Vegetable Kung Pao

Desi and I had our friend, Roshani, over for dinner the other night. Roshani's a fan of Indo-Chinese cuisine, so picking out what I would cook for her was a breeze. And it was also perfect because as you know this is Chinese month here at Holy Cow! when we celebrate all food Chinese

Among the dishes I made were Vegetable Kung Pao which you are bound to find on any Indo-Chinese restaurant menu. While Kung Pao is a dish originally from China's Schizuan province, Indian cooks have for years now adapted it to suit local tastes

I love cooking Chinese because it gives me a chance to add a plethora of colorful, healthful vegetable to almost any recipe. Also, the strong, vibrant flavors of all those sauces and vinegars and oils would, I think, make it difficult even for a meat-eater to miss the meat.

One tip for Chinese cooking: try using vegetable stock in soups and any saucy dishes because the stock adds a richer dimension and flavor to the final result

Sugar Cookies Invade My Cookie Jar!

I was thrilled to get a review copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar because I've been a long-time fan of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. In fact, it was Moskowitz's and Romero's fool-proof recipes that helped me convince Desi-- who is a bit of a cupcake maniac and not a vegan-- that cruelty-free cupcakes are better than their egg-and-dairy counterparts in more ways than one.

With Cookies, Moskowitz and Romero seem all set once again to make not just the vegan die-hards among us but also the omnivorous skeptics sit up and take notice. With 100 cookie recipes, there's something here to appeal to every cookie lover, from exotic Irish Creme Kisses, Tahini Lime Cookies and Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles (with an unexpected cayenne pepper kick) to your comforting old Chocolate Chip Cookies and Deluxe Cocoa Brownies.

I tried the sugar cookies because not only do I love their utter simplicity, but they are, of course, a staple for the holidays which are going to be here in no time at all. I prefer eating sugar cookies by themselves, without all the bells, whistles and sprinkles that they typically get prettied up with, but I did sandwich some of my favorite jelly into some of the cookies and then dusted them with powdered sugar for a simple but completely decadent treat.

Brown Rice Dosas

Most South Indian cooks have a pot full of dosa batter sitting in their refrigerators which they can pull out at any time to make a quick and nutritious breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner. Dosas cook pretty quickly on the skillet so in no time at all one can have a pile of hot, steaming crepes ready to eat.

And making a dosa batter itself is not difficult, although it does require some soaking time to let the rice and lentils soften so once they are ground up into the batter they can cook quickly on the skillet. I like making quick dosas such as my moong dosa or coriander adai because they require even less soaking time than a regular dosa. But when I get the craving for a traditional dosa, I have a foolproof batter that's ready in about 4 hours. Not bad.

This time, I wanted to make my foolproof batter healthier by using brown rice instead of white, which I usually use. I have used brown rice in dosa batters before but I find it usually requires more soaking time. While wondering this past weekend, late in the afternoon, how I could get my dosa batter ready for dinner, I had a brainwave. Parboiled rice.

Now before some of you seasoned cooks out there scream, hey, that's what Indian cooks usually use for dosa, hear me out. I am not talking about the parboiled rice you can buy off the shelf. Instead, I thought I'd parboil my brown rice for a few minutes and then soak it with the lentils, reducing the total soaking time. Get it?

Eggplant and Mushroom Vindaloo

When the flower children went east looking for spiritual enlightenment, it is not surprising that many ended up in Goa, a lush paradise along India's scenic west coast.

Not surprising because not only is Goa indescribably gorgeous, but because it also is the home of an inclusive, diverse, happy people steeped in the intoxicating culture of "susegado" -- taking it easy.

The locals joke that there are three things Goans do best: khavap, pivap, nidap. Or eat, drink, and sleep. The drinking, of course, refers to Feni, a popular homestyle liquor that runs thicker than blood in many veins here and that is brewed from the quirky, upside-down cashew fruit that grows abundantly in Goa's emerald valleys.

My stepmother is a Goan, and as a girl I spent many summers in this tiny state attending family weddings, events, or just visiting with a big, extended family of cousins and aunts and uncles. My father lives there now, and each time I return to India I look forward to spending some time rediscovering this land that, despite the inevitable scars of progress and overwhelming tourism, holds on to its seductive innocence.
Goa played host to Portuguese colonists from the 1500s all the way until 1961 and modern-day Goa is a mix of this past alien culture and the demands of its present in a globalized India. Old, faded but magnificent Portuguese-era homes with wide verandahs and intricate iron grillwork in the windows sit on the narrow streets that were once lazy pedestrian pathways and are now clogged with noisy cars spitting out gray exhaust. The beaches, once strewn with Goans and hippies who assimilated effortlessly with the locals, are now consumed by expensive resorts accessed by a privileged few.

Apple Cake With Caramel-Pecan Glaze

Channel-surfing for a cooking show this morning, I caught Christopher Kimball, the pompous and intensely annoying host of America's Test Kitchen, deriding vegetarian food and a tofu dessert he ate somewhere.

"It is terrible," he and another cook went in unison, talking about chocolate mousse made with tofu.

Now maybe the particular mousse these people ate was terrible and warranted that criticism. But is that good enough reason to tar as terrible any dessert made with tofu-- or for that matter made without dairy or eggs? No way!

Cooks like Kimball don't want to admit to the possibility that dairy-free and egg-free desserts can be delicious for the simple reason that doing that would render their own animal-product-filled desserts redundant. After all, as any intelligent person would have to agree, if one can make a great-tasting recipe without using ingredients that hurt animals, it would be a no-brainer to go with it, wouldn't it?

The problem is, for those among us who look at celebrity cooks like these for guidance, their words become the gospel. For as long as people have been baking cakes and cookies, no one -- until fairly recently -- thought of questioning the tradition of using eggs and dairy. In fact, I remember when I first started baking all I heard was the importance of butter and cream and eggs in turning out a good baked product or dessert.

Burrito Bowl

One of my favorite meals to order on the go is a burrito bowl-- you know, where they pile on the rice, beans, guacamole and salsa and all other goodies into a single container and you can dig in without any fuss. But as much as I love eating stuff I don't have to cook myself, I love eating the stuff I make at home more because -- for one-- I know exactly what's going into it, and besides, I can make it healthier. And yes, even a vegan burrito bowl bought at a restaurant, however healthy, can be healthier.

The great thing about a burrito bowl is, there's no one way to do it. You can add in all your favorites and leave out anything that doesn't appeal to you. I usually order mine with rice, beans, guacamole and some lettuce and it's just perfect.

For my homemade burrito bowl, I made yellow rice using brown rice instead of white-- a great way to add healthy fiber without compromising taste. I then smothered it with some creamy refried black beans spiced with smoky chipotle chilis in adobo sauce. Because in Mexico they often stir cheese into the refried beans at the end, I substituted with a vegan powerhouse that makes a great cheese AND salt substitute-- miso. You can leave it out but it adds great flavor.

Grilled Naan

Here's a quick post today about an easy and quick way to make a popular Indian recipe: grilled naan.

I usually make naan the time-consuming traditional way, with yeast and in the oven. And although it is still quite quick to put together, I wanted to find a way to to make it quicker.

The naan recipe I'm sharing today uses baking powder as leavening instead of yeast, which means you can pretty much skip all the time needed for rising etc., although you do need to rest the dough for no more than half hour after you've kneaded it. The naan is-- as the name suggests-- baked on a grill instead of in the oven. All in all, it takes no more than an hour from mixing this dough to having hot and fresh naans on your plate, all ready to eat. Besides, those grill marks do look pretty, don't they?

Apple Tart

There's never a better time than Fall to bake an apple tart. It's cool enough to get the oven going, and the perfectly wistful memory of summer in the rust-yellow leaves on the sidewalks just makes me crave a warm, gooey treat.

More, the temperature is just right for the science of pie-making. While it is absolutely possible for a seasoned pie-maker to turn out a beautifully flaky-crusted pie or tart any time of the year, those who are newer at this might find they get better results in a fall or winter kitchen when it's easier to keep all the ingredients cold.

Apple Pie is one of Desi's favorites and I usually bake the deep-dish version with a top and a bottom crust because the crust, of course, is his favorite part (and mine!) But I just as often make this skinner tart because it's much lighter. It also makes for an elegant presentation, so if you're going to have guests you want to impress this would be a perfect choice.

Mango Cupcakes With Mango Buttercream Frosting

As Thanksgiving approaches, I know all of you -- vegan or not-- are looking for great options to the same-old-same-old pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie or whatever tired old orange-colored dessert it is that typically graces your Thanksgiving table.

Well, I have one for you and every word of it is like a fresh, sweet, tropical kiss: vegan Mango Cupcakes with Mango Buttercream Frosting.

Mmmm...

As you already know, I love my cupcakes. After all, how can anyone not love portion-controlled indulgence? And yes, I'll admit, these are indulgent, and rich, although probably nowhere near as rich as a non-vegan version could be. Besides, all of us need a little indulgence every now and then, don't we? And what can be more comforting than a soft, fluffy cupcake covered with mounds of soft, fluffy frosting.

I use canned mango puree in these cupcakes. Try to use the puree of Alphonso mangoes (which is available in Indian stores) because this is by far the richest and most full-bodied and sweetest mango you'll ever taste. Hands down.

It's A Vegan World: Chinese

Pack your bags, or rather your woks--we're taking off this month for the land of ancient wisdom, impenetrable mystique and delicious takeout.

Yes, it's Chinese month here on It's A Vegan World and I'm looking forward to bringing you along for the journey.

I'm really excited about this one not just because I, like almost everyone out there, love Chinese food, but because I've always been smitten from afar with this land so rich in culture and tradition and billion-plus life stories. In fact, if there was just one country I could visit before I died, it would have to be China.

But exotic as China is to those of us who live elsewhere, its food is anything but foreign almost anywhere around the world. Here, in the United States, it is rivaled only by pizza as the most popular takeout food and in my home it beats pizza hands-down any day because it's not just delicious but also usually loaded with delicious veggies like broccoli and eggplant. It helps of course that there are at least three Chinese takeouts within a quarter mile radius around my house :)

What makes this event more fun is the fact that Chinese food has been adapted into so many different versions around the world. There are thousands of great recipes and variations to choose from and try, and I am hoping you'll try at least one-- or more -- this month.

So get cooking folks, and if you need a nudge here are some helpful resources:

The International Vegetarian Union's page of Chinese recipes.

VegWeb's extensive collection of Chinese recipes

Vegetarian and vegan Chinese recipes from About.com

The guidelines are the same as always, but here they go again:

The deadline is Dec. 1, 2009.

These foods are no-nos in vegan cooking, so please leave them out: honey, butter, eggs, cheese, ghee, milk, yogurt (basically no milk-based products), gelatin, and, of course, no meats or fish. Vegan meat or cheese substitutes are fine.

Link back to this announcement, and feel free to use the logo below.
The recipe should be cooked for this event, but if you'd like to send a recipe you've already posted, you do need to link back to this announcement and repost it.

Non-bloggers are also very welcome. Just send me your recipe and a picture.

As for bloggers, send me an email with your post to myveganworld[at]gmail.com. Include these details:

Your name

Blog name

Post url

A photograph of your dish (any size)

Happy cooking, all!