The documentary below gives an amazing run down of the development of biotechnology in the last 50 years, and the dangers of the unregulated and immoral use of such technologies.  I encourage all of you to watch the whole video and share it with as many people as you can.

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Chai

Ingredients
* 5 whole green cardamom pods
* 3/4 tsp fennel seeds
* 3/4 tsp whole cloves
* 1/4 tsp cinammon
* 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 almonds
* 1 tbsp honey or agave nectar

Directions
With a spice mill or mortar and pestle, slightly grind down cardamom, fennel, and cloves.  Add mixture to a pot of water on high heat.  While the water heats, grind the almonds down to a nice powder.  Once the water is boiling, turn down to low heat, and allow the chai to brew for just a minute or two longer.  Pour the chai into a cup, and allow it to cool for just a minute.  Next, mix in the ground almonds, honey, and vanilla extract.  Then go find a cozy place on the couch, wrap yourself in a blanket, and sip your tea until you feel all warm and tingly inside.

Chai Cookie Cakes

Ingredients
* seeds of 6 whole green cardamom pods
* 2 tsp fennel seeds
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 pinch salt
* 1/2 cup almond pulp, leftover from almond milk making
* 1 1/2 cup cashews
* 2 tbsp coconut oil
* 1 1/2 tsp rose water
* 4-5 dates
* (optional) agave nectar

Directions
In a food processor, combine cardamom, fennel seeds, cinnamon, and salt.  Allow food processor to run until entire mixture is powder like.  Next, add cashews, and run until cashews are in small granules.  Put the mixture into a mixing bowl, and add the dates, coconut oil, rose water, and almond pulp.  Mix and mash everything together by hand.  If you’d like more sweetness, add the optional agave nectar.  Place mixture in small cookie like shapes onto a plate covered with wax paper, and put it into the freezer for at least 4 hrs, then transfer to coldest part of fridge.

Ingredients 

* 3-4 bananas
* 2 heaping tbsp cacao powder
* 3 tbsp agave nectar or to taste
* 3 tbsp kewra water or 1.5 tablespoons rose water
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tsbp cold-pressed coconut oil
* 1 cup pistachios or other nuts

Directions
In a bowl, mix the cacao powder, agave nectar, coconut oil, kewra water, and vanilla extract.  If the mixture is very thick, add 1 tsp water.  With mortar/pestle or spice mill, grind pistachios until they are in small pieces.  Coat the bananas with the chocolate mixture and then roll in the pistachios.  Put coated/rolled bananas on a plate lined with wax paper, and cover with another layer of wax paper.  Place in freezer overnight.  Done! Woohoo!

Besides that, make sure to leave us a comment and tell us what you think!

–Rishi

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Ingredients
Milk:
* 2 tsp rose water
* 1 handful cashews (~1/2 cup)
* 2 tbsp agave nectar
* 4 green cardamom seeds – powdered
* water

Rusgulas (balls):
* 2 handfuls cashews (~1 cup)
* 2 handfuls almonds (~1 cup)
* 5-6 soft dates

Directions
Milk:
Place all milk ingredients in a blender, and add water until total volume is just over 2 cups.  Blend it all together.

Rusgulas (balls):
In a food processor, grind down 1 handful of cashews and 1 handful of almonds into a fine powder.  Again using a food processor, grind down the other handful of cashews and almonds into small granules.  In a large bowl, mix ground nuts with dates by hand until evenly distributed.  Add 2 tablespoons of the milk into the mix and mash further. Next, shape the mix into 1 1/2 inch diameter saucers, and set aside.

Finally, place the rusgulas in a bowl, and pour the milk over them.  Allow everything to sit for 7-8 hours so the rusgulas soak up the flavor from the milk and soften.  Before serving, top with crushed pistachios.

Now go make yourself some!

Please check out 2 new projects we are running focused on LOCAL FOOD:

Follow the ‘local’ movement:

Our home, which we have converted into a suburban farm:

–Rishi

This weekend I went out to an Indian restaurant with my friends, and after eating dinner, a few them decided they were still up for a dessert.  The restaurant had a big array of Indian sweet meats, and so I stood and explained to everyone what each one was.  After everyone had finished scarfing down all the desserts, I realized that I could probably replicate them pretty well.  There are many types of Indian sweat meats(ludoo, rusgula, gulab jamun), but out of all of them, my favorite is barfi.  Barfi is traditionally made with boiled down milk, jaggery (home-made evaporate cane sugar), and ghee (clarified).  Basically, this stuff is heavy, really heavy.  If you can imagine what solidified poisonous deliciousness tastes like, that’s barfi.  So now, with my barfi, you can enjoy all the wonderful flavors of barfi, with none of the common side effects (brick feeling in your stomach, immediate sleepiness, general malaise, etc.).  Enjoy this one!

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound almonds
* 1/2 pound cashews
* 4 cloves cardamom or cardamom powder (to taste)
* 1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* cacao powder (optional)

Directions

Using a food processor, grind down the almonds and cashews until they are as close to a powder as you can get them.  Shell the cardamom cloves, and grind down the seeds to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.  In a large bowl, place the almond powder, cashew powder, cardamom powder, salt, and agave nectar.  Mash everything together with your hands until all ingredients are evenly distributed and nothing is sticking to the bowl.  Lay the mixture out on a large cutting board and flatten in down to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut in whatever shape desired.   (Optional) Roll individual pieces in cacao powder.  Top each piece with whatever you’d like.  I suggest cashews, almond, walnuts, pecans, dates, or bananas.  Next…. oh wait, thats it.  I forgot it was that simple.

hehe… enjoy it!

New blogs that we are working on:

- Coverage of the local food movement -

 - Our home, which has been converted into a suburban farm -

–Rishi

Hi everyone! Well, here it is, my first recipe post since I got back from India.  After traveling around for three long months, I learned a lot about how Indian food is put together and what all the spices can be used for.  I also learned a lot about the different styles of Indian cooking.  Food really differs from state to state in India, almost as if each state is a different country with a different culture (each state also has its own set of dominant languages).  Most of the Indian food you are probably familiar with (such as Tandoori Paneer or Naan or Paneer Makhani) is from the state of Punjab (my families home state), but there is so much more variety in Indian food that most people in the West are unfamiliar with.  So I’m going to try to bring some of that variety here, and of course, do it raw!

To start with, I’m bringing you an all-over-Indian all-time favorite known as halva.  Halva is usually made out of semolina, but there are dozens of other varieties like almond, carrot, jackfruit, and strawberry.  Halva was something I grew up with, and it was always one of my favorite desserts/breakfasts.  Its sweet, spiced, buttery, delicate and just overall amazing.  If you’ve ever had freshly made homecooked halva, you know what I’m talking about.  I really tried to capture that traditional halva taste in this raw halva, and I think I hit this on the head.  I hope you all try this one out and enjoy it. And to all of Roshi’s Indian followers who have given up this tasty treat, I hope this brings you back to your childhood like it does for me.

Ingredients

* 3/4 pound almonds
* 1/2 cup white sesame seeds
* 6-7 whole green cardamom seeds (or to taste)
* 2 tbsp agave nectar (or to taste)

Optional Mix-ins:

* 1 handful almonds
* 1 handful raisins

Directions

Put all the almonds into a food processor until they are ground down to be as powder-like as possible. Put the sesame seeds and 3 cups of water into a blender on a low setting.  Don’t allow the blender to run too long because you’ll need the sesame seed pulp.  Using a very fine strainer or cheese cloth, separate the sesame seed pulp from the water.  Take the sesame seed pulp and mix it together with the almond powder by hand.  Skin and grind the cardamom seeds into a powder and add to the mixture.  Next add the agave nectar.

Mix-ins:

Some people like their halva straight, others like a little variance.  For the almonds, crush them up a bit and then mix them into the halva.  For the raisins, you can mix them in straight, or soak them first and then mix them in to give them a more cooked texture.

And that’s it!

Simply the best raw halva you’ll ever try.  We promise!

Pictures from India

I’ve uploaded a select few photos from my trip to India for everyone to see, and by few I mean around 150.  They all have a little caption, and if you follow the link to Google’s Picasa, you’ll be able to see on a map exactly where each picture was taken.  If you’ve never been to India, I hope these pictures will give you an incentive to go there.  It’s really such a wonderful country filled with so much knowledge, mystery, and beauty that everyone needs to see at least once.

–Rishi

(click for more views and to enlarge)

Ingredients

2-3 oranges juiced
2 tbsp agave nectar
2 handfuls cashews
Whatever fruit you have

Directions

Juice your oranges. Put the juice in the food processor with the agave nectar and cashews. Let it run for a good 5-10 minutes until the mixture is really smooth. If its too runny, you might want to add a few more cashews. Once the sauce is right, pour it over mixture of fruit. Dig your spoon in and enjoy!

Please check out new blogs

Follow the local food movement:

Our home, which we have converted into a suburban farm:

–Rishi

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Ingredients

* 1 carrot – grated
* 2 bananas
* 1/8 cup raisins
* 1/4 cup pecans
* 3 tbsp agave nectar
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp red chili powder (optional)

Directions

Take one banana, 1 tsp of cinammon, 1/2 tsp salt, and the optional chili powder, and mash them together with a fork.

Next, take the carrots, raisins, pecans, and agave nectar, and mix them together.  After thoroughly mixed, add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of cinammon.

To serve, put some banana mixture into a small bowl (I used orange and grapefruit halves), and top with the carrot mixture and pieces of the remaining banana.

–Rishi

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Strawberry Freshtart

Ingredients:

Filling
* 12-15 strawberries
* 1 avocado
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 tbsp agave nectar

Tart Crust
* 8 oz cashews
* 8 oz walnuts
* 4 oz soft dates

Directions:

Throw all the ingredients for the filling into a food processor and let it run for a good 10-15 minutes.  The filling should be thick and creamy, very similar to a yogurt texture.

For the tart crust, first mash up your dates in a food processor or by hand.  Then throw all your cashews and walnuts into your food processor for about 12 seconds.  They should reduce to a nice crumbly mixture pretty quickly.  Using a bowl, mix the dates and nuts together, kneading them like you would dough.  Once all the dates have been distributed evenly through the nuts, you should have a semi-solid bread like mixture.  Shape some mixture into whatever kinds of shapes you’d like, leaving an indentation for the filling.  Place the tart crusts into the freezer for a good 20 minutes so they firm up a bit.

Take the crusts out, filling them up with the filling, and top however you’d like.  I used a simple slice of strawberry and cacao nibs.  Simple. Delicious.

–Rishi