Four Seasons, four wines, four hours.

This is probably my first post about wine / alcohol. Being vegan does not mean you can't have a good time once in a while. Of course many people choose not to drink, but an occasional drink doesn't hurt, especially when it is a part of the Food Bloggers Dinner. Of course I was stupid enough to forget my camera at home, but luckily there's no dearth of photos when you go out for dinner with fellow food bloggers.

The Food Blogger Dinner is a brainchild of Rushina of A Perfect Bite. Having missed the previous two gatherings and then repenting after looking at the beautiful food everyone had, I really wanted to make it for this one. Rushina and Jyotika, both very talented individuals organised for this dinner with Melissa and UB Group who are introducing a bunch of interesting wines into the Indian market. The meet was a full house with many famously talented bloggers from all over town, held at Olive at Mahalakshmi Race Course.

We were introduced to our host of the evening Mr. Abhay Kewadkar who is the Chief Winemaker at UB Wines and we got straight to business (the best part of course).

The traditional pairing of food and wine includes a lot of meat and cheese. Being one of two vegans there (Harini was the other vegan to give me company...phew!) the food was altered for us specially and like how!

We started off with Sauvignon Blanc, a very earthy white wine paired with a wine marinated Grape salad with Walnuts, Lettuce and Arugula. As we were told, Sauvignon Blanc has flavours of gooseberries, grass, capsicums and herbs and it goes best with raw green salads like the one we had.

Then we went on to Viognier, another white with fruity aromas. Having never tasted more than one wine in a span of a few hours this session was really interesting. I could really taste the difference between both the wines and immediately fell in love with the Viognier. The food pairing for this wine had to be greatly altered for us vegans and we were not disappointed. In fact many people liked what we got better. We got some pepper sauteed mushrooms topped with thin slices of croutons.

Our next course was the main course. After eating so much food and drinking two glasses of wine, we frankly had not much capacity. But avoiding all the meat and cheese sure does leave you with more space than the rest. We were served two red wines, a Merlot and a Cabarnet Sauvignon. The dish was a Morroccan Vegetable Tagine with Couscous. Tagine is a morroccan main course usually served in ceramic pot-plate covered with a cone shaped cover. The gravy is usually cooked in that pot and served in it too. I wasn't too fond of either of the wines, but if I had to choose I'd go with the Merlot.

Next came dessert and there was not much they could do for the vegans. But we all got a special Sangria made with Rose (also called Blush because its a light pink coloured wine). After the Voignier, this was the best part for me. The Rose was mixed with hints of cranberry juice, granadine and littered with strawberries and watermelons. I was in a pretty fruity mood that evening!

I came back from this dinner with much more respect for blogging and bloggers. I wish I didn't make so many excuses to update my blog more frequently.

I have no pictures of the event, but many people I met that day have some lovely pictures.

Harini

Rushina

Vishwas

Nikhil

Vinda

Pranav

and many many more...

Tweet

Pin It

My Vegan Navratan Korma

I'm not a big fan of Mughali food and getting myself to cook something other than dessert or non-Indian food is asking for a bit more effort. So this recipe of Navratan Korma was born out of necessity for someone I recently catered to for a lunch. 'Navratan' meaning nine gems, ideally should include nine varieties of vegetables and fruits in the 'Korma' meaning gravy, made with yogurt, cream and a nut paste.

I don't remember when I had a Navratan Korma the last time, but I know it's sweet and from what I have gathered from reading recipes online is there are two ways to make it(with tomatoes and without). For me Navratan Korma is a rich whitish gravy with lots of vegetables and a few nuts sprinkled on top. There are two things I avoid while making Mughali food - adding too much or any sweet to the gravy and adding fruits (specially pineapple) to it. Most of the recipes call for such additions, hence this recipe is my vegan version of the Navratan Korma, how I like it.

This recipe is my vegan adaptation from one recipe I found on www.vahrevah.com. If you haven't seen any videos of the 'vah chef' I think you should do it right away. He's really something to watch and has some really good recipes of course.

For this recipe you need:

(Serves 3 to 4)

Steamed Vegetables and Legumes of your choice (Potatoes, Carrots, French Beans, Sweet Potato, Raw Banana, Chickpeas, Cauliflower, Capsicum*, Peas*, Broccoli, any other beans...)

* I like to add the Capsicum and Peas to the gravy raw so they maintain their colour and don't get too mushy.

1/4 cup Cashews

1 Onion chopped

1 teaspoon Oil (Rice Bran/ sunflower/ safflower/ canola) Optional

1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds/ Jeera

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste or 1/2 inch ginger grated and 1 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon Coriander Powder

1 bay leaf

2-4 cloves

A dash of cinnamon or some cinnamon sticks

1 cup (200ml) plain unflavoured Soy Milk

Red Chilli Powder

Pepper

Salt

Roasted or Fried Raisins, Cashews, Almonds

In a saucepan, add the chopped onions and cashews to about 1/4 cup water and cook till the onions become translucent and the cashews becomes soft. Put this into a blender and blend it to a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a pan if using oil or do a dry roast of the spices. Add the cumin seeds, garam masala, ginger garlic, coriander powder, bay leaf and cloves. Let it all blend and then add the cashew-onion paste. Cook it for a good 5 to 7 mins till it gets thick and starts oozing out the oil. At this point add about half cup of water and add the capsicum and green peas. Let it come to one boil and assimilate. Add the rest of the steamed vegetables and 1 cup of soy milk. Also add in the salt, cinnamon and red chilli powders. Cover it and let it simmer for 10 minutes on a low flame. Add the pepper and stir it well. Add the raisins, cashews and almonds on top.

Serve hot with plain or flavoured rice, rotis or parathas.

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

What does a vegan eat?

This is an ever growing list of things a vegan can eat off the shelves of a store or at a restaurant in India. Most of them just happen to be accidentally vegan. Of course it might not be all healthy but it's just a list we should all be aware of.

I have this note on Facebook that keeps getting updated by people living all over India. But for those who cannot see it on Facebook, it's pasted below. I will keep updating it from time to time.

I'm not going to include fruit juices, fruits or veggies. Feel free to add restaurants from your respective cities that might have some vegan options in the comments and I will add them to the main article.

Please add stuff you know for sure that is vegan because I may not be aware of all things vegan!

This is an ever growing list of things a vegan can eat off the shelves of a store or at a restaurant in India. Most of them just happen to be accidentally vegan. Of course it might not be all healthy but it's just a list we should all be aware of.

I'm not going to include fruit juices, fruits or veggies. Feel free to add restaurants from your respective cities that might have some vegan options.

Please add stuff you know for sure that is vegan because I may not be aware of all things vegan!

Biscuits and Other Junk:

Hide & Seek by Parle with choc chips, nuts, orange and coffee flavours

Hide & Seek Fab with vanilla chocolate and strawberry cream centers

Parle's Golden Arcs available with Chocolate, Apple, Strawberry and Orange fillings

Pickwick Biscuits - Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla

Parle's Coconut Biscuits

Parle Bourbon Biscuits

Oreo's Cream Biscuits (now made in India)

Sunfeast Snacky

McVities Hobnobs (almost all other McVities biscuits are also vegan ONLY THE IMPORTED ONES the Indian ones are not vegan).

Britannia biscuits that are vegan: 

  - Pure Magic Praline Creme

  - Mango cream

  - Pineapple cream

  - Good day chocolate chips

  - Timepass Nimkee

  - 50 - 50

  - Brita High count

  - Time Pass - Mindless Masala & Topori Tomato variants

Mayonnaise:

Dr Oetkar's Eggless Diet Mayonnaise (please make sure it says 'Eggless' and 'Diet' because they have other varieties which are not vegan

Kissan's Creamy Spreads (all flavours are vegan, but a little sweet)

Haldiram's Bhujiyas and other fried stuff

Haldiram's Soanpapdi

All local fried chips - potato, jackfruit, sweet potato, banana,....

Most Khakras (unless it mentions 'pure ghee')

Kellogs Chocos and some other cereals

Coconut Milk Powders - Beware of the powders because most of them (like Nestle) have milk powder added. Coconut Milk in tetra packs by Dabur and Godrej are good.

Nestle's "Nestum" - Baby Cereal Food 

Britannia's "Healthy Start": "Multigrain Porridge", "Tomato Spinach Upma".

Drinks:

Staetta Soy Milk in all flavours

Sofit Soy Milk in all flavours

A few new imported brands of Soy Milk are now availabe at Haiko,Powai and Hypercity outlets in Mumbai

Imported Rice Milk is available in Dolce Vita, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Vegan Shake and Irish Coffee at Cafe Coffee Day

Soyvita - is a soy protein isolate powder available sweetened and one non sweetened for diabetics

Oat Milk and Quinoa Milk is available at Garden Fresh, King Circle, Matunga East

(Im not going to list the sodas because they are way too unhealthy for this list!) :)

Chocolate:

Bournville

Morde's Dark Compound

Amul's Dark Chocolate

Heidi's Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut

Frozen Food:

All stuff by Fry's - Fry's Veggie Burgers, Veggie Polony, Schnitzel, Hot Dogs and Veggie Sausages... (Currently not distributing in India)

Street Junk:

Paani Puri

Bhel Puri

Sev Puri

Ragda Pattice (A growing trend I have noticed is to fry the pattice in ghee, so it might not always be vegan)

Samosa Chole

Chole Bature

Vada Pav

Samosa Pav

Misal pav

Jalebis (Always check if they have added yogurt to the batter and/or fried it in ghee)

Kaju Katli (Again ask if milk or ghee has been added)

Dhoklas (Ask if curd has been added to the batter. Most shops don't do it to increase the shelf life of the dhokla.)

Khandvi is not vegan, contains yogurt.

Restaurants in Bombay with Vegan Stuff:

Ray's Pizzeria, Bandra - Has a vegan menu with a different vegan options.

Swati Snacks, Tardeo - Has some good gujarati snacks most of which are vegan

Bagelwala and Bagelshop both in Bandra west have vegan bagel options

The Green Stove in Mumbai for vegan cakes, cookies, breads, cheesecakes, chocolates and appetizers. Only on order.

Vegn Bites has healthy vegan tiffin service in Mumbai for everyone who wants their lunch delivered to their doorsteps or offices.

Indian cuisine is easily vegan if you know what to avoid - paneer, ghee, butter, cheese, curd.Barbeque Nation always has a vegan mousse in the desserts section and the dal is not always vegan. The complimentary green chutneys at most north indian places has curds and also Naan almost always has eggs.

All Udipi restaurants have vegan options. So this means all Dosas (except the ghee spcials), Idlis, Vadas, Rice Dishes, Sambhar, Coconut Chutney...Madras Cafe in Matunga will also make your dosas oil free.

All Italian Restaurants (Except Mia Cucina, Bandra) will avoid the cheese on your Red Sauce Pastas (or make stuff for you without cheese or butter) which include LittleItaly outlets,  Spaghetti Kitchen outlets, Botticino at BKC, Quattro in Lower Parel, Woodside Inn in Colaba, Cafe Mangii in Powai.

South East Asian Vegetarian dishes are vegan, but by popular demand (!) have started adding paneer. So ask them to avoid paneer and the MSG - The Bowl House at Ghatkopar, China One at Dadar, Joss at Fort, 5 Spice outlets, Shiro's at Lower Parel, Flavors of spices (earlier known as Peter Wang) on Ghodbunder Road, Thane has many vegan options and they also customize your dishes if you specify that you want them dairy free.

Mediterranean and Fusion Cuisine - Blue Frog, Lower Parel (even made a non vegetarian dish vegan for me), Cafe Basilico at Bandra, Falafel's outlets, Bistro Grill outlets. It's important to know that in almost all falafel dishes, the tahini has been invaded by mayonnaise, so ask them not to add that. Kajun spice potatoes on most restaurant menus are vegan, but please check always. At Moshe's you get an amazing Balinese curry that is vegan but you must let the table attendant know that tofu is ok because they avoid tofu if you ask for vegan curries. Moshe also has a unique roasted fruit smoothie that is vegan.

Bangalore Brownies and Cakes:-

Bagels and Bakes brand chocolate brownies and chocolate muffins (available at all Namdharis).-

Carnival Bakery has a separate vegan menu filled with delicious cakes, pies, puddings, mousses, breads, donuts and cookies. They're a delivery only bakery.

Bangalore Restaurants (specialty global cuisines):

Bangalore now has a vegan restaurant called Carrots. 

Soo Ra Sang on Wind Tunnel Road (off old Airport Road) - Korean - nearly all the vegetarian dishes (including all the little kim chees, veggies, beans, pancakes etc... that they serve on the side) happen to be vegan by default.

Fava at UB City - Mediterranean - a lot of the vegetarian dishes can be veganized. Just make sure you specify many times that you do not have dairy products and cross check the dips (they have a habit of sneaking a yogurt based dip into some foods so ensure that isn't there).

Monsoon at The Park Hotel - all cuisines - call them in advance and they will prepare a special vegan meal just for you, including a deliciously decadent vegan pastry.

Shiro at UB City - Japanese, Balinese, Chinese (the authentic kind) - limited vegetarian and vegan choices but whatever is available is very tasty.

Tasty Tangles-vegetarian dishes on their menu are vegan except for the dessert section.

E-inn near electronic city in Bangalore serves complete vegan from starters to desserts.Call them in advance.

Tweet

Pin It

My Freckled Stir Fry Dinner

This is one was tonight's impromptu dinner stir fried by my brother. I just put together a bunch of ingredients, nothing special, just whatever I found around the kitchen and in the fridge that I thought would go well together.

I was looking for black sesame seeds instead of the white ones but found Nigella Seeds (on left)

instead (Nigella sounds like a person!). These seeds are commonly used in Indian cooking. They are also called Onion seeds or Kalonji. To me they taste like Ajwain (Carom Seeds) but lots of people think otherwise.

Why did I add them? For some colour actually. It adds some nice looking black freckles and some nice flavour too.

I used:

1/2 a pack of Button Mushrooms (about ten of them)

1 Green Pepper (Capsicum) chopped in to chunks

1/2 a pack of tofu (about 100 gms)

2 stalks of Celery

1 Onion sliced in thin strips

Sesame Seeds

Nigella Seeds (Also called Onion seeds or Kalonji in Hindi)

1 tsp Rice Bran Oil

Pepper or a Red Chilli

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the Red Chilli, Sesame and Nigella Seeds. Add the tofu and stir it for a bit till the tofu starts getting light brown. Add in the onions and let them cook a bit (I'm not a big fan of raw onions) After a couple of minutes add the mushrooms, capsicum and celery. I used the entire stalk of celery, with the leaves. Cover it for about 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Eat!

How easy was that?!

You can put it on top of some toasted bread, add some cooked noodles or rice to it, or just have it as is. Makes a nice, light and healthy dinner.

Tweet

Pin It