Tag: Indian

by Veggie Sutra

Mango Kulfi/Ice Cream

Happy Summer Solstice all! Hope all of you are staying safe and healthy.

The craving for treats continues during the ongoing shelter-in-place and I am convinced that shelter-in-place weight gain is a reality!! We are trying to keep fairly active, and are thankful for the fairly mild weather which allows us to go on different beautiful Northern California hikes every weekend in the Open Space Preserves. (This has been a good year for wildflowers as a bonus.) And during the week, I spread my mats at least 3-4 times for a good sweaty yoga or HIIT session, and V goes on his runs.

Despite that, I am telling you that quarantine pounds are real and the cravings are real! We both have been craving desserts more than usual. And what is summer without ice cream or kulfi. I have never made kulfi before and decided to give it a shot.

A sweet friend had brought over a can of pureed sweet Indian Alphonso variety mangoes (aamras) a while back. I decided to get a carton of heavy cream on our biweekly trips to the store. I was sure it would come together beautifully…. and it did!

If you don’t have the fragrant and sweet Indian mangoes then you can use frozen mangoes and puree it. You may have to add sweetened condensed milk or sugar to it though.

So here’s a super simple recipe for mango kulfi.

Recipe for Mango Kulfi

[Printable Recipe]

Makes around 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 small carton heavy cream
  • 1-2 Tbsp tapioca flour or corn starch (optional)
  • 2 cups canned pureed  mango pulp “aamras” 
    • If you are not using the sweet Indian variety, and instead making a pulp with frozen mangoes then add 1 small tin of condensed milk or 1/2 cup sugar 
  •  4 cardamon pods – seeds removed and powdered

Method:

  • Pour the whipping cream into a large bowl, add the tapioca flour and whip the cream with a hand mixer until soft peaks form
  • Pour in the mango puree (and condensed milk/sugar if using) and add the cardamom powder and mix
  • Scrape into a glass container with a lid and freeze for at least 8 hours
  • Let stand outside for around 5 mins, cut into cubes and serve.

Keep working out, keep eating healthy and treat yourself occasionally! Stay safe, all!

by Veggie Sutra

Baked samosas

A small treat now and then during these hard times makes us feel so good, doesn’t it? Not that I am complaining when I say “hard times”. I do realize how fortunate we are compared to many others. Sometimes I do feel guilty about enjoying our al fresco lunches in the garden (especially lovely now with all the spring flowers and hummingbirds) and our lazy evening walks.

A beautiful piece of writing titled “It’s okay to be okay during the pandemic” by Sigal Samuel in vox.com put things in perspective for me and I do recommend reading it fully, but the author sums it up with a quote from a mindfulness teacher: “Taking care of ourselves is the first approximation of mindful compassion.”

We have not been eating out obviously but we have been doing takeaways from our favorite vegan Chinese restaurant mainly because it gives us a chance to drive somewhere once a week (the restaurant is a good 20 min drive away), support the business and get some variety in our meals. But I have also been trying to keep it interesting at home.

This baked samosa that I made as a weekend teatime snack turned out to be very addictive and was pretty easy to make. V and I devoured almost all of it over a game of Scrabble and had to forego dinner as we were so full! We used “zhoug sauce” that we got from Trader Joes as a dipping.

Recipe for Easy Baked Samosas

[Printable Recipe]

Inspired by “Baked Pea Samosas” recipe in Vegetarian Dinner Parties by Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein 

Makes around 12-15

Ingredients:

  • 4-5 medium potatoes
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil + approx 1/2 cup for brushing the phyllo sheets
  • 1-2 Thai green chilies chopped fine (optional)
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp salt or more to taste
  • 1 package of Phyllo sheets (you will not use it all for this batch, so double the recipe or save it for later as per the package instructions)

Equipment:

  • 2 rimmed cookie sheets
  • 1 sharp knife

Method:

  • Filling: (You can make the filling ahead of time and store in the refrigerator)
    • Wash and cut the potatoes in to quarters
    • Cook the potatoes till soft, then set aside to cool
    • Soak the frozen peas in boiling water till thawed and wash
    • Peel and coarsely mash the cooled potatoes
    • Heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in  a pan and add the minced green chilies if using 
    • Add the mashed potatoes and green peas, garam masala and salt and mix till heated through
  • Pre-heat oven to 375C
  • Remove one phyllo sheet from the package (keep the rest covered to prevent them from drying out.  Follow the instructions on the package).
  • Brush the sheet with some oil, then fold it lengthwise, then into thirds as shown in the picture below brushing the sheet with some oil on each fold
  • Using a sharp knife make vertical slits around 1 inch deep on all 4 sides of the folded sheet as shown
  • Place about one heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle and fold the edges over the filling like a pocket.  Place it on a baking sheet
  • Continue making the pockets until the filling runs out lining them up on the sheets
  •  Place the sheets in the pre-heated oven.  
  • If you have 2 sheets, set a timer for 9 minutes.   The total baking time is 18 minutes but you would want to rotate the trays from top to bottom half way through
  • Remove after 18 minutes and let it cool a bit before enjoying with a dipping of your choice.  We thought the “zhoug” sauce from Trader Joes was excellent but you could use ketchup or sriracha as well.
Steps for making the samosas