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Soup Corner

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Soups Of The Day

Soups are an amazing option when it comes to cooked meal – they are a healthy option, can be prepared quickly and it requires very less spices.

How To Make Soup

  • Step 1: Wash, eel (if required) and cut the veggies into cubes
  • Step 2: Steam the veggies in a steamer or a idli pot
  • Step 3: Let it cool and grind it in a mixer;
    • do it batches so it doesn’t spill out of the jar
    • you can use the water used for steaming while grinding
    • finally blend with coconut milk
  • Step 4: Mix little salt (optional ingredients – pepper and any vegan butter)
  • Step 5: Warm it a bit (if required) and serve

I have tried making soups with the following veggies and they have turned out very well

  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Sweet Potato
  • Spinach
  • Yellow Pumpkin
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Vegan or Non-Diary Curd

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Before we begin, I would recommend you go through My Journey Towards Veganism to understand better why we are looking for alternate sources for diary products.

Please go through Vegan Milk to find out how to extract or make fresh, healthy vegan milk at home.

Coconut Milk Curd

Speaking of setting the curd, the starters generally used to set any curd are:

  • Regular diary curd
  • Red or green Chillies
  • Probiotics (am not sure about this technique though)

On that note, my grandmother told me a really surprising way to set any curd where our regular cooking salt is used as a starter. She was telling me how in those days when they were back from a journey they would use salt as a starter to set the curd since they wouldn’t have left over curd in the house (please note there was no refrigerator in those days to preserve any left over curd and it was not possible to get store bought curd as well..!!)

I haven’t really tried yet how to make thick coconut milk curd using this method (I guess it will also work), but coconut milk curd (or creamy coconut buttermilk) rice comes out really well.

How To Make Coconut Milk Curd Rice

  • Step 1: Extract coconut milk and adjust the consistency depending upon whether you want it to be like buttermilk or thick curd.
  • Step 2: Cook the rice, put it a wide bottomed open pan, mash it slightly and let it cool
  • Step 3: Add salt, one slit green chilly, coconut milk to the cooled rice
  • Step 4: Temper mustard seeds, chana dal, curry leaves, red chilly (if required) in little oil and pour over the rice and mix well.
  • Step 4: Give it a setting time of about 3 to 6 hours depending upon the climate and enjoy delicious, yummy vegan curd rice…!!!!

Step By Step Photos

Aha, we are finally finishing our meals these days with a contented feeling of having had the yummiest curd rice..!!!

Peanut Milk Curd

Please follow this link to make yummy peanut milk curd

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Diary alternatives

Poornima RaviLeave a comment

Before we begin, I would recommend you go through My Journey Towards Veganism to understand better why we are looking for alternate sources for diary products. Though we understood the benefits of not using diary products and stopped buying milk in our house about 2 years ago, I should admit we still had the craving to have ghee and curd and we used to buy ghee and curd on and off.

Also, when I talk about the benefits of veganism, people immediately tell me –

  • ‘Oh I understand that, but i can’t miss my tea or coffee’
  • ‘Oh I understand that, but i can’t finish my meal without curd’ Here I am recording my :

So it was about a couple of weeks ago that I suddenly felt the urge to seriously look for non-diary alternatives to these and am slowly working on trying each of these.

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Vegan or Non-Diary Milk

Poornima RaviLeave a comment

Before we begin, I would recommend you go through My Journey Towards Veganism to understand better why we are looking for alternate sources for diary products.

Types Of Non – Diary Milk

  • Coconut Milk
  • Almond Milk
  • Peanut Milk
  • Rice Milk

Coconut Milk

Coconut Milk is an amazing alternative to regular diary/cow’s milk and as per Nature Cure, coconut milk is more nutritious than cow’s milk in the sense that the since its a plant based milk, the nutrients are better absorbed by the human body. It tastes very similar to diary milk, more nutritious than diary milk and totally home made without any processing like pasteurization, etc.,

As per NC, Coconut is to be consumed raw (never to be heated) and is best absorbed by the body when it is consumed within half an hour of being cut open. As a traditional practise, coconut which is offered to God (during an archanai) and brought back home as a prasadam is never cooked and always eaten raw.

How To Extract Coconut Milk

  • Step 1: Break open a coconut
  • Step 2: Scrape into pieces
  • Step 3: Dry grind in a jar
  • Step 4: Then grind it by adding water slowly – i can’t tell the exact quantity here since it varies based on:
    • the size of the coconut
    • the consistency or thickness of the milk you want
  • Step 5: Using a soft cotton cloth, extract the milk
  • Step 6: Enjoy fresh

Coconut milk can be consumed raw (combined with any sweetener like dates or jaggery). It can be added to milk shakes (instead of diary milk) or can be added to cooked dishes (but make sure you add it after you switch off the stove).

Step By Step Photos

Almond/Peanut Milk

How To Extract Almond/Peanut Milk

  • Step 1: Wash the almonds/peanuts in water
  • Step 2: Soak the almonds/peanuts in water (anywhere between 4 to 8 hours) so that they are covered well – please note they absorb the water and swell in size, so add water accordingly
  • Step 3: Drain the excess water and rinse if required
  • Step 3: Dry grind in a jar
  • Step 4: Then grind it by adding water slowly – i can’t tell the exact quantity here since it varies based on:
    • the consistency or thickness of the milk you want
  • Step 5: Using a soft cotton cloth, extract the milk
  • Step 6: It can be used (in dishes, desserts, etc) just as you would use diary milk

Step By Step Photos

In the below demonstration, I have mixed peanuts and almonds but you can extract milk either from peanuts or almonds separately as well