Lime and Nutmeg Jelly

It's Vegan MoFo day 6 already and I am under prepared. I'm aiming for at least 20 posts, thank god for that bottom limit! I don't think if it wasn't the Vegan Month of Food, I would have even clicked so many pictures in advance. Problem is I click the pictures and don't write down the recipe. So I end up having to recollect every teaspoon of whatever I put into that final picture.

Today it's time for something sweet!

I hate going to the doctor, let alone the orthodontist. When last week we went to get K's very bad teeth fixed, I decided to let my mouth be looked into. I shouldn't have. I knew I was asking for trouble. She took a very pointy instrument and jammed it into four of my molars and said what I didn't want her to say. I'm all for doctors and the like (not really), but getting treated conventionally is not my cup of sugar. I'm in the business of making sweet stuff, I eat meals between desserts and I brush once a day. I think I was asking for trouble. I bought one week from her and said I would do the fillings next week. I'm not going to.

I'm going to give myself six months to treat these cavities naturally. She warned me about a root canal if I ignore them. Little did she know, I'm also not into root canals. 

So I have taken an oath. Unless absolutely necessary (i.e. only when I'm baking orders) I am not going to indulge in anything sweet and also start brushing twice a day. It's tough, very very tough. And here I am writing about a jelly that is setting in the fridge.

Since I'm off the refined sweets, I made this with a not so refined sweet - date syrup. I'm using the store bought variety for this recipe, but you could as well make it yourself. I made this recipe long back for a vegan potluck that I hosted, I have tweaked the recipe since then and find that it sets better now.

This recipe uses agar agar which is a sea weed. It needs heat to get activated and hence needs to be heated with liquid for it to set. In Bombay we easily get agar agar sheets (aka China Grass) in local grocery stores. Since it is difficult to dissolve when it is so big, I put it in the blender to make it flakey.

You need:

1 cups freshly squeezed Coconut Milk

2 tbsp agar agar big flakes (If you have fine powder you reduce the quantity of the agar agar)

1 cup water

1/4 cup or more date syrup / Sugar/ Jaggery (add little at a time while you taste depending on how sweet you want it)
Juice of 1 lime
Vanilla Essence
Nutmeg Powder
A pinch of turmeric powder for colour

Boil the water with the Agar Agar flakes till it is completely dissolved (it takes about 5 minutes). Add in the coconut milk, sweetener, vanilla essence, turmeric. Bring it to one boil and take it off the stove. Now add the lime juice and stir. Put it into the serving bowl and let it stay absolutely still. I keep it inside the fridge so it sets faster. After about 10 minutes, sprinkle the nutmeg powder on top and make some art. Leave it in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

It sets like a jelly and is so much fun to eat.

Serve cold.

Picture courtesy Harini Prakash

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Mango Thai Curry

I enjoy making Thai Curry specially the green curry because it's so easy and everyone at home loves it. This time I added some fresh ripe mango to the paste and it turned out even better.

For the gravy you need

A coriander-mint chutney made with ginger, garlic and green chillies

Pulp of one ripe mango

Blend the two together.

1 chopped onion

2 cups fresh coconut milk (always better if you've made it fresh) Or 1 tetra pack of store-bought coconut milk

Turmeric

3 fresh basil leaves

1 leaf of lemon tree if available

3-4 lemon grass

Steamed & cut vegetables of your choice like:

Potatoes

Lady Fingers

Red Pumpkin

Cauliflower

Yams

Carrots

Beans

Raw Vegetables of your choice like :

Green, Red or Yellow Pepper

Mushroom

Saute the onions in little bit of water and when they turn translucent add the green paste with mango. Add the turmeric, basil, lemon tree leaf and lemon grass. Add a quarter cup of the coconut milk and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add the raw vegetables and stir it around a bit.

Add in the rest of the coconut milk and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Put in the steamed vegetables and let it come to one boil.

If you use the ready made coconut milk you will need to add water since it is much more thicker.

Add in some salt and pepper and serve hot with brown rice.

The mango adds a sweetness and gives it a nicer colour.

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Soft Coconut Cookies

All this started when I’d forgotten about some coconut milk that I’d made and kept in the fridge for about 10 days. When I thought of making some coconut ice cream out of it, I opened the box to find that the milk had separated into a gooey bright white mixture on top and an egg white like substance at the bottom clinging together like an egg like the picture on the right.

After a lot of smelling and tasting my mom and I decided it wasn’t spoilt. So now that the ice cream was out of the question and the coconut milk now felt like an egg I thought of using it to make a batch of cookies. That didn’t turn out so well. We ended up eating the greaseproof paper with the cookies (because they tasted so good). But the same dough I put it into smaller biscuit cups and voila a beautifully soft cupcake came out without the use of any artificial raising agents.

So here’s how to do it.

½ cup Coconut butter (the top white portion of the milk after keeping it in the fridge for a while. I’d say a week. I wouldn’t try it with store bought coconut milk)
4 tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
2 tbsp sugar
Some almond essence if you like

The coconut butter had a thread consistency actually more like a rope. It’s exactly how the egg is before you beat it. Everything sticks together.

Mix everything and put them in mini cupcake tins or biscuit tins (like on the left) and let them bake for about 20 minutes. If you have a grill it works well in that too and gives a nice crusty layer on top.

It’s so amazingly soft it’s almost unbelievable.

Coconut Milk can be made using fresh coconut. Just break the coconut in half and take out the white portion (it’s called coconut meat but I don’t like that too much) just as you would for chutney. Put it in a blender with some water and let it blend for a few minutes. Then using a strainer squeeze out the liquid and add some more water to the coconut solids and blend it again and strain it. This is what I used to make the soft coconut cookies.

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Crunchy Passion Fruit Ice Cream

I love ice cream and I tried to mix that with my new found intrigue for Passion Fruit.

You need:

2 cans coconut Milk or Milk squeezed out of 4 coconuts

6 passion fruits

3 spoons Jaggery or any sweetener

Some cardamom

A handful of Roasted Almonds

Take out the pulp of the passion fruits and put it through a sieve. Squeeze out the pulp and save the seeds Mix this pulp with the coconut milk and jaggery in a blender. Add the cardamom and almonds. Put it in your ice cream maker or just freeze it in a box. Roast the seeds till the remaining pulu had dried off of them and they become a bit crunchy. Once the ice cream is ready put the seeds on top and serve.

You could also add some roasted almonds into the ice cream before freezing.

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Coconut Milk Payasam or Kheer

An amazing milk-free dessert that is oil free, cruelty free and so easy to make !

Payasam / Kheer is a milky-special occasion dessert that generally puts you to sleep after an Indian meal! Try it with plant based milks (after a vegetarian/vegan meal of course) and compare !

You need:

1 coconut - milk removed

1/2 cup jaggery or less depending on your sweet threshold

1 cup cooked rice or semiya(vermicelli) or raagi noodles

Dry Roasted Cashew/ Almonds

Raisins

Cardamom Powder

Boil the coconut milk and jaggery together. Add it to the cooked rice or noodles and add in the nuts and cardamom.

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