Vegan Recipes

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Vegan Fruit Cake

I adore fruit cakes. Growing up, I vividly remember buying fruit cake from bakeries, near my school in Bangalore. Brimming with dried fruits and nuts, fruit cakes from Bangalore bakeries were moist and very tasty. Fruit cake is also called as "plum cake" in India. Since I was not a vegan decades ago, I used to relish eating fruit cakes loaded with eggs.

Recently I saw a recipe for fruit cake in one of my favorite food blogs, aayi. I was very happy to find a fruit cake recipe which was very easy to veganize. I used soy garden natural butter spread instead of butter.

The fruit cake was delicious. I felt as if I was eating the fruit cake, from Bangalore
bakeries. I'm sure I will often make this cake.

Pav Bhaji( Spicy Vegetables and Buns)

Pav Bhaji is a very popular street food in many states across India. I recently made Pav Bhaji following Susan's Pav Bhaji recipe. I just used potatoes, carrots , bell pepper along with onions and tomatoes to make the spicy vegetables. I think the key for the wonderful taste of this dish is to pressure cook the vegetables until soft.

Traditionally Pav Bhaji is served with a dollop of butter, so you can use
Soy Garden Natural Buttery Spread or Earth Balance® Margarine Natural Buttery Spread.

Vegan Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa is one of the most popular desserts from
India. Even though carrot halwa is very popular in
India, I was not aware of carrot halwa, until I was in
sixth or seventh grade. I first tasted carrot halwa,
when one of my friends had brought carrot halwa, in her
lunch box. I got hooked to carrot halwa.

I got the recipe from my friend, and that evening I
made carrot halwa. I started to make carrot halwa
almost every day for a couple of months! My mother always made sure
there was enough carrots and milk for me to make carrot halwa.

I have been making carrot halwa for years. Even though
carrot halwa is traditionally made with dairy milk and
butter, it's very easy to veganize. I now make carrot
halwa with soy milk and Earth Balance Margarine Natural Buttery Spread

1/2 cup soy butter or soy margarine
3 cups grated carrot
2 cups soy milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/4 raisins
1 Tbsp pistachios

Heat butter in a large saucepan, add grated carrot,
and fry for 8 minutes or until the raw smell goes away.
Now add soy milk and cook for about thirty minutes, or
until there is no milk left in the saucepan. Now add
sugar and almonds. Stir well, add raisins. Garnish
with pistachios.

Pista Burfi, Pistachio Fudge

Pista burfi, made with pistachios is a popular fudge in India. I always felt that the pista burfi, which we get in Indian stores had loads of
artifical color, so I never purchased them even before I was a vegan.

I decided to make pista burfi, when I saw one of the
comments by Majula in youtube's badam burfi video. Manjula says that pista burfi can be made by following the same procedure as badam burfi.

I really loved the nutty taste of this burfi. I
veganized the recipe by using water instead of dairy
milk and Earth Balance instead of ghee(clarified
butter). With just a couple of ingredients you can
create this delicious sweet.

Badam Burfi, Almond Fudge

Badam barfi is a very popular Indian sweet, which
originated from northern region of India.

I have tried many times to make Badam Burfi, but my
Badam Burfi's always ended up looking like truffles.

Thanks to Youtube. I found a very talented lady,
Manjula's video on making Badam Burfi. If you are not able to visit through this link, then
go to Youtube, and type, Manjula Badam Burfi in the search box.

I veganized the recipe. I used soy milk and Earth
Balance, instead of dairy milk and ghee(clarified
butter). According to Manjula, the mixture should be
cooked for ten to twelve minutes, before pouring it to
the plate. For me, it took nearly twenty five minutes
to reach that stage.

However, I was very happy with the results, as I could
finally get square burfis!

Vegan Maamoul

I love grainy textured cookies . Ever since I saw
Maamoul cookies, Middle Eastern cookies, in Indira's
blog, I wanted to make those cookies.

I did not use the wooden maamoul mold, so the maamouls
are without the elegant design! I made maamouls by
following Indira's recipe. However, I veganized the
recipe, by using the melted Earth Balance Margarine
Natural Buttery Spread, instead of ghee(clarified
butter).

I just adored the wonderful taste and texture of this
cookie. I'm sure I will be making this often.

Puran Poli, an Indian Sweet For Diwali

Puran poli is a popular festive sweet across India. In
Bangalore, Puran poli is known as "Obbattu" in the
local language, Kannada.

I always made puran poli with toor dal. When I saw
the puran poli made with chana dal in Indira's blog,
I wanted to try it.

Today, I made puran poli following Indira's recipe.
This recipe is very easy to veganize. I used
vegetable oil instead of ghee(clarified butter).

I usually eat puran poli with a dollop of Earth
Balance Soy Garden Natural Buttery Spread or with hot
soy milk.

I'm submitting this to Jihva, Navratri-Dassera/Diwali

Vegan Nankhatai, Cookie From India

I loved eating cookies from bakeries while growing up
in Bangalore. The baked goodies which I regularly
savoured came from the nearby bakery, as we did not
have a oven in my home.

When I saw Nankhatai, in Nupur's blog, I wanted to
make those adorable cookies. The recipe sounded
delicious as it also had powdered pistachios. I
followed Nupur's recipe, but veganized it by using,
vegetable oil instead of ghee(clarified butter) and
used Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, instead of
unsalted butter.

I simply loved these cookies. I have made these cookies twice in a span of couple of days!

Vegan Dishes From India

These days you can find numerous Indian food blogs
brimming on the internet. With a click of a mouse button,
you can view delicious recipes and pictures
from snacks to sweets from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari.

Asha of Foodie's hope recently hosted a blogging event
- RCI Karnataka, and many food bloggers have posted
dishes from Karnataka, a southern state of India.

Visit Foodies hope to view vibrant dishes of
Karnataka. Most of the recipes can be easily
veganized. Use vegetable oil or Earth Balance natural buttery
spread if the recipe calls for ghee - clarified
butter.

Mahanandi, Aayi, and Sailu's kitchen are some of the
blogs with numerous vegan recipes.