Going vegetarian is one of the easiest ways to reduce your environmental impact, more so when you preach "Go Green!". Here's presenting to you an array of vegetarian dishes, mostly experimental that I either innovated or whose recipe I "corrupted" :P! Happy cooking!
Sweet Potato based rings with rice flour & Similac (Infant formula). Kids love to wear edible rings!
Ingredients:
1/2 sweet potato (tomato sized qty is required)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup Similac infant formula (or any other brand)
salt
Method:
pressure cook 1/2 sweet potato
once done, peel its skin off, & mash it well
To a bowl, add the mashed sweet potato, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 cup Similac infant formula (or any other brand), salt for taste & get it to dough consistency (you might not require any additional water given that the pressure cooked sweet potato will already have sufficient amount)
make tiny rings with the dough (like shown in the above pic) & steam cook them for like 15-20 minutes
Chickpeas based croquettes served with cucumber & lettuce.
Ingredients:
1 cup chickpeas
2 chopped garlics
1 chopped onion
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup corn flour
1 teaspoon cummin seeds
1/2 cup corn (optional)
1/2 cup cilantro
cooking oil
salt
pepper
water
Method:
soak 1 cup chickpeas to a bowl of water, set aside for atleast 2 hours (READ NOTES below)
then, add the chickpeas to a mixer/blender & grind partially (just about minced)
separately, add 2 chopped garlics, 1 chopped onion, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 teaspoon cummin seeds, 1/2 cup corn (optional), 1/2 cup cilantro to a mixer/blender & grind partially
add results of previous 2 steps to a bowl, add 1/2 cup corn flour, pepper & salt for taste and mix well
make small balls out of this & deep fry them in cooking oil
for salad, serve with chopped tomatoes, cucumber & lettuce
as an alternate to tahini sauce, I served with ranch
Notes:
the soaked chickpeas tends to absorb water & get enlarged. So the more you soak it, the better
although I didn't try it, as an alternate, to avoid any wait time, you may want to directly pressure cook the chickpeas & possibly get a similar result
in low heat, boil 4 cups milk in a pan & keep stirring at frequent intervals
add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional), 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1.5 cups white sugar & stir well (for atleast 45 mins or until you see the milk getting thicker. READ NOTES below)
after getting condensed milk, add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cardamon powder, few cashews, few raisins & continue to simmer for 10 more mins
transfer to another vessel & allow it to cool down
serve hot/cold
Notes:
just my 2 cents: Wider the pan, quicker the milk gets condensed (like 2" tall, around 4" radius)
remember that you might get just a cup of condensed milk when you attempt to condense 4 cups of milk
Hot meets cold! Edible chillies topped with honey lemon syrup served along with homemade tomato sauce.
Ingredients:
6-8 jalapeños (or other hot peppers/chillies)
2 chopped tomatoes
2-3 chopped green chillies
ranch sauce
sugar
honey
pepper
salt
water
Method:
heat up a pan, pour 1 cup water & add 2 chopped tomatoes
once the water gets evaporated & you get a squashy consistency, add it along with 2-3 chopped green chillies (depending upon your hotness endurance), pepper & salt for taste and 1 teaspoon ranch sauce to a mixer/blender & grind well
in a bowl, add 3 teaspoons honey, a teaspoon sugar & a teaspoon water & mix well and set aside
cut the jalapeños into half as shown in the above picture & remove all the seeds (or atleast most of them)
boil them in hot water for a short duration
remove from heat & pour the honey syrup on top of these jalapeños
serve alongside the tomato sauce
Notes:
Caution: this recipe is quite on the hotter side
to decrease the hotness:
use lesser green chillies
remove maximum seeds from jalapeños
boil in hot water for a longer duration (to an extent you don't lose its shape)
Here's presenting an oats, brown sugar version of this traditional Indian sweet.
Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cardamon powder
3/4 cup ghee
few cashewnuts
ice cream essence (optional)
Method:
saute cashews, set aside
partially roast the oats in a pan/bowl adding like 1/2 cup ghee, stir nicely to mix ghee evenly throughout
remove the oats, add it to a mixer/blender & grind partially (to an extent where oats are not completely powdered)
add it back to the pan/bowl & heat it in low
add 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cardamon powder, a spoon of ice cream essence, the sauted cashewnuts, remaining ghee & stir well
Remove from heat, make round balls (please read notes below) & serve
Notes:
If you are unable to get it ball shaped, don't give up :).. as the temperature goes down, the mixture will help better in shaping, but don't wait until it gets too cold, then it might become to hard
After making the balls, set aside for a few minutes while it gets harder & then erve
Pineapple M.. N.. O.. Pudding. Close but not there yet!
Ingredients:
1-inch pineapple slice
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon caramel sauce
1 teaspoon milkmaid
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup milk
few raisins
sugar
few red cherries
whipped cream
Method:
chop the pineapple slice into smaller pieces
add the chopped pineapples, 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon caramel sauce, 1 teaspoon milkmaid, 1/2 teaspoon honey, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1/2 cup milk, few raisins, sugar for taste & few red cherries into a mixer/blender & grind them thoroughly
A blend of black beans, red peppadew peppers, millet, parsley & chives.
Ingredients:
1 cup black beans
6-8 red peppadew peppers (I got them from whole foods)
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup minced parsley
1/2 cup minced chives
2-3 minced garlics
cooking oil
black pepper powder
salt
water
few cilantro
Method:
pressure cook 1/2 cup millet & 1 cup black beans separately
once cooked, in a pan, pour 1/2 cup minced parsley, 1/2 cup minced chives, 2-3 minced garlics, 4-6 red peppadew peppers & saute in 2-3 teaspoons of cooking oil
add black pepper powder & salt for taste
add the cooked black beans & millet & mix nicely
garnish with cilantro & leftover red peppadew peppers
Gujju, here I come... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhokla
Ingredients:
1 cup gram flour
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
green chilly paste
sugar
salt
turmeric powder
water
mustard seeds
cooking oil
curry leaves
cilantro
seasame seeds
Method:
to a bowl, add 1 cup gram flour, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice & desired amount of water to get it to batter consistency & set it aside for an hour
then add turmeric powder, sugar, salt & green chilly paste for taste and mix thoroughly
steam cook this for like 20 minutes or until the batter has hardened up well enough with no existence of raw batter
separately, heat up a pan, add 2 teaspoons cooking oil, add mustard seeds & wait until it pops
then add curry leaves, cilantro, seasame seeds & pour it on top of the cooked batter
cut it into square/diamond shaped pieces (just the way you'd cut a birthday cake) before serving
