Vegetarianism & Beyond

Sacred Vegetarian Recipes - Prasadam

World Vegetarian Day 1st October each year

World Vegetarian Awareness Month - October

http://www.hknet.org.nz/VegeWVD.html

see what's already happened last year http://www.hknet.org.nz/VegeWVD2004.html

see what we hear is to be happening this year

See our previous World Vegetarian Day issue of the newsletter for a wide range of Vegetarian issues
2005 World Vegetarian Day newsletter
Shaligram Tirtha Pradarshini newsletter October 2005 - Theme Prasadam

Vege update:
Social scientists and law enforcement officials have identified animal abuse as a symptom of emotional illness and a precursor to violent crimes against human beings. To allow individuals guilty of perpetrating such cruel acts to go unpunished or not sufficiently punished would be to sanction these horrific crimes and would permit them to go on to possibly commit violent crimes against humans.

The Animal Spirit Newsletter - Issue #2 -  4/21/03-4/27/03

This list is about vegetarian kitchen crafts. This list is created for postings regarding back to basics vegetarian kitchen crafts. When we say vegetarian we mean no meat, fish or eggs. When we say back to basics, we mean tips on making yeast, bread, gluten, tofu, sprouts and so forth. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vkcrafts   Post a Message: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vkcrafts/post

Matar Paratha

What do you do when you got to finish off a packet of frozen peas lying in the freezer before leaving for a vacation? Matar(Peas) Paratha for RCI Punjabi Cuisine :) Its "the" best thing that can happen with peas! :) My display of love for Parathas continues ;) Similar to other parathas, this paratha can be served with curds, raitas or pickles! I served matar paratha with boondi raita.

What you need:

Ingredients:
For the cover:
2 cup Wheat flour (Atta)
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Oil
Water

For the filling:
1 cup Peas, boiled and drained
3-4 Green Chillies
1 inch Ginger
1 tsp Corriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Salt
Oil

How to proceed:

For the cover:
1) Mix all ingredients and knead into soft dough
2) Keep aside for 15-20 mins

For the filling:
1) Mince green chillies and ginger and keep aside
2) Mince peas
3) Heat 2-3 tbsp oil and add ginger chilli paste to it
4) Add minced peas and remaining ingredients
5) Cook for 12-15 mins until the mixture seems dry and then set aside to cool for 1-2 hrs

Putting it all together:
1) Divide the dough and filling in equal parts.
2) Roll each ball of dough to diameter of approx 4 inches
3) Put the stuffing/filling in the middle and get the ends of dough together and close so that the filling does not come out
4) Roll the parathas to size 7-8 inch in diameter using wheat flour
5) Roast on hot girdle on both sides till brown using butter/ghee/oil
6) Serve hot wit raitas, yoghurt or pickles!

METHI NA THEPLA

INTRODUCTION
Methi Na Thepla is a regular Gujarati Breakfast as well as Lunch dinner accompanyment. This can be a great thing the next day after it is made.(Best with Curds on next day).

INGREDIENTS
Whole wheat flour............... .2 cups
Besan................................. 3 tbsp
Fenugreek leaves .................3/4cup
Green chiles..........................2 to 3 nos
Cilantro/Kothmir......(Coriander leaf).... 2 Tsp
Ginger 1/2" piece (Grated)
Curds (Yogurt)........................1/4 cup
Turmeric powder.................... 1/2 spoon
Chilli Powder ..........................1 spoon
Dhana-Jeera powder................3/4 spoon
Asafoetida .............................1/2 spoon
Jaggery (Strictly optional) just wee bit.
Salt to taste
Oil for mixing .........................2 tbsps
Oil for tawa frying needed quantity

METHOD OF PREPARATION
Pluck leaves of fenugreek, cilanto after washing and patting dry. chop the leaves finely and set aside.
To make nice Fenugreek Parathas, you need to make the dough in the following manner.

Take required amount of (two cups) Whole wheat flour.
Add two tbsps of cooking oil and half a spoon of salt or more as per taste. Mix the oil , salt besan and the whole wheat flour thoroughly. Now you can mix fenugreek leaves, Chilli powder, turmeric powder,Asafoetida, Dhana Jeera powder .
Add curds and some water and slowly start adding and kneading the dough. When the dough is getting kneaded, remember to keep it a bit firmer than Phulka dough. Thepla dough must have lesser water content, keep it aside for at least one hour after smearing the whole kneaded dough with a spoonful of oil to avoid drying up. . Make balls of only lemon size of dough to roll Chappathis. (sometimes on keeping for an hour, you may have to still soften the dough with a little bit of water as wheat flour sometimes absorbs water more than usual).

You must not add too much water or else the theplas will not be tawa fried properly and you will not be able to roll dry theplas on the rolling stone. Take a little dry flour and set it aside, With a rolling pin, roll the thepla dough on the stone. Once the flattened dough is thin and starts sticking to roller pin, turn the parathas in dry flour on both the sides and start rolling in round shape. You may have to turn the parathas in dry flour twice or thrice in order to get 4 mm thickness without sticking.

Now take the rolled flat dough and first place it on Tava. As soon as slight bulges start forming, apply little oil all over with a spoon and after some time turn it on the other side. And repeat the process. A fine aroma of Fenugreek parathas will start pervading.
Enjoy this paratha as it is or with sweet pickle or with tea or coffee. This is a fine dish for child bearing women and also for feeding mothers.
 

FENUGREEK POTATOES
http://www.brijabasispirit.com/2007/02/25/fenugreek-potatoes/
February 25, 2007

(Taken from the Bahulaban Deity Cookbook compiled in the 1970’s)
INGREDIENTS:
6 MED. POTATOES, CUT INTO 1/2? CUBES AND HALF BOILED
1/4 CUP BUTTER
10-12 FENUGREEK SEEDS
1/2 TSP, CAYENNE
1 TSP, PEPPER
1 TSP. SALT

MELT BUTTER IN PAN AND COOK FENUGREEK SEEDS.

ADD CAYENNE, PEPPER, SALT, AND POTATOES, COOK ON MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL POTATOES ARE DONE

Brinjal Rice

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice
4 medium Brinjals (eggplants)
3 tbs Tamarind paste
2 tsp Urad dal
1 tsp Coriander seeds
4 Red chillies
1/4 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
A Pinch of Turmeric powder
A pinch of Asafoetida
1 hundful Coriander
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tbs Ghee
Salt to taste

Wash rice and cook in rice cooker. Spread rice on the bottom of a broad pan. Cut brinjals into thin long pieces. Put them in cold water. Heat a frying pan and roast urad dal, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chilis, and asofoetida together for 2-3 minutes on medium flame then remove from the heat. Grind together all the roasted ingredients to a fine powder. Heat ghee in a wok and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and a pinch of asafetida. Add the brinjal pieces and fry. Now add the powdered ingredients, turmeric powder, salt and tamarind. Cook for five minutes. Mix the brinjal curry with rice and stir well. Heat the rice mix in a wok before serving, garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves.

http://www.harekrsna.com/practice/prasadam/recipes/rice2.htm

FAFDA (Kathiawadi Lamba Ganthia)

Gujarati and Ganthia are two things that are inseparable.
IMHO Ganthias , like most of the Gujarati savouries are domain of Kandois (Farsan Makers) from Kachh.But Fafdas or Lamba Ganthia fall under Kathiawaris.Every kathiawari is a sucker for hot Fafdas and Jelabis in the mornings (That and evenings are two times when a Kathiawari will enjoy his Ganthias).
I am posting the recipe which is simple

INGREDIENTS
2 cups besan (extra fine flour)
1 Heaped table spoon Urad daal flour (Optional)
1/4 tsp ajwain (Remove grit and stones)
1 spoon Black pepper coarsely powdered
1/4 tsp haldi or 2 pinches of Yellow food colour
1/2 tsp Cooking soda
1 tbsp oil
salt 1 tsp or to taste (Start with 3/4 spoon)
1/4 tsp Asafoetida (Hing) to sprinkle.
oil to deep-fry

METHOD OF PREPARATION

Quality of Besan is very important. Besan should be very fine in particle size.
Mix the besan,Urad daal flour, soda, ajwain, Turmeric powder/food colour,
1 tbsp oil and salt together. Add little by little water and knead into a soft dough.
Soft here means when you press it, it should ply well but it should be not soft
Like Fulka dough. Harder than Paratha dough.Rub little oil on kneaded dough.

CONVENTIONAL METHOD
Take a portion of the dough and place it on a smooth wooden board
press the base of your palmon the dough and drag the dough in a straight line, holding the dough at the starting point with the other hand. This will form a strip.
Using a thin bladed knife, lift the end of Ganthia strip and slowly unstuck the long strip
and put it in hot oil.

Fry these strips over medium heat till you see blisters on Ganthia.

MY METHOD
If you are not able to use the conventional method, Make a 1.5 cm Dia long dough
like a thick string. Place it in between two greased Polythene sheets.
Using a rolling pin, roll the pin lengthwise on cylindrical dough. You will get
2 to 3 mm thickness flat strip.Carefully remove the Ganthia Strips and deep fry in oil.

Once you have about ten long fafdas, sprinkle hing on them and serve with tea or "ganthia no masalo" made from Raw papaya and besan ,salt and chili powder, which is shallow fried in oil.
Generally this sambharo has green chile pieces .It can also have mango pieces or oil fried Tawa Mirchi with salt.

Vaangi Baath

Ingredients:
Rice - 3/4 cup
Eggplant (Brinjal) - 1 medium
Dry Red chilly - 4
Cashews - 2
Coriander Seeds - 1/2 tbs
Urad Dhal - 1/2 tbs
Channa Dhal - 1/2 tbs
Asofoetida - a pinch
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil - 3 tbs

Cook the rice in 1-1/2 cups of water. Make sure that the cooked grains are separate. Let rice cool on a large plate. Cut the eggplant into small pieces. Heat up 1 tbs oil and fry the dhals, chilly, dhaniya (coriander) and asafetida. Dry grind it along with the salt. Heat up the remaining oil and fry the mustard seeds. Add the cut brinjal and a pinch of salt and fry it until it is half-cooked. Add the prepared powder and mix well. Cover and simmer till the vegetable is cooked completely. Fry the cashews in some oil or ghee and add to the rice along with the vegetable and mix thoroughly.

http://www.harekrsna.com/practice/prasadam/recipes/rice2.htm

Palappam

Ingredients:
2 cups rice flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix two cups of rice flour with baking soda. Add 3/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir the mix thoroughly. Warm up the vessel called 'Palappam Chatti'. Pour 5 tablespoons of this mix into the Chatti and rotate the Palappam Chatti by hand so that the mix spreads out evenly and in a circular fashion. Cover it with the lid and let it cook till the edges of the Appam turn slightly brown in colour.

http://www.harekrsna.com/practice/prasadam/recipes/breads4.htm

Strawberry Stuffed Puris Recipe
http://www.brijabasispirit.com/2006/12/04/strawberry-stuffed-puris-recipe/
December 4, 2006

Recipe by Mother Dharmakala

First make puri dough consisting of one-and-a-half cups of flour and a little more than an eight-cup of butter. Work the butter in nicely and add a little warm water. Knead well and let the dough sit for an hour.

After you’ve made the dough, put up eight cups of milk on the stove with two-thirds of a cup of sugar. Cook this down until thick. If you like you can add a little coconut while it’s cooking.

When the milk gets thick, remove it from the stove and let cool. Mash some fresh strawberries with sugar and add this to the cooled condensed milk. For variety you can add any kind of fruit or nuts or saffron, or you can just leave it plain. But if you do use fruit, be sure to wait until the condensed milk has cooled because most fruits will curdle the hot milksweet. Bananas, however, may be added while the milksweet is still hot. In fact, if the milksweet is slightly curdled a mashed banana will smooth out the texture.

Now roll out eight puris and fry them in ghee. Spread the milksweet in the middle of the cooked puri and gently roll up the sides until they touch.

For the final touch sprinkle powdered sugar over them or pour on a glaze con­sisting of mashed strawberries and powdered sugar. This is a delicacy that Radha Vrndavana Candra enjoy every feast day.

GOR-PAPDI (Sukhadi)

In olden days, this simple sweet was the first choice of people who were going on a journey.
This sweet was so popular that Kandoi (Sweet makers) have a surname known as Sukhadia.
This Jaggery based desi candy is very easy to make and very nourishing. Does not get spoilt for a month in normal condition.

Ingredients
1 cup Whole Wheat flour(coarser than roti flour)
3/4 cup Ghee (More if you like it up to 1 cup)
3/4 cup Jaggery (You can take it to 1 cup also)
10 Almonds.

METHOD OF PREPARATION
Take a ladleful of ghee in a Kadai and roast coarse wheat flour till it becomes fawnish brown on a low medium flame. When it starts becoming brown, remove from fire and set aside. The remaining heat will brown it to desired colour by the time it reaches room temperature.

Take the remaining ghee in a pan and add Gur (Jaggery ) and heat on a low medium heat till the jaggery melts. Keep on stirring till a smooth melt is reached.
Add roasted wheat flour and keep mixing and turning at even heat for another ten minutes or so.
When you see ghee seperating and starting to leave on sides, it is time to remove from fire and set it.

Empty the content in a pre-grease plate (Thali) and gently level it with flat bottomed katora or small plate of size which you can enclose in your palm.

Garnish with sprinkling of Almonds which are sliced thin. Cut into square/diamond shaped pieces when the Gor-Papdi in the plate is still warm but not soft.
When it reaches room temperature, remove the pieces and store in an air tight container.

VARIATIONS
There are some variations in Gor-Papdi. You can add Jaiphal,Cardamom, Gundar (Edible gum which is fried in ghee), Dried ginger (Sunth). Some people sprinkle khas-khas also.

Adding 1/8th cup of roasted and coarsely powdered Fenugreek in Gor-Papdi will turn it into Methi Pak.

This is good for lacteting mothers and for all in winters.

CHURMA-NA-LADOO (Talya Churma Na Ladoo)

INTRODUCTION
Gujaratis in General and Gujarati Brahmins in particular are among the greatest lovers of CHURMA-NA-LADOOS . I am yet to see similar love of Ladoos (Modakams) elsewhere.
The real attraction of Churma-na-ladoo does not lie in its sweet taste alone but it lies in the amount of Ghee that goes in. Brahmins of Gujarat were great ghee lovers. No occassion , may it be a marriage or 12th day ceremony after the departed soul, is complete without Ladoos dripping with Ghee. So also Ganesh Chaturthy or Sankast Chaturthy.

Alas...The trend is changing now.
Even today, Halavadiya Brahmins of Saurashtra are keeping up the tradition. Their Ladoos weigh around 200 gms each and I know people who can eat 12 nos of such ladoos.
I am bringing to you the traditional CHURMA-NA-LADOO of Saurashtra .

INGREDIENTS
Whole wheat flour 350 gms
Sugar(Powder) 250 gms
Ghee 250 gms
Poppy seeds 25 gms
Ghee for frying 2 cups
Water/Milk for dough A little

SPICES
Nutmeg powder 1 tsp. Or Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

METHOD OF PREPARATION
Take whole wheat flour in a wide mouth vessel and add just a little milk or water and make very tough dough.(A fistful of semolina is added by many in kofta dough) Pressing in your fist, make very hard Koftas .Please ensure that the koftas do not break when dropped from 1 ft height.

Take Ghee in a Kadai and fry the Koftas at a low -medium flame till the outer surface becomes biscuit brown . Set aside to cool.
Powder sugar, Nutmeg/Cardamom and set aside.
When the fried koftas are reasonably cold, coarsly powder them in a blender/Mixi large bowl at slow speed. The particle size of the broken Urundais should be like rice Rava for Idly. To ensure uniform size, you can use sieve .
Add sugar powder and spices first and mix thoroughly. Heat 250 gms of Ghee till it becomes hot but not too hot. Slowly pour Ghee on ladoo mix and using hands, mix thoroughly. The ghee should be hot but not so hot as to burn or scald your skin.
Pre grease a large plate and using two cupped palms, prepare ladoos of about 100 gms each handful of ladoo mix. You must press the ladoos properly so that you feel ghee coming out from inbetween your fingers while compressing the ladoos.
Prepare in a shape of half Orange. Once all the ladoos are arranged, smear Poppy seeds on top of all the Ladoos individually.
Let the ladoos set for about two to three hours. They will become set and firm.
Enjoy !!!
These ladoos keep good for at least TEN TO FIFTEEN days .
Please post the feed back it is very important for everyone.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM TO CHURMA-NA-LADOO recipe
1) The size of the Koftas should be like an elongated Gulab Jamun .Enough to come in fist.

2) You may reduce amount of sugar safely upto 3/4th of Wheat flour weight.
 

DISCLAIMER: (it's Kali yuga, there has to be a disclaimer on most everything eh)
I do not claim that the recipes are mine. If they are, I will tell you. I have gathered many recipes over the years and I have adapted more than a few to suit my personal taste and requirements. Please feel free to pass them on to friends. They are for the Lord's pleasure and sharing with His devotees.  JTCd  =>:-))

The book "Living a Good Life" normally selling at $21.95 is now going at the $14.95 price, .http://vegsoc.wellington.net.nz/livingGd.htm

The Animal Spirit Newsletter - Issue #2 -  4/21/03-4/27/03

"The beef industry has contributed to more deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of 'real food for real people', you'd better live real close to a good hospital."

- Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Comittee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, D.C.