My First Daring Bakers' Challenge April 2011

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge is being hosted by the lovely Evelyne. She chose a beautiful edible Bacon container served with Maple Mousse. She also gave lots of options for non bacon cups. Now veganising the challenge wasn't very difficult because, I love edible containers and possibly, over use them :).

I tried making vegan chocolate cups and then wanted to do something different. The Easter break, along with the Royal Easter Show, fruit picking and apple collecting unfortunately, left very little space for any creativity. I had packed Cake Balls for a picnic lunch to take to the circus on Easter Monday. The leftovers got rather squished on our way back not looking very appetising any more,  and I had my "Bingo!!" moment-  Cake Ball Cups with Maple Mousse and a glazed, candied Raspberry topping.

The Cake Ball Container,

1. Press 2 - 3 cake balls together and knead well with a little Nuttelex (or any other Non Dairy Spread) till all the cracks disappear.

2. Roll into a circle about 1 inch thickness.

3. Spread aluminium foil on the outer side of a dessert bowl. It helps to grease the foil too.

4. Pat the cake dough around the foil wrapped bowl. Cool for 3 - 4 hours in the refridgerator.

The Vegan Maple Mousse (Adapted from Evelyne's recipe) needs,

340 grams soft Silken Tofu, at room temperature

170 ml pure Maple Syrup

2 teaspoons Agar Powder

To make,

1. Using a food processor, blender or hand mixer, to blend the tofu until just smooth. (I used a blender.)

2. Sprinkle agar-agar on the maple syrup and let it rest for 10 minutes. Heat maple syrup on the stove to a boil and then let it simmer 5 minutes until the agar-agar has dissolved.


3. In the blender bowl, blend the tofu with the maple syrup until creamy.

4. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Remove from the fridge and divide among your edible containers.

Refrigerate to set before garnishing.

The Chocolate Cup with Maple Mousse filling with Cappucino mix dusted on the top.

Please headover to http://thedaringkitchen.com/ to check out more gorgeous edible containers and please, vote for me if you like my idea :))

Autumnal Cardamom Plum Jam

I have always wanted to make my own jams & relishes. A couple of weeks ago I got some plums at the fresh market, they seemed rather raw but I thought they would ripen up. So, I waited and waited and waited.... when they still did not ripen, I decide it was time to deal with them.

We need

2 cups Plums, chopped roughly.
1 1/4 cup Raw Sugar
4 Green Cardamom Pods, crushed lightly

To make

Set a thick bottomed pan with the plums in it on the hob.

As the plums look like they are softening and wilting, add the sugar in.

Mix well on a very slow heat.

When the mixture starts to bubble and thicken, mix in the crushed cardamom.  My kitchen smelt divine by now!!

After it dries up a little more (a few minutes) drop a bit on a cooled plate. Plums contain a fair bit of pectin and do not need a setting agent. If the drop of jam solidifies on the plate, turn the heat off rightaway.

I tend to fill sterilised jars with hot jam because as it cools down it gets tougher to pour it out. Let the jam cool completely in the bottle before capping the jar with a sterilised lid.

It tastes beautiful with bread, buns, fruit cake, everything!!

Daring Alternate Cooks Challenge April 2011.

I finally got into the Daring Bakers/ Cooks Club this month. The present challenge is to make a savoury edible container and fill it with something appropriate.

I looked high and low for exotic ideas and then finally made dinner, which was Red Kidney Bean Curry with Chapatis & Fresh Stuffed Banana Peppers from my backyard garden. Bingo!! I found my edible container & stuffing... Yay!!

What we need

10 Large Banana Pepper (I grow the green kind)
1/2 Cup Chick Pea Flour (Besan)
1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
1 teaspoon Cumin Powder
1/2 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder
1 teaspoon Salt, or to taste..
2 Boiled Potatoes, medium sized
2 Tablespoons Warm Water.
5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil.

To make,

Dry roast the flour till it turns a light golden brown. Mix in all the spices and keep aside.

Mash the boiled potatoes and then, add the dry mix in.

Knead till you get a soft non sticky dough.

Wash and wipe dry the banana peppers. Slit them from the tip to the stalk part witha  sharp knife (I used a pariung knife.) Get the seeds out!! I did not do it for the first few and regretted it when I had mass hiccuping at the table.

Stuff the potato mixture into the slit peppers.

Heat oil in a flat, shallow pan and slowly tip the stuffed banana peppers in. Cook on both sides gently. A few broke because I was rough :((

Serve hot!!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins

Do you know the muffin man???                
The muffin man... the muffin man...

No my girls haven't managed to drive me insane yet...

Its been a rainy morning begging for baking. The girls voted in favour of Apple Cinnamon Pancakes, Chocolate Chip Muffins & Hot Chocolate. The question that arises is..... how much chocolate is too much????

The Choco Chip Muffins need,

1 cup Unbleached Self Raising Flour

1/2 teaspoon Soda Bicarb

1/2 Cup Raw Sugar, powdered finely

140 ml Non Dairy Milk + 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar, mixed and set aside

2 Tablespoons Flora, softened (Any non dairy margarine is good)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

50 grams Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips

To make

Sieve the flour, sugar and soda bi- carb into a mixing bowl.

Heat the oven to 220 degrees C and line the muffin pan with paper liners.

Make a well in the center of the dry mix and slowly pour in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, dark chocolate chips and softened margarine.

Mix gently with a wooden spoon till the batter reaches a reasonably smooth, dropping consistency.

I use an ice cream scoop to drop measured spoonfuls of batter into the paper liners.

Bake for 20 - 22 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

These muffins need to be on the softer side for the gooey chocolate feel.

Eat warm,  when they taste the best!!

Carrot Peas Pulao

I am an absolute fan of One Pot Meals & Pressure Cookers. They simplify life and save so much time & trouble. The biggest advantage One Pot Meals have are......... more time to make dessert :))

I had some home grown carrots that got sent to the freezer whole, with skin, tops and all!! I looked for inspiration here and there, and finally struck on making dinner with it.

This is probably one of my quickest meals. We need

1 cup Carrots, finely chopped (I used the chopper on pulse setting for a minute)
2 cups Basmati Rice, washed, rinsed thrice and soaked
1 Large Brown Onion, chopped roughly
3/4 cup Green Peas
1 Green Chillie chopped finely
2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil.

To make

Heat the pressure cooker with oil in it and carefully add the onion.

After the raw smell goes off add the chopped chillie and saute` for a bit.

Add the carrots and stir well.

In the meanwhile, drain the Basmati rice carefully and add it in.

The important thing is not to stir with a heavy hand as that breaks the rice grains.

After stirring the rice in, cover with double the quantity of water. Add the salt and stir gently.

Set the lid on and cook for 5 minutes on full pressure. This differs for separate pressure cookers. I refer to the booklet that comes with the cooker for cooking times.

Cool thoroughly before opening the lid. Serve with microwaved Pappadams and fresh salad for a complete meal.

Serve hot!!

Vegan Hot Cross Buns

With Easter around the corner, everyone is out in full form with Hot Cross Buns, raisin ones, chocolate chip ones, iced ones... but no vegan ones :((
My daughter has been asking for them for a whole month by now, so I decided to take the plunge and got my mother's old, old, old bread baking book by Mary Norwak, out and it has this listed under Festive Recipes with loads of butter, whole milk, eggs ... sigh!!!

But the good bit was that it had a flour paste mixture to make the crosses on the top instead of the normal overly sweet icing.. The paste is piped on after the buns have risen for some time and then baked to a beautiful crusty finish.

Here's my version and to make it we need,

1 teaspoon dry Instant Yeast

100 ml Warm Water  + 100 ml Warm Rice Milk

1 Tablespoon heaped Raw Sugar.

Whisk well and keep in a warm place covered  for 2 hours till the mix doubles. Depending on what the temperature around you is, it might take lesser time. In the meanwhile get the rest ready,

350 grams of  Wholemeal Pastry Flour (mine has baking powder mixed in)

100 grams Vegan Margarine softened

65 grams Raw Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg powdered

3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon powdered

1/4 teaspoon Dry Ginger powdered

1/2 teaspoon Cloves, powdered

1 cup raisins, sultanas and mixed peel, chopped.

1 cup warm water, may not need all of it.

To Proceed -

After the yeast mix has doubled pour it into a large mixing bowl.

Add all the dry ingredients except the fruit on top of it.

If using a machine to mix with, use the dough hook attachment if not then knead with your hands.

After all the yeast mixture has been absorbed, mix in the softened margarine. Add warm water spoon by spoon and knead/ process continuously. Add some more water and do this till the dough looks soft.
I had a little lesser than 1/3 rd glass of water left, which I kept aside for the flour paste topping.

Add the raisins, sultanas & peel in at this stage.

Knead well till the dough is soft & sticky.

Cover with cling wrap and let the dough rest for some time while we make the flour paste.

The flour paste needs,

5 Tablespoons Plain White Flour

2 Tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon oil.

mix this thoroughly till it looks gluey. Pour into a piping bag with a round tip.

Heat the oven to 240 degrees C and line a flat cookie tray with non stick Baking paper.

At this stage, separate the risen dough into 12 portions and roll into round balls. Grease palms with a little oil if needed.

Set the balls on the lined tray leaving at least 1 inch space all around.

Pipe the flour-y, glue-y mixture in the shape of a cross onto the buns.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes on a fan forced setting.

While the buns are baking, mix up equal parts of jam & warm water.

As soon as the warm buns are out of the oven,  coat them with the jam mixture.

Eat warm with jam or cool and eat with plant margarine.

Enjoy!

Gulab Jamun Veganised

Gulab Jamun is one of my husband's favorite sweets and possibly one of the most famous Indian desserts. The delectable little dumplings that taste like donuts dunked into cardamom flavoured sugar syrup are definitely a special occasion dessert. I hardly ever make it at home because,

a) it's completely dairy based
B) it's deep fried so does not help all my weight loss efforts : ((

I finally decided to make a Veganised version to see how it would turn out. All that I did actually was using dairy substitutes in place of milk solids.

Here's my test recipe. Feel free to tweak the flavours to your liking. Saffron & Rose Syrup are also an excellent combination.

We need

1 cup Instant Soy Milk powder (I used Bonvit)

4 tablespoons Self Raising Flour

2 Tablespoons vegetable shortening softened (Little extra to grease your palms with)

40 - 50 ml soy milk (you might not need it all)

For the sugar syrup

1 1/2 cups of Raw Sugar (or, your choice of Vegan Sugar)

1 3/4 cups of Water

4-5 Cardamom Pods, pounded coarsely.

2 teaspoons Rose Water.

To make -

Mix the soy milk powder, self raising flour and vegetable shortening together, till it resembles bread crumbs.

Slowly add the soy milk, kneading all the time. I ended up using about 35 ml, it depends on the brand of soy milk powder I expect.

Once the dough gets sticky and really soft, place aside in a covered, greased bowl for 1/2 hour.

Make the sugar syrup by combining the raw sugar, water and Cardamom pods and bringing the syrup to a boil and then, reduce the heat and simmer for another 2 minutes, removing any scum that rises to the top with a slotted spoon.

After 1/2 hour, make little balls out of the dough. If they are far too large they stay uncooked at the center and, if too small they burn easily.

Also heat oil in a deep vessel to fry the little dumplings.

Drop one of the balls in to the hot oil and see if it sizzles and slowly rises to the top, before adding the rest.

Depending on the size of the frying pan the little dumplings may need to be fried in batches.

After they are all fried, cool them a while. In the meantime add 1 - 2 Tablespoons of water to the sugar syrup and bring to a boil again.

Add the rose syrup after the heat has been turned off.
Carefully drop the fried dumplings into the hot syrup and soak for at least 2 - 3 hours before garnishing with nuts (I used sliced Almond pieces) or candied cherries on the top.

Yummy!!

Coconut Lentil Curry

The Food Frenzy Challenge for this month is using Coconut as a main ingredient in food. I was thrilled to bits when I read that. As a child growing up on the west coast of India, coconuts were plentiful and used for making, starters, mains, stews, desserts and even, eaten fresh as is with big chunks of jaggery (molasses).

This simple and comforting Coconut Lentil Curry is quick and easy to make.

All it needs


1 cup of Split Yellow Lentils, soaked for 4-6 hours

2 fresh Green Chillies (increase or decrease according to personal preference)

1 can of light Coconut Cream

3 teaspoons Coriander Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of Cumin Powder

1 teaspoon Turmeric

2 teaspoons Tamarind Paste ( Concentrate)

Salt to taste

To make

Heat a scant Tablespoon of oil in a deep thick bottomed pan and coat it all over.

Add the coriander and cumin powder and roast till aromatic. At this stage add the turmeric and chopped green chillies.

When it smells absolutely mouthwatering, add the soaked lentils.

Coat the lentils with the spices before adding the can of coconut milk and tamarind concentrate.

Add salt and mix well.

Bring to a boil and reduce the heat and cover the pan.

Cook for 20- 25 minutes stirring in between.

Garnish with fresh grated coconut, if desired. Serve hot with fluffy Basmati rice or Wholemeal Puris(Fried, Puffed Flatbread) and Sweet Potato Fritters.

Comfort food at its best!

Vegan Gluten free Baked Chakli (Spritzed Savoury Crisps)

These spiky savoury rounds have always been a favourite. My mother used to make them in great quantities and store them in this really large air tight stainless steel box to nibble on.

To make them we need,

1/3 cup Chickpea Flour

1/3 cup Rice Flour

1/3 cup Rice Semolina

4 Tablespoons Vegetable Margarine

1/4 to 1/2 cup of Warm Water

1 teaspoon Asafoetida

1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds (skip in case of seed/ nut allergies)

1/2 teaspoon Carom Seeds

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

What To Do

Sift the dry ingredients to mix them and add the seeds and spices.

Add the margarine slowly till the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Gradually add spoonfuls of warm water kneading constantly to get a soft dough.

Leave the dough to rest a while covered while the oven is heated to 200 degrees C on fan forced setting. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Spritz out whorls of the dough straight onto the greaseproof paper.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes at 160 degrees C.

Cool completely before storing in an air tight box.

Enjoy!!