The Easiest, Yummiest Banana Sorbet!

This is as easy as can be and it's so good!

You need:

4 ripe Bananas (even if you have over ripe bananas, will do!) - peeled, sliced and frozen over two nights in an airtight container.

Walnuts or whatever nuts you like

A dash of Cinnamon

Take the bananas out of the freezer and thaw them for about 5 minutes. Put them in a blender and blend them till they are creamy. Add the walnuts and cinnamon and serve immediately. This won't keep after you blend it, but I don't think you'll have anything left over!

I have also read variations of this recipe adding peaches and other fruits. I'm yet to try those, mainly because I can't get over how good this one is.

Tweet

Pin It

Chocolate Upside Down Pudding

Here's an experiment that went wrong somewhere mid-way but turned out fine in the end after all.

This recipe has been adapted and modified from the book 'How It All Vegan' and The 'Compassionate Cook Cookbook'. The cake is a bit on the sweeter side but it's nice once in a while.

You need:

For the Cake

1 cup flour (Use whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup oil

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup soy milk or water

some walnuts or almonds if you like

For the fudge

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 and 1/4 cups boiling water

Preheat the oven to 270 degrees C. Oil a big baking pan say about 9 inches, bigger than what you would normally use for a cake. I will elaborate why.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and salt. Make a well in the center of this mix and add the soy milk, sugar and oil. Mix everything well. The batter will be thicker than a cake batter (almost like what a brownie batter texture) like on the right.

Spread this in a big baking dish. Mix the remaining cocoa powder and sugar and sprinkle it on top of this batter. Pour hot water over it and bake it.

I goofed on the size of the baking tin. I used a small baking tin. When I poured the water on the batter, the water level was just under the edge. I didn't realise that the batter will rise pushing the water out of the tin and into my oven! (Ya I know it's a dumb mistake).

So when I started out,everything was in a 9 inch round tin, mid-

way I heard steam and opened the oven to find a mess. Then moved the half-risen batter to a bigger rectangular tin and poured the same water on top. In the end, it was all good! The cake was moist and there was a layer of fudge at the bottom. To serve I cut out portions and turned them over so the fudge layer was on the top.

Tweet

Pin It

Pasta con Crema Bianca

The first thing you think about when you shift from being vegetarian to vegan is how am I not going to eat all the cheese, cream, milk and all the things that are made with them?!

I love Italian food and for me it was the white sauce with pasta that I was going to miss the most. That's what I thought till I tried this one....

For the sauce you need

1/2 cup dry, raw and unsalted cashews

An Onion chopped fine

Garlic if you like

Green Chillies or Red Chilli Flakes

Green, Red and Yellow Capsicum (whatever you like / have) cut in to 1/2 inch cubes

Broccoli florets

Corn / baby corn

Mushrooms chopped thin

Steamed and cubbed potatoes

Steamed and chopped carrots

Sun dried tomatoes if you like

Herbs:

Mixed Italian herbs

Or if you have individual dried herbs you need 1/4 tsp each of Oregano, Rosemary, Basil and Parsley.

Or if you have fresh herbs it's even better.

Salt & Pepper

Pasta: Penne/Fusilli/ Farfalle (bow tie)/ Conchiglie (shell)

Start cooking the pasta in a pot of boiling water first. The sauce will be ready before you know it.

Dry roast the cashews till they start showing brown patches on them. Powder the cashews in a blender and add some water to make a paste.

In a sauce pan put in the chopped onion with a teaspoon of water. Add the garlic, sauté it for a bit and

then add in the cashew paste. Let it cook for 3 minutes and then add about 1 cup of water. Stir in the vegetables and let them all simmer together till the cashew is a nice thick consistency. If you think the sauce is not enough add in a little bit more of water and let it simmer. Add the chilli flakes, herbs, salt and pepper. Serve with pasta.

There is no need of olive oil but if you want the flavour add the olive oil in the end after you take the sauce off the heat. You could also make this sauce in to a pesto by adding some freshly ground basil leaves to the sauce in the end. With the basil this sauce doesn't stay in the fridge so finish it the same day.

Tweet

Pin It

Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

I love carrot halwa and I've never been able to eat it outside since I changed my diet. So I came across this recipe in Dr Vijaya Venkat's recipe book (try getting your hands on it somehow!) and I modified it my way.

For the Halwa you need:

4 Long carrots (Usually availabe in winter. I'd suggest you use it only when it is available seasonally)

1/4 cup melted jaggery syrup (more or less depending on your sweet tooth)

A handful of cashews powdered in a grinder

2 cloves of Cardamom

4-5 Almonds roasted

Steam the carrots as they are. Don't peel them, you could cut them in half if they don't fit in your steaming apparatus. Let them steam for 20 minutes. Don't let it become too soft.

Once they are done steaming let it cool for another 15 minutes or so and then using a grater, grate the carrots. Mix in the jaggery, cashew powder and cardomom. Top with some slivers of roasted Almonds.

It's so much more easier than cooking the carrots in cow's milk for hours and adding bottles of ghee to it.

Tweet

Pin It