(click for more views and to enlarge)

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

(click for more views and to enlarge)

Ingredients

Curry:

* 2 bananas
* 1 tomato
* 1 tbsp coconut oil
* 1 tsp coriander
* 1 tsp cumin
* 1/2 tsp garam masala
* 2 pinches cinammon
* 1/2 tsp turmeric
* 1/4 tsp salt
* red chili powder (to taste)
* 1 handful cashews
* about 1/2 cup water

Koftas:

* 1 1/2 handfuls walnuts
* 1/2 tsp cumin
* 1/2 tsp coriander
* 1 tsp Nama Shoyu/Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
* 1 large soft date

Directions

Place bananas, tomatoes, and coconut oil into food processor and mix until smooth.  Next add spices and cashews.  Depending on the thickness of the curry, add water until it reaches the desired consistency.  Taste a little and see if you’d like it a little spicier (if so, add equal amounts coriander, cumin, garam masala).   To make the koftas, pulse walnuts, cumin, coriander, and nama shoyu in food processor until walnuts are in small pieces.  Mash walnut mixture together with dates by hand, then roll the mixture into little balls.

To serve:  Places koftas on plate and cover with sauce.  For “rice,” use shredded cabbage, and for “naan” use pieces of any leafy lettuce.  For salad, use cherry tomatoes or sliced tomatoes.

And remember to eat with your hands to get the full flavor!!!

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

As the first order of business for this post, I would like to announce the opening of the Roshi’s Online Store.  As our very first product, we will be selling incense sticks (known as agarbathies in India) which I brought back from India this summer.  The incense sticks are hand made by the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India.  The Aurobindo Ashram is well known for its support of cottage industries (industries made by hand, in a home and not a factory), like production of incense sticks, textiles, artwork, etc.  I brought back a bunch of these incense sticks for myself because they smelled so wonderful and they are made with all natural ingredients. For more information on the incense, you can visit the Auroshikha website.  Then head over to our store to pick up a batch.

Chaat it up Pizza

So I actually started this recipe with something completely different in mind, which ended up not working out like I wanted it too (I would of had to use a dehydrator to get it just right, and you all know how Ro and I dislike waiting for food).  After playing around with what I had made, I thought I would go for more of a fusion feel on this one.  The idea of pizza popped into my head, and so the chaat it up pizza was born.  I actually wasn’t sure if it would taste good until I took a bite, and wow! what a bite. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with chaat (literally meaning to lick or to taste), this should be a good introduction.  Chaat is style of Indian snack food, mostly found in the north of India, and consists of all of my favorite Indian dishes.  Chaat usually consists of a variety of cracker like snacks, topped yogurt, tamarind chutney, yogurt, and basically every spice known to man.  The result is an explosion of flavors you probably didn’t know was possible and a stomach that will likely be angry with you for submitting it to such a concoction.  Luckily, this dish should give you all of those wonderful flavors without the resulting gas problems.  Hope you all enjoy it!

Ingredients

Crust:
* You’re favorite raw cracker/bread (should be hardy enough to hold all of toppings – I use Wheat-Free crusts from Mauk Family Farm’s)

1st layer:
* 3 handfuls cashew
* 2 medium tomatoes

2nd layer:
* 2 carrots
* 2 zucchini
* 4 sticks broccoli
* 1 medium tomato 
* 1 teaspoon coriander powder
* 1 teaspoon cumin powder
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
* 1 1/2 tablespoon Nama Shoyu/Braggs Liquid Aminos/Soy Sauce
* 2 handfuls walnut pieces

3rd layer:
* sliced tomato
* chaat masala (I prefer MDH’s Chunky Chaat Masala – available at your local Indian grocery store)

Directions

1st layer:
In a food processor, put all of your cashews and just 1/2 of a tomato.  Keep adding more tomato until the juices from the tomato makes the mixture mildly smooth and sauce like.  If you have any tomato leftover, you can use it for the 2nd layer. That’s it for step 1.

2nd layer:
Grate carrots, zucchini, broccoli, and tomato into a large mixing bowl.  Then add coriander, cumin, turmeric, Nama Shoyu, and walnuts pieces.  Let the mixture sit for a bit so all the juices have time to mix together.

Assembly:
Take one slice of crust, and spread tomato-cashew mixture on top as the 1st layer.  Then, top with the vegetable mixture for layer 2.  Place thinly sliced tomatoes on top of the vegetable mixture, and, finally, dust the top of the pizza with chaat masala.  Chaat masala has a very strong taste, so first add a little to see how much you’d like to add.  I personally love spiced up food so I like to add a bit more than a dusting, but it’s up to you.  After that, all you gotta do is take a bite and enjoy it!

–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

* 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

Ingredients:

Curry:
* 2 tablespoons Honey
* 1 pinch of salt
* 1 tomatored chili powder (to taste)
* 1/2 Lemon juiced
* 1/4 cup Olive Oil
* 1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos
* 1 tablespoon Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
* 1 teaspoon Turmeric
* 1/2 teaspoon Cumin powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Coriander powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Asafoetida (available at Indian Markets)
* 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
* 2 handfuls Cashews

Wrap:
* 4 leaves of leafy lettuce
* 2 cups shredded carrots or pulp from carrot juice
* 1 cup walnut pieces

Preparation:

Put all ingredients for curry together into food processor and process until smooth. For each lettuce wrap, take one leaf, top with shredded carrots, then curry. Add on tomatoes, then walnut pieces. Easy!

–Rishi