Pita Bread

Well, I'm at home in the ashram at the moment, and I must say it is a joy to be here. Guruji was here last week, and of course so was everyone else! It was a whirl of excitment and joy and love and then suddenly it was over! Sometimes it is a rocky adjustment for the staff here when big programs end and we go from hundreds of people to ten or twenty overnight, but I haven't noticed any sad faces this time, only a wonderful feeling of family. How lovely it is to come down to breakfast in the morning to fifteen happy faces, talking and laughing animatedly at one long table together. As usual everyone is very busy with construction, and administration, and cleaning, and ayurveda, and cooking, and generally keeping this huge place running, but we are having so much fun doing it. A few of us spent Sunday (the staff's day off) building swings and tapping maple trees (hopefully we'll have our first batch of maple syrup by the end of the week :)). And I, my strength and health having returned and feeling like my old self again, got back in the kitchen and, I have to say, really out did myself :D I've been waiting for the right moment to try out a pita bread recipe I saw on The Fresh Loaf, and having an industrial oven at my disposal, realized that there would never be a better time. The recipe worked out just perfectly! They ballooned up just like in the painting of the old Lebanese bakery hanging on Chris and Ralph's wall.

Coming soon: turning your local ashram into a maple sugar bush!

Shepherd's Pie

Perhaps it is a stretch to call it a shepherd's pie. I guess someone started that because this dish is baked and has mashed potatoes on top. In any case, no one seems to care about inaccuracy of name, but we all sort of lose our heads over this meal. I guess steaming, bubbling, mashed up beans and potatoes and cheese served out of a casserole dish really speaks to North American comfort food sensibilities. This shepherd's pie is, without question, my most sought after recipe. Which makes me laugh. It seems so... everyday and ordinary. But then I make myself remember the first time I had it, at a friends house as a child, and how I returned home insisting that my mother call and get the recipe. And then how it spread around the neighbourhood. All the mothers making this same dish, and all the kids wanting to eat at the house where it was cooking. 

It really is just beans and veggies and potatoes and cheese. And hype. And maybe magic.

Two quick notes about the ingredients. First, it is extremely easy to make this vegan, with great success (the one in the picture is vegan.) Second, this is one dish where I go ahead and use prepared, canned food (the refried beans). Not because it's easier. Because it tastes about a million times better with them. If you don't like to use canned food, you can use any kind of well cooked beans in a savoury, tomato-y type sauce. Certainly when I prepare this dish in the ashram I avoid canned food and use kidney beans, well cooked with some tomatoes, green herbs and spices (think cumin, paprika, chili powder, etc). I've heard that incredible refried beans can be easily made in a slow cooker, and hopefully I will soon be the proud owner of one. Until then, a can it shall be.

1 can refried beans

1/4 C tomato sauce

1/2 C chopped celery

1 C chopped carrots

1 C frozen corn

pinch salt, pepper and celery salt

mashed potatoes (see layer 4 for recipe)

cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese, grated

Layer 1: 

Spread about 3/4 of the refried beans on the bottom of a large casserole dish.

Layer 2: 

Cover refried beans with the tomato sauce (should be a thin layer).

Layer 3: 

Steam the veggies (preferably using a steamer basket), starting with celery, for 15 mins. Add the carrots after 5 mins, and the corn after 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and celery salt to taste. Layer them on top of the tomato sauce. 

Layer 4: 

Spread plenty of mashed potatoes on top of the veggies. To make them, peel, chop and boil 4-5 medium potatoes until tender. Drain and mash with butter (about a tablespoon) and milk (about 1/4 C - 1/2 C) and salt and pepper until smooth. *Note for first time potato mashers - be sure to use a hand potato masher, or an electric hand mixer (the kind used for baking), but not a hand blender, or anything with a single rotating metal blade, as it will make your potatoes glue-y instead of fluffy. 

Layer 5:

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 45 mins.  Don't skimp on the baking time - it must be very well cooked - bubbling, in fact, before it's ready. The cheese should get nicely browned on top, but if it gets too dark, or starts to burn, cover and continue baking. 

Serves 4-6

Green Tea Frozen Yogurt

I fell in love with using whole crushed tea leaves in ice cream/frozen yogurt when I tasted mint chocolate chip at Montreal's incredible, all organic, homemade style ice cream shop, Meu Meu. (Incidentally, that's also where I had my life-changing first taste of lavender ice cream.) Their mint chocolate chip was creamy white--not that strange glowing green we've become accustomed too--and I was immediately smitten with its charming and delicious little flecks of crushed, dried mint. This recipe uses green or jasmine tea in just the same way. 

If you have an ice cream maker, you can make this frozen yogurt extra creamy, but I didn't use one. With a little advanced planning, it's not necessary. The agar helps in creating a nice texture without an ice cream maker (though this recipe has a slightly grainier texture than traditional frozen yogurt, I find that the texture suits the elegant flavours nicely, and gives the yogurt a natural and refreshing taste.) Agar is a very good thing to keep stalked in your pantry. It is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin, and works just as well. It is derived from a type of seaweed (though completely flavourless) and as a bonus, is packed with iron and calcium. You can find it at most health food stores and some Asian groceries. 

1/4 C water

1 T agar

2 t sugar (or other sweetener)

1 tea bag (green tea or, my personal favorite, jasmine/green tea mix)

1 ripe pear, peeled and sliced

1/2 C yogurt (low fat is fine, unless you want it extra creamy)

Boil water. Remove from heat (quickly, before it evaporates away) and stir in agar and sugar until dissolved, then break open the tea bag and add the tea leaves (or one teaspoon of loose tea). (The water should be hot, but not boiling when you add the green tea, or the tea will burn and taste bitter). Blend tea mixture with pear and yogurt until smooth in food processor or with an electric hand blender/mixer.

Pour into shallow pan and freeze for 2 hours. 

Remove from freezer, let sit for 10 - 20 mins, and blend again until smooth. Then pack it tightly in a smaller pan or container and refreeze for another 2 hours. 

Finally, remove from freezer, let sit for 10-20 mins, blend until smooth, and serve. If it still appears grainy or dry at the end of this blending, don't worry. Let it sit out for another 5 mins and then mix and smooth gently with a spoon until it's just right.

Serves 2.   

All That Paper

How many rolls of paper towels and, god forbid, paper napkins does your kitchen go through in a month? I have to admit I still use paper towels from time to time (though they are not at all necessary when you think about it, and really should be a bit more antiquated by now). Anyway, I'm on a mission to divorce the convenient little suckers entirely. (And, for that matter, to work my way towards a plastic free kitchen... but that is a subject for another time.)

For those of us who have not yet parted with paper towels, and of course all of us who buy all those boxes of tissues and rolls of toilet paper every week, Greenpeace has come out with another one of their handy little booklets, letting us know which brands are earth friendly. So don't let a picture of some green leaves on the packaging fool you. Be a savvy shopper. And then go hug a tree.   

Ayurveda

I wanted to write a few words about ayurveda, since I'm certain to mention it here and there throughout the blog, and since (though I don't always follow the rules) my general approach to cooking is ayurvedic. This is not because I think it is crucial to follow a specific set of guidelines, but rather because it is natural to me. It is the language through which I understand health and lifestyle and cooking. These days, as I meet often with a naturopath to heal a stubborn liver infection, I notice more and more how much it is my language. She may explain that there is such and such an issue in the small intestine and this is the kind of treatment that I need, but it's all just information that I don't really understand and that I take on blind faith. That is, until it gets translated into ayurvedic terms and I realize that I have a pitta constitution (which is made of heat and fire), and that the liver and the small intestine are the seat of pitta (or heat) in the body, and these herbs are bitter and sweet, which are properties that cool and balance excess heat. Then, not only do I understand what's happening in my body when I take my medicine, I know the kind of lifestyle to lead to stay calm and cool and balanced, in order to help my body along as it heals itself. 

I find that it often appears that people who are really into health and natural medicine lead very restricted lives (or perhaps become a touch obsessive, to the comic relief of the rest of us), but being familiar with a holistic health care system can also bring a lot of freedom. It's like learning a subject in school. History perhaps. You can put a lot of effort into memorizing a lot of facts, though perhaps you have some difficulty remembering exactly how they all fit together, or, if you have a great teacher, you can understand an overview of a major event or era, and then suddenly all the little pieces click together, and you get a feeling for the whole thing. That is just how it is with holistic medicine. It is a way for us to understand life. (Ayurveda = "the science of life.") When we have an understanding of the whole, it doesn't matter if we know all the details or not (or if we always strictly adhere to certain principles or not). We can always look them up when we need them. And they make sense when we do, because we automatically know where they fit in the big picture.

So what is ayurveda? Most simply it is the Vedic, or ancient Indian, health care system. It's the branch of yoga that relates to health care. Unlike current western medicine, it places a great emphasis on maintaining health and happiness -- maintaining balance in the body so that disease doesn't occur. It is certainly sophisticated in its treatment of disease as well, and many other health care systems fit easily within its philosophy. Yes, even western medicine. One of the traditional eight branches of ayurveda, surgery, has today been replaced by allopathic medicine. 

To me, "following ayurveda" simply means being aware that we are part of nature. It's the process of becoming more and more in harmony with nature. Our body is intelligent. It knows what we need. Certainly, if our dog or cat's body knows enough to crave grass when it has a stomach problem, find some, eat some, throw up, and regain good health, our human bodies have some hidden talents, too. But that is why yoga and meditation are vital aspects of ayurveda -- they let the mind get quiet. If our mind is quiet enough, we know if something is good for us or not from the first bite. Our body tells us. Of course this innate intelligence of the body is easily confused these days by bad habits, chemical additives, sugar addictions, etc... But that's alright. That's why we have the rules, that have been written down and preserved through the ages. So that now, if we are sick, or we're not sure what the best things for us are in order to keep healthy and happy, we can figure it out. 

The first step is to figure out our own "constitution" or dosha: vata, pitta, kapha, or a mix. Then you can find out what foods and lifestyles are the best for your body type. It's a lot of fun to play around with, but if you're really interested in this stuff, I highly recommend reading anything by Dr. Vasant Lad and/or Dr. David Frawley, who, I think it is safe to say, are the leading ayurvedic scholars for anyone who lives in the West. They have done a tremendous service to us in bringing a vast amount of ancient Vedic knowledge to North America, and have given it in an amazing way: they easily explain the eastern philosophical concepts that put all their information into a beautiful perspective, and they adapt their practical information to suit western minds, lifestyles, climates, foods, herbs, etc. My favorite books by them are posted on the left hand column of this blog. Another good place to start is the online resources page of the Ayurvedic Institute website, Dr. Lad's wonderful North American ayurvedic college.   

Vegan French Toast

By the way, the best veg French toast recipe I have ever seen is over here at Berry Bundle. Too many recipes make this an overly complex process, and still result in toast that is either too stiff or too soggy. This recipe is as simple as all veg versions of non-veg food should be, and it comes out perfectly. Enjoy!

  

Besan Cheela

A cheela is like... if an omelet met a crepe, fell in love, and had offspring. It's one of many wonderful Indian breakfast foods, and was introduced to me by Swamiji one day when everyone was hungry and wanted something quick and easy, but we were low on groceries. It's extremely versatile, and the recipe can be played around with as much as you want to great success (even so, it probably calls for a trip to your local Indian grocery or healthfood store). A non-stick or cast iron pan is a must for these (non-stick in best for beginners). 

2/3 C chickpea flour

3/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/4 t whole coriander 

1/2 t coriander powder

1/4 t ajwan

1/4 t baking powder

pinch hing

4-5 fresh curry leaves

1/2 C water

1-2 t finely chopped green chili

1-2 T finely chopped onion

1/4 C chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

1/4 C finely chopped green pepper (or whole frozen green peas - thawed by washing with hot water)

1 t ghee or olive oil

serve with chutney, yogurt, or a squeeze of lemon

Whisk together above ingredients from chickpea flour through water. Add vegetables. Add ghee/oil to pan on medium high heat. Ladle batter into pan, making each cheela as thin and round as possible. Cook until brown on each side (about 30-60 seconds). To make the cheela softer, add a spoonful of yogurt to the batter. To make it crispy on the edges, drizzle ghee or oil around circumference while cooking.

Serves one (makes three cheelas).