The Sweetness Of Dewali

 Monday is the start of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. As with any holiday. there are fun foods and treats. One of the best spects of the holiday is that there is always freshly made sweets on hand to enjoy with fanily and friends.

Regular contributor and cookbook author Proya Krishna wrote about this celebration of light over darkness in today's New York Times Food section. There will celebrations worldwide along with ones here in the States.Ms Krishna heads to South Asian shops across the country to sample their special Diwali treats or mithai. There is Maharaja Sweets in Jackson Heights Queens. Owner Sukhdev Bawa employees  travel back to India on aregular basis and bring back ideas for regional snacks. He has the Bengali sweet amarkali filled with cherries and pistacchios. He ships these and other mithai sweets across the country.Kent , Washingon  outside of Seattle has Punjab Sweets offering such treats as besan burfi made with chickpea flour and milk cake. The owner Iqbal Dha hires only other women to bake a variety of desserts. It's also the central meeting place for many of the desi community.Jayasri Sweets of Herndon Virginia has got such a reputation that even people bring its' signature sweet, kaja a deep fried pastry back to India to show relatives the Americn version. Owner Jaysari Gampa and her husband Dilipkumar run this popular bakery. 

Some mithai makers have adapted American ingredients. Sohan Lal Gaba uses cow's milk instead of buffalo for his slabs of milk cake in his Brij Mohan Indian Sweets and Restaurant in Sharonville, Ohio, a Cincinnati suburb.he also found the American versions of chickpea floir and sugar were much different too. Surati Farsan Market in Artesia, California, a big South Asian hub is opend for twenty hours a day during this time. The store is festooned with lights as owner Ashvin Patel sells such goodies as cashew based kaju katli and  coconut rich kopra pak. Ms. Krishna also includes recipes for coconut ladoos from Jaysari Gampa and Mr. Patels' caramel badam burfi. The ladoos are a mix of just unsweetened coconut, sugar and cardamon. The coconut and sugar are cooked together as they become a kind of candy. The spice is added later as the blend is rolled into golfball sized balls. The badam burfi is  like a milky fudge made with cooked milk , sugar and almond flour.It's then pressed intoa pan and caramel and nuts are poured over ir.

Celebrate Dowali with lights, love and sweets. These mithai are deilcious whether store bought or homemade. Enjoy them with family and friends.

Go Milk A Potato

 I'ts getting that dairy may be obsolete in another decade.Nut milks have taken over and now there's the chance that veggie based milks may also join their ranks. It seems that there will be little use or taste for cow's milk  which is good for the cows.

Regular contributor and food writer Victoria Peterson write about this new phenomena in the New York Times Wednesday's Food section. Plant  based milks are up in sales and usage, thanks to the pandemic.When dairy ran out , thanks to panic buying and supply chain problems many turned to the variety of plant milks and liked them according to Denise Purcell, the vice president of content and education for Specialty Foods. They then branch out into other plant milk based products like ice cream and yogurt. There's also a hot topic at the moment according to Professor David Julian McClements of University of Massachusetts. He has been a food scientist for more than thirty years and in the last five focused solely on plant based foods. His reasoning behind this is that they're one of the food industry's main trends right now. Consumers want them for sustainability, health and ethical reasons. Also the pandemic has forced people to cook at home and they're discovering  that cooking with plant based milks are better than cooking with dairy.

What are these alternative milks made from? Soy, which is one of the most popular, followed by almond, oats, cashews, macademia nuts.hemp seeds, sesame seeds and flax. Even peas can be used to make milk. Now potatoes are getting their due, thanks to a Swedish company Dugg that creates a creamy   milk from emulsified potatoes and rapeseed oil.It's becoming popular in London where many coffee shops have added it to their menus. Sarah Bentley who runs a plant based cooking school Made In Hackney was excited about this. She wants to try it in her recipes and also not rely on cow's milk so often. She and her students have tried to make potato milk on their own but did;'t come up with quite the right one. Dugg will help them create creamy sauces and desserts. Hopefully Dugg will come up with by products like whipped cream, yogurt and ice cream with a potato milk base. Plant based milks are nothing new. Surprisingly they have been around for thousands of years. There are caveats though to this. Almonds grow in water scarcity areas and require a lot of water to be trucked in. Coconuts involve deforestation, increased cultivation and the loss of biodiversity.

Soon potato milk will be joining the ranks of other non dairy milks. It will be just as healthy as the other milks. It will also be just as delicious as the others, a perfect sub in for cow's milk.

Warming Up The Winter With Alco Eats Spices

 Nothing warms up a chilled body than a bowl of spicy food. It's so easy to create a flavorful bowl of veggies and meat, zinged with a variety of spices. Alco Eats knows this and have created the perfect blend of them for cooking and fiery treats for snacking.

This India based company has created a wide variety of Indian blend spices made from mixes of dried veggies and fruits spiked with such spices as turmeric, ginger, cardamon and white pepper. Dried onion, tomato and even muskmelon round it out. Each spice bottle has a recipe for such Indian classics as butter chicken.

This is great for those home chefs wanting to  dip into South Asian cooking. They could start out with sauteed veggies with the spice designed for them if they don't want to make an entire meal.These are great to make and serve with rice  but also with oven warmed naan. Also consider incorporating a few bottles in a holiday basket, with basmati rice and naan bread.

The company also Funny Nuts. These are cashews coated in biting black pepper and fiery peri-peri sauce.

I love any kind of cashew and these were amazing. The black pepper had the right bite while the peri-peri had the right amount of heat. There is also masala mirch and sour cream and onion. These are perfect stocking stuffers as well as being a good snack for hikes and picnics.They also would be a zingy addition to any holiday buffet table. 

Alco Eats has some amazing spices mixes plus a tasty selection of Fun Nuts. Try any of them for a tasty way to warm up this winter. Their fiery heat is delicious both as a meal and as a snack.

A Very Paleo Christmas

Christmas is the time for rich food and even richer desserts. There's a lot of guilt - and calories involved though and that means spending January dieting. Yet suppose you can have tasty treats and eat them too? You can - with a Paleo based menu and recipes.

Ham is a big deal and a classic Christmas main dish for centuries. Guess what? It's also the star of many a Paleo dinner too. Instead of crusting it in brown sugar and ginger ale use a mix of coconut crystals, raw honey, along with maple syrup. Zing it up with dijon mustard and coconut vinegar which has the similar taste to apple cider vinegar.It can still be decorated with pineapple rings and cloves. Another choice is of course,turkey.Keep it moist with constant basting. so there's no need for gravy. Since a flour based gravy is taboo, try a barbecue sauce mixed with chicken broth for a different spin. Every Christmas dinner table is also laden with sides. Think a simple grilled Brussels sprouts  with just olive oil or better yet a melange of veggies. Try a colorful mix of cauliflower, kohlrabi, and butternut squash baked in coconut oil and spiked with thyme and rosemary. For fanciness, try a sweet potato Dauphinoise, made with almond milk.There is some decadence with the addition of butter and Gruyere cheese. You could also just roast them in the oven and serve with a small dab of butter or coconut oil.

Christmas means cookies and treats. The Paleo diet allows for a wide variety of ingredients to be used so that means a variety of goodies. Paleo sugar cookies have an extra nuttiness thanks to homemade cashew flour being added to the recipe. This is easy to do. It's just taking raw cashews and grinding them in your food processor. Coconut flour is added for more substance, Tapioca flour is also added as a binder along with the clarified Indian butter ghee,one egg and honey. It  may sound like a bit too much for a simple cookie but the end result is worth it. Want more variety ? Then try the caveman's version of the chocolate chip. It's more or less the same as a regular one, but the standard brown sugar is replaced with raw honey (keep in mind that the taste won't have that earthy sweetness regular ones have). Blanched almond flour mixed with coconut flour is used instead of white.The Paleo recipe does require organic dark chocolate chips and not the usual bag of morsels. If these recipes are a bit off putting then think about Paleo peppermint meringue trees. These don't vary too much from the original  recipe. They're made with egg whites, tinted with a natural green dye , and piped into three blobs on top of each other. After baking, the bottoms are dipped in a mix of peppermint oil and dark chocolate . This is a great treat for kids and adults alike.

Paleo doesn't t mean basic. You can have some good for you holiday treats Paleo style that are relatively healthy and fun. It's still a Christmas with a good meal , followed by tasty treats.

A Vegan's Dairy

One of the first questions vegans are asked is how can you survive without dairy? After all , milk,ice cream  cheese and butter are a huge part of our diets. It's hard to imagine life without them.
 yet hard core herbivores do. It's very easy nowadays to give up anything from a dairy.

Milk is always factors in a diet.  You can't have coffee or tea without it. Or can you? Go to any major grocery store along with Target and Wal-Mart and you'll see every kind of non-dairy milk. Soy is one of the most popular and it even comes in vanilla and chocolate. Silk is the most bought brand. .It comes in such flavors as original , dark chocolate and light vanilla to name a few.Soy is responsible for creating estrogen in the body and if you don't want it then switch to almond milk. Silk also makes this and it's a bit lighter in taste than soy. Almond milk is my go to for breakfast. Its flavor is not nutty but tastes like actual milk and it's perfect for mixing into cereals. Another favorite is coconut milk.It has the same creamy mouth feel as regular cream and four hundred calories lighter! There is a very slight coconut taste  but it dissipates when it's added to instant oatmeal .It's also the most versatile , being used in various Asian and Indian recipes.Another choice is rice milk.Rice dream brand has the most extensive and comes in different flavors like the other milks. A lesser known one, made from cashews is slowly gaining in popularity, with vegan families trying it as an alternative to soy and almond.

Keep in mind that all these companies also produce creamers, yogurt and ice cream. Silk has a variety of soy creamers with such flavors as vanilla, caramel and hazelnut, basically the same flavors as the dairy ones. The company So Delicious makes cashew milk ice cream in  such yummy flavors as dark chocolate truffle and snickerdoodle. They even has ice cream bars that would rival those of Blue Bunny and Good Humor. The company also has an extensive array of coconut ice cream and bars. The flavors are so varied that you wouldn't miss the real thing. There is even a version of Cool  Whip called Coco whip It's easy to make an elaborate sundae without even touching dairy. Yogurt lovers will rejoice in Silk's almond  and soy milk yogurts. Both types even have plain which can be subbed in for sour cream. What about butter? Most would assume that the non-dairy alternative would be margarine but they would be wrong. There is an excellent vegan butter from Myoko's Creamery in California.It looks and tastes exactly like the real thing.it is made with organic cashews, and coconut oil and can be used in everything from cooking to making buttercream icing. The company, run by vegan visionary , Miyoko Schinner, also produces vegan cheeses such as mozzarella and  cream cheese too.

Vegan's can have their non dairy  and not miss the real deal. There are so many alternatives for any dairy product, from creamers to cheese. Milk will not be missed. At all.

A Vegan's Dream Come True

Does being a vegan come with perks? Yes! The obvious answer is the health benefits but there's also another plus - a new cookbook that features vegan cheese and ice cream recipes. These are fun to make and tasty to eat. Even non vegans will turn vegan just for these recipes.

 The Best Homemade Vegan Cheese and Ice Cream Recipes (Robert Rose Publishers) was written by Marie Laforet, a well known vegan blogger who lives in Paris.. Her blog site is lush salute to all dishes meatless , from savory to sweet.. The cookbook is no different,It is an amazing array of our most popular cheeses, from mozzarella to feta, from  cheddar to ricotta and transformed into healthier dishes by omitting dairy. The second half of the book is dedicated to homemade vegan ice cream and pops.Any home chef can make any of these recipes. They are labor intensive  but with relatively easy steps. The beginning of the book shows the ingredients and fermenting agents that are used along with explanations. It starts with the basic ingredients like soy along with legumes and nuts (cashews figure prominently in most of the recipes).Since cheese is also known for its various textures there are also a page on texturizers such as agar agar , odorless coconut oil and starches,There is also a section on fermentation agents too along with explanations on what tools to use, Cheese makers will recognize the need for cheesecloth for straining along with drying in a hydrator or just in a low heated oven.

The recipes will make any cheese and ice cream lover drool. Ms. Lafloret has recipes for the classics that are made with just raw cashew nuts, soy, almond and rice milk Home chefs can delight in serving guests homemade vegan  Gouda or Parmesan.There is also the plus of unusual cheeses such as kimcheese - a cheese made with Korean kimchi ! or tofu cheese with two peppers that resembles a Boursin. With the cheeses come recipes such as Nacho cheese sauce, perfect for outdoor parties or even topping a vegan chili.Vegans who gave up fondue will rejoice in a recipe for one made with white wine and cashew butter. As for the ice cream, Ms. Lafloret gives us mouth watering recipes that include home made cones. There are ice cream and sorbet recipes perfect for these sultry summer days.  Try the tomato, strawberry and basil sorbet or pineapple lime sorbet to cool down on a sweltering night. There is the classic vanilla ice cream made with just soy and rice creams along with light cane sugar and vanilla pods.Pistachio lovers ill love the non dairy version. Ice cream lovers will go mad for  the chocolate mint straticella packed with flavor, .There are also ice pops and palletas in mouth watering flavor combos such as orange mango, fruity rocket pops and peach pie. Other desserts include home made and healthy ice cream sandwiches and a Neopolitan log made with coffee, chocolate and vanilla

 The Best Homemade Vegan Cheese and Ice Cream Recipes is a great book for vegans and non vegans alike. They can have their cheese and ice cream too, in yummy flavors and recipes. It's a great book full of healthy and fun treats.

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White Asparagus A Different Spring Treat

Spring comes and with it asparagus season. Most Americans usually get excited over the green variety however there is also  white kind. White asparagus, overlooked here in the States, is what sets Europe on its ear. Germans and especially, the French swoon over the creamy white stalks. Like their verdant cousins, they are versatile, unlike them the blanche kind, have a more delicate flavor. It is a rare one,sweet and almost corn like in taste.

White asparagus was the subject of an article by Elaine Sciolino in today's New York Times Dining section. Ms Sciolino handles the Letters from Paris where from there she got the lucky chance of visiting an asparagus farm outside of Paris. She also had the good fortune of going with the famed French chef, Yannick Alleno. Ms.Sciolino even harvested the stalks with a special device , similar to a two prong screwdriver. White asparagus is prized by the French (they claim to have found them as early as the Renaissance) and can be cooked in the same way as green asparagus. The reason they're white is that the stalks are buried in sandy soil, thus stalling the production of chlorophyll which turns exposed stalks to that verdant emerald hue.

White asparagus has a delicate flavor , sweeter than what we're used to eating. Some French chefs servethe stalks with poached eggs which is a great pairing (it's always recommended with green asparagus too). Since the flavor has a fragility ,they can easily be served with stronger ones such as crab.Raw asparagus can be made into a salad as Ms. Sciolino witnessed when she returned to the City of Light. Her chef shredded them table side until the stalks were as thin as angel hair pasta and then dressed then with a peppery Ligurian olive oil. This can be tried here, thanks to markets such as Fairway selling the ivory stalks.Ms. Sciolino also has a cashew cream recipe for them, which she also tried at the very same restaurant..This is made with the nuts butter, olive  oil and milk and then poured on the boiled stalks.

White asparagus is a real and different Spring treat. It's more delicate yet just as versatile as its' green cousins. Try it either stuffed or with sauces for a something that 's both gourmet and every day.