The perfect snack, wrap, bread. Naturally vegan, gluten-free, and absolutely delicious, besan poora is a common breakfast item and snack food in North India. It is traditionally made from besan, or flour made from ground black chickpeas. As we head into 2016 and aspire to eat healthier, I added some quinoa flour. With 4 grams of protein per 1/4 cup it's a fantastic way to boost protein in your family's diet without compromising flavor. It's an especially important component for the Indian community - where we eat largely vegetarian, but still want and need protein. 2 cups besan (chickpea flour) *1...
SPECIALTY FLOURS ARE EVERYWHERE IN INDIAN COOKING. So, take advantage of them. Millet is especially interesting. It's an ancient gluten-free seed (sometimes referred to as a grain). One cup of cooked millet has about 207 calories, over 6 grams of protein, 2 grams of dietary fiber, and less than 2 grams of fat. It is also rich in minerals. You can cook the seed much like quinoa, or do as I have here, use the flour. Stop into an Indian grocer and you'll see all the amazing flours all stacked in one section. The original recipe for these cakes called for...
I've obsessed over Indian street food since I was a young girl visiting my family in India with my parents and younger brother. Merely talking about the tartness, the crunchiness, the complexity of the spices makes my mouth start to water. These 'salads', as I like to explain to those less familiar with Indian cuisine, are small plates often referred to as 'chaat'. Imagine a cat leaning into a bowl of milk and licking it up with her pink slip of a tongue. We would call that motion in Hindi, chaatna. In essence, licking the milk up, or when it refers to...
My mother came up with the name for this snack. It's essentially a baked chickpea fritter or pakora cut up into little pieces - tukri in Hindi refers to little pieces. One of the key differences between this and a fried pakora is that most of the veggies are coarsely hand grated to give you a distinct texture rather than just chopped or sliced. This recipe is in my second cookbook, Vegan Indian Cooking (page 104), but I got to thinking. Why limit myself to chickpea flour? I had Teff flour in the pantry and have always wanted to give it...
Chaat Masala is one of those spices that if you know it, you can't get enough of it. But, what is it? Chaat in Hindi literally means to 'lick'. The thought is that something is so delicious that you want to lick your fingers clean. It's used in most North Indian street foods. Most vendors create their own unique blends, but most blends have a few common ingredients including kala namak (black salt), black pepper, and dried mango powder. The citrus taste element from dried mango powder gives you a lemony base and profile that pairs perfectly with corn. So, Get your...
The perfect snack, wrap, bread. Naturally vegan, gluten-free, and absolutely delicious, besan poora is a common breakfast item and snack food in North India. It is traditionally made from besan, or flour made from ground black chickpeas. As we head into 2016 and aspire to eat healthier, I added some quinoa flour. With 4 grams of protein per 1/4 cup it's a fantastic way to boost protein in your family's diet without compromising flavor. It's an especially important component for the Indian community - where we eat largely vegetarian, but still want and need protein. 2 cups besan (chickpea flour) *1...
