle of cooking. I baked at 330 degrees F. Check in between for crispness. Serve warm or let cool and enjoy! Store in airtight container.

For maple cinnamon chickpeas, add some cinnamon powder, oil and maple syrup, mix well to coat and bake!

Wanna make them more fun, coat them in melted chocolate!:))

On another note, I updated the recipe index by label with some pictures. The tab Recipe Index by Label on top, links to this page http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/p/recipe-index-by-label.html

To Search for posts by multiple labels, use the feed on a browser that supports rss. For eg. For all posts with Breakfast label which are also vegan http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/vegan/breakfast

or for all indian main course dishes which are glutenfree (labels main course:India and gluten free)

http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/main%20course:India/gluten%20free

These simple crunchy snacks are headed to Hearth and soul blog hop,Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Serve it baked-savory by Krithi, and Denny, Vardhini's bake fest and MLLA november at simona , started by Susan

Roasted Delicata squash with Rosemary and olive oil. Vegan, glutenfree

2011-11-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had an amazing thanksgiving! Below was our casual indian mixed Thanksgiving spread.. all Vegan and mostly Glutenfree.

Rosemary, olive oil, roasted Delicata squash,

Kale, romaine, balsamic salad,

Leek, carrot, potato, celery, squash soup,

Sprouted Black chickpea curry,

Rice with cumin seeds,

Caramel Flan /pudding with cranberries and blueberries.:)

Cranberry-blueberry upside down cake in the oven..not pictured for later in the evening. ( which we ate up, so i have to make another one for some pictures:)

All recipes coming up in the next few days..

We got our first delivery from Full circle farm with all the gorgeous and fresh greens, squashes, apples, pears, carrots, kale, celery and more. These local and organic veggies taste so much better and the in season fruits and veggies make me come up with ways to use them. Else I normally get stuck with the usual veggies available all year round in the superstores.

Starting up the recipes with this simple Delicata squash. roasted or cooked on stove top.

Slit the squash in the middle. Remove seeds. Slice it up.

You can either roast it in the oven or on stove top.

Toss the slices with some olive oil or organic canola oil, salt, black pepper and fresh or dried rosemary in a bowl or directly on a baking sheet/pan. Level the squash to be in a single layer. Roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees F or until soft and slightly golden. Serve warm.

Or Add oil to a pan on stove top and spread to cover. Drop in the squash slices. sprinkle salt, pepper and rosemary. Cover and cook on low-medium for 10 minutes. Turn the slices and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve!

This squash is heading to Ricki's wellness Weekend, Food Corner food of the month- christmas , Serve it baked-savory by Krithi, and Denny, Vardhini's bake fest ,Cybele pascal's allergy friendly friday , Simple and in Season Oct-Nov , and Squashlove blog hop, and Dailybites GF holiday

Sprouted Wheat Strawberry Bread Vegan. A guest post on Tongue Ticklers

2011-11-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I posted a bread.. If you look through last 2 years, you will know what I mean. I bake breads at home pretty much every week,.. experiment with grains, fruits and herbs and knead and bake and knead and bake. I've been baking some repeat simple multigrain ones lately. I made whole wheat pizza dough when mom was visiting and now she has started eating home made pizza back in India, minus the cheese:)

Some time back, Harini has asked me for a guest post on her wonderful blog Tongue Ticklers, and I sent her one of my breads. Harini blogs tried and tested, authentic, Veganized and some glutenfree recipes. She loves to innovate with textures, ingredients and flavours to find a balance in taste and health. She also takes you on a beautiful journey with each post with her exquisite photography.

I was thinking of what to use in this bread for the guest post, and I wasn’t sure if grains like quinoa were available in India. So I decided to stick to the most used grain. Wheat. This bread has sprouted Wheat, whole wheat flour, high gluten bread flour, and some strawberries too. The fruit adds a fun dimension to the bread and hides some of the wheaty taste, which sometimes can be strong enough to distract some people from liking a whole grain bread.

Check out more pictures and the Recipe on Tongue Ticklers here.

Sprouted grains have more micronutrients and food enzymes than non sprouted ones.. Some other sprouted grain breads I posted earlier. Sprouted quinoa Tomato flat bread and Mung Bean sprouts Wheat Loaf.

Hope you all are having a great Holiday weekend! This bread is headed to Ricki's wellness weekend., Susan's Weekly Yeastspotting and Vardhini's bake fest.

Some of my recent fave breads for a quick round up. Mango Strawberry molasses, Multifruit Multigrain, Chocolate multigrain, Beet Blueberry :)

Carrot almond Cake, Muffins and Carrot halwa. vegan

2011-11-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

2 in 1 post! Carrot almond cake and muffins and Carrot halwa (Fudgy Indian sweet) which is glutenfree! The cake and muffins are not glutenfree.

Carrot Halwa is one of the ubiquitous indian sweets at most festivals or even on regular days when carrots are in season. Back home, mom would get loads of carrots, sit and grate them and then put them for roasting with some ghee, milk and sugar.. and it would slow roast the whole day to a dark red brown and rich and shiny dense fudgy sweet. I make mine with coconut oil and almond meal instead of almond milk! Comes out super fine!

Pictured below are the baby cakes.

I made 2 baby cakes and 3 dozen muffins recently. The carrots are cooked a bit to resemble a partially done halwa and then made into cake/muffins. The carrot taste is more cooked, sweeter, and buttery. I should probably call these Carrot Halwa muffins!

Why did I make them this way.. coz I am lazy about grating the carrot by hand or using my bulky food processor.. and believe you me.. you will like these fudgy cakes even better!

For the cakes(2, 4 inch ramekins) I used,

1/2 cup self rising flour

2 Tbsps whole wheat pastry flour

2 Tbsps almonds

2 Tbsp oats

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp vegan butter

10 baby carrots

1/2 cup water

7 Tbsps raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder (substitute with fave spice if you dont like cardamom)

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice

pinch of nutmeg

For the 3 dozen mini muffins

1.75 cups self rising flour

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup almonds

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons coconut oil

2 Tablespoons Organic canola oil

2 cups baby carrots or chopped carrots.

about 1 cup water (1/2 + 1/2)

1 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1.5 teaspoon vinegar

raisins and cranberries

Directions:

Grind the almonds and keep aside or use almond flour. Grind oats with baking powder and salt and keep aside.
Blend the carrots into a coarse puree with a little water(depends on your blender. I used about half a cup for 2 cups carrots). or grate then into thin fine strips. I pureed the carrots for both cake and muffins.
In a pan, heat the coconut oil, melt and spread to cover the pan.
Add in carrot puree, spices, Almond meal and sugar and mix well. Add in the raisins to the mixture at this point( I added 1/2 cup raisins for the muffins)
Cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes until the puree thicken a bit(depends in the quantity of the puree and water content).
Take mixture off heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
Add in vinegar, about 1/3 cup cold water for the cakes and 1/2 cup for the muffins, and canola oil and mix well. The mixture should be a runny sauce. (Add double the water if you grated the carrots and you cooked carrots are almost dry)
Add in the flours and ground Oats and mix until just about combined. Drop mixture in mini muffin liners in muffin pan Or greased cake pan. Smooth the top and top the muffins with cranberries(pictured), raisins or jam.
Bake at preheated 360 degrees F for 18-20 minutes for the mini muffins and 35-40 minutes for the cake pans or until the toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Carrot Halwa: (glutenfree)

For Carrot Halwa: Follow steps 1-4 from the cake directions above, with half the amount of sugar. (2 cups carrots, 1/3 cup freshly ground almond meal, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 2 Tbsps coconut oil and 1/2 cup raw sugar.)
Keep cooking the carrot mixture on low heat stirring occasionally till it starts to leave the edges. About 45 minutes if using grated carrots, and an hour if carrots were pureed.
Add some raisins and cashew pieces after 15 minutes of cooking and continue.
Serve warm or cold or any way:). We usually serve it warm as dessert right after a meal.

The halwa comes out better with grated/shredded carrots. and cardamom is the spice of choice for this indian sweet.

These muffies are headed to Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Stop by my earlier post Green beans-2 ways for a list of my favorite vegan thanksgiving recipes and Menu ideas from around the web and a list from my archives.

Daily dose of mr fluff's expressions... "I am comfortably sleeping in the comforter here.. do u mind?.. gaah.. no privacy in this house.."

Green beans and potatoes (Barbati Aloo subzi). Mom's recipe. and TG ideas. Vegan, glutenfree

2011-11-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

Isnt it totally obvious that mom made this dish! Look at those evenly cut beans and potatoes. everything is almost the same size and symmetrical and so pretty.

Have you seen my green beans and potatoes.. the beans get cut in random sized parts. same thing happens to potatoes and they get cooked on medium heat because I am usually in a hurry to eat.. and the beans get slightly golden or brown because of the high heat cooking.. no such thing in mom's version. all evenly cut and evenly cooked on a low simmer with occasional stirring and taken off heat on time. Serve these beans with your favorite Daal(Indian lentil soup), some flat bread and pickle!

We dont really celebrate a by the book thanksgiving. Most years, it is just a get together with friends and lots of indian food. Thank you all for the warm wishes on the Oatmeal cookie post.. I am thankful for everyone, family and friends, gradually doing better and am blabbing about some of it on my personal blog here .

Need some Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas!.. check out

NY Times Vegetarian and vegan collection

OneGreenPlanet's Vegan thanksgiving recipes

Kathy's Thanksgiving complete Menu Ideas!

If you all are interested in an Indian menu, I can put up a sample Indian spread in the next post!. Have a safe and happy holiday season. Here are some of my recipes which might fit in well with the holiday cooking!

Maple Glazed Tempeh over baby greens Salad.

Fluffy White Dinner rolls.

The evergreen Tiramisu Pancakes.

Tempeh Kebabs, which can be made into a Loaf.

Mango Chutney. Add cranberries to it.

Pigeon Pea soup with Opo Squash!.

This is a simple indian subzi(dry veggie preparation). Play around to make it your own.

Directions:

In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil, and heat on medium heat for a minute till hot.

Add in 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds and let them sputter.

Add in a teaspoon or 2 of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon of chili flakes and mix well.

Add in a cup of cubed potatoes and mix well to coat.

Add in about 2 cups of chopped green beans, mix, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Stir, add salt to taste( 3/4 or 1 teaspoon), mix well and cover and cook for another 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until potatoes are tender. Simple and yumm!

Another way I make my green beans/french beans (no picture) ..

In a pan, heat oil on medium heat.

Add mustard seeds, and let them start to sputter.

Add in chili flakes and a teaspoon of split urad daal(black gram) or split mung daal(green gram) and mix for a few seconds.

Add in a few curry leaves, mix and add in the green beans. Mix well to coat.

cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste, mix and cook covered until beans are tender and brown on some sides. Serve as is, or garnish with fresh grated coconut.

These simple Subzis are heading to Hearth and soul blog hop, Melt in your mouth monday, Simply sugar and gf Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Mouthwatering monday- TG edition. and Ricki's Wellness weekend and Lisa's Lunchbox love., Simple and in Season Oct-Nov

Chilla /Puda (chickpea flour omelette/pancake) and savory french toasts. vegan, glutenfree

2011-11-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

The theme for this month is definitely more focused on breakfast.. in part because I got a bit bored of pancakes, breads, toasts, oatmeal and other mostly sweet oriented options. So when mom was visiting, I made it a point to take a few pictures, ended up with a very few actually. :). of the savory options. Only moms can make perect chilla/puda. perfectly round, perfectly done.:) Chilla or Puda as we call it is another one of the staple breakfasts at home.. made with chickpea flour(besan), sometimes in combination with wheat or rice flour or semolina, with added veggies of choice.

Chilla if made with only chickpea flour is glutenfree. Pictured with the chilla above is the Diwali oil lamp. This year we celebrated Diwali with ma n pa after 11 years!

The chilla we make, is like a thick soft crepe (more like a Dosa). You can tweak the consistency to make a thicker batter for a more pancakey and soft chilla or a thin crisp crepe.

For some recent savory breakfast options check out Upma-Cream of wheat or Rice or other grains cooked with veggies and nuts here. with gf options.

Directions: Makes 3-4

Take 2/3 cup chickpea flour and add 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp rock salt(kala namak), 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste, 1/8 teaspoon asofetida(hing, optional), 1 teaspoon oil and about 1/2-2/3 cup water and mix well to get a lump free batter. (add cumin powder or coriander powder for variations).

Add in 1/4 cup chopped red onion, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 green chili finely chopped or to taste and a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro.

Heat a thick bottom pan on medium high heat until hot, spread a little oil on the pan.

Drop a ladleful of the batter and spread it around either by using the ladle in circular motion like a crepe, or just moving the pan to make 5-7 inch diameter. Put half a teaspoon of oil on the edges.

Cook chilla on medium heat for 5-7 minutes until golden. Flip and cook for another few minutes till brown spots appear.

Serve hot with ketchup, sriracha, cilantro chutney or other sauces.

Other veggies that we add.. grated carrot, finely chopped tomato, scallions, shallots, grated cauliflower, zucchini, potato, mushrooms, spinach, chard and more. Add a few Tablespoons of rice flour for crispy chilla. You can watch a Video on how to make a chilla with zucchini here.

I also use this same batter to make Savory french toasts (Bread pakora). Coat the breads in the batter and pan fry them on non stick pans with little oil, on medium hot, about 3-5 minutes on each side depending on size. Serve hot topped with daiya or as is with ketchup or chutneys! Use gf bread for a gf french toasts.

Have a great balanced breakfast everyday. This chilla and savory toasts are headed to Ricki's wellness weekend, allergyfree Lunchbox love, Slightly indulgent tuesdays and Cybele pascals Allergy friendly friday.

And this is my new iphone cover.. cheeezzyy.. but i love it!

Oatmeal Chocolate chip glutenfree Cookies. with a secret ingredient. vegan

2011-11-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

First, Thank you all for all the support! I crossed 700 likes on my facebook page! yay. thank you for all the love to the Tiramisu pancakes.. which came about out of the happy memories of some happy events, celebrated with decadent Tiramisu in my prevegan days. I could make the whole dessert vegan too, but this came about as a quicker, and healthier idea! yay for some special breakfast!

I had to start experimenting with gluten free desert baking some day.. I made a gf quick bread, which was decent.. with breads and cakes you have to get a hang of the ratios, the new types of flours, xanthan or guar gum and such. Cookies are a bit simpler, they do not necessarily need binding gum.

These cookies came out fabulous! and dont taste much different than the regular oatmeal and wheat flour cookies! I added some puffed rice/rice krispies to the cookies to make them a bit more porous and crunchy. Brilliant idea... dont u think. You can tweak the recipe to make your own! and I hope you all like it.

Ingredients: makes 8-10 cookies

2/3 cup old fashioned oats ground.
1/3 cup oats
1/2 tsp guar gum (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup puffed rice (murmura in hindi. quite cheap at an indian store)
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon organic canola oil
2 tablespoons agave
3 Tablespoons raw sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flaxmeal
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or other spices of choice

Directions:

In a bowl, mix the flaxmeal in 2 Tablespoons hot water and keep for 2 minutes.
Add in 2 tablespoons hot water, coconut oil and canola oil and mix so the coconut oil melts a bit. (or melt the coconut oil separately and add)
Add in the sugar, agave, spices, salt and lemon juice and mix well for 2 minutes using hand or electric mixer( I dont use the electric one, since the mixture doesnt need much fluffing up)
Grind the 2/3 cup oats along with baking powder and guar gum, or use 1/2 cup oat flour and mix in the baking powder and guar gum powder. Add to wet mix.
Coarsely grind the puffed rice/rice krispies, with just a few pulses to break the rice into smaller pieces. Add this to wet mix as well.
Add the whole oats and chocolate chips and mix well to combine.
Drop spoonfulls on parchment lined baking sheet. press down with oiled hand or spoon and shape a bit.
Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven for 12-14 minutes. Cool on rack and enjoy!

These cookie are headed to Hearth and soul blog hop and Simply sugar and gluten free's Slightly indulgent tuesdays. and Ricki's wellness weekend, and gf edible holiday gifts

On another note, please do send a prayer our way.. this week has been a taxing one with young and fit near and dear ones falling under the c word.. now on their long road to recovery.

Tikki. Potato, chickpea, breadcrumbs patties. Vegan, glutenfree option

2011-11-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

Vegan Mofo is not really over! There is a Iron chef challenge every second week of the month now and this week's challenge is breadcrumbs!

I made these cute little baked potato tikkis/cutlets with leftover Chana masala, boiled potato, Breadcrumbs and spices!. You can add any veggie leftovers like beans, sweet potatoes, risotto, cooked quinoa, thick soup etc.

Just when you think things have settled, the amazing team at Mofo shakes it up! kudos to them for the whole october event and then keeping it going! These tikkis can be served as snack or breakfast or a light meal accompanied with the mini buns to make sliders and such!

Some fun patties posted before, Beet Oat and chickpea sliders, which were such cute and flavorful patties. These potato tikkis are similar but crunchy because of the breadcrumbs and cute little things!

And in case you missed the now famous Tiramisu Pancakes with cashew mascarpone posted 2 days back.. here is the link! and a teaser picture again! :D

Ingredients: makes 12-14 small cutlets

2 medium potatoes
2/3 cup leftover Chana masala/chole or other not too wet veggie leftovers
2 slices whole wheat bread made into crumbs or use glutenfree bread crumbs
1/2 cup oats ground coarsely
1 inch ginger finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped or minced
1 chili pepper chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala or other fave herbs or spice blend mix
1/2 teaspoon carom seeds (Ajwain, optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon or more rock salt (kala namak) or anardana powder(pomegranate seed)
1 Tablespoon oil

Directions:

Mash the potatoes and leftovers to get a well mashed mix.
Add in all the other ingredients and mix well to get a non wet mix which can come together. Add more breadcrumbs or oats if needed.
Taste the mix and adjust salt and spice.
Form in to patties and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 15-25 minutes depending on size and wetness of the patty. till the outside is dry and golden. You can also shallow fry the patties.
Serve hot with fave sauces, sriracha, or cilantro chutney, some side salad and a coffee or juice. You can also put these between mini buns and top with lettuce and some ketchup or miso mayo!

These cuties are headed to Ricki's wellness weekend., melt in your mondays and hearth and soul blog hop.

Tiramisu Pancakes! Vegan

2011-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Holiday theme continues! So what part of the day do you think you will serve these pancakes.. early morning, or late evening with a good helping of liqueur... or all day, bottomless, on demand :)

I think I can eat these for dinner!.. They are multigrain, you got your nut protein, some cocoa, and coffee to keep you awake and going for the late night partay! To make these glutenfree, use your fave glutenfree pancake mix!

If using only regular flour instead of pancake mix, then add 1 flax egg(1 scant Tbsp flax meal mixed in 2 Tbsp warm water) and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder per half cup flour)

Pictured below are the first batch made in a hurry with not soaked cashews which our not so energetic magic bullet couldnt blend some pieces. The other pictures are from an evening at leisure batch.

Cashews are a great source of minerals and heart healthy fat. Cashews have a lower fat content than most other nuts, approximately 75% of their fat is unsaturated fatty acids, plus about 75% of this unsaturated fatty acid content is oleic acid, the same heart-healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. Studies show that oleic acid promotes good cardiovascular health, even in individuals with diabetes.

Ingredients: makes 3 or 4 pancakes

7 Tablespoons Bob's red mill organic 7 grain pancake mix (already has flax)
2 Tablespoon self rising flour( optional, the grains can get too dense sometimes.)
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (more or less per preference)
1 scant teaspoon instant coffee ( or equivalent brewed)(change it around per preference, depends on how strong a coffee taste you like and how awake you want to be)
1 Tablepoon oil( virgin coconut or organic canola)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/3+ cup warm water
a teaspoon of vanilla(optional)
oil or vegan butter to cook

Mascarpone:

1/2 cup cashews soaked for atleast half an hour or overnight or nuke them a bit before creaming
few Tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vinegar or 1 teaspoon lemon juice for the tang (Vinegar is better)
1 Tablespoon maple or raw sugar( use sugar for whiter cream)

Drizzle: Maple syrup and coffee liqueur or rum or other liqueur to preference.

Directions:

Mix the wet ingredients and cocoa powder and coffee well. Add the rest pancake ingredients (9 Tbspns total dry ingredients is a little more than 1/2 cup dry mix). Add more pancake mix or water if needed to get a thick pancake batter. dont over mix. Too thin and watery batter also will not rise well. Let batter sit till you prepare the cashew mascarpone.
Blend the cashews with water and vinegar till creamy. Add sugar or maple and blend again. Taste for tang and sweetness, adjust and keep. you can make thicker or thinner or more cream as needed.
Cook the pancakes on well heated and greased thick bottom pan. 5-7 minutes per side depending on size. Since the multigrain batter is a bit thick, you might have to spread it with a spatula into shape.
Mix some liqueur in the maple syrup for drizzling if serving with liqueur, or keep separate.
To assemble, brush pancake with maple syrup or maple liqueur mix. top with cashew mascarpone, place another pancake and repeat.
Dust some cocoa powder or Chocolate shavings on top. you can also saturate the bottom pancake with a bit more liqueur or maple and coffee per taste. Dig in!!

These pancakes are headed to Ricki's wellness weekend!, Allergy friendly lunchbox and Cook it allergy free's Week 2 of Glutenfree Thanksgiving.