It’s once more time for me to introduce another inspiring blogger.  This time a vegan, a good friend and very talented ‘monster’ and jewellery maker – Susmitha.

Before I visited Bangalore in October, Susmitha, Karol and I had already plans to meet up for dinner via facebook.  I told Sush I had to look at her cute creations before dinner.  I can’t praise her house enough.  Her love for art shows all over her house.  This is one of the coziest homes I have ever visited – aesthetically appealing, little corners to display her jewelery and little monsters, happy photographs that exude positivism, a little plot for her green thumb, and her warm kitchen!  I am not sure whether the enticing aroma of delicious choco-chip cookies had anything to do with the magic I felt.  I not only devoured a few but also got myself a goodie bag to take home.  Unfortunately it was late when I reached and I did not get good pictures. I learnt then, that sometimes one should use the flash on the camera.  If not for my insistence to shoot without flash, I would have been able to treat you to some lovelies today.  For the time being I will just leave you with a picture of the bright, vegan girls – Karol and Susmitha.  Some other time when I visit Bangalore I shall make it a point to visit her early when there is light and share with you some of the dainty aspects of the home I mentioned.

As soon as I tasted the cookies, I knew I had to get her here and share her blog with my readers.  Susmitha is a vegan and animal activist and believes in creating treats that are wholesome and easy to make.  Today, she has brought us all a very easy and special treat.  I am sure many of you will associate with this healthy snack as the one your grandmom made.  I did.  I was also very impressed that the recipe uses ‘finger millet’ kernels harvested at home! Mighty fine, isn’t it?

Please welcome Susmitha Veganosaurus.

—————–

I vividly remember the first time I laid eyes on Tongue Ticklers last year (it was at its old tumyumtreats url at that time), the featured recipe was for Idli. Being a vegan food photographer/blogger myself with friends from all over the globe with impressive vegan blogs, it isn’t very easy to bowl me over with food photography but one look at Harini’s work and I knew I would be a fan for life.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harini in person when she was visiting Bangalore last year and I was stoked to be able listen to the story behind her signature prop, the blue wooden board, in person.

She asked me to write up this post for her many months ago but I never got around to doing it until now, partly because life got in the way but mainly because I really had no idea what to write about. Or rather, which recipe to share. I could have easily just taken something I was writing up for my own blog and passed it along but I wanted to do something special. Then a few weeks ago I made this sweet dish with fresh Ragi kernels that I’d grown in my own house and somehow I knew *this* was the recipe which I wanted featured on Tongue Ticklers.

This is my very first guest blog post ever and I’m truly happy to be starting here.

I remember eating this simple dessert when I was kid. We lived in a joint family then and my aunt had somehow got her hands on fresh Ragi (which isn’t easy to come by unless you live on or know someone with a Ragi farm) and made this yummy thing for all of us. I ate it just that once but I never forgot how delicious it was.

Flash forward to adult me… A few months ago, I was trying to sprout grains of Ragi at home but they were taking forever and after a couple of days they did start sprouting but they also grew small amount of fungus on them. Since I felt bad to just throw them out, I just dumped them into flower pots in the hope that they would compost in the soil. Instead, they started to turn into beautiful little green, grassy plants.

When it was about 3 inches high, I tasted the Ragi grass thinking maybe I could make a Wheat grass like juice out of it but it really doesn’t taste that great. However, not having the heart to uproot the plants I just continued to water them. Over time they got longer and longer, one even grew as tall as me! And just when I was beginning to think that I had a very pointless Ragi grass forest in my limited garden space, I spied a wee little kernel of Ragi on one of the plants. I was super thrilled!!

When I was able to harvest a decent handful of plum, yet green Ragi kernels I made the delicious dish from my childhood. And having quickly clicked some pictures, I proceeded to relish it.

The recipe in itself is very simple. You just need to patiently grow your own Ragi and you’re all set.

Recipe: Quick sweet dish with fresh ragi [finger millet]

Ingredients:

2 handfuls freshly harvested Ragi

3 T freshly grated Coconut

1 T Agave Nectar (the original recipe calls for Jaggery but I’d run out, however Agave did the trick)

Method:

Steam the Ragi for about 20 minutes. Add the Coconut and Agave/Jaggery. Enjoy!

——————-

Delicious and healthy snacks should ideally be such.  They should retain nutrition and save time on cooking!  For more delicious vegan desserts, both simple and exotic, please visit Susmitha’s blog or follow her on facebook.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

There was a time, when I started blogging, that I used to hunt for blog events, cook food to fit the theme, blog that very day and send my entry across. I don’t do it anymore. I just do not have that kind of drive anymore.   I have become more choosy.  If the photograph does not satisfy me, I would rather not post the recipe.  Yet, there are some events that I long to be a part of each month. These days, the events that interest me revolve around health or photography, both of which seem to have consumed my living. I am just glad that these addictions at least guarantee sanity.

Once Lubna had invited me to write a ‘food photography’ post and I had mentioned that the best way to learn is by looking at what the masters do, set up table and try and take pictures like they did. Sometimes by copying you learn to move out of your comfort zone and try things that you otherwise will not, and some of the new things you learn might actually help you improve your own style. It is for this reason that I love the monthly contest Simone hosts. DHSPC, short for Donna Hay’s Styling and Photography Challenge, is now in its sixth month, and this time Simone has chosen a photograph taken by Con Poulos from the cookbook ‘Seasons’.  Donna Hay is the Goddess of food styling.  Her signature style is to keep the food setting clean and simple, calling the viewer’s attention to the food.  The photograph chosen for this month is;

I faced a few hurdles while setting up and had to make some changes.

I could not bring all the elements together in one frame, try as hard as I did.  My table stands at an end where I do not get light.  It is wrought iron and heavy to disturb.  In order to do justice I placed my tea table and a low level chair behind, but this was a rectanglular table.  I wanted the bottle to fall in completely and angle the camera so that the bread would receive prominence.  Because Summer has already set in, the light was turning harsh every few minutes.  It did not give me much time to manipulate the settings or change lenses and try a second photograph.  I needed time to do my own set ups too.  I generally place my boards on the window sill and manage all my photography there.  That is my studio, filled with natural light.  I replaced tahini for the bottle and poured some fresh orange juice in a glass as I wasn’t sure what the transparent liquid was.  Next time for such a photograph I must remember that I should use my 24-105mm and not the prime lens! That was a big mistake.

Food-wise:
I made a vegan version of the arugula pesto using nutritional yeast flakes and hazelnuts as my daugher is allergic to pine nuts, and instead of regular bread, used the English muffins I baked the previous evening.  And, I realized when I later saw the photographs that I had completely forgotten to place a napkin below the plate and had placed my plate off center!  I am also a bit irritated that I let my own character emerge in a photograph that was supposed to be someone else’s.  Well, one makes mistakes and learns.  Next time I am going to have the laptop open with the picture and then do my setting.

Having tried the above, I decided to move on with my style.  For me, this was a foreign scene – not one that would happen in my home.  We consume only fruits till 12.00 in the afternoon.  Today, was an exception.   I drank all of the orange juice and ate many fruits, but could not resist having one muffin as it looked very inviting with all that pesto on top.  My husband and children were surprised that we were to have a rare, hearty breakfast. Pleasantly.

Since this post is only to do with the challenge, I will post the recipe associated with the challenge today.  My vegan recipe for the English muffins will follow in another post.

Elements of breakfast:

English muffins (forked and split into halves)
Extra virgin olive oil – as needed for toasting the halved breads
Toffuti cream cheese – as needed
Zucchini ribbons – About 1-2 for each bread
Lemon flavoured black pepper
Arugula pesto – About a tablespoonful for each slice of bread – recipe below

Recipe: Vegan arugula pesto
Adapted from Donna Hay’s recipe, as appearing in Simone’s post

Yield: Enough to top 8-10 slices of bread

Ingredients:

Basil – 1/2 cup
Arugula / Rocket leaves – 1 cup
Toasted hazelnuts – about 10 [Can use pine nuts instead]
Nutritional yeast flakes – 1/4 cup
Fresh garlic cloves – 2
Extra virgin olive oil – 1/8 cup [Can use more if you like]
Pink salt to taste

Method:
Rinse the leaves (basil and arugula), and pat dry between kitchen towels.
Place arugula, basil, hazelnuts, nutritional yeast flakes and garlic in a mixer and grind. Open once or twice in between and add extra virgin olive oil, and scrape the sides. Grind to a thick, coarse paste. Mine took about three to four minutes.
Heat a cast iron griddle.
Fork the muffins in the center and pull apart to form two slices. Toast both slices to golden brown and crispy. Rub this with half a clove of garlic and sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil.
Top the toast with a bit of tofutti cream cheese, and dab lots of pesto.
Top with zucchini ribbons and finish with some salt and pepper.

Come,  join me at the table as I breakfast for lunch!  The pesto has a peppery edge coming from the arugula leaves that is very tasty, but one who is not used to the taste of arugula (also known as rocket leaves) might need some inititation.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

A few days back Miguel wrote to me about grain intolerance, and how it makes simple meals a difficulty. God, I thought, that must be so tough, right? But Miguel is probably doing the thing that is best for all of us. He eliminates most of the acidic foods right there, that is of course, if his diet is coupled with being vegan. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are mostly acidic in nature.

Not very long ago – a couple of years ago – I used to have three full meals a day, each with the inclusion of some grain. Breakfast was made up of dalia (broken wheat), oats, parathas or roti with vegetables on the side. Lunch consisted of rice, a gravy and a dry vegetable side. Dinner was mostly the same as lunch with an occasional salad thrown in for a change. I am not at all a salad person. I assumed I was being healthy despite the salad being less – that I knew. During that time my health quest was in full force and I was reading up a lot.  Sharan, Dr. Nandita Shah’s initiative to promote vegan lifestyle, runs a library in Mumbai at Fort. The library has a small but very impressive collection of books by note-worthy authors on health and aspects surrounding the vegan lifestyle. It was here that I came across books on alkaline Vs. acidic food that made me curious to read more, learn more on this subject.  Pleasantly for me, the topic was discussed by Dr.Vijaya Venkat when I started attending her ‘health re-education program‘.  She and Dr.Anju Venkat make ‘Science of foods’ a very interesting subject and breakdown the scientific terms into simple everyday words that makes these fundas easy for all to understand.

It is now common knowledge that the ‘ph level’ of our stomach in its natural state is alkaline. Obviously this is the state the body tries to achieve all day, and it works round the clock – non-stop – towards this goal. Have you ever thought about this? Are we taking our bodies for granted? Is it not ours to be taken care of? Then, why do we stuff it with loads of acid? Grains, pulses, milk and meat are all acidic in nature, each more acidic than the previous. I am not saying that we eliminate all these from our diets completely. Great, if we can, but at least we can gradually eliminate and eat right, helping our bodies conserve energy, work less, work more comfortably, channelise that energy towards attaining a calmer state of mind. It is not difficult. I suggest you note down your daily eating habits, making an honest list of your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Try and reduce the acidic portion in each meal by substituting it with raw salads. Try to have only fruits till your lunch time, and allow your body to effectively cleanse your system each morning.

This is getting long, right? I guess I will leave you with a beautiful grain-free, gluten-free, decadent chocolate cake for today. The next time we meet, I will let you on to more of the secrets I learnt. Sharing is caring, after all!

Would you like to hear more? Tell me. Whenever I meet people like Nandita Shah, and the Venkats, I only think of how beautiful it would be if I could get them over here for you readers, to listen to them, speak, through the written words. I want you to have those joys I derived by listening, understanding, and applying them to my life. Would you like to? I will have to ask them and hopefully they might agree. I will try, if you let me know for sure.

I am not big on any of the ‘Days’. V-day, birthday, festivals are all just another day for me. Of course, I expect the better half to profess his love for me, but not just on one of those designated days.  I do love it when there is a gift that professes the love! This time P brought me two wooden planks. I need to stain them, colour and prepare them for background but it was the ideal gift for V-day! I made these chocolate cupcakes in appreciation – today. I do not usually frost cakes. I am not good at frosting. I am naturally a little clumsy and sloppy by nature, but I tried my best. On the other hand, I don’t need frostings. My cake base is very good. Kidding! Not about the cake, but about those excuses. I can’t ice. Period.

Miguel, I hope you like this. Soon enough, I will surely post grain-free meal ideas as well. But I like to start things on a sweet note, and so it had to begin with a cake! And this one is very delicious. Its a bit dense because of the bean flour and the hazelnuts but it makes up in flavour and in a way it is a boon, because it is so easy to layer. I used a thread to cut and it was quick.

Notes to be read before trying the recipe:

The one thing I did not like about this cake was that it cracked a lot. I had to trim half an inch off the cake to level it for the icing. The cupcakes were no problem, as the cracked portion settled down as the cake cooled. But with the large, round cake I had no such luck. I ground the portion that I had trimmed and saved that for making left-over cake truffles or cake pops, as some call them.  I will have to do this till I find a way to minimise the cracks.

I used bean flour, made by grinding whole black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas are also known as chowli, lobia or payaru. I got mine from THAC, run by Dr.Vijaya Venkat.

Potato starch used in this recipe can be substituted by equal quanity of arrowroot, cornflour or tapioca starch.

Coconut milk is what I prefer as my daughter is allergic to almonds and cashew. Both these nut milks can be substituted in same quantity. If you have vegan buttermilk use that instead of milk and vinegar. In fact I did not have non-nut buttermilk and so I added vinegar to coconut milk and let it stand before using.

I used more sugar than I would normally as I used dark cocoa powder to make this cake. If you are using plain cocoa powder you may want to reduce the sugar by a quarter cup.

Olive oil can be substituted with any other neutral oil in the same quantity.

Corn syrup can be left out if you do not have it readily. I feel it lends softness to vegan cakes but its absence does not have any marked effect.

Measure hazelnuts and grind to a powder before adding the dry ingredients to it.

You can use synthetic vinegar instead of rice vinegar. I just make sure its gluten free.

You can use almonds/walnuts/macadamia nuts instead of hazelnuts. I used hazelnuts as my daughter is allergic to most other nuts.

My children like bits of molten chocolate in their cupcakes, so I inserted dark chocolate pieces after half-filling the cup cake moulds and then pour a tbsp of batter to cover it.

For beginner bakers – I received a few mails asking me to clarify these aspects, hence this note:

Always bake cakes in the center rack of the oven.

Your oven will have three or four indicators against the knob for setting the oven-heat. The one that shows dots on both sides of a horizontal line indicates that the heating rods on the top and bottom of the oven are lighted. This is your normal cake mode. The one that shows dots on top of the horizontal line indicates that the top rod alone is heated. Use this for your grill mode. Similarly the one that shows dots below the horizontal line indicates that only the bottom rod is heated. You can use this for toasting.

Recipe: Grain-free, gluten-free, chocolate cake with strawberry-cream frosting
Adapted from my recipe for perfect vegan sponge cake
Yield: 3 cupcakes and one 6″ round cake

Ingredients:
Dry:
Bean flour – 1 + 2/3 cups [200g]
Potato starch – 2 tbsp. [22g]
Baking powder – 1.5 tsp. [9g]
Baking soda – 1/4 tsp. [2g]
Raw sugar – 3/4 cup [106g]
Hazelnuts – 1/4 cup [32g]
Dark cocoa powder – 1/4 cup [20g]
Vanilla pod, scraped – 1

Wet
Instant coffee powder – 1 tbsp. [4g]
Water – 1/4 cup [55g]
[Boil the water, remove from heat, add coffee powder, mix well and set aside till needed in the recipe]

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup [194g]
Corn syrup – 1 tsp. [10g]
Rice vinegar – 1 tbsp. [9g]
Olive oil – 1/2 cup [80g]

Oven temperature : 160 degree Celsius
Line a loose bottomed six inch round cake pan with parchment paper on the base and the sides. I used the rest of the batter to make three cupcakes.

Method:

Grind hazelnuts to powder them. Do this in spurts so that it does not clump into an oily mass. You can also prevent clumping by adding some of the bean flour to the hazelnuts while grinding.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the hazelnut powder and grind to get a uniform blend.

At this stage, set the oven for pre-heating at 160 degree Celsius.

Set aside the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients to the mixer and blend to form a liquid emulsion. Add the dry ingredients back to this and blend to form a thick, pourable batter. It should be like a custard – not too thick or thin.

Pour into the prepared pan till two-thirds full and the rest of the batter into prepared cup cake moulds.

Bake the cup cakes for twenty minutes or till a tooth-pick comes out clean. The larger cake needs about 30minutes to bake.

The cakes will rise high, crack well. Do not panic. Its normal. Once the baking is done and the cake is brought out, allow it to cool for ten minutes in the moulds. The crack actually reduces as the initial rise reduces. No, it will not sink!

This cake is naturally dense as compared to a cake made with grain-flour. It does have a beany flavour but no one knows it until you tell them. I found.

The cake is also firm and easy to handle. I am not goot at layering and yet I was able to cut it into thin layers! That speaks for the firmness.

Do not eliminate the nut-flour. They reduce the beany flavour and add texture.

You can serve the cakes as is, or cut them into layers, frost them in any way you please.

I beat soy cream, added pureed strawberries as these are in season, made a nice thick buttercream and used that for frosting.

The less I speak of my frosting skills, the better it is! Need I say that? Also please let the cakes cool in the refrigerator if you are frosting. The photographs comes out beautiful after the creams sets.
I clearly am not patient!

I made a similar cake with carob powder and millet flour recently! Recipe to come soon.

On a different note, Mocomi, a childrens’ site thought I was a professional photographer and wanted to interview me to showcase a ‘cool’ profession.  I told them this was a hobby, a passion, and I work 9-5 for a living.  They somehow found my profession ‘cooler’.  You can read more about me in the interview on their site here.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

In the span of four years since I started blogging my views about food and health have progressively changed.  I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian, later a lacto-vegetarian and now am a vegan.  I looked around for something to negate my reasons to go vegan in the beginning – all those questions that readers ask me.  I do this in most situations where I am faced with an alternative I do not understand.  It helps me thrash the issue and see the truth.  Well, I did not find a single, good reason not to turn vegan.  And I accepted the bitter truth.

It came as a pleasant surprise when my friend Sanjeeta, invited me to share my thoughts on her blog – Lite Bite.  Hop over to Lite Bite for more of this and my recipe for a simple but warm, delicious, Winter soup.

Bon appetit!

Recipe: Steamed Pumpkin soup with shallots

Did you know that pumpkins and squashes make excellent introductory food for babies as well as toddlers?  Find your baby’s perfect pumpkin soup on my facebook page.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

My daughter and her friend study together sometimes for the approaching board exams.  She is in tenth grade and the Boards are a huge thing here in India.  I am sure many of you who have studied here will understand what I mean.  It was big when I was a student, but now the pressure for achievement has increased trifold.  To make it a more pleasurable and less pressured experience, Jr.H and her friend Aman thought it would be nice to study together, clarify their doubts and at the same time enjoy the small breaks in between.  The breaks usually revolve around eating.  Definitely an activity that needs all my devotion these days.

Yesterday Jr.H told me that Aman has noticed that ‘aunty’ has stopped making cakes and other nice things.  I have been cooking a lot lately and making so many soups to celebrate the Season, but then those are not counted as ‘nice things’.  Cakes, desserts and especially chocolate cakes are the only things that qualify as nice things.  So, it came as a welcome surprise to Jr.H when I looked at Beatrice’s blog, La Tartine Gourmande today and picked out a nice gluten free chocolate cake, and called her.

“How about that?” I said.

“That looks very good!  Will you be adding lots of bits of chocolate?” she asked.

I am not very fond of molten chocolate cake, so I said, “I think that will be too much chocolate.”

“There is no thing as too much chocolate,” the girl said with a stubborn look.  “You never make things you don’t like, and anyway you make this sort of cake all the time.  What is so special about this one?”

I scrolled down and showed her – Molten chocolate cake with tahini and millet.  She immediately scrolled up and looked at the pictures carefully.  “I can write down that recipe for you,” she offered, smiling.  I knew she would.

It was 3:30 in the afternoon by the time I got down to making the cake.  I knew the light wouldn’t be good enough to shoot but I had promised to make the cake and I did.  It was molten, gooey and very delicious.  I use tahini a lot in cakes, so it wasn’t new to me.  As I went about the cake I made became very different from the original recipe, but I knew it would be tasty.  Hazelnuts in chocolate can never go wrong.

It did not change my view.  The cake was too chocolatey, but both DD and her friend said I was wrong.   Maybe they were right afterall!  But next time I am using smaller ramekins or tea cups.  You could use dario moulds or any other small ceramic bowls instead of the ramekins.

I wasn’t very excited about taking photographs as the light was harsh.  There was a lot of molten chocolate on one side but I was already eating.

Notes and suggestions:
I used bajra (pearl millet), but you can also use jowar (sorghum) or singhada (water chestnut).  I did not use dink (acacia gum) as we were having this in the ramekins itself.  If you would like to turn them out, it will be advisable to add a teaspoon of powdered acacia gum.

Please note that you just need to make sure that the batter is thick. You can add or reduce flour a bit to achieve this. You can also increase the bits of chocolate. I added very few pieces according to Jr.H. I was being prudent, or so I thought!

Recipe: Gluten free molten chocolate and tahini cakes
Adapted from ‘La Tartine Gourmande‘

Ingredients:
Dark chocolate, chopped – 163g
Tahini – 2.5 tbsps or 50g.
(I used shop bought and mine had vinegar added. If you use homemade sesame paste, please add 1 tsp. of lemon juice or rice vinegar to the batter separately)
Olive oil – 1 tbsp. (Can be subbed with any neutral oil)
Raw sugar – 1/2 cup less 1 tbsp./ 44g
A pinch of pink salt or rock salt
Lightly toasted hazelnuts – 1/4 cup
Coconut milk (second extract) – 1/2 cup
Pear millet flour / Bajre ka atta – 62g / 3/4 cup add 1 tbsp.
Baking soda – 1/8th tsp.

Method:
Preheat oven to 160 deg. C.

Place chopped chocolate pieces, oil and tahini in a bowl.  Cook and melt chocolate in a double boiler arrangement or melt it in your microwave in spurts, at power (350) for a minute and a half, stirring twice in between.

In a mixer, run sugar, a pinch of salt, and the hazelnuts to powder them well.  Now add the coconut milk and run till well combined.

Remove into a mixing bowl.  Add the chocolate mixture to this.

Run the flour and soda together to distribute the soda evenly.  Add the flour, a tablespoon at a time to the bowl and mix gently till homogeneous.  The batter should be thick but pourable, and easily beatable.

Grease and flour six ramekins or any other moulds that you are using.  Divide half the batter amongst the ramekins.  Add pieces of reserved chocolate and divide the remaining batter in all the ramekins.

Bake for 20 minutes.  The tops may crack lightly and not puff as much as regular cupcakes.

Cool for 10-15 minutes and serve warm or cold.

Yes, there was a lot of molten chocolate when we dug into the cakes, only I didn’t have the patience to go back to the board!

Meanwhile, I did find time to go to the annual festival at Kala Ghoda.  I bought some junk jewellery, some props.  See them here.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

This month Tongue Ticklers completed four years on the web. To mark the big occasion (a big one for me!) I had initially thought of having a giveaway of some of my photo prints. Around the same I found that Siri was organizing a fund-raising event to raise money for Vaidehi Ashram, a home for destitute girls in Hyderabad, India. I have always been close to children and any cause that helps children holds a special place for me. So, this blog anniversary I have decided to provide two of my prints as one of the raffle prizes in the event.

When I got married to P we were sure we would adopt children but Nature decided otherwise.  We were blessed and we treat our children as the highest gift Nature offered us.  But not all children are lucky.  Many are unfortunately left to fend for themselves!  Thankfully, for every evil that exists in Society, there are angels to balance the acts.  Siri’s post on the young girls in Vaidehi Ashram is an eye opener.  Even if we cannot adopt there are many ways in which ordinary people like us can help these angels.  What any ashram needs most is funds to keep it going.  No amount is less.  Every penny counts.  Vaidehi ashram is a place that nurtures injured spirits and rekindles hopes for 108 young girls, aged from 3 to 22.   Most of the children either do not have parents or have a single parent who can no longer take care of them. Each child came with a heavy heart and is taught to live a life of dignity.  I hope we, along with Siri can help raise enough funds to keep the good work in Vaidehi Ashram going, and bring a smile on the faces of many young children like little Samantha.

If you would like to donate for the cause please visit Siri’s blog for more information on how to participate in the event. Many of my blogger friends have sponsored some beautiful items as raffle prize(s)! Make sure you get there fast, before someone else grabs hold of them! Besides you will also help bring hope and happiness to several young girls.  The event begins today, and there are 40 raffle prizes up for grabs, each one more exciting than the other!  Once the donation process is completed, please forward your payment confirmation message to info(dot)siri(at)gmail.com, clearly specifying which raffle prize(s) you are interested in. For any correspondence/questions/queries, email Siri at the address mentioned above.

Some of the photographs being offered have appeared on my blog at various times.  Some are fresh and unpublished.  Please check my picasa gallery or facebook if you would like to pick them up!  I have placed captions for each photograph in both the galleries.

Follow Siri’s directions in her post above to seal the deal!  Here’s wishing Siri mega-success in this thoughtful venture.

A peek into the album – please remember that my code is RW2

(You can choose the photograph you like after the announcements on 27th February, 2012)

A brief overview of how the Fund Drive will work -

1 raffle ticket = 10$ or 500Rupees

1. For Example – If a donor contributes 50$ or 5000Rs, then he/she can avail 5 raffle tickets which can be used to bid on any of the raffle prizes below. One can use all 5 on one prize (in turn increasing the chances in the lucky draw) or on different raffle prizes. At the very end, a random drawing will be conducted by the Ashram kids to decide who gets each of the raffle prize(s).

2. Those of you, who would like to contribute can choose your raffle prize(s) and after your donations are complete, please send an email to info(dot)siri(at)gmail(dot)com with the raffle prize details that you would like to to bid on.

3. As soon as she receives your email, your name will be added to the “Who all chose this Raffle:” column against the raffle of your choice.

4. Random drawing will be conducted and winners for each of the raffle prizes will be announced on Monday, February 27th 2012.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

My relationship with ‘undhiyo’ is odd.

It started with aversion, probably because I tasted the overly sweet version at Tip-Top.  Tip-Top is a famous chain of restaurants in Thane, and the restaurant serves Gujarati cuisine as part of the menu.  I was once invited for ‘thali lunch’ by a relative, and it took all my will-power to finish the lunch.  I just gobbled everything down and swore off Gujarati dishes!  Sometime later we visited my uncle in Baroda.  He took us to a Gujarati hotel and I was blown off by the taste.  The food was not strewn with jaggery and the hint of sweetness was just right.  After we returned home, I decided that Tip-Top must have been just a one off experience.  I wasn’t a convert yet, but I was brave enough to try ‘undhiyo’ from Prashant Corner, another famous eaterie in Thane.  This time too, sweetness dominated the dish.

I met the perfect undhiyo twice before I learnt to make mine.  Once when we ordered a batch from Crawford Market last year at office, and before, when my neighbour, M Aunty sent me some of her undhiyo.  Only, M Aunty’s was a tad spicier as it contained many masalas I am not used to.  Last year I made undhiyo thrice at home and I got the balance right each time.  I however did not dare to share my recipe as I still wasn’t sure whether it was as good as the original.  Besides, the pictures were not good.  This year, I was brave enough to take my preparation to office.  One of my friends is a Gujarati, brought up in Ahmedabad.  I knew she would be the right person to tell me whether I made the right thing.  She ate a bite, and asked, “Can I take the remaining too?”  I could not believe it!  Then she asked in surprise, “You made this? It tastes exactly like the one we make at home. Authentic, and very tasty!”  To boot that, she actually licked the spoon!  I was in seventh Heaven!  I needed that boost before I could post the recipe here.

Oondhiyo or Undhiyu

Yesterday I made it again.  This time I was confident.  I took photographs.  Unfortunately undhiyo, though extremely tasty is not a photographer’s dream.  The sauce is coarse, the vegetables are a-plenty, there is too much going on in the dish and it is difficult to show it all together in a plate.  I did my best.  No, I am not a discoverer.  I searched and found a recipe by Hemant Trivedi that seemed right to me.  Hemant Trivedi used to publish in a website that is no longer available.  He has recently returned to blogging and is transferring his recipes to his blog.  The recipe for undhiyo is not available as of now but I had saved mine from the site long back.  Please visit his site for some authentic, tasty, Indian recipes.  I tried the recipe exactly as given while starting but went on to make slight changes towards the end till I got what I had tasted.

I am a convert!  I have gone from hate to love.  My family loves the dish now!  And I owe it to the recipe that helped me find my version.

It turns out however that not all Gujarati undhiyo recipes call for jaggery or sugar.  There are basically two regions where ‘undhiyo’ is prepared.  Both regions basically follow the same recipe but they have their distinct touch too.  Surti undhiyo has a generous amount of jaggery in many dishes.  I stuck to Kathiawari as it does not recommend the addition of jaggery.

Undhiyo is a Seasonal dish.  It is made between December and February when fresh greens are available in plenty and many crops are harvested.  The recipe celebrates the abundance of fresh legumes and root vegetables by bring them all together in a rich, coarse sauce made of more greens – coriander and coconut.  The fresh legumes make all the difference.  It is alright if you can’t find all the legumes I used.  Fresh pigeon peas and chickpeas are not available everywhere.  Do not substitute with the dried ones for the fresh ingredients.  Use broad beans or fresh fava beans instead, or any fresh legume found in your region.

Fresh pigeon peas (Lilva tuvar)

One other ingredient I added that is not usually found in most recipes is ‘harbhara’ – fresh green chickpeas.  In Thane, there is only one vegetable vendor who sells the variety of vegetables needed to make undhiyo.  This time I found that he also had freshly harvested chickpeas.  It was his suggestion that I add it to undhiyo.  Since he is a kind old man who knows a lot I could not refuse his advice and bought 50gms of harbhara as well.  The addition did not take away anything.  Maybe it added to the bounty of greens.  The dish is not difficult but involves a lot of preparation time.

Fresh chickpeas (harbhara) and Fresh fava beans (Valor papdi)

My tips:

Pod the legumes the night before.  This takes a long time.  You have to pod fresh pigeon peas (lilva tuvar), broad beans (surti papdi), fava beans/hyacinth beans (valor papdi) and fresh chickpeas (harbhara).  Also remember that even though 100g of each bean may seem too much, after podding, all that remains is about 50g! So it is not actually as much as it seems.

Clean the fenugreek leaves and prepare the dumplings a day or two before you prepare the dish.  The dumplings are called muthias, basically because the rustic procedure involves holding the dough in your palm and pressing by closing your fist (mutthi) around it.  These days, we make oval shapes instead.  You may want to substitute half the gramflour with wheat flour.  I prefer to use only gramflour as my daughter is allergic to wheat.  You can also steam the dumplings instead of deep frying.

I found that undhiyo tastes best when made in generous quantities.  It helps the vegetables take in flavours.  I have used very less oil as compared to the traditional recipe.  Usually it is recommended to deep fry the root vegetables till half done.  I instead baked mine.  I did deep-fry the muthias though.

I used ginger along with ‘ambe halad’ or mango-ginger.  You can only ginger if you cannot find ‘ambe halad’.  I made a bowlful of generous paste using the two gingers, fresh green garlic and green chillies.  I used only a bit in this recipe.

I boil water separately and use this if needed as the vegetables used here are already half-done, and I do not want to bring down the temperature of the preparation half-way through.  This is highly recommended though not mentioned in any recipe.

Recipe: Kathiawari Undhiyo
Recipe adapted from Hemant Trivedi

Yield: Serves 6
[Gluten free, allergen free, side dish, served traditionally with any flatbread]

Ingredients:
To prepare the night before:
The legumes:
Fresh pigeon peas (Lilva tuvar) – 100g (string the beans and pod)
Fresh chickpeas (Harbhara) – 50g (Pod the chickpeas)
Broad beans (Surti papdi) – 100g (String and split the sides of the beans almost till the end but do not separate them)
Fava beans (Valor papdi or fresh val) – 100g (String and pod)

The above can be mixed and stored together

All those legumes together along with tender broad beans behind (Surti papdi)

The muthias [Dumplings]:
Fenugreek leaves [Methi leaves], picked from the stems, rinsed, patted dry between towels, and chopped fine – 1.5 cups
Gramflour [Besan], sifted – ¼ cup [keep ¼ extra if needed]
Ginger-garlic-chilly paste – ½ tsp. [Please refer tips]
Red chilly powder – as per taste
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp.
Asafoetida pdr [Hing] – A pinch
Water – about 2tbsps., or more if needed, to bind
Salt to taste
A pinch of cooking soda [optional, not recommended]
Sugar – ½ tsp. [optional, not recommended]
Oil to deep fry

Mix the ingredients for the muthias into a tight dough. Make balls about the size of marbles or a tad larger. Add more water sparingly if needed. Deep fry in hot oil till browned all over. Drain onto kitchen papers before storing in an air tight container.

The day after:

The root vegetables:
Purple yam (Kand) – 150g approx. [Cut into ¾” inch chunks]
Sweet potatoes – 100g approx. [Cut into ¾” chunks]
Baby potatoes [Dum aloo waale aloo] – 200g approx. [Make a cross on the top and cut halfway down. Do not cut through to the bottom]
Purple baby brinjals – 200g approx. [Cut off the crown. Make a cross on the top and cut halfway down]
Raw banana [Kachha kela] – 1 banana [Cut into three pieces with skin. Make a cross on each piece and cut halfway down]

The Spice mix [Green masala]:
Coriander leaves, cleaned and picked – 4 cups, finely chopped
Ginger-chilly-garlic paste – 1 tbsp., or more as per taste [please refer tips]
Coconut, freshly grated – 2.5 cups [do not use dry coconut]
Clove powder [lavang/laung] – ½ tsp.
Cinnamon powder [dalchini] – ½ tsp.
Roasted coriander powder [dhania pdr.] – 1 tsp.
Roasted cumin powder [jeera pdr.] – 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Amchur [Dry mango pdr.] – If needed – as per taste
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp.

Oil – 4 tablespoons [Yes, this is astonishingly less than the preparation traditionally calls for]
Fennel seeds [ajwain] – 1tsp.

Mix all the ingredients for the spice mix together, except the lemon and amchur. If gratings are fine and leaves are chopped fine, there is no need to grind. If not, grind the ingredients together into a coarse paste. It must have a good crunch and texture. Do not grind into a paste. The dish will not taste the same. Once ground, taste and add lemon juice and amchur according to your taste. I like mine to have a good dose of acidity and 1 tbsp. of lemon juice agrees with me. I keep the dry mango powder as an emergency and use it at the end, if I find the flavours imbalanced. This should yield about 2.5 cups of masala. You can add a few tablespoons of water if needed.

Method:

Thaw the prepared muthias and legumes next morning and keep aside till needed.

Stuff the slit vegetables with some of the spice mix. Try packing as much as you can without breaking the vegetables. Remove the extra stuffing stuck around.

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg. C. Do not insert the baking tray while pre-heating the oven.

Heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil in a wok and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the root vegetables and the stuffed vegetables to this. Very gently toss so that the oil coats the vegetable reasonably well.

Line the baking tray with a non-stick parchment paper or foil. Gently arrange the tossed vegetables so that they are separate and not over one another.

Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes or till brown on the sides. I usually remove after ten minutes and toss lightly to ensure that the browning is even on all sides.

If, you do not have an oven you can deep fry the vegetables till half done. Or simply skip the process. It makes a difference – the browning.

Baked vegetables

Remove the baked vegetables. Separate the non-stuffed vegetables and toss them about in some of the spice mixture.

Heat the remaining 2.5tbsps. oil in a wide wok till hot. Add fennel seeds. Add the legumes and toss well. Usually a pinch of cooking soda is added to retain the green colour. I do not use soda. Add a bit of salt to help cook, and half a cup of hot water. Also add some of the masala. Cover and cook for five minutes on medium heat. Add the thawed muthias [dumplings] and vegetables [stuffed and others]. Add the rest of the green masala on top and another cup of hot water. Cover and cook till all masala is absorbed. At this stage if the undhiyo seems very dry, a little hot water may be added. Check for balance of flavours. If it seems too tangy to you, a marble sized lump of jaggery will tone it. If not tangy enough, ¼ tsp of amchur mixed in will make it perfect.

Mix well before serving, taking care not to break the vegetables.

Undhiyo is generally served with any flatbread. While I think it tastes best with jowar rotis, I often find hotels serving it with pooris.

Sometimes you love a dish so much that you create a tradition for your children. Undhiyo is one such dish. Growing up, I did not know about it. I started with an aversion to it. I ended up loving it so much that in my house Pongal (The Harvest Festival for South Indians) is incomplete without undhiyo.  In my house everybody prefers rice and rasam to go with undhiyo!

If you are going to try this, now is the Season.  It will last till the first week of February.  Hurry, and let me know how it turned out!

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

“Mummy, you like this very very much, don’t you?”  The girl asked.

“Hmmm….,” I replied, still digging happily and a tad greedily into my bowl of sweet and mildly salty carrot stir-fry.  I knew I would go for a second, more generous helping.

Simple carrot stir-fry

“Then, why is it not on your blog yet?”  She queried.

“Too simple!”

“I thought you said you did not know to cook anything but potatoes when you started cooking!”  She exclaimed, “So this cannot be that simple, right?”

I was caught.  How do children manage to do that everytime?

You tell me!  Is it too simple?  Do you make this dish?  And do you like it enough to try it?  Or  would you not try this because this is too simple?

Winter is the time for gorgeous, plump, red carrots and I do not miss the chance to celebrate its abundance.  I make a few rounds of ‘gaajar halwa’ and this ‘poduthuval’.  Poduthuval is the Palakkad lingo for dry vegetable sautes and stir-fries that may or may not contain a sprinkling of coconut.  Mostly they do.  Fresh coconut added towards the end not only adds natural, mild, sweetness to a savoury dish, thereby balancing the flavours but also serves an essential crunch or bite.  I am a coconut person.  I use large amounts of coconut and feel sorry that people have wrongly associated this tasty and healthy gift as a ‘cholesterol builder’ or ‘fat builder’.  First off, plant products do not have cholesterol and second, coconuts have fatty acids that help your body.  What you need to avoid is the oil, not the fresh coconut.  If you really want to take care, simply do not add oil in this dish.  I have it that way too and it tastes fresh and crunchy!

Thanks to the young lady, here’s a recipe I love, and I hope some of you haven’t had it before – that will make me feel justified in featuring it!

I have grated the carrots this time but I, sometimes also dice them into fine pieces.  My son prefers them diced and the daughter likes them grated.  There is always something to disagree about!

This is best made with juicy, red carrots!  The colour is so beautiful and fully of energy, its hard to keep oneself away!

Recipe:  Carrot poduthuval ~ Easy carrot stir-fry

Ingredients:

Split, husked, mung beans (Mung dal) – 1/4 cup, soaked for at least an hour, and drained
Carrots (Gaajar), fresh, plump and juicy – 6 large ones, grated in medium sized grater
Green chillies, slit vertically – 2, or more, if you like some heat
Coconut, freshly grated – 1/4 cup
Lemon, ripe, medium sized – 1, juiced (About a tbsp.)
Salt to taste

Seasoning (Tadka/baghar)
Coconut oil – 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp.
Husked, black gram dal (urad dal) – 1 tsp.
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Sesame seeds, white – 1 tsp.

Method:
Scrub lightly, was and dry carrots. Do not peel. Maximum sweetness in carrots is right under the skin and when you peel you discard the best portion. Grate and set aside. Do not use fine grater or cheese grater. We need the bite so use a medium sized grater.

Heat oil. When hot enough, add mustard seeds and black gram dal. When the seeds splutter and dal turns pink add the curry leaves and slit green chillies.

As soon as the curry leaves crisp up, add the carrots. Stir fry to mix well. Cover and cook for a 4-8 minutes depending on how you like your carrots – very crunchy 4 mins). My mother would make this really soft. She cooks till the carrots lose their crunch, about 8-10 minutes. I prefer cooking for just 4 minutes to warm up the dish.

Add the mung beans, sprinkle sesame seeds, and coconut and stir fry on low heat till mixed well. Put off fire. Squeeze the lemon and stir to let the juice distribute.

Serve as a salad, or an accompaniment with rice and gravy (sambar, rasam or kadhi)

That’s all! In under 10-15 minutes you have a healthy and tasty dish ready. This is the kind of dinner I like to make on weeknights or even weekdays. I like my weekday cooking to be light and healthy. I sometimes avoid the carbs and just gorge on the carrot poduthuval for dinner.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.