Asparagus and Saffron Biryani: Countdown to Valentine's Day

If you really could find your way to your lover's heart through their stomach, what would you feed them on the most romantic of all days?

Reader Samantha asked me for an Indian vegan menu that she and a friend could put together for their boyfriends on Valentine's Day. So I put my thinking toque on and came up some dishes perfect for marrying romance with love: sensual and luxurious foods made with ingredients known to be powerful aphrodisiacs that are also very heart-healthy. What better way to show your lover how much you love the heart that loves you back?

Starting today, as we approach Valentine's Day, I will share with you these recipes one at a time. There are entrees, side dishes, desserts, and just about everything you'll need to keep your love coming back for more (and I'm not just talking about food).

Vegan Mung and Rice Pudding With Coconut and Saffron

Here's a kheer (an Indian pudding) that my Konkani parents make for Makar Sankranti, a celebration in their part of India that falls on the same day as Pongal.

The recipe is very similar to Sakkarai Pongal, except that my parents' version has some coconut milk, a staple of the Konkan region where coconut trees grow abundantly along the coast. Coconut adds a unique flavor all its own which is particularly great when you remove ghee from the equation, as we do for our vegan version. The coconut also keeps the kheer moist and fluid even after you refrigerate it.

Another flavor boost comes from saffron, those spicy stamens so prized in Indian cooking. The saffron also gives the dish a gorgeous golden color.

Crispy Pongal Cakes With Sweet Potato Gotsu: Revitalizing a South Indian Classic

I am too lazy easygoing to keep tabs on when Indian festivals come and go, but thanks to our families back home it is impossible for us to ever miss one.

Every year, just before Diwali, my dad on the phone from Goa starts counting down for my benefit the days leading up to this mother of all Hindu festivals. Patiently (and probably concerned for my agnostic soul) he will explain to me what each day of Diwali signifies and the traditions to be observed for each of those days.

"On Narakchaturdashi, get up early and have an oil bath," he will direct.

Dad, I am NOT smearing myself in oil early in the morning-- or anytime of the day. (Italicised, because these answers are strictly in my head. For his benefit I mumble something incoherent.)

Giveaway Winner

Dropping in briefly to announce the winner of the Rotito Rolling Board set giveaway, picked by this really cool random number generator at random.org. And it is....

Shveta, who left the following comment:

Shared on Twitter! I have just recently actually considered making roti on my own, and yes, my mom's board had a leg that always came loose.

Shveta, congratulations, and hope this will get you started on making rotis on your own. Please email me at MyVeganWorld@Gmail.com with your mailing information. The set will ship to you directly from GitaDini.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pappardelle With A Creamy Butternut Sauce

I made this sauce in my head on the way home from work last night. I was feeling sick as a dog and I knew there was nothing in the refrigerator that I could reasonably disguise as dinner. Takeout could be an option, but salty, greasy food is not exactly a good choice when one is under the weather.

It was the pantry to the rescue. I knew I had some beautiful pappardelle pasta, some canned chickpeas, and a bag of frozen butternut squash cubes that I had picked up at the supermarket some weeks back. The idea of marrying the pasta and the chickpeas with a silken butternut sauce got me so excited, I almost felt better again.

I am a great believer in keeping frozen vegetables on hand: as much as I love fresh veggies and the peeling and scraping and dicing that accompanies them (honest, I do), I am not above grabbing convenience when I can get it. And there are plenty of studies that show that frozen veggies actually preserve nutrients better than fresh ones do because they are usually frozen right after picking. Fresh veggies, on the other hand, sit in trucks and supermarket shelves and then your refrigerator, leaching nutrients until you get around to them. The frozen stuff is also a busy cook's best friend because you don't have to worry it'll spoil on you before you have a chance to cook it.

Easy Mushroom Biryani: A Low-Fat Recipe

The other day, as the fragrance of my easy and quick Mushroom Biryani filled the kitchen, I was back for a moment in my aunt's kitchen in Bombay.

Akka, my dad's sister in whose Vile Parle home I spent many wonderful summers as a girl, was at the stove, frying up the onions for her mutton biryani in a small Indian wok, known as a kadhai. My cousin Tai was sitting on the cold, red, cement-tiled floor at an adoli, a cutting implement often used in Indian homes instead of a knife, cutting coriander leaves into lacy fronds with a deftness I have never mastered. A plane closing in to land at the Santa Cruz airport just a couple of miles away drowned out, for a moment, the sounds of gods alternately battling and pontificating on my uncle's favorite Sunday morning television show, Mahabharat.

Akka passed away last year, and it's been a long time since I've physically been in my hometown, Bombay. But the food I cook in my kitchen often takes me back, like a time machine, to her and into other long-lost corners of the past.

Gobi (Cauliflower) Parathas With Zucchini Raita, and a Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.

The sleigh bells are done ring-ting-ting-a-ling and all you are left with now is that jiggle in your waistline from all those holiday goodies. So what are you to do? Exactly what you do every year this time of the year: resolve to lose weight. And to get you started, I have for you the perfectly low-fat, perfectly nutritious meal: Gobi Parathas with Zucchini Raita.

The time after the holidays is always a little depressing. Suddenly there are no more lazy days with family and friends to look forward to, all the colorful lights and Christmas trees twinkling in windows are gone, and the most wonderful time of the year is a whole year away. But the New Year also brings with it a chance for renewal and as trite as those resolutions seem, we all can't help but make a few.

My resolution for the year  is to go through life at a more conscious pace. As much as I love the idea of taking things slow and absorbing the beauty around me each day, I get caught up, inevitably, in the stresses of day-to-day living. And before I can realize it, some of the best moments I could have grabbed and held on to have passed me by. As have the people I know would have been good friends had I spent a little more time getting to know them, and events that I could have enjoyed far more had I not been busy looking at my watch.