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
A savory cake made of semolina & a variety of vegetables (in other words, cousin of Kancheepuram idly :P)
Ingredients:
1 cup Semolina
1 cup yogurt
2 minced green chillies
1/2 cup minced red cabbage (or white)
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon moong dal
pepper
salt
asafetida
water
cooking oil
Method:
To a bowl, add 1 cup Semolina, 1 cup yogurt, 2 minced green chillies, 1/2 cup minced red cabbage (or white), 1/4 cup minced chives, 1/4 cup minced parsley, 1 teaspoon urad dal, 1 teaspoon moong dal & desired amount of water to get it to batter consistency; mix well
add salt, pepper & asafetida for taste & continue mixing
apply oil to the idly plates & pour the batter into each idly dip
steam cook for like 20 minutes or until you find the idlies thoroughly cooked & there are no signs of raw batter still
serve hot
Notes:
Feel free to use other veggies if you don't have the ones specified here; eg. tomato, corn, cilantro, green peppers, carrot
Sago based Papadum blended with spices & spring onions made in traditional oven.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sago
1/2 cup rice flour
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon cummin seeds
1/2 teaspoon seasame seeds
1/4 cup minced spring onions
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
asafetida
salt
water
cooking oil
Method:
soak sago in water for atleast 2 hours
preheat oven to 250 degrees
pressure cook or set sago to boil
separately, in a cup, add 2 green chillies, 1/2 teaspoon cummin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon seasame seeds, salt, a teaspoon water and nicely mix/mash them
add this mixture to the rice flour, add some more water to get it to a batter consistency
once the sago has been cooked, pour the rice flour mixture into the pan containing sago
add 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, asafetida, add some more water if required & cook further until the water gets evaporated & you get a thick gummy solution
in an oven sheet, pour 1 spoon of the gummy solution & flatten it nicely into an oval shape, the better you flatten, the better it gets baked; make several such papadums depending upon the size of your oven sheet
keep it inside the oven for like 30 minutes; remove after papadums have been baked well (please read notes below)
heat up oil in a pan, once heated, deep fry these papadums
allow it to get to room temperature before serving
Notes:
the time you need to bake largely depends on the size of papadums & its thickness, so my numbers above may not work for you
oven heats up food using conduction, so the borders first get heated up & it slowly gets to its center; so make sure the center of the papadums have been baked well before removing it
Pongal made with Thai rice, coconut milk, urad dal, shredded coconut & pineapple. Happy Thai Pongal to you all :)!
Ingredients:
1 cup Thai Jasmine rice
1/2 cup urad dal
3 1-inch jaggery cubes (more, the sweeter it is)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons ghee
few pineapple slices, finely chopped
few raisins for garnishing
water
Method:
add 1 cup jasmine rice, 1/2 cup urad dal, 1 1/2 cups of milk & 1 1/2 cups water into a vessel and set it to boil (or pressure cook)
separately, heat up another vessel, add 3 cups of water & add the 3 1-inch jaggery cubes into it & keep stirring until the jaggeries have dissolved well & the water color has changed
add the cooked rice/urad dal mixture into the jaggery water & mix well
if you don't have coconut milk, grind 1/2 cup shredded coconut in a mixer along with 1/2 cup water, filter/squeeze it through a cloth to extract the coconut milk
add few pineapple chops, 1/2 cup coconut milk & a teaspoon of shredded coconut & mix well
once cooked, separately heat up 2 teaspoons ghee on a pan & add few raisins & pour it into the above mixture
decorate with pineapples & shredded coconut before serving
Semolina & apple based sweet topped with chocolate sauce.
Kesari
Ingredients:
1 cup semolina (rava)
1 cup sugar
1 apple
1 cup milk
few cashews
few raisins
2 teaspoons ghee
water
Method:
heat up a pan, add 1 cup semolina & a teaspoon ghee; set aside after roasting it a little
cut the apple into small pieces, set aside 4-5 pieces
crush the remaining in a mixer adding 1/4 cup water; filter the crushed apple through a cloth, squeeze it & extract the juice; you should have atleast 1 cup of apple juice now
separately, heat up 1 cup milk in a pan
then, add sugar & stir well until it gets dissolved
then add the roasted semolina, 1 cup apple juice & stir well; add desired amount of water to aid cooking
separately, saute few cashews & raisins in 2 teaspoons ghee & pour into the above once the liquids get evaporated
Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon milk
a pinch of baking powder
Method:
add 1 teaspoon ghee into a pan
once heated, add 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1/4 teaspoon milk & a pinch of baking powder and stir well
Integration
pour the chocolate sauce on top of the kesari & serve hot/cold
Notes:
please note that semolina absorbs water very quickly & if you don't catch up to it while stirring, you might find hard lumps formed
pressure cook 1 potato (to an extend where you can easily mash them up)
peel the potato & mash it nicely
in a bowl, add the mashed potato, 1/4 cup corn flour, 2 pinches of turmeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon dal powder, 1/4 teaspoon of red chilly powder, salt & water
mix it well & form a dough out of this mixture
make small balls (yolk-sized) out of this dough
Integration:
place the yolk balls inside the white layer & close it with more white dough; typically you should be able to make 4-5 eggs with the above ingredients
steam cook the eggs for like 15 minutes
voila! you have delicious spicy dumplings! serve hot!
Corn based starter meal topped with shredded coconut dipped in a homemade tomato sauce
Ingredients:
1½ (rice) cup corn
1 tomato
1 green chilly
¼ or ½ an onion
few curry leaves
cilantro
¾ cup shredded coconut
lime essence
mustard
cooking oil
salt
water
Method:
pressure cook 1 cup of corn (just 1-2 whistles should do)
grind 1 tomato, 1 green chilly, few curry leaves, cilantro, ¼ or ½ an onion, a pinch of salt & 1 teaspoon of water in a mixie. You’ll get a pasty solution
add a teaspoon of cooking oil to a pan, add mustard.. after it starts bursting, add the 1 cup of cooked corn & the remaining ½ cup of uncooked corn & the above pasty solution
mix them well for like 5 minutes
add the shredded coconut & mix for another 2 minutes
Wild rice blended with jaggery, garnished with cashews & raisins
Ingredients:
1/4 cup wild rice
3 1-inch jaggery cubes
few cashewnuts, raisins
water
ghee
salt
Method:
pressure cook wild rice in the ratio 1:2.5. Add 1/2 teaspoon ghee & a pinch of salt.
heat up another bowl, set 1 cup of water to boil, add the 3 jaggery cubes, keep stirring until the water color turns darker
pour the cooked rice into the jaggery water & mix well
heat another pan, add 2 teaspoons of ghee; once heated, add cashews; once cashews turn goldish, remove from fire & add raisins; pour this into the above rice & mix well
serve hot/cold
Notes:
Remember, wild rice takes more time to get cooked than regular white rice
