Chutni Punch Adding Fire To Winter Dishes

 This is the time for warm, fragrant dinners. Curries comes to mind. A spice spiked curry with a marriage of different spices comes to mind. It's even better with Chutni Punch , a new flavoring that brings the flavors of India to everyone's kitchen.

I recently discovered Chutni Punch and thought it would be perfect in my slapdash tomato curry. This is a take on a chicken curry turned vegan. It's full of warm spices that are perfect on a cold winter's day.

They come in three flavors, savory chana ,super sesame and spicy peanut.I used a heaping tablespoon  of savory chana in my curry.

Other spices are also added in such as garam masala, tumeric, and cumin along with garlic and onion powders.

The base is a mix of vegan soy yogurt, crushed tomatoes and coconut milk. The proteins were vegan chicken and chickpeas. The chickpeas were cooked first in just vegetable oil and then the tomato was added. Two cups of vegan soy yogurt was used along with 3/4 of a cup of coconut milk. This was cooked for about half an hour until all the flavors are melded together. I used about two tablespoons of ground ginger too, along with a good dash of the onion and garlic powders. A good dash of cumin, turmeric  and garam amsala were also added.

The end result was a warming curry that perfumed my kitchen with all sorts of good aromas. It was great over rice and just the thing on a cold January night.It wasn't as fiery as curries that I've had at Indian restaurants., It was a smooth texture thanks to the yogurt and hot but not super spicy .I'm looking forward to having it tomorrow as leftovers.

Chutni Punch is the perfect add in for a curry.It's also great in other dishes too, Yet happiness on a cold night is a hot dish that warms you inside and out.

The Vegan Lamb Part One

Today I tried the vegan lamb cake recipe taken from the blog ,Vegan Cooking In Colorado (which was taken from  Issa Chandra Moskowicz's great book,Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World). It was kind of scary because I kept thinking the cake wouldn't bake or rise. Yet, this animal friendly pound cake did.

Baking a scratch cake is always a leap of faith.It could go wrong even though leavening has been added. Of course it starts with a greased and floured pan.

It's the same as with the regular (non-vegan?) cake, generously grease with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and then a generous coating of flour.

These are the liquid ingredients. The  1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt and 2/3rd cups canola oil make up for the lack of eggs.The recipe calls for soy milk but I've had good luck with the almond kind so I went with Almond Breeze's.It just takes 1 and 1/3 cup.

I also had to add vanilla and almond extracts too. It's 2 tsps vanilla and 4 tsps almond . It'll give the cake a lovely almond aroma and flavor.

These are the wet ingredients mixed with 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

This is the almond meal. It looks like polenta and taste like what else - ground almonds. Use 2/3 cup of it. The dry ingredients are the meal, two cups plus 4 tablespoons of flour, 3 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp salt (I used the coarser, grittier Celine's gray  sea salt) and 2 tblspns cornstarch which lends more cohesion to the batter.

 This is the batter thoroughly mixed. You can see why I was nervous. It  looks really thin, doesn't it?

It was easily poured into the mold and all the batter went into it so no extra cupcakes like the other recipe. The mold was tied together with twine. I was so ansty about the recipe that I forgot to put the five toothpicks in the neck area. (the recipe didn't stress adding the toothpicks so maybe it'll be all right and the lamb's head won't fall off 😲😲)

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 50 to 60 minutes. I took it out at 55 minutes and let cool. You can see it's a pound cake because of the splits in the surface.

It's paler than the first box mix one , probably because there's no artificial colors used. I plan on checking out the cupcake recipes and other ones in Ms. Moskowicz's recipe book. This is definitely the recipe for vegan birthdays and for inclusive holiday sweets. 

Tomorrow is the icing - with some interesting twists. Stay tuned.

What Do I Eat Today?

It hits everybody, foodie and food hater alike. What do I eat today? Sometimes we just hit that culinary wall. We've tried almost every cuisine. Our favorite foods and eateries have all been done to death . Our taste buds have gone on holiday. What to do? One, it's time to think outside the box. Try cuisines you normally wouldn't. If you've gone through every Italian and Chinese dish in your favorite restaurants, then head over to your nearest Mexican or Indian. After all it's the same ingredients but they're done differently. If you go mad for diners then drive a little out of your way and try a new one. Go on line and look up restaurant reviews within a reasonable driving distance. You may just find a new favorite Another doldrums zapping thought is trying new brands when you grocery shop. Don't go whole hog right away but get a new brand every trip or every other trip. I did this with yogurts and found that I liked the Greek style ones with ewe's milk better than the American cow milk kind. I also discovered some good vegetarian brands and different meat alternatives. I went from soy to quorn , just by being daring. Do the same. Vary your diet for a more interesting and more delicious experience. Everyone gets the blahs and that includes our taste buds. Excite them by going 180 with your eating . Try that new restaurant or pick up abrand that's always intrigued you. Be daring with you food choices!