Soya rose halwa

Many moons back, I had made a protein rich vegan dessert which we all loved. Today, I made the soya-rose halwa again, and liked it just as much.

Fhjj

Vegan savoury cookies

LI am not a vegan, nor am ever likely to be, but I do have friends who are vegan- for ethical or health reasons- and once in awhile, I like trying out vegan dishes. This savoury cookie was one of them. No butter, no oil, no sugar. But pretty high on taste.

1 cup peanuts, roasted and cooled

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup wholewheat flour/ atta

1 small onion minced

1 tsp rock salt

1 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp inactive yeast*

Method:

Grind together the peanuts and onions, with a little water, if necessary, to get a fine paste. 

Add yeast, pepper powder, coconut and salt, grind together. 

Add the flour, knead well. 

Make small balls, and flatten them. Place on a baking tray lightly dusted with flour. 

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. 

Sprinkle salt or sesame seeds on the cookies, and bake for 15 minutes. 

Can be stored for upto a week. 

*- make it inactive by heating slightly

Vegan orange cupcakes

I haven't been baking much these last few months, and though I kept promising myself I would bake a cake for various occasions, they came and went without anything going into the oven. New Year's Eve was my last chance to redeem myself, and even though I could think of a dozen excuses not to, I weighted out the ingredients, and in no time at all had myself a lovely batch of cup cakes. I hope the next lot isn't this late in coming!

1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp orange zest
1 tbsp custard powder or corn flour

Method: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Sieve flour, with corn flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside.
Mix the oil and sugar, and beat well till well blended and creamy.
Add orange juice to the sugar and oil mixture, and mix well.
Add the sieved flour mixture and orange zest and mix well ensuring there are no lumps in the batter.
Pour into a greased cake tin, or cupcake liners, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes (15 minutes for cup cake, 20-25 for a regular cake), till a toothpick inserted into that batter comes out clean.
Serve hot or cold.

Sugarfree Date-Banana Bread/ Muffin

A couple of weeks back, I decided to cut sugar out of my diet for "sometime". And then without warning, I was subject to carpet bombing of the most sinful desserts imaginable. Turning away from temptation requires far greater will power than I possess, and yet, I am too stubborn to admit defeat. "Necessity is the mother of Invention", they say, so I tinkered around with a basic vegan banana bread, and came up with this sugar-free version which tasted just as good as a more conventional muffin/ cupcake would.

4 bananas
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
⅔ cup coconut oil
3/4 cups dates
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
A few drops vanilla essence

Method:
Soak the dates in water, bring to a boil, and let it soak for about 10 minutes. Remove the seeds, discard the excess water, and blend the dates in a mixer.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Add bananas to the date puree, and blend till smooth.
Add coconut oil and vanilla essence and blend till well mixed.
Sieve flour, baking soda and baking powder a few times.
Fold the flour into the puree, making sure it is well mixed.
Grease the molds with coconut oil, pour the batter, and bake for 25 minutes (or till done)

*- I was skeptical, so made a really small amount of batter. The recipe I have written out doubles all the ingredients. That would also ensure that the cake is a bit taller, because more batter will go into each of the molds.

Chocolate spread, without sugar

I didn't think too much before deciding to give up sugar for awhile, but gradually, the doubts started emerging. Prime among which was- how on earth can I manage without Nutella? I turned to Google, and got dozens of hits. Most of the recipes I couldn't even think of since they required ingredients I only encounter in vegan recipe blogs. Almost all required hazlenuts, which are not available in India. But going through all of them, certain common features emerged, and I threw them all into the mixer, and came up with this.
It is definitely not Nutella, but it is pretty good, and will at least keep the cravings at bay.

Though I didn't realize it then, while writing down the recipe, I found that it is a five ingredient wonder!

1 cup almonds *
10 dates
3 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp coconut oil#
A pinch of salt

Method:
Dry roast the almonds for a few minutes, and while it is still hot, put it in the mixer, and blend for 3-4 minutes (blend for a minute, check, then blend again- do it till you get a creamy consistency).
Deseed the dates and add them to the almonds. Add the cocoa powder and salt, and pulse for 1 minute
Add the coconut oil, and pulse for another 2 minutes, or till the spread is creamy.
Spread it on toast, and enter a sugarfree heaven.

* hazlenuts are recommended, but you work with what you have
# there are many other oils that are recommended, but we don't get any of them in India. Coconut oil adds a new dimension to the spread, but one that goes well with it.

Mango cupcake

"Can we have mango cupcakes for tea?", asked the older one, and I readily agreed. A quick search on google gave me a nice looking recipe for a vegan mango cupcake. The cup cakes looked really good, but when I dug in, they tasted absolutely flat. The cardamon was overpowering, but even if you mentally discounted that, something was terribly off and I haven't been able to put my finger on it. Needless to say, this is one recipe I am not attempting again!

1½ cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Cardamom Powder

1½ cups Mango Puree
⅓ cup Oil
⅔ cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract


Method
Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl, so they are well mixed.
Mix the mango puree, oil and sugar in a bow till they are well incoporated.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk just until you have a smooth batter. Do not overmix or overbeat.
Divide the batter equally among 12 cups of a standard-sized muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. Smooth down the tops with the back of a spoon or spatula and baked in a preheated oven at 175 degrees for 25 minutes, or till done.