Wholesome vegan porridge recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients

• ¼ cup broken wheat
• ¼ cup oats
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• ¼ cup coconut water
• 3 cup water
• Black pepper powder [according to your taste]
• Salt [for taste]
• ¼ tsp ginger-garlic paste
• Asafoetida—a pinch
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp rajma / red kidney beans
• 2 cloves
• ¼ cinnamon stick

Preparation Method

1. Soak the rajma overnight in water. Next day, wash it and pressure cook it with enough water for 10 whistles. Once pressure settles down, mash the rajma beans and keep aside.
2. Grind broken wheat, oats, cloves and cinnamon to coarse powder. Transfer this powder to a bowl. Add coconut water and coconut milk to it and mix well.
3. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add mashed rajma beans and ginger-garlic paste. Stir well. Add pepper powder, asafoetida, garam masala and stir everything well.
4. Add coconut milk soaked ground powder. Stir frequently to avoid any lumps. Now, add water and salt to taste.
5. Cook it on low flame for 15 minutes till you get thick porridge-like consistency. Serve hot or cold.

This recipe was first published in the December 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

The post A wholesome vegan porridge to get you through the day appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown poha / beaten rice / rice flakes [can substitute with white poha]
• ¾ cup sugar / jaggery/ grated palm sugar
• 2 green cardamoms
• ½ cup desiccated coconut [optional]
• ¼ cup ghee or milk or coconut oil for binding
• Cashew nuts and raisins as desired

Preparation method

1. Dry roast poha till crunchy. Add coconut and fry till it begins to smell good. Transfer this to a wide plate to cool.
2. Once cool, add the mixture to a blender along with the cardamom and grind into a fine powder, add jaggery and blend well again. Transfer this mixture onto a plate.
3. Heat ghee in a pan, add cashews and fry them till they turn golden, then add the raisins. Switch off the stove.
4. Add the fried cashews and raisins to the mixture. Knead everything well with the palm sugar and add a small amount of the ghee/milk/coconut oil and roll into balls.
5. Dry roast nuts and use them to garnish your dish. Store these in an airtight container.

This was first published in the February 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Here I am sharing a few ways to make your own plant-based vegan mylk.

Coconut mylk (raw)

This mylk has been used traditionally in Indian and Thai cooking.  It is the easiest to make.

Ingredients

• 1 scrapped coconut
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 date, deseeded if required for sweetening

Procedure

1. Blend the scrapped coconut with the hot water in a blender. Hot water helps remove more mylk.
2. Squeeze the mylk out. This is the first extract. It is thicker and cannot be heated directly. This can be used to make coconut butter or cream.
3. Blend the residue with warm water.
4. Once again squeeze the mylk out. You can do this once or twice to get the thinner, second and third extract. This can be heated directly without risking curdling.
5. Mix both mylk [thick and thin] together or use it separately

Best used for

• Curries, hot and cold beverages, baking, desserts.
• It does not heat well over direct heat.  So a double cooker is advisable.  Also to avoid splitting add a pinch of corn flour, and mix in well, and then heat/boil.
• Can ferment with yogurt starter to make delicious curd.

Soya  mylk

This is the most commonly available mylk.  You can buy it off the shelf but if you want to make it, here’s the recipe

Ingredients

• 100 g soy bean, soaked over night
• Water
• Couple of dates
• A pinch of rock salt

Procedure

1. Blend the soy beans and other ingredients to a smooth paste with enough water to create a thick milk consistency.
2. Strain with a muslin cloth or very fine sieve.
3. Boil over low flame while stirring constantly.

Best used for

• Coffee, hot chocolate, cold coffee, tea, baking, breakfast etc.
• Can be made into curd, but makes for a bland curd.
• There are soy milk maker machines available with select dealers which take care of the whole process.  But this is worth it only if you drink soy mylk regularly.

Almond mylk (raw)

This mylk is slowly gaining popularity and is easily available over the counter.

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds, soaked for 5 hours
• Water to blend

Procedure

1. Blend to a smooth consistency.  Add water as required.  Strain and use.
2. This mylk can also be boiled, or had just as it is!

Best used for

Tea coffee, hot and cold beverages, cooking baking etc.

Sesame mylk (raw)

This is for those well into plant based since some time. This mylk has 10 times more calcium than 1 big cup of cows milk.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sesame seeds—preferably white-soaked for about 3 hours
• Water as needed
• 2 deseeded dates

Procedure

Blend with water and strain.

Best used for

Curries, cold beverages

Rice mylk

This is a tedious process and not my favorite.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice soaked for four hours—brown is better
• 3 cups of water
• 1 date

Procedure

1. Grind the soaked rice with date into smooth consistency.
2. Strain it if you want smooth milk for beverages.  Do not strain if you are using for cooking purposes or making curd.
3. Put in a double boiler and boil slowly with constant stirring.  Keep adding more water if required.  Be careful that lumps are not formed.

Best used for

Curds, baking, thickening curries, maybe in coffees.

Peanut mylk

This is a popular plant-based alternative especially for making curds

Ingredients

• 1 cup soaked peanuts
• Water

Procedure

1. Blend the peanuts with enough water to make milk consistency.  Sieve if smooth milk is required.
2. Boil over low flame with constant stirring.
3. If making curd, add a little bit of rice milk at the end of boiling and let simmer for a minute.  Cool and add starter.  Keep aside for 8 hours, lightly covered

Best used for

Curds, mylkshakes, coffee and tea, baking.

Cashew mylk (raw)

Simplest to make and tastes very similar to cow’s milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• Water

Procedure

1. Soak for two hours
2. Blend into milk consistency.

Best used for

Tea, coffee, cooking, baking, curds, etc

Sunflower mylk (raw)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• Water

Procedure

1. Soak seeds overnight.
2. Blend into milk consistency.

Best used for

Over cereals, cold drinks, baking.

The post Eight vegan alternatives to milk appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

These muffins are eggless and do not have any butter. To make them healthier, you can replace all-purpose flour with wholewheat flour as well. They can be eaten as dessert, snack or even a quick breakfast.

Use very ripe papayas and bananas in this recipe for best results. Mash the fruits well with a fork or puree in a blender before using in the recipe.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup papaya [very ripe, mashed or pureed]
• ¾ cup banana [very ripe, mashed or pureed]
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup coconut flakes; a little extra for topping

Preparation method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375⁰F or 190⁰C. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners. Set aside.
2. Take the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Whisk well to combine. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the mashed papaya, banana, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk well to combine.
4. Tip in the dry ingredients and mix till just combined. Gently fold in ⅓ cup of coconut flakes.
5. Scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pan. Top each portion with some coconut flakes. Gently tap the pan on the counter-top to level the batter and get rid of any air bubbles.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan for five minutes. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or upto 3 – 4 days in the fridge.

This recipe was first published in the February 2016 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Calendula beauty bar

Makes 8 bars

Ingredients

• 1 heaped cup calendula petals
• ¾ cup grated carrot
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• ½ cup almond meal
• 1 cup almonds
• ¼ cup goji berries
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla paste/essence
• ½ cup coconut butter
• ¼ cup rice malt syrup
• 1 tsp white miso
• 1 tbsp orange zest

Preparation method

1. Place the coconut butter and rice malt syrup in a jug, and rest it over a bath of hot water to soften or liquefy.
2. Roughly blitz the whole almonds in the food processor. Make sure that there are chunks of it.
3. Add all other dry ingredients, except the flower petals and goji berries, and pulse till combined.
4. Pour the coconut butter and rice malt syrup into the mixture and add the vanilla paste. Pulse again till combined.
5. Add the flower petals and goji berries at the end for one final quick pulse.
   Transfer the mixture to an 8 inch square cake tin, lined with baking paper; flatten the surface. Press slivered almonds and some orange zest over the top to decorate.
6. Freeze to set, cut into 8 large beauty bars to serve.

This was first published in the March 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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