Travelling Vegan: Road trippin' through Italy and France

After successful sojourns through Munich and Austria, we hit the road toward France as planned. Before that we were to pass through Italy and camp for a couple of nights.

We drove towards Lake Garda stopping at a charming port town called Limone sul Garda. Limone, gets it's name from the famous Italian lemons and the people living there are proud of their heritage. All the houses have beautiful ceramic lemons adorning the top of the front doors. I read on wikipedia that Limone used to be accesible only by boat until the 1940s and it is now a very popular tourist destination. It also says that people from Limone possess a muted form of a protein that produces more of the good cholesterol and that enables them to live longer. How strange is that! I could not spot the tourists from the mutant humans, but it was worth the stop over to have lunch by the lake, walk through the narrow slopes and get lost in this wonderful commune.

Residents celebrate the lemons with these pretty ceramic pieces

Lemons of Limone

Mini Tomato varieties at a local shop

Gnocchi at a restaurant in Limone

We then ended up in Gorgonzola, Milan. Yes the very land the smelly blue cheese comes from. Our intention was to spend a day around Milan. Milan, much like Munich was a deserted city. But Munich is like that because there are fewer people. Milan was empty because more than 70% of the population was out on summer vacation. Even the restaurants and bars shut shop for the month of August. The ones that are open actually have signs that say 'We are open in August'!

I'm very confident about eating vegan in Italy because of my earlier experiences. This time was no different. I asked for the Pizzas and Pastas without the cheese and had enough gelato that would've otherwise lasted me the year. I tried a new flavour of sorbetto called ACE. ACE is a mix of Orange (arancia), Carrot (carota) and Lemon (limone) Juices named ACE not for the ingredients it is made from, but from the vitamins found in them.

ACE Gelato in Gorgonzola

Tagliatelle with Lemon

Pizza with Arugula and Mushrooms

Milan's famous Grom Gelateria has sorbettos that are vegan

After a brief night in Albenga, Italy we drove towards France. Our original route was to lead us to Provence via the Grand Canyon of Verdon. On our way to the Canyon we decided to stop at Castellane. Castellane is one of those remote ancient villages in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence area. Since it is very close to the river canyon Gorges du Verdon, it is a halt for a few tourists. The town is situated quite high up so the weather was beautiful. The houses and streets had an old world charm as if they were unchanged since the 18th century. Through the narrow cobbled streets was the town's most popular stretch with many restaurants, bars, creperies and shops selling vintage and touristy stuff.

Now in such an old, remote location the last thing I would expect to find would be vegan or vegetarian food. Mostly because I was pretty certain that people had rarely, if not ever, seen Indians there. I got a lot of "where are you from?" and "I love the colour of your skin" type conversations. To add to that we were in France, not a very friendly place for vegetarians. But to my utter disbelief, yes I was overly dramatic when I found this little place, someone had actually set up a cafe that served vegan food. I did three cartwheels in my head when I saw the word 'Végétal' on the menu. (Végétal is vegan in French).

We had dinner there and it was probably the healthiest I had eaten in a while. Healthy, vegan food in a remote town in the middle of nowhere in France! I still can't believe my luck.

Nature Café in Castellane, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Assiette Végétal at Nature Café.

Salad Végétal at Nature Café

Onward our journey led us through the gorgeous lavender fields of Provence until we ended up at our last stop on the road trip, Marseille. I managed to find something vegan almost everywhere and even found an Organic store in Marseille selling a lot of vegan, gluten-free stuff. There are a lot of Lactose-free milks in European supermarkets. Most of them are not vegan. I have no idea how they manage to process something that is already so processed, but read labels carefully. Even the gluten-free diet has caught on in Europe and it does not always mean it is vegan because all of the gluten free breads I saw had eggs, except one brand I found in the Bio section.

Lavender fields in Provence

Roasted Aubergine and Salad with Black Olive Tapenade in Marseille

Lima is a famous vegan brand found all over France.

Vegan Sablés (Cookies) that are also gluten-free

As Vegan MoFo is still on in full swing, here are two wonderful bloggers I came across.

Luca from Italy over at The Vegan Kitchen of Dr Caligari is making vegan sweet and savoury cupcakes all this month! You have to see all of them!

Paris Vegan has a lovely recipe for Breton Pancakes that are now popular in Mumbai thanks to a restaurant. Get the recipe and make them since Buckwheat is in season now!

My next post will be about London and all the vegan things I stuffed myself with!

Tweet

Pin It

Dinner at Citrus

Times City contacted a few bloggers in Mumbai and asked them to go review the food on offer for the Times City Gourmet Week. The concept is similar to other restaurant weeks. For a fraction of what you would otherwise pay to eat food at these establishments, you can eat from a fixed menu or a buffet depending on the participating restaurant. Most of the participating restaurants are award winning restaurants at either 5 star hotels or standalone. Having never been part of any restaurant week, I decided this is something I wanted to try.

The one I ate at was Citrus at The Leela, Mumbai. Citrus is one of Leela's award winning restaurants known for their all day buffets. They have allowed for this buffet to be part of the Gourmet Week and let me start by saying it is an absolute steal.

Before all that there was one condition though, at least some food had to be vegan for this to make it worthwhile for me. If you are ordering à la carte, the food is easier to veganize because you can tell the staff  exactly what to leave out of the dish. A buffet is rather challenging and that is usually why I avoid buffets in general. The generous people at Times City did all the checking for me and I was assured it was possible. So my evening arrived and with a little bit of trepidation I made my way to the Leela.

Beautiful Roses that were there all over the hotel

The restaurant is situated at the lobby level right next to their Indian restaurant Jamavar. With the tables all spread out on the right side, the food occupied almost the entire left side. While the food side was brightly lit, the slightly dimmer tables had tea lights to aid the diners. I had the privilege to meet the very talented chefs behind this large spread of food. Let me tell you, being a home-based caterer is hard enough, but imagine the hard work these chefs have ahead of them every single day.

Sr. Sous Chef Birender Barthwal & Sous Chef Akshay Pandit

An amuse bouche- Artichoke, Sundried Tomato & Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar

We were guided to our table and after a bit of catching up with their friendly PR Manager. I went to check on the food. The food is a mix of Indian, Italian, Thai, South East Asian and Mediterranean influences. So you can imagine the amount of food on offer there. They also had a live counter to grill a few things on offer including very cute looking vegetable skewers. You could even have a pasta or pizza to order. Among the salads, a lot of what was already at the buffet was vegan already. I love salads, and I filled up my plate with their Roasted Cauliflower salad, Pickled Mushroom, a make your own leafy salad counter with arugula, baby spinach and iceberg lettuce, a Mediterranean style chickpea salad and a very interesting Pomelo Salad. I would have never imagined a Pomelo to take center stage in such a way. Pomelo shreds with onions, corn and lots of peanuts in a zesty dressing awakened my chaat taste buds (yes I have one whole section on my tongue dedicated to chaat). I loved the peanuts and actually did not notice them until I tried the salad. I also made my own leafy salad with the lemon-oil emulsion and the balsamic-oil emulsion, both already being one of my favourite salad dressings. Reminded me of how delicious food can sometimes be so simple.

The surprisingly good Pomelo Salad

Pickled Mushrooms

Pretty Vegetable Skewers

From the other types food on offer again a lot of it was vegan, a few South Indian style preparations like the Thoran, the dry Potato Curry, Hummus and the most amazing Baba Ghanoush I have ever tried. I also tried their Pasta Arrabiata and a very piquant Yellow Thai Curry with rice.

Aloo Soya & Mixed Vegetable Thoran

Pasta Arrabiata

Yellow Thai Curry & Rice

When I eat out in this city, I don't expect to eat dessert because almost always nothing is vegan or can be veganized. Not like I need an excuse for dessert being a baker myself, but sometimes it is nice to have a cake someone else has made instead of you. The chefs obviously noticed that none of the desserts were vegan and quickly whipped up a gratifying raspberry sorbet that came in the prettiest bowls. Needless to say I was already stuffed but made my way through the sorbet just because it brought back some Italian memories. That was the perfect end to an already perfect meal.

Delicious Raspberry Sorbet

I was told that they will be more than happy to cater to vegans coming to the buffet and also that they are looing to introduce gluten-free options in their à la carte menu.

Times City Gourmet Week has given us mortals a chance to enjoy am amazing array of food at a great price. I think it's more than a deal.

Tweet

Pin It

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.

Tweet

Pin It

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.

Tweet

Pin It