Vegan Richa

Gobi Musallam - Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Creamy Makhani Gravy. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Richa) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:16:00 +0000

More Cauliflower you say. Well Cauliflower is the new Kale right now. So as well use the popularity right :) And on top of that this is too delicious to not share!

The whole head of the cauliflower is blanched, then roasted drenched in a creamy Mughlai gravy, and served whole with some gravy on the side. It seems like a long recipe but it is fairly simple:). You can serve it as is sliced, or with the usual Indian food fix-ins of flat bread or rice, or over other cooked grains and greens. We ate it with Chapatis, Naan, filled up some sandwiches with the leftovers, added some to quinoa. It was a load of food to finish between the 2 of us.

The gravy is makhani style. Makhani means butter-y and the makhani/butter gravy you get restaurants usually has butter and cream. This gravy has coconut milk and cashews for the rich creamyness and the same spices and taste. You can add chopped veggies, roasted cauliflower florets, baked Tofu or Tempeh to the gravy. Make your restaurant style Tofu "Paneer" Makhani or Butter Seitan Chickun.

For a quicker cook time, chop the cauliflower into florets and blanch for 3-4 minutes, then cook in the blended gravy on stove top for 15 minutes. That will be Gobi Makhani.

Sure its not thanksgiving yet. but hey this can be the center piece for any party any-time.

You can use whatever spices you have on hand. The gravy will still be delicious.

We are in the process of buying a new house and hopefully will be moving next week! So the post frequency will get affected for the next 2 weeks. I am hoping to edit pictures and schedule some, but hey there is loads of stuff to be done and also refresh our condo which will be put on the market.

If you know anyone who might be interested in a beautiful condo in The Vine building(2607 Western Ave), ping me. The building is concrete and steel building and has won many awards. It is within walking distance to many of Seattle’s attractions such as the Olympic Sculpture Park(4 blocks), Seattle Center(5 blocks), the waterfront(2 blocks!), Pike Place Market(8 blocks), restaurants and cafes. There is Vegan Mac and cheese and sandwiches cafe 1 block from the building! We have water/bay view from our living room and bedroom. Its a 820 sq ft, 1 bedroom, 1 den, 1 bath on the 3rd floor. Why are we moving you say, good question. It took us a year to convince ourselves to leave this location, but I do need a larger kitchen and a photography room to seriously think about Cook-booking. Plus, now I can invite all of my family to visit at the same time:)

We will put the condo on the market in July. But if anyone is interested, you can see it in first week of July and the money we save by not listing it can be yours:) Email me at richahingle @ gmail . com for more details.
Yes, you get my well used kitchen, which will be thoroughly cleaned. But hey, look at the awesomeness that has come out of there. Those delicious food Vibes are priceless ;)

You can carve this beautiful cauliflower any which way you want! More gravy served on the side. That gravy I tell you. Make it and add anything to it, but make it!

More Indian or Indian inspired main dishes here.

Steps:

Blanch the cauliflower. The cauliflower should be immersed in the water. The picture is for picture purposes:).

Place blanched cauliflower in baking dish.

Prepare gravy. Cook onions, ginger, garlic till golden brown.

Add tomatoes, spices, salt and fenugreek leaves.

Cook until tomatoes are tender.

Blend tomato mixture with coconut milk and pour over cauliflower. keep some gravy to serve on the side later.

Bake until tender. Serve hot.

Gobi Musallam - Whole Roasted Cauliflower with creamy Mughlai/Makhani gravy
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy, gluten, grain, yeast. Can be made nut-free.
Makes 1 head of cauliflower with enough gravy to serve 3-4.

Ingredients:
1 Cauliflower head - leaves, tough stem removed and washed
Water to blanch
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Gravy/curry:
2 teaspoons oil
1/2 medium red onion chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic chopped
1 dry red chili or chili flakes to taste
3 medium tomatoes chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 Tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
3/4 cup coconut milk(from can)
1/4 cup ground cashew or 1/3 cup soaked cashews
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon raw sugar or 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup

Method:
Bring a large pot of water to boil. use enough water so all of the cauliflower can be immersed in it.
Add salt, turmeric and chili and blanch/cook the whole cauliflower.
Cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side(top and bottom. Flip after 4 minutes)

Gravy:
In a pan, add oil and heat on medium heat.
Add chopped onion and saute until golden, 6-7 minutes
Add ginger, garlic chili and saute for another 2 minutes.
Add the spices and mix.
Add tomatoes, salt, sugar, fenugreek leaves, mix and cook covered until tender. Mash them a bit in between. 8-10 minutes.
Cool slightly, then blend with coconut milk and cashews into a smooth thick puree.
Taste and adjust salt, spice.
Oil the baking dish if desired.
Place the blanched cauliflower in a baking dish.
Slowly drop the puree on top to cover the entire head of the cauliflower.
Some gravy will fall on the side.
Keep about a 1/3 of the gravy to serve on the side later.
Bake in pre-heated 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes till the cauliflower is dry to touch and gravy thickens a bit. Turn the dish around after 30 minutes.
Heat the remaining gravy to just about a boil so it thickens and serve on the side.
Serve hot with flat breads(Naan/Roti), or salads or quinoa.
Chop and fill up wraps or a hoagie roll(to make gobi meatball sub).

Notes:
For a nut free version, Use 2-3 Tablespoons powdered sunflower seeds or use 1/4 cup coconut cream + 1 Tablespoon cornstarch.
You can also stuff/pour some of the gravy into the florets by separating them and bake.

Variations:
Gobi Makhani:
Cut up the cauliflower into florets and blanch in boiling water or roast in oven until half cooked.
Add blended gravy puree, 1/4 cup water and cauliflower florets into a pan and cook covered on low-medium heat, for 15-20 minutes or until gravy thickens to desired consistency.
Serve hot drizzled with cashew cream/coconut cream and a slice of earth balance on top.
You can also add baked Tofu or braised Tempeh or Seitan to the gravy.

This week I leave you with this amazing Share your Dabba video.

This is a video about how wasted food is being used to feed the less fortunate. Share My Dabba/Tiffin/Lunchbox is an initiative to get food left uneaten in dabbas/tiffins to hungry street children in India, using just a Share sticker and the dabbawala(people who deliver the Tiffins) network. Please do watch.

This delicious meal is being shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Ricki's wellness weekend.

Father's Day Vegan Breakfast Brunch Round up.

noreply@blogger.com (Richa) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:31:00 +0000

Happy Friday All!

Did I mention that my parents are visiting. Squee!

I haven't met my parents since 2 years and my sister and brother since 8. I cannot fly around yet, so I have to depend on others visiting. Every time someone visits, the days are filled with non stop smiles. Families in India are usually very close-knit. Sometimes so overly close, that everyone has to know everything about everybody. It might seem that the word privacy does not exist in any dictionary. But that is how the amazing support system, that can be depended on at any time, is created. :)

Here are some Breakfast/brunch ideas for Father's Day! Give your special Dad a special hug and some awesome food!

Make some Cinnamon Rolls! (pictured above)
Tried and tested by many.

Make Baked French Toasts.

Crusted with Coconut...

Topped with Blueberry Crisp

Stove Top French Toasts
Samoa

Tiramisu

Molten Lava

Baked Doughnuts.

Spiced Apple Cake, or use any other fruit in this not too sweet, spiced Cake.

Tiramisu Pancakes

Savory Options:

Which is what My dad would love. We all grew up eating grain and Veggie hash type things called Upma or Poha, Veggie or Lentil stuffed paratha flat breads and chickpea flour Chilla/Puda/Pudla. I dont remember a single breakfast that was all sweet. There would be some leftover dessert or Halwa loaded with nuts, but that would be the after side to finish of the breakfast.
No wonder, my Dad makes a face when I mention eating pancakes for breakfast. I sent some multi-grain pancake mix to Mom a few years back and she makes savory pancakes with it.:)

Savory Oats Poha with veggies GF

Chilla - Chickpea flour Omelettes GF
Or these fat mini-Omelettes filled with grated Cauliflower and cheese.

Stuffed French Toasts. Samosa Toasts. Really you cant go wrong with Samosa potatoes.

Soy-free Frittata with Almond Feta GF. No Tofu in this awesome Frittata

Hearty Yam and White Bean Hash.

Stuffed Naan! or Mom's Aloo Paratha

Planning a Lunch?.. then make this easy but delicious Cauliflower Steak with mushroom gravy.
Or make some meat-less burgers, also tried, tested and featured in a bunch of mags, from this Memorial Day Burger round up.
Happy Father's day to all Dads.

Grilled Sandwich with Buffalo Millet, Red Bell Pepper, Creamy Ranch. Vegan Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Richa) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:12:00 +0000

Easy Sandwich Alert!

This Sandwich has Millet cooked in Buffalo sauce(!!), which ca be served as is as a side. You can also use other grains like Quinoa or Amaranth or cracked wheat or barley or Lentils. Buffalo lentils. Yes, that needs to happen.
The sandwich is grilled up with more buffalo sauce(I mean really), some red bell pepper and a creamy thick Ranch sauce. Man this tasted good! Of course, use the Buffalo sauce to taste, it is hot:). Love tangy Heat? Make Buffalo Millet!

I added some Cilantro to the Sammie because if I could, I would add it to everything. You can sub chopped up greens.

The sammie can be easily converted to a Wrap. Warm the wrap, layer all the ingredients. Add some chopped greens. Wrap, cut , serve. Use gf bread or gf tortillas for a gluten-free version. Make the millet and ranch sauce and refrigerate for upto 2 days, and grill up the sammies when needed.

I gave in made a White Sandwich bread the other day. Mainly because there isnt a recipe on the blog for a regular White bread. The recipe will be up soon. Till then you can use any of the Sandwich Breads from here or Somer's Country White Bread.
I seem to prefer some extra grain or nuts in my breads. Makes the bread more sturdy and filling.

My parents are visiting us in July/August. So there might be a slight slack in blog posts. I might just do 'what we ate today posts' with tons of Indian food made by mom. Maybe convince Ma to make some cooking videos with her ;). Loads of veggie and lentil stuffed flat breads(Parathas) for breakfast, here we come!

And(too many ands) I will try to get Dad to eat different grains:). And hopefully meet my carnivore bro after 8 years! and feed him some veggies ;) He does not know what is going to hit him, definitely not any animal.

Need more insanely delicious, whole foods based, Soy-free Sandwiches and Burgers? See the collection here.

Steps:
Make the Millet with Buffalo sauce.

Top a slice with cilantro, then millet, then drizzle a bit more buffalo sauce to taste.

Top with sliced red bell peppers, and creamy ranch.

Top with another bread slice. Grill and serve hot.

Grilled Sandwich with Buffalo Millet, Red Bell Pepper, Creamy Ranch.
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy. Can be made nut-free

Makes 2 Sandwiches
Ingredients:
Buffalo Millet:
1/2 cup uncooked millet
scant 1 cup water
1 Tablespoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons Sriracha
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon earth balance or oil
a generous pinch of salt and garlic powder

Buffalo Sauce:
2 Tablespoon hot sauce
1 Tablespoon Sriracha
1-2 Tablespoons melted earth balance butter/oil

Ranch Sauce:
1/4 cup Cashew cream or 1/4 cup ground cashew blended with 2-3 Tablespoons almond milk
1/2+ teaspoon ranch seasoning to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Sliced Red bell pepper or Sweet Peppers
Chopped Cilantro
Bread Slices

Method:
Buffalo Millet:
Wash the millet. Combine all the ingredients in a deep pan, and cook partially covered on low-medium heat until all liquid is absorbed. 15-20 minutes.

Mix the ingredients for the sauces and keep ready.

Sandwich:
Top a slice of bread with a handful of Cilantro(optional), then the pack the cooked millet on top.
Drizzle some Buffalo sauce.
Then top with sliced Red bell peppers.
Top with thick ranch sauce and another bread slice.
Grill, Slice and serve.

Variations:
Add chopped up greens of choice.
Use other grains or lentils instead of Millet.
Add a Tablespoon of nutritional yeast to the ranch for a cheesy ranch.
Use Coconut Cream for nut-free.

This Sammie is being shared at Allergy Free Wednesdays. Ricki's wellness weekend, Shine supper club

Baked Coconut Crusted French Toasts. Vegan Refined Oil-free Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Richa) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:28:00 +0000

Happy Monday people! Lets start the week with this easy but amazingly delicious Baked French Toasts. This is no ordinary French Toast. These are crusted with coconut and sugar. And served up warm with strawberries.

Make the batter, layer Coconut flakes on the bottom, layer french toasts, sprinkle liberally with more coconut flakes and some sugar and bake. The toasts bake up quickly and beautifully, are mildly sweet, chewy and coconutty, and are a must must make. Each ramekin serves 1. There is no added Oil and the french toast batter is gluten-free. Use gf bread for a gf version.
Serve these with Strawberries on top. The toast warms up the berries and the flavors work perfectly together. Perfect for Father's day Brunch!

I am planning to spend some time updating resources and links section. What are your favorite online Vegan forums or support groups?

More Sweet Breakfast options here.

The other day someone left me a bunch of hateful comments on a very old post on the blog. I have been blogging for years now and a few old posts are non-vegan. Whenever I find time, I make a vegan version and either put a link on the old post directing them to the new vegan post or delete the old post altogether. Even though they are non-vegan, they are good recipes that I created and would be delicious vegan-ized as well. I guess it is time to remove or convert all non-vegan recipes from the blog.

This incident reminded me of a post by Steffi about Vegan Community needing more Teachers and Sales people.

At some point or the other, every one of us has been yelled at on social media or on the blog, questioning our commitment. Like Hey you cant be Vegan, because you use chocolate(if you forgot to mention you used vegan chocolate), palm oil butter(because of the deforestation and Orangutan killing associated with Palm oil), Coconut products(because in some countries monkeys are enslaved to pick coconuts) and so on.
I have accepted the fact that I cannot be vegan enough for someone or the other. I can relate to the anger too, because I went through the anger phase for a few months as a new vegan as well. Getting angry at people giving up on their plant-based diets, at flexi-tarians, at proud vegetarians who dont see where dairy comes from and so on, but not necessarily calling them names. I would be angry alone and try to work my way out of it.

The only thing that is created from all that anger is negativity. As Steffi mentions on her post, what we forget about the core of Vegan-ism, is compassion. Being kind to each other, to human humans, especially those who are already on your side. Everything can be mentioned kindly. Passion is a great thing to have and we can use that passion to do more. There are shelters and rescues which always need volunteer help, There is activism, support activist groups in their events in the neighborhood, Vegan outreach like helping restaurants label already vegan options, giving them ideas on adding some other easy vegan versions of things, encouraging talks and discussion about our choices at social/school etc events. Holding fund raisers to help all the sanctuaries and rescue who work tirelessly on the front lines taking care of so many animals.

There is so so much more to do than bash someone, who already knows the meaning of the term Vegan, and is trying their best to embrace it in as many ways as possible.

On that note lets eat sweet.
Make this!

Steps:
Sprinkle Coconut flakes on the bottom

Mix the batter and add bread to it.

Layer the bread in the ramekin

Top with coconut flakes and sugar.

Bake and serve hot with Strawberries.

Baked Coconut Crusted French Toasts.
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy, refined Oil

Makes 2 4.5 inch shallow Ramekins
Ingredients:
French Toast Batter:
3/4 cup Coconut milk
2 Tablespoons Oat flour
2 Tablespoons raw Cashew flour (or Oat/spelt/sorghum flour)
1 Tablespoon flax meal
1 Tablespoon Coconut flakes
3 Tablespoons Maple syrup
a generous pinch of salt and cinnamon(or other spice of choice)

2-3 Slices of multigrain Bread or day old regular Bread chopped or torn into 1-2 inch pieces

1/4 cup Coconut flakes
1 Tablespoon ground Raw sugar

Method:
Mix everything under batter. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.
Add bread to it. mix well to coat.
Sprinkle coconut flakes at the bottom of the Ramekins. about 1 Tablespoon per ramekin.
Layer the bread in the ramekins. I used shallow ramekins, so made 1 layer of bread.
Top the bread with coconut flakes. about 1 Tablespoon.
Then sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons ground sugar on top. Or use maple syrup.
Bake at preheated 400 degrees F for 15-17 minutes until the top is golden.
Serve hot with strawberries and maple drizzle.

Tips:
To make Cashew and Oat flour, put raw cashews and equal amount oats into a blender and blend till evenly powdered. Use 1/4 cup(2+2 Tbsp) of that mixture.

Variations:
You can also use 1/4-1/3 cup pancake mix, 2 teaspoons flax meal, 3/4 cup non dairy milk to make the french toast batter for a nut-free version. Or use any of your favorite vegan french toast batter recipes.
Add sliced strawberries or blueberries between 2 layers of the bread, in a deeper ramekin and bake for a stuffed French Toast.
Drizzle melted chocolate on top instead of maple for a Samoa cookie effect.
Add other spices, vanilla extract or rum extract.

This chewy coconuty goodness is being shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, allergy Free Wednesdays, Rickis wellness weekend

BBQ Chickpea individual Pizza. Vegan Recipe. Easily Glutenfree

noreply@blogger.com (Richa) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:44:00 +0000

Say hello to Barbecue Chickpeas! on a thin crust individual pizza. If you have cooked chickpeas or other beans and some barbecue sauce ready, this meal comes together very easily.

Mix the chickpeas and sauce. Use tortillas or soft tacos or other flat breads, top with veggies, chickpeas, cheese, bake, eat!
I used uncooked frozen Chapatis. Chapatis/Rotis are whole wheat flat breads. Some days I make them from scratch( the dough, rolling and stove top cooking) and some other days I use the frozen rolled out dough that we get easily at the Indian stores here. Here is how you can make them at home. I use oil or vegan butter as a ghee substitute. Or Use any flat-bread of choice. No kneading and rolling the dough required:)

You can eat these as thin crust pizza(super thin crust;) or fold them up like a taco. Ready in 20 minutes. Or fold them and grill into a Quesadilla. Dont want to bake? Make a wrap.

If you make my barbecue sauce, it is gluten and soy-free. Use gf tortillas for gluten-free pizzas.
I usually cook chickpeas from scratch. Soak the dry chickpeas overnight and then pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. You can find local Chickpeas/garbanzo beans grown in the Pacific Northwest here.

More Pizzas here. or see the Recipe Index by category(which is too huge and I dont know what to do with it!).

When I was fostering dogs and getting more active in the rescue community, I happened upon vegans who would drop in a line every now and then so that the "animal lovers" would make the connection between dogs and the meat on their plate. Though a lot of the exhausted people there would get defensive, the seed would always get planted in someone's mind and a few of them did start to change their diet. Somewhere in there, I made that connection as well and realized I wasnt doing enough by fostering death row dogs, raising awareness about the pet over population problem etc.

Now a few years down the line, I am back feeling I am not doing enough. My family including hubbs and chewie eat a plant based diet, we try to use plant based and eco friendly options outside diet, try to make easy plant based meals for the blog, so that every time someone chooses to make something from the blog, it is a step towards less animals being slaughtered.

But when I look at the volunteers who work tirelessly in animal rescue or sanctuaries or activists working to spread the cause, it feels like there is more that I can do.
I am planning a fundraiser for some extremely hard working people soon, and also thinking up what more can I do without getting overwhelmed. Ideas? throw them my way.

In recent news, VSPCA's long hard battle has finally resulted in stopping of slaughter of male calves as sacrifice in their state in India.
"Weekly, around 50-70 calves are donated and it goes up to 100 to 300 during festive and auspicious occasions. This adds up to nearly 10,000 male calves annually. These calves become the property of the temple, which can either give them for adoption to interested people or auction them to the highest bidder, which they do every Saturday. We found that the contractors herd these calves into trucks and transport them to slaughter houses as there is a good demand for calf meat. Middlemen too are involved in this unholy business."

The calves now at the temple are crowded up in a small area without enough food and people had started stealing them for slaughter. VSPCA started working tirelessly to find a solution. They currently moved 100s of the weak baby calves to their sanctuary and are coming up with adoption programs to farmers and such. You can follow the updates, pictures at the VSPCA facebook page here or detailed history and article at VSPCA.org here, and make tax-deductible donations via Help Animals India here. Mention "for VSPA calves".
Please feel free to share the pictures from their facebook page.

Slice of the mini bbq chickpea Tortilla pizza.

Steps:

Place wraps/chapatis. Layer the veggies.

Top with Cooked chickpeas tossed in BBQ sauce and sweet peppers or pickled jalapenos.

Add cheese and bake for 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Serve hot.

Dont want the grains? Put them in a lettuce wrap. Or put the veggies and chickpeas tossed in sauce in a ramekin. Bake and eat.

Eat me!

Easy BBQ Chickpea individual Pizzas
Allergen Information: Free of dairy, egg, corn, nut, oil. Can be made gluten-free and soy-free.

Ingredients: for 2 7 inch pizzas
2 Chapatis/Tortillas/soft tacos
1 cup cooked/canned Chickpeas or any other beans/peas/lentils/legumes
2-3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce (home-made soy-free bbq sauce here)
Tomatoes Sliced
Red onions Sliced
Sweet mini peppers or red peppers sliced
Non dairy cheese of choice, or drizzle this cashew millet cheese sauce or this mozzarella shreds.
salt and pepper
parsley or cilantro

Method:
Place the tortillas/tacos/flat bread on baking sheet. I used frozen uncooked Chapatis. They get cooked while baking.
Top with sliced tomatoes and onions.
Toss the chickpeas or other beans with barbecue sauce to coat evenly.
Top the veggies with chickpeas. Drizzle more bbq sauce if needed.
Add other veggies of choice like sweet peppers or pickled jalapeno.
Add salt and pepper if you like.
Top with shredded cheese and then dried or fresh parsley or cilantro. I used dried parsley.
Bake at pre-heated 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes depending on the flat bread used.
Serve hot as is or sliced.

Variations:
Bake the chickpeas and veggies tossed in bbq sauce, in a ramekin for 12 minutes, then serve as is or top on greens with additional bbq sauce, or in lettuce wraps. No grain, no added oil, bbq chickpea veggie bowl.
Make larger wraps with the ingredients. Add greens or slaw. Cut and serve.

This easy weeknight meal is being shared at Rickis wellness weekend, Allergy Free Wednesdays.

The Plant plate here! How easy is it to fill the everyday meal plate:)

The plant plate is from JL fields and Ginny Messina's upcoming book Vegan For Her. Vegan for Her: The Woman’s Guide to Being Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet is a guide to meeting the unique needs of vegan women, with recipes and practical information for optimal health at every stage of a woman’s life.
Feel free to share the infographic. I cant wait to see what they bring to the vegan table:)