Vegan Kaju Katli, Indian Cashew Fudge

For a very long time, I assumed that Kaju Katlis were made only by professional cooks and chefs.
Thanks to so many Indian cuisine food blogs, yummy Indian sweets are floating around in Blogosphere. I saw Kaju Katli recipe in Saffron Hot blog and decided to make it.

I veganized the recipe, by using vegan raw sugar , from the company - Sugar in the Raw. You can find Sugar in the Raw at Costco. The Kaju Katlis were light caramel color, but the taste was out of this world!

I made this sweet, and arranged the Kaju Katlis in a plate. My four year old saw the sweets and ate few pieces. My husband and I eat few Kaju Katlis.

The next morning, I noticed there were only 3 pieces of Kaju Katlis. My son eats 2 pieces, and I stop him from eating the third piece. I tell my son that we should keep the Kaju Katli for his father. My son says, "There is just one Kaju Katli. I will make it into three pieces". He breaks the kaju katli into 3 small pieces. He pops 2 small pieces, before I could stop him . Now there is only one tiny piece of Kaju Katli. I pop this tiny piece of Kaju Kali into my mouth, as I did not feel like giving a small piece to my husband!

What's behind that glass of Milk?

Anusha Narian has exposed the pain and suffering endured by milk producing cows in this
article
The article - What's behind that glass of milk ?, shows the cruelty involved in milk production.

This article had 62 comments, and most of the comments inclined towards vegan diet. I'm sure thousands of people in India have read this article, and are looking for dairy alternatives.

The blogs such as Vegan India, vegan richa and Vaishali's blog holy cow will provide information
everything from vegan recipes to vegan friendly restaurants.

Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops

These days, whenever my son eats a lollipop, even I eat a lollipop. I recently discovered
 Yummy Earth Organic lollipops which are vegan. Yummy Earth  lollipops have been in market for many years, but I recently discovered  it.These lollipops are 100% vegan, and contain no artificial dyes. I have only tasted strawberry smash, and they are just yum, yum and yummy. I got these tasty cruel-free lollipops from Whole Foods Market, and I read in another blog, that they are available even in Marshalls.

Before discovering these yummy lollipops I used to cringe whenever my son ate a lollipop. The phrase "artificial color", and words like red 3 and red 40 on wrappers of lollipops caused me headache. I felt as if I was reading a wonderful poem, when I read the list of ingredients in Yummy Earth packet. Organic cane juice, Organic rice syrup, citric acid(from beet sugar), contain organic Black Carrots, Organic Black Currant, Organic Apple

I read in Yummy Earth's website that these great lollipops are available in 30 countries. I just hope all the kids around the world enjoy lollipos made with real ingredients, just like Yummy Earth's lollipops.

Vegan Apple Halwa

Yesterday, I made Apple halwa, by following Shilpa's  Apple halwa  recipe in Aayi's blog.

I veganised the recipe by using canola oil, instead of ghee. I also used turbinado sugar, from http://www.sugarintheraw.com >sugar in the raw
. Apple halwa was almost brown in color, and it was so tasty. I could not cut into pieces, so I relished this wonderful sweet in a spoon. I also added 4 Tbsp of crushed almonds, so the halwa was very nutty and tasty.
If you have sweet tooth, like me, you will surely love this Indian sweet.

Dr Nandita Shah Advocates Vegan Diet

In India, these days so many people in their early thirties are suffering from Diabetes, Hypertension and Obesity. People are so busy, and they really don't know which food is healthy and which food is unhealthy.

Thanks to Dr Nandita Shah - a homeopathy doctor, has been conducting talks, seminars,  and vegan cooking classes from past 8 years across india. My sister recently attended, Dr Nandita Shah's Reversing Diabetes in Pune , and loved it so much. My sister is now urging her friends to attend Dr Nandita Shah's seminars. My sister was not a vegan before attending the seminar, Reversing Diabetes. But, once my sister attended the Reversing Diabetes talk, she didn't feel like consuming yogurt and paneer.

Dr  Nandita Shah conducts so many seminars from New Delhi to Cochin and Bangalore to Mumbai.
Reversing Diabetes, Diary Alternatives for Healthy Vegan Living, Peas vs Pills are some of her popular seminars, and so far thousands of people across India have attended these great seminars.

I recently read that many people in India are thriving on vegan diet , and I feel that Dr Nandita Shah is one of the reasons for the increase in number of vegans in India. If you have friends and family in India, please ask them to attend Dr Nandita Shah's seminars. The seminars cost around two thousand to three thousand rupees. Visit the website Sharan India for more information.

Dr.Neal Barnard in Michigan

Dr. Neal Barnard, a popular nutrition researcher, author and health advocate will be in
Detroit area to talk about his book - Power Foods for the Brain
I have read so many of his health  books, and I'm really thankful that he has written such amazing books, which inspire people to try plant-based diet.

Dr Neal Barnard will be in Novi, on april 22, 2013
4-5.30 P.M
Better Health Market
42875 Grand River Avenue
Novi, MI 48375

Monday, april 22
7-8 P.M
Adat Shalom Synagogue
29901 Middlebelt Rd
Farmington Hills, MI 48334

Contact Shaina Chimes at 202-527-7314 or schimes@pcrm.org for more information

Good Food in Udupi Cafe , Arizona

In August 2012, my family and I visited Grand Canyon. I enjoyed the breathtaking views of the desert, in Arizona. In Grand Canyon, it's really very hard to get good vegetarian food. We thrived on lara bars, store-bought Indian snacks such as chakli(deep-fried rice flour spirals) and fresh fruits.

We had good food in Udupi Café in Tempe, close to Phoenix. Udupi Café
 The lunch buffet was a treat to my eyes. Most of the buffet was vegan. There were so many vegan items. South Indian dishes such as rice, sambhar( lentils and vegetables thick soup), chutney(ground coconut with spices), beans poriyal(fresh green beans cooked in few spices), idli(thick rice and lentils cake), pakoras(deep-fried vegetable fritters),and vegetable biryani.

Udipi Café is vegan-friendly. In some restaurants, dosas(rice and lentil crepes), are drizzled with ghee or butter. In Udipi Café, all the dosas except cheese dosa and butter masala dosa, are drizzled with oil.

Udupi Café is really a very good restaurant for Indian food. The food is not spicy or  oily, and the food here is so much like home-cooked food. My mother-in-law, who cooks great Indian dishes, also liked the food at Udupi Café. The owner was super friendly. She said, "we get lot of vegan customes, here".

If you are looking for simple Indian food, you should go to this restaurant.

Udupi Café
1636 N.Scottsdale Road
Tempe, AZ 85281

Phone 480-994-8787