Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 200ml water (lukewarm - not too hot!)
• 1 teaspoon vegan sugar
• 1 teaspoon active dried yeast
• 225g plain wholemeal flour
• 225g white self-raising flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic (depending on preference), finely chopped (optional)
• 3 tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)
• oil spray

Directions:

*** See notes at bottom of page ***

1. Put the water in a small bowl, add the vegan sugar and stir to
dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over a little at a time,
stirring well in between each addition to avoid lumps. Put
the bowl somewhere warm (I sit it in the microwave) until
there is froth on top of it - about 15 minutes. If there is
no froth, check the use-by date on your yeast. If your
yeast seems fine, the water may have been too hot and
killed the yeast.

2. Mix the flours and salt in a bowl, adding the optional
ingredients for garlic and coriander naan (highly
recommended!). Sprinkle the lemon juice over, then pour in
the frothy yeast mixture. Adding more water as necessary to
make a pliable dough, mix it all together and knead for
about 100 strokes (a stroke is 1 kneading action - push the
heels of your hands away from you into the dough, fold the
dough in half towards you and rotate it a quarter-turn).
Cover the bowl and put in in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

3. When ready to cook the naan (just before serving), knead
for antoher 50 strokes and then divide into naans (make
them as big or as small as you like). Form balls of dough
and then flatten into thin ovals (to make this easier, you
can wet your hands and use your fingertips to spread the
dough across the base of a frying pan. Use oil spray to
stop them from sticking.

4. Preheat a grill. Now put the frying pan on medium heat,
letting the naan cook until the bottoms are golden-brown
(they will move easily when you shake the pan gently).
Stick the frying pan under the grill (don’t let the plastic
handle go under too far!), and let the naans cook until
puffed up and golden.

5. Serve immediately with hommous, beans, curry or just eat
them by themselves. Alternatively, you can let them cool
and then freeze them.

*** NOTES ***
You can make these with all white flour if desired. Also,
if you don’t have any self-raising folur, substitute plain
(all-purpose) flour and add 1 tsp baking powder. You can
leave out the garlic and coriander for plain naan, or just
leave out the coriander for garlic naan. Add some pepper or
whatever other spices you like in step 2 - experiment and
enjoy!

Serves:

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 2 Cups Urad dhal (available from any store selling groceries from India)
• 1/2 teaspoon Orange/Yellow food colour
• 3 Cups Sugar
• 2 Cups Canola or Peanut Oil
• 6 Cardamom pods
• 2 ml Rose essence (From Sri Lanka/India)
• Jangiri/Imerthi/Jilebi(plain flour) - Sweet

Directions:

This is a mouth watering sweet from South India. The sweet that
I am addicted to and make it all the time at home. Throughout Northern
India you get variations of this Sweet made of plain wheat flour.
Though you get them in India(n) shops, home made is the best.

Procedure:

Soak Urad dhal in water overnight or minimum 3 hours. Wash it
thoroughly and blend it to a smooth thick batter of piping
consistency adding little water at a time. Best blended 2/3 cups
in 3 batches with food coloring.

For piping the batter, you can use a sturdy icing pipe with
round nozzle not more than 5mm dia. Make your own (like I did):
Take a thick cotton cloth 1 x 1 foot; punch a hole 3mm dia in the
centre of the cloth; button stitch it to strengthen the opening
either by machine or hand.

Make the syrup by boiling 3 cups of vegan sugar in 2 1/2 cups water in a
2 litre deep saucepan. Add split cardamom pods and rose essence.
Keep it on low fire on one burner. Leave a heavy ladle for dunking
fried jangiris in syrup.

Heat oil in a frying pan on an adjoining burner on a medium flame.
When the oil is hot make jangiris* one at a time directly over the
oil, one at a time. Make 3-4 pieces per batch. Fry 40-90 seconds
depending on whether you want your jangiris crispy or soggy. Remove
them from the frying pan with a skewer or a ladle and dunk them in the
syrup one at a time. The jangiris tend to float. Do not let them. With
the heavy syrup ladle hold it down. In 30 seconds, they will be well
soaked and ready for draining and laying out on serving tray. Help
yourself hot jangiri. It is well worth the effort!

* Piping jangiris is an art. It took me few attempts to master it. I
will try to explain it. Even if it is not of the perfect shape you will
still enjoy its perfect taste!

Half fill your piping bag. Or put 1/2 cup batter in your piping cotton
(stitched up as described earlier) and gather it from four corners and
hold it like a piping bag. Pipe over the hot oil, an inch above the
surface of the oil, (not a job for a faint-hearted cook) with a steady
hand, a quick 2 rings of spiralling circle closely adjoining each
other (as you pipe it will try to move away); continue piping
small cicles in one continuous thread over the ridge formed
by the spiral and finish when the small circles cover the
entire ridge; break off by stopping the piping. Move the jangiri
away and pipe 2-3 more. You can practice over your batter
itself before trying on the hot oil.

You will enjoy every bit of your effort!

Serves: 15.

Preparation time: 2 hours.

Nutrition Information: Approximately 100-150 Cals per piece depending on the size. 2-3 pieces
per serving is plenty..

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 4-5 long, thin eggplants
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon vegan red wine vinegar
• garlic salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons non-dairy yogurt substitute

Directions:

This is a traditional Turkish recipe.

The procedure is the most important part of making a
successful roasted eggplant puree. Follow this exactly.
Roast the eggplants until totally dead and charred and
black. To do this you can put them directly on the heating
element of your stove, on the gas flame, or on the ceramic
top of your stove. Putting it in the oven will NOT work
unless you are able to actually CHAR the eggplant. Eggplant
is one of the few vegetables that will not taste right
unless totally cooked and even overcooked. After the
eggplant is totally, utterly dead, put it into a bowl of
tepid water and let it soak a few minutes while you are
charring the next eggplant. Putting it in water lets the
charred taste to soak in. You can easily peel off the
charred skin of the eggplant while it is in the water.
After peeling and cutting off the stem, dice the eggplant
and then mash it with a fork. Add to bowl, along with olive
oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic salt and yogurt
substitute. Mix well. Adjust lemon juice and vinegar
amounts to taste.

Best served room temperature with a good vegan bread.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb apples
• 8 oz prunes
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup vegan sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons powered ginger

Directions:

Makes enough for several curries.

Fruit Chutney is one of the most popular chutneys in India.
It can be served with all kinds of vegetarian dishes and
can be prepared once in big quantities to be used on a
number of occasions.

Preparation: Mince the garlic finely. Peel, core and dice
the apples. Stone and chop the prunes. Chop the dried
apricots. Mix all the fruit and garlic together and add
vinegar and vegan sugar. Sprinkle with the salt and all the
spices. Mix the whole thing well.

Cooking: Bring gently to the boil over a low heat and
continue to simmer for one hour. stirring frequently, until
the chutney becomes soft and brown. Allow to cool and then
bottle.

Serves: Any number of times

Preparation time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• corn tortillas
• 2 medium onions, chopt
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 jalapenos, chopt
• 4 serrano chiles, chopt
• 4-5 tomatoes, chopt
• 2 red bell peppers, chopt
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• 1 can low-fat refried black beans
• 1 lb. tofu (firm, lite) cut into cubes
• vegan “sour cream”

Directions:

Saute onions, garlic, chiles and jalapenos in a little water
in a skillet until soft. Add peppers and cook 2-4 minutes.
Add tofu and tomatoes and cook until almost all the liquid
is gone (15 min).

In a rectangular baking dish, spread 1/2 can of enchilada
sauce. Line with a layer of tortillas. Spread half the can
of beans. Spoon 1/2 of the tofu mixture on top. Repeat
layering.

Bake 30 min at 375 degrees. Serve with vegan “sour cream”. Enjoy!

Serves: 6-8

Preparation time: 1 hour