Green Smoothies - My daily dose!

I love to drink at least one green smoothy every day. Here is what I made today for myself.

I had one frozen banana, few pieces of frozen papaya and five leaves of Chinese cabbage. You can see all these in the picture here. At the bottom - banana pieces, then papaya, and finally leaves chopped. I made the smoothy out of this. It tastes so good, particularly in the summer time when it is so hot outside. Very easy to make, takes just few minutes, looks great, tastes divine and is very healthy food! The proportion of fruit to green leaves is 60:40 for best results. Keep combination simple. Take just one type of green leaves and one or two fruits. Everyone loves this, particularly children just freak out on this.Enjoy.

Written by Rupa Shah

Oat Biryani

Oats Biryani:
By Saroj Choudhury
Ingredients:
Organic Cracked Oats
6 Cloves Garlic
1 Spring Onion
2 Deseeded Large Tomatoes
1 Small Cavliflower's Florets
3 Carrots Chopped Med
100 gm beans chopped med
1/2 bunch of corriander leaves finely chopped
Salt, Turmeric Powder
Method:
Soak Oat for 2 hrs.
Cook in pressure cooker with 1/2 ltr water.
In cold pressed or olive oil saute all above mentioned veggies.
Add salt, turmeric powder.
Add semi cooked cracked oat.
Cook for 20 mintutes on low flame.

RAW SPROUT SALAD

RAW SPROUT SALAD
By Diana Mahimwala
Mix together raw moong sprouts, chopped capsicum, chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber, chopped coriander leaves, raw mango chopped, (or lime juice) and add either sesame seed powder or flax seed powder or raw grated coconut for flavouring.

Mango-Coconut Salad Dressing/Chutney:

Mango-Coconut Salad Dressing/Chutney:
(Dressing shown in the white bowl next to the salad bowl.)
By Nayana Parekh
1 - Ripe Mango - Skinned and Cubed
1/2 - Raw Green Mango (Small) - Skinned and Shredded
1/2 cup - Fresh chopped Coriander Leaves (Dhania Leaves)
2 Tbs - Jalapeño Peppers with vinegar (Or Substitute with green chili and lemon juice)
1/2 cup - Fresh shredded Coconut
1/2 cup - Coconut Milk/Cream
Sea Salt - As per taste

Mix first all 5 ingredients and blend it thoroughly till smooth. Add appropriate quantity coconut milk and stir well to achieve desired consistency for salad dressing or chutney. And add sea salt to taste.

Coconut - Beet - Carrot Sweet:

Coconut - Beet - Carrot Sweet:
By Nayana Parekh

1 cup - Finely minced fresh Coconut
1 cup - Finely minced fresh Beet
1 cup - Finely minced fresh Carrots
1 1/2 - Broun Sugar (Evaporated Cane Juice)
1/4 cup - Golden Raisin
1/4 tsp - Cardamom Powder
1 Tbs - Slivered Almonds and Pistachio for garnishing

Heat the pan and add finely minced Coconut and stir medium heat for 5 minutes. Add finely minced Beet and finely minced Carrots and mixed well by stirring continuously for 5 minutes or till cooked. Add raisin and brown sugar (Or any other sweetener) and cooked thoroughly. After sugar dissolves add cardamom powder and mixed well. Take pan away from heat and spread in a pan to let it cool. Cut in to small square pieces. Garnish with Slivered Almonds and Pistachio before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Corn Bhel

Corn Bhel: Recipe by Diana Mahimwala
Raw vegan salad

Mix together yellow corn, chopped capsicum, chopped tomatoes, chopped coriander, with a dash of lime juice and salt & sprinkle some roasted & powdered flax seeds on it and enjoy its delicious taste.
You could also add soy tofu pieces if desired.

Potluck Lunch 19th April, 2009

One more potluck lunch with very tasty food. The sharing session was very inspiring to new comers to give vegan lifestyle a try. Recipes of the food items will be posted soon! Enjoy watching the video.

Baked Vegetables

Baked Vegetables with cashew paste

contributed by Saroj Choudhury

2 steamed mashed potatoes with pinch of salt & pepper.

40 cashews soaked for 6 hours, then ground to paste.

Broccoli chopped & sauted in cold pressed or olive oil

Zucchini chopped & sauted in cold pressed or olive oil

Carrot chopped & sauted in cold pressed or olive oil

Beans chopped & sauted in cold pressed or olive oil

4 Baked deseeded tomatoes pureed with 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, jaggery and few basil leaves.

White sauce to prepare with cashew paste, soya milk and a pinch of oat flour,

Potato mixed with 2 tea spoon cashew paste & water,salt, pepper in a mixture to make a cream.

In a transparent bowl, spread one layer of mashed potatoes.

Vegetables mixed with white sauce as second layer.

Third layer will of of tomoto puree.

Fourth layer will be of cashew potato cream.

Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes.

garnish with tomato & capsicum.

Potato & Sweet Potato Vegetables

Slow cooked potatoes and sweet potatoes:
Contributed by Nandita Shah
Cut the potatoes and sweet potatoes without peeling into small cubes about 1 cm square or a little more. Put a tiny bit of olive oil in a thick bottomed pan and put the potatoes and sweet potatoes to cook. Cover and put on a slow flame. Open and stir occasionally. When the vegetables are almost done, add salt and rosemarine (dry or fresh) and stir once again. Allow it to cook for a few more minutes and serve. Drizzle with olive oil just before serving if desired.

Nachani Sweet

Everyone was very surprised to see a very tasty sweet made from Nachani. Atul Sukhthankar brought this. He made this at home. Thanks for sharing the recipe here for all of us.

Here is the recipe for the "Nachani Sweet".

Ingredients:
250 gms nachani (whole)
250 gms jaggery
half fresh coconut
half a cup of dry fruits, such as walnuts, cashew and almonds, cut into small bits.
2-3 cardamom
pinch of salt (optional)

Method:
Soak nachani in water for 6-7 hrs
Grind the soaked nachani in mixer.
Squeeze the nachani in a sieve after grinding
(Repeat grinding and squeezing the nachani 6-7 times, each time adding a little water to the nachani before grinding in the mixer. Allow the collected milk of nachani to settle down for an hour and a half for the milk and the water contents to separate.)
Drain the contents of water ( which is the transparent layer on the top)
Grind the coconut and cardamom in the mixer and squeeze, sieve the milk

Preparation:
Now add the sieved cardamom-flavoured coconut milk, jaggery, dry fruits and salt to the nachani milk and stir in a kadhai for all the ingredients to mix thoroughly. Also keep a plate or vessel ready in which you wish to pour the mixture. Oil this plate or vessel with some compressed oil etc, so that the ingredients do not stick once poured into it.
Keep the mixture on the stove, keep stirring till the mixture thickens
Pour the hot, thickened mixture in the oiled plate or vessel.
Quickly pat it in shape with a katori or plate oiled from outside.
Allow the mixture to cool in room temperature before stashing it in the fridge.
After cooling in fridge for an hour and half, cut the sweet in the shapes of your choice.
Eat it...and enjoy that blissful feeling!!

(N.B. Nachani is very cooling and, as such, ideal for consumption during summers. Nachani also has a high nutri-value...as it has a high percentages of iron and calcium.)