Bhurji Pav

Yes it's monsoon. It's that time of the year when we crave fried, fatty food as if we need to store up for the winter. The ants bury their food in their ant hills. We bury ourselves into our food and then wait for the year to end to make resolutions that never happen. I'm no Buddha. I give in sometimes too. I'll eat that extra cupcake or cookie even though I'm not supposed to. But being vegan has it's perks. If I was giving into a cake full of eggs, butter, milk and not to forget the sugar, I would've been a few kilos heavier. Of course I eat fried food, I can't resist a samosa or two but I don't eat it everyday. And when I do eat something fried or oily, my body (and head) send me to the corner. I feel sleepy, lethargic and heavy. I now know the difference between eating food cooked with oil and without.

Bhurji Pav (scrambled eggs with buns) is a breakfast/ snack food here. You can go to the Irani cafes and eat it or you will find it off food carts that make it until 2 in the morning. There is nothing I can eat in that egg or paneer bhurji or the butter smeared pav, but that doesn't stop me from making it at home, vegan style.

This recipe is oil-free because that's how I roll. I'd made some oil free whole wheat buns to go with this, but you can eat it with regular pav, buns, bread, rotis or even as it is.

For the bhurji:

Firm Tofu 200gm block
1 Tomato
1 small Onion
1 Green Pepper/ Capsicum
2 Green Chillies chopped
2 teaspoons Nutritional Yeast (Optional)
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Mustard Powder
Black Salt (adds great flavour)
Pepper

Crumble the tofu and set it aside.

In a hot wide pan, cook the onions with water and salt. Add one teaspoon water at a time till the onions are cooked. Add in the tomatoes and capsicum. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add the Turmeric, Mustard Powder, Nutritional Yeast if using. Add in the crumbled tofu and stir it around till the tofu is uniformly yellow. Crack some pepper on top.

Serve hot with Pav Buns or Bread.

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UFO attacked my pasta- How I saved the world one bite at a time

As I was walking down the supermarket aisle I noticed an odd looking pasta shape. I picked it up thinking we could use it for dinner that night and then kept it back because we decided to make our own pasta. But then when I looked at it again I actually noticed what it was. It was UFO shaped pasta! I remember seeing all kinds of unmentionable shapes and colours in Italy. But UFOs?! As weird as it may sound, the pack was filled with the cutest little durum wheat alien vehicles. How could I not pick it up?!

Uncooked UFOs

Cooked UFOs

We ended up making Lasagna for dinner that night, but the next morning our pasta quota wasn't over just as yet. It was almost brunch time till I decided I was going to attempt the American junk classic Macaroni and Cheese. I searched the internet for inspiration and then finally came up with my own version using whatever I had and thought was healthy enough to be added into the sauce.

Here's how it went.

You need:

1 cup whole cashews
1/3rd cup Nutritional Yeast
3 cloves of Garlic
1 small Onion
1 tbsp Corn Starch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Salt
Pepper
Water

2 cups Cooked Pasta

Blend the cashews till they are a fine powder. Don't let it get to the butter stage. Add in the nutritional yeast, garlic, onion and blend. It might all clump up together. Add a little water to make it a fine paste.

In a saucepan, mix the corn starch, soy sauce and mustard powder. Add a little water and bring to a boil. Add in the cashew paste and add water little bit at a time till it gets to a nice thick consistency. Add salt, pepper and take it off the stove.

At this stage I added some chopped capsicum but you could leave it out if you want or add any vegetables of your choice.

Mix it with the cooked pasta in a bake proof dish and bake for 10 minutes at 175C till the top browns a bit.

Serve hot.

We're safe now. I ate the last UFO.

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Chunky Pumpkin n' Pasta

I make Italian food at least twice a week. Usually it's on weekends when we don't feel like paying through our noses for restaurant food and I still have a few tricks up my fridge from my shopping spree in Italy. There's nothing like eating a home cooked bowl of pasta while sitting on the sofa watching a film about a chef. The film I'm referring to is Toast, about chef Nigel Slater. The film is co-written by the chef himself and chronicles his early childhood memories from his canned-food loving mother to his sneaky but excellent cook step mother. His love for food started young like many of us and he was able to turn his life around to become a leading chef of Britain. 

In India and particularly in Bombay, sandwiches are available on every street. The Khau Gallis (streets where only food is made and sold) have a minimum of 3 stalls selling toasted sandwiches. Only in Bombay, you can find a sandwich that costs anywhere from Rs.15 to Rs. 150 on the street! They have endless stuffing choices and you will be charged depending on how posh the stall is. I also see many places have different rate cards for the weekends now.  The toasted ones are surely not vegan since they smother the bread with butter on top before toasting. The reason I rant so much about the sandwich is because I am getting to the ketchup served along with these sandwiches. On a recent junk food binge, I happened to read a label of a ketchup bottle at a sandwich stall. You usually associate ketchup with lots of tomatoes. But in this country we have found a cheaper alternative - Pumpkins! This particular ketchup had no tomatoes. Pumpkins, sugar, salt, preservative and some food colour! You can tell the difference if you are a ketchup geek because usually they are lumpier and tend to look a little more orange than red.

So here I was wanting to make some pasta for lunch and I didn't have any tomatoes. What's the next best alternative? Why Pumpkin of course! Pumpkin is very commonly added to pasta sauces, I haven't really invented anything new here. K was very skeptical about this attempt of mine because I left the pumpkins in big chunks and didn't puree them. But if you prefer a purée, just go ahead and blend it up at the end of the cooking and you will get a nice bright orange pasta sauce.

You need:

1/4 kilo Yellow Pumpkin cut into bite size chunks

1 onion

1-2 cloves of garlic

6-7 Mushrooms (which you could avoid and add capsicums instead)

Fresh/ Dried Oregano

Fresh/ Dried Sage

Red Chilli Flakes

Olive Oil

Nutritional Yeast (Optional)

Salt

Pine nuts as a garnish (optional)/ you could also use walnuts

Cooked Pasta of your choice (I used Penne)

Sauté the garlic, herbs and onion until the onion is translucent. Add in the yellow pumpkin and chilli flakes. Cook till it is nice and tender. I covered it so it cooked faster and kept checking on it in intervals. Add nutritional yeast (optional), salt and mix with the pasta. Garnish with nuts.

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