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.

Tweet

Pin It

Korean Miso 'Fish Egg' Soup

This recipe started off as a usual stir fry and ended up with the title of a Korean Miso 'Fish Egg' Soup. The story will unfold itself eventually, I hope.

It started out with a 'what to make for dinner' thought. The family was eating out so since I had to cook only for myself, I thought why not put a few vegetables that cook real quick together. But the kitchen had other plans for me.

So I open the fridge pick out half of a Yellow Zucchini, half a pack of Mushrooms, some tofu, a Green Chilli, few florets of Cauliflower and some pieces of Yam. I steamed the cauliflower and yam, cut the rest of the vegetables and proceeded to make my usual stir fry dinner. Oil, green chilli, tofu, yam, cauliflower, soy sauce etc all in, stirring around. Suddenly I remember I have some miso (which I have been treating like it was made out of gold) bought from Auroville. Miso is a fermented soybean paste that adds a lot of flavour to soups, stews and is used in many Japanese recipes. Though it is common in almost all of South East Asian cuisine, Miso Soup is a popular Japanese appetizer. It has a sour-sweet taste and it is usually added to the dish after everything has cooked. (I am not sure where it is available in Mumbai but I will find out and update this post. Also it is totally optional to this recipe.)

So I remember that I can make my stir fry in to a miso soup and while I'm doing that I spot the 'fish eggs'. Of course they are not fish eggs, they don't smell like fish eggs, but they look slimy, gelatinous and look very much like fish eggs. More about that later.

I added water, salt and pepper to the vegetables, covered them so they could cook a bit, took it off the stove and added a teaspoon of miso. Let it all sit for a bit and served myself the soup and added a spoon of the 'fish eggs' on top. This is what it looked like...

So I thought to myself why not search if there is any such thing as a fish egg soup and there actually is a Korean fish egg soup I found online made with tofu, vegetables and fish eggs of course. It looks nothing like what I ate and I'm sure it tasted nothing like it either. My sister saw me clicking pictures of my dinner and with a lot of disgust on her face asked me what the hell I was planning to eat.

Okay, if you know your Indian dessert you probably know what my 'fish eggs' were. They were basil seeds or sabja seeds or sabza seeds, infamous for their addition to Falooda here in India. It is usually soaked till it becomes all gelatinous and then added to the dessert. It is also consumed because it is known to treat digestive problems and also bring down the pitta or heat in your body.

They have no taste, they look like little speckled eggs and have a rubbery texture. Except for the taste, colour and smell, the texture is very much like what people eat as the real fish eggs. They added nothing more than a novelty to my soup, which is what I look for in most of what I eat, even if I have eaten the very same thing gazillion times before.

Tweet

Pin It

Sesame-Mustard Stir Fry Vegetables

This looks as good as it tastes!

You need:

2 tsp Sesame Oil (til oil)

1 Onion chopped in fine-long pieces

1 Green or Red Chilli

1/4 inch ginger juliennes (sliced long and thin)

1 Carrot Shredded or grated in a large holed grater

1/2 of a small Cabbage shredded or chopped fine and long

1/4 of a small Raw Papaya juliennes

1/2 Green/Red/Yellow Pepper (Capsicum) (optional)

A handful of Mushrooms chopped (optional)

100gms Tofu diced (optional)

2 tsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Raw or Roasted Sesame Seeds (Til)

1 tsp freshly ground Mustard seeds (Rai)

Salt

Cooked Noodles or Rice (optional)

In a saucepan/wok heat 1 tsp sesame oil and add the tofu. Stir it around till the tofu is light brown, remove and keep it aside. If you are not going to use tofu, omit this step completely.

In the same saucepan/wok add 1 tsp sesame oil and add the onions, green or red chilli and ginger. Stir it around once in a while. When the onions turn translucent, add the other vegetables whatever your using. I always add the cabbage towards the end since it cooks real fast. Add the soy sauce, salt, sesame and ground mustard seeds. After about 4 minutes when everything starts sizzling, add the tofu and give it a quick stir. Take the pan off the stove and cover it and let it sit for about 3 minutes.

Serve it hot over noodles or rice or have it as is.

Tweet

Pin It

Travelling Vegan- Malaysia

I spent this last week in Malaysia on vacation and thought to dedicate a note about food in Malaysia. The Malays love their sea food and it's a bit disturbing (and smelly) for a family for four vegetarians and one vegan.

En route it's almost impossible to get any vegan food. Most international airlines offer vegan food as an option while booking tickets. I was so excited last year when I got to tick that 'vegan' option. It only resulted in me staying practically hungry on a 16 hour flight with the air hostess telling me "...get your own food next time". They didn't even know what 'vegan' meant, confusing it with Jain food. The low cost airlines don't allow you to eat any other food except the ones they sell you on their flights. But who's going to stop you from eating on a flight if they don't have anything to offer you.

In Malaysia the vegetarian movement is alive and kicking thanks to the Indians and the Chinese Buddhists. If you're Indian and don't really want to go to another country and eat Indian food all over again, then the Chinese vegetarian restaurants can be a breather. They serve u some nice soups, salads, noodles, rice varieties and also lots of mock meat. But if you've been vegetarian and do not fancy the idea of eating even a 'fake chicken' then they are almost always happy to omit what you do not want. One good decision was that we took along some theplas. There are a whole lot of places to get good south Indian food with the huge south indian population there. We tried Annalakshmi which is run by the Temple of Fine Arts and they offer a vegetarian buffet. All the proceeds of this restaurant help them in running their organisation, you eat and pay as you wish and all the food is prepared and served by volunteers. We also sampled some Malay/ Chinese street food and they were nice enough to avoid the MSG, meat and eggs. There are many north Indian restaurants also one of which we tried along the Cenang Beach route. We ended up eating only oil i think at that meal.

It was easier to find food in supermarkets and alter menus in Kuala Lumpur. All the food in the super markets contain MSG (a.k.a Ajinomoto) and Aspartame. You really have to look at the

ingredients and buy. Thankfully in Malaysia I found the food labeling laws have forced the companies to list everything in their products, unlike in India where Lays gets away with 'No added MSG'. It helps that the people are friendly and accommodative to your needs. In Langkawi things got a little more difficult. It's difficult to find food to snack on specially for a vegan. It's best to snack on the awesome range of tropical fruit they offer like the Dragon Fruit (pictured on the right), Durians, Mangosteens, Rambutans (on the left), Papayas, Pineapples, Mangoes. I even found Jicama, a crispy sweet

root that is widely used in the South Americas. They also have lots of dried and preserved fruits and vegetables and also potato and yam chips. Malaysians also use many types of mushrooms, celery, broccolli, corn and many vegetables common to Indian cuisine.

It also helps to do a little bit of research and learn a few key words if you're going to a country that speaks another language and also many foods list their ingredients in Malay in English script. So you can read it but you need to know what it means. For instance Milk is Susu (Really! It was amusing at first to see the different flavours of susu available at the supermarkets) and Egg is Telur. Soy milk is easily available for those who need it, though not in as many flavours. Tofu, also called bean curd is also available though some varieties are called 'egg tofu' and contain eggs.

It's not hard to travel with diet restrictions and it's always nice to try new foods. Most people are rigid and only stick to eating what they know and recognize. I think it's time to change, in so many ways!

Tweet

Pin It

What? Where? Why?

After a good friend asked me where do I get the ingredients I use, I realised may be I should explain a bit more and even give brands wherever possible. Also I will try to explain why I use those ingredients.

Margarine: Margarine I use instead of butter for many reasons. It's always better to use plant based products and margarine is one of them. Margarine may not be healthy but it's much more healthier than using butter. Margarine is cholesterol free and anyday better than having butter that's 'fortified' with pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and god knows what.

I use margarine that is available at my local grocery. Generally it comes under a brand called Rajvi or from a local dairy. Whatever I use, I always check the ingredients or call the company if I have any doubts. They are happy to answer your questions believe it or not.

Tofu: Also called Soya Paneer, it is coagulated soy milk and made just as paneer is made but without the use of animal ingredients. Tofu is usually made Firm, Medium or Silken but the Indian brand of tofu is available firm and in two flavours one plain and one spicy. This is available any grocery store or super market. There is also a Japanese import available which is much more expensive but availabe in the three consistencies. If you don't find something always ask the grocer or the store in-charge. They generally know where you can get it or will order it for you if you are lucky.

Soy Milk: Available at all grocery stores and super markets now. Always check the flavour of the soy milk you are buying. I use Staetta because it is free of preservatives but you could use the other local brands. There is a brand that is imported from the U.S. but it is way more expensive.

Oils: While baking I either use oil or margarine. It's important to use non smelly oils like rice bran oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil. Also if the oils are organic and cold pressed it's much more better. Cold pressed oils are available at shops that only deal in oil. In Mumbai, for instance it is available in Crawford Market. Why cold pressed? When oil is made by the usual refining process it is heated. When we buy it and use it, we again heat it and this heating releases carcinogens that we can avoid when we use cold pressed oils.

So that's mostly what basic baking requires and you'll see you don't really have to go out of your way or your choices are not limited if you try cooking vegan.

Tweet

Pin It