Fast Food NOT Fat Food 2011 (March 1 - April 15)

It's back, bigger and better - here is your chance to present a healthier version of your favorite fast foods - Take a fast food, in fact your most favorite and make a healthy version of it – If it’s a non-veg item, kindly make a veggie, healthy version of it -

Event Rules

• Only vegetarian entries
• A healthy version does NOT mean a less appealing version
• Up to 3 entries – all blogged during this period
• Recipe can be your new innovative concoction or
• It could be a recipe that you have been meaning to try out or have bookmarked One sentence at least to explain how your recipe is healthier is a MUST
• Sign-up via google connect not required but appreciated J
• Use the Logo on your blog and link back to my blog
• Please use Linky tool below to submit entry

– Please forward to your other blogger friends who may be interested in participating – Non bloggers welcome ….
Looking forward to a FAT Volume of participation :-))))))

Vegan Carrot Cake

This is the last segment of my guest event with Jan Silverman. Here is her take on Vegan dessert making and some home truths about sugars, and the use of eggs and dairy.

In Her Own Words -
I’ve begun making more vegan desserts since I joined an organization who sponsors the feral cat clinics and philosophy is vegan.  We have an only vegan lunch on clinic days.  I’ve discovered the dry, tasteless vegan desserts have been replaced with moist flavourful ones as good or better than the non-vegan versions.  The most important benefit of vegan food that I have noticed, other than being animal and eco friendly, is it’s definitely healthier in many ways. Avoiding high fat animal products lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, less obesity and consequently less heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and other illnesses (as all you healthy vegetarians know). 

Eggs and dairy are used to maintain moisture in desserts. Substituting white vinegar for eggs amazingly gives the same moistness in cakes.  Also combined with baking soda and baking powder, cakes rise the same as if eggs were used.  ( I read the resourceful women who lived during World War 2 discovered this substitution when eggs were rationed).  My next project is experimenting with a sugar replacement again for health reasons.  Sugar is definitely what makes the dessert a dessert, but I want to try using Agave nectar which has a lower glycemic and is truly vegan.  Some granulated sugars (white and brown) are filtered using bone char (animal bone based charcoal).  The moisture levels have to be adjusted in some recipes when using Agave so it will be a fun challenge for some of my favorite desserts.  

Jan in my Kitchen

This is the third and final recipe we have in this segment. This is a very straight forward and easy recipe and I urge you all to give it a try. 

Prep Time:  10 min

Cook Time:  45 min

Ingredients

1 1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Cups Flour

1/2 Tsp Salt

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

2 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

3/4  Cup Canola Oil

3 Cups Shredded Carrots

1 Cup Crushed Pineapple, Undrained

1 Cup Coconut

1 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Do not use a hand mixer.  Use a ladle or spoon.

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Mix orange juice and oil into the dry ingredients.

Fold in carrots, nuts, pineapple, and coconut.

Grease 9 X 12 pan with canola oil or cooking spray.

Pour batter into cake pan.

Bake 45 min or until knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.

 Cool completely.

TOPPING:

1/4 Cup Tofutti Cream Cheese

1/4 Cup Vegan Margarine

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

Beat cream cheese and margarine together with hand mixer.

Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.

Frost cooled cake.

Refrigerate.

Penne Meets Paneer in a Mustard Greens Gravy

Indian-Chinese, Indian Italian... Indian food blends so nicely with so many cuisines -- No bias whatsoever when I say them ...Uh ..hmmm
This is an Indian-Italian fusion dish that turned out really marvelous - I usually take very calculated risks and I find that more often than not, it actually pays off and I have just added a new dish to my repertoire. Both Indian and Italian foods can never go out of style and as I've said often enough all our foods are there to be fused and we are there to revel in the delicious union :)
The usual lunch time phone call from my hubby goes something like this after the initial catching up of each other's mornings  - "So.... what's for dinner?" And I say...:I don't know, what do you guys want?" and then more recently, it's been "I thought you may want to make something interesting for your blog" .... lol!
We had bought mustard greens at Sam's because I was immediately thinking "Sarson ka Saag - I must tell you the smell as you wash those greens are nasty! So be warned! But once they are cooked they assume the nice greens smells.

Ingredients
5 cups of chopped mustard greens
2 cups of Penne pasta
3 Roma tomatoes
3 whole dry red chilies
3 green chilies
1/4 grated coconut
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup of cubed paneer
1 tsp dried crushed basil
Salt
About 1 tbsp Olive oil (by which i always mean extra virgin)

Preparation
Wash the greens thoroughly with salad spinner - (Please do this even if the package says prewashed)
Cook in Fresh Veggie mode in Microwave
In the meantime, in a frying pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add the coriander, cumin, and coconut and lightly fry and blend into a liquidy paste
In the same pan, now add 1 tsp of oil and add the tomatoes, the chilies and the cooked greens and let them cook some more.
Add salt and remove
Cool a bit and grind in blender
Add 1/2 tsp of oil to the pan and heat.
Add the paneer and cook until very lightly browned
Add the basil and the blended coconut and blended tomatoes and greens
You have yourself a wonderful saag or gravy
Somewhere in between, bring a 5 qt pot half-filled with water to boil. Add some crushed basil, 1/2 tsp of oil and salt.
Add the penne and cook it until al dente
Drain water and put the penne back in the pan
Add required amount of gravy to it and enjoy hot
I cut up some incredibly crunchy and sweet long red peppers as a side or salad :) Serve hot and enjoy the love :)


Mix together

On your Plate :)

Staple South Indian Sensation a.k.a. Sambar :)

This dish is a legend - something that defines South India usually paired up with its die-hard soul mate idli! We are indeed down to basics with this recipe - Something I make all the time with, with idli and dosais, with rice, or mixed rice. And I realized I had not blogged it.  This is rather like living in Agra and not visiting the Taj unless someone who comes to visit you reminds you of its greatness! To my Indian blogger friends who are well aware of this dish and probably make it often too, this is just another take on the dish. To all my non- south Indian friends, this is an easy preparation using split peas (yellow in color, not to be mistaken with Bengal gram which too is like split peas, except more yellow and fatter) and tomatoes with a specific spice powder.


Ingredients
1 cup of split peas cooked soft and pulpy
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of water
Diced Veggies (I used bell pepper and onions - two common choices)
1.5 tbsp of Sambar powder (available at all Indian stores)
1 tbsp of coconut powder
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds for sauteeing
Curry leaves
1 red dry chili (optional)
1 tsp of oil
1 tsp of butter/ghee

Preparation
Cook the dal and keep
In a blender grind the diced tomatoes with the coconut and sambar powders
In a pot, heat the oil, toss the diced veggies and let them cook for a minute or two
Add the tomato blend and allow it to come to a boil
Mash the dal and add to the pot
In a saute pan, splutter the mustard in the ghee and add the curry leaves and chili
Pour on the sambar and stir in lightly
Serve HOT with Idlis or rice


Seen here with his soul mate (raagi idlis) and almost constant companion, Coconut Chutney (to be blogged)

Sending this to Creative Sanyukta's event CWF-WF/WV-Tomato
http://creativesanyukta.blogspot.com/2011/02/guest-hosting-cooking-with-whole.html

Friends, Please take a moment to vote for me

I have entered my Gnocchi recipe for a contest and I request you to take a moment to vote for me - Thank you all SO much! Please follow the link below.


http://www.saveur.com/ RecipeContest/contestant.jsp? ID=42455897
 
Love,
Priya

Cluster Awards - Passing on the Kindness Shown

Have you had your kindness show, pass it on, for it is not thine alone, pass it on...
I would ideally like to share these awards with ALL my blogger friends, but I have been asked to share with 15 – not working I could not leave out a few of these bloggers so I have stretched the 15 quite far to make fifteeeeen whom I’ve gotten to know better recently. I am counting on you stopping by to see this post - Please pardon me if I am late in contacting you personally - but they are here for whenever you get to it

I like each of their blogs for different reasons and I invite you, if you haven’t already had a chance to be there, to visit their wonderful blogs.

These are awards I have recently recd. from Mina Joshi of Authentic Veggie Recipes, and Kaveri Venkatesh  Palakkad Cooking - Thank you both you rock! I am also to share 7 things about myself -hmm lemme think!

7+ things about me (as you can tell, i don’t let a number restrict me ;)

1. I am constantly aware that life is not certainty but death is a done deal
2. Because of this I like to constantly express my love for my family, friends and life in general. Also importantly, I want to eat healthy and exercise so that I can live to be a grand old lady still doing my yoga!
3. I have deep faith in God and am thankful for everything that he has given me, especially my family, husband and children – so try to do random acts of kindness
4. I believe in complete honesty but only to the extent that it does not hurt someone’s feelings – I think a positive comment to anyone goes a LONG way
5. I teach a yoga class every Thursday for my neighborhood ladies. I have taught dance for over 10 years, but I am trying to ease up on this! I am very proud and honored by the last two...read on!
6. I was a political correspondent in India and have met and been hugged by Mother Teresa – I also got to do some work for her in New Delhi where I lived at that time (seems like another life )
7. I have also met Sir Edmund Hilary (our first man on the Everest) and interviewed him. In fact, I’ve gone to Mt. Cook in New Zealand where Sir Hilary practiced climbing before he took on Mt. Everest

I request the ladies I’ve recently gotten to know through their lovely blogs to please share this award and I want to thank Mina Joshi for giving me a chance to make myself known a little better to my blogger friends. Love you all for making this a wonderful experience.

Ambreen  of simply Sweet n Savory
 Sweet Artichoke

Shafa of Schmetterlingwords

Harika of Harika's Kitchen

Deepa of Hamree Rasoi

Reshmi Mahesh of Easy Cook

Smitha of Smitha's spicy flavors

Divya of Divya's recipes

Panch Pakwan

Roxan of Kitchen Meditation

Tahemeem of Not So Gourmet

Cook from Doha

Suja Suganathan of Kitchen Corner 

Reva of Kaarasaaram 

Archana of Mad Scientist Kitchen

Anshu of Rajasthani Cuisine

Kaveri Venkatesh of  Palakkad Cooking 

Swathi of  Zesty South Indian Kitchen 

Kothiyavunu 

Rani of Rangarania Achariyulu

Paake Shaale 

Savitha Ganesan of Savitha's Kitchen

Pari of Cooking Good Food
Love to Cook
Palatable
Menaga of Sashiga
Sowmya Vineeth

Trendy Thayir Vadai (Dahi Vadas)

Cut out the Fat and with it the guilt ... and what have you? - A perfect treat :) Not the deep fried babies we have loved all this while -- change is in the air....
This was one of the best recipes I have bookmarked - seriously! This is like the healthiest alternative to fried vadais. When I first googled this recipe, I found several recipes including Kamala's Corner which popped up as bread curd vadais. My curiosity piqued, I decided to click and read on -- this was a truly lovely recipe, so easy to make - no dal, no soaking, grinding or best part, frying!!! can't beat that..Ans it took perhaps 15 minutes of prep time!
This version is made with bread. I had to make a few alterations to Kamala's recipe which you may want to consider too.



Here goes:
Ingredients

12 slices of your favorite bread ( I used Nature's Own 100 whole what bread)
1 wide bowl of salt water (add 1 tsp of salt to 12 ounces of water approx)
Plain Low Fat yogurt - 1 container or 1 litre tub
1 carrot grated using smaller blades
3-4 green chilies slit
1/4 cup of crushed cilantro for garnish
Cashews and (optional)
I also sprinkled some Hot Chips think potato chips for fun.

Preparation
Remove all corners of bread slices
Soak one at a time into the bowl of salt water - press lightly and remove and squeeze out the water
Flatten in your palm and make an indent in the middle (just like urad vadais)
Set aside on a platter
Take the yogurt tub and pour in a larger container and whisk it into a creamy consistency, adding 1tsp of salt
Take a serving dish and add a layer of yogurt to the bottom
Now lay the squeezed bread vadais on the layer of yogurt
Add the rest of the yogurt to cover the Vadais fully
Garnish with the toppings -green chilies, carrtos, cashews and cilantro
Cover with foil or plate and set in fridge for about 30 minutes
Serve cold
In Pictures

Cut the corners of the slices

Make the balls


Arrange on a bed of yogurt

Cover with yogurt and toppings

In your bowl and ready to feast

Linking this to Versatile Vegetarian's Event Guest hosting Kids Delight Restaurant Recreations and Srivalli's Spicing Your Life Kids Delight