Dairy and yeast free pizza - it's tasty, honest!!

Having a dairy and yeast intolerance, I've got used to not eating my favourite foods, often just admiring them from afar. There is one though, that tortures me - pizza! I love it - that crunch of a crisp base, the fantastic combinations of toppings that may your tongue tingle in appreciation and the beautiful soft, gooey cheese on top that just brings all three elements together. But for me, no matter how much I may love it, it does not love me - devil food!!!
All the vegan cheese I have tried in the past just doesn't do it for me, there's always a strange tang which puts me off. And over here in India, I've never seen it on the supermarket shelves in Bangalore. So I was delighted at the last cooking demo I attended that one of the things they made was a soft 'cheese' that had a flavour similar to strong cheese - ie: stinky sock flavour! When it was passed round the room, I was not convinced as to be honest, it smelt and tasted like off cream gunge, but later on when they made pizza, the flavour and texture just worked, and it browned slightly on top.  I couldn't eat the pizza, but they cooked some for me separately on some vegetables, so it was half way to a pizza but not quite there!

I had a few attempts at making this cheese myself; the first was too dry and took a long time to ferment and just wasn't quite right. The second, my hand slipped when adding water, so was too runny. Thankfully, in the tradition of the 3 bears, the third attempt was just right! I wasn't sure how to make a non-yeast pizza base from scratch, so cheated and used Orgran pizza base mix. This is a gluten free, dairy free, yeast free, everything you can think of free product which is has a pretty reasonable taste and easy to make up. As it's the gluten that gives dough it's elasticity and mouldability, gluten free flours can be dry and crumbly, but this Orgran mix didn't have that problem.
I made the 'cheese' 2 days before making the pizza so it was suitably stinky! After making up the base according to the packet instructions, I rolled out the dough, smothered it with tomato puree and chopped herbs, sprinkled crisp red pepper, onion, mushroom, sliced tomato and basil, then spooned on a few dollops of the 'cheese', then left it to the oven gods to do some magic!
For the pizza aficionado, it probably wouldn't taste so good, but to me it was delicious and I enjoyed every mouth-watering bite. One to make again that's for sure!
Raw sour cheese
1 cup cashew nuts (I only used 1/2 cup as only making for 1)
1/3 tsp salt.
Soak the cashew nuts in water for a minimum of 2 hours. Drain out the water and blitz in the food processor to a smooth paste.  You may need to add a little water. Place in a bowl or container, cover with a close and leave to ferment for 24-72 hours (it depends on how warm the room is). Once it starts to smell sour, and the texture changes, add a little salt to taste and it's ready. It will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Sweet treat - raw and dairy free!

Last month, I disappear off with a friend for a few days to visit Auroville, an alternative community nestled in the countryside near to Pondicherry on the Tamil Nadu coast. Auroville is a fascinating experiment in human unity and focuses on sustainable living as well as the environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind. We spent a lovely few days relaxing under immense banyan trees, participating in yoga, pottery and a lot of chatting! The food was amazing, much of it organic and locally grown, and of course they had a wide choice which included dairy-free and vegan options, so I, and my stomach, were happy!
One evening, we found ourselves at a farm house within the settlement, in a group gathered around a big bonfire singing 'mindful' songs - it was a truly hippy experience! We arrived a little late, and the vegan spread provided must have been delicious, as the only thing left were a few small dark balls scattered on a plate, covered in white flecks. Someone said they were pudding; unconvinced, I tried one as I was so hungry and discovered much to my surprise and delight that they were little balls of sweet heaven! Looks were very deceiving! The host told me they were raw date and nut balls - that was it!  How can that taste of chocolate though???
I know that many people believe that we should be eating mostly or all of our food raw. There is a great film called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead about a guy juicing his way to health, which is really worth watching, if only for the people watching experience. Check out http://www.jointhereboot.com to find out more.
But I digress! So I do include lots of raw veggies in my diet, but I'm not a complete raw foodie, so hadn't come across these raw date balls before.  Doing some research on the internet, I found a guideline recipe on Yummly.com, but then changed it a little to suit what we have available here in Bangalore. If you're a committed calorie counter, then all these nuts and dried fruits might freak you out a little, but do note there is no added sugar. A handful of nuts is the same amount of fat as a teaspoon of refined oil, plus you get all the extra nutritious goodies such as vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and fibre, but that's a whole posting in itself. My husband and son love these balls and they're difficult to binge on; they are really filling!
Vegan choco-nutty-fruity balls
1 cup/120g of nuts, raw and unsalted - I used almonds, walnuts and cashews

1/2 cup/120g organic pitted dates, chopped
1/2 cup/ 120g dried cranberries or apricots
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbspns cocoa powder
1 tbspoon fresh orange juice
few drops almond essence
for coating:
1/2 tspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup/30g fresh or dessicated coconut

Place nuts, dates and rest of dried fruit in a food processor along with cocoa powder and almond essence. Blitz until everything is ground together - add orange juice a few drops at a time until the mixture binds together - you probably won't need all of it. On a plate, combine the cinnamon and coconut. Roll small portions of the mix into balls, then roll them in the coconut mix until covered. Once all done, place in a container and refrigerate. Then enjoy over a relaxing cup of tea, after a workout or at any time you fancy a sweet nibble!

Dal or lentil - it's a name thing

Before I came to India, I thought lentils were either red, puy and occasionally green, and that dal was a soupy kind of spicy dish. Then I went shopping in the local supermarket and discovered a whole array of "dal" with different names, some of those being the same product but hailing from a different part of India and called by the local name.

Just to make it even more confusing, whole lentils tend to be called "gram", a generic name for pulses, so includes chickpeas and other dried peas I hadn't come across before - cow pea and horse gram, both of which are really tasty (I have a great little easy cow pea dish I'll share with you soon). Once the pulse is split, and it's outer coating shed, the gram becomes a dal, or a lentil, in the right form for cooking dal. Confused? Me too!
I've worked out there are four main 'dals':
yellow dal, or yellow split peas as I knew them in the UK, or toor/tuvar dal in Hindi. This is split pigeon pea and used most commonly for your standard dal
mung dal which comes from the mung bean, a pale green lentil that has a real earthy look to it. Mung beans are a deep green when whole but paler and flecked with white when split
masoor dal, or red split lentils, the one I am most familiar with
urad dal, which comes from black gram, but is white when split. This is most common in South India and usually soaked and ground to make dosas and idlis, iconic breakfast items.
Whatever the name or colour, dals are really healthy, a tiny powerhouse of nutritious goodies, packed with protein, fibre, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and a whole array of B vitamins. Dal is made up of 20-30% protein, better than most meat products but without the saturated fat and cholesterol. It is not, however, a complete protein in the same way as meat. Pulses are low in the essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) methionine and cysteine. So they should be eaten with another food which is high in these missing amino acids. Traditionally, dal is eaten with rice or some form of bread - chapati, roti etc. Whole rice and whole wheat are high in both methionine and cysteine, but low in lysine, another essential amino acid. Pulses just happen to be teaming with lysine and so dal and rice or chapati is the perfect dish!
Due to their high dietary fibre content, dal/lentils are very good for your bowels, but do have a reputation for creating rather a lot of wind - urad dal is the worst offender apparently, and mung the least and is often given to convalescents as it's easy on the digestion.  I always buy organic dals which are really widely available here, and only a few rupees more than the non-organic version.
The key to a good tasty dal is the tempering - the seeds and spices that are fried separately and then added at the end. If you want a low fat dish, go easy on the oil otherwise it will become loaded with fat. Ghee is often used for the tempering, which gives it a distinctive flavour but is pretty high in fat. Theoretically, ghee is non-dairy, but I'm not convinced so avoid using it at home. I've tried various different recipes since I've been in India, some more successful than others (dal and the pressure cooker just don't seem to work for me!). This is my favourite - big fat juicy tomatoes are the key to this dish!

Dal fry/Tarka Dal
1 cup of red split lentils, rinsed well and drained
1 finely chopped onion
2 x juicy tomatoes
1 -2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp tumeric
salt
oil
salt
(lemon juice)
For the tempering:
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1-2 dried red chilli or 1 fresh green chilli
2 inch piece ginger, julienned
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
handful curry leaves
fresh coriander for garnishing
First, heat the oil and fry the onion and salt for a few minutes then add the garlic and keep stirring until it's lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Add the lentils and turmeric, heat through and add 3 cups (ish) of water - if you want a thicker dal, add less than 3. Cook on a low heat for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are soft and mushy. In a separate pan, heat a little more oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once they start to pop, add all the other ingredients except the coriander and cook for a few minutes. Tip the tempering into the cooked lentils, mix together and simmer for a couple of minutes, adding a squeeze of lemon juice to help make the proteins more available, garnish with the coriander and serve with cooked brown rice or some whole wheat chapatis.

Yummy chocolate brownies - dairy free!!

There's not many people who don't love a chocolate brownie every now and then, but most of the ones you can buy in the shops have some sort of dairy content, either butter or milk. Most traditional recipes for homemade brownies have the same issue. Of course, if you have some 100% dairy free spread to hand, you can easily substitute this for butter, use a non dairy milk and voila! But when there's no spread available, there's a brownie gap in my cake tin!

The other challenge over in India is finding cocoa powder. There is a local brand, but it doesn't taste very good and tends to be grainy. Cadbury's cocoa is my favourite, and should be a staple in any dairy free cupboard! Unfortunately, it's been a good 4 months since I've last seen it in the shops, so I was really excited the other day to find a tin and smiled all the way to the checkout, getting a few odd looks from the locals on the way!
This recipe uses oil rather than spread, and still produces delicious, gooey brownies although they can be a little greasy. I've tried different oils for baking - coconut oil is supposed to be excellent and does give a great texture but changes the flavour of the brownie. I bought some lovely delicious organic coconut oil recently, made a batch of brownies only to realise the oil had gone rancid really quickly (the downside of coconut oil) and they really tasted revolting. It was very sad to see the brownies in the bottom of the bin! So I now use organic canola oil, but rapeseed or any non-aromatic vegetable oil will do. The raisins enhance the texture, and increase the gooiness inside.
For those of you with egg allergies, try using an egg substitute, and reduce the cooking time as the brownies are drier.

Dairy free yummy chocolate brownies

2 medium eggs

1 cup caster sugar

5-6 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/3 cup oil

3/4 cup self raising flour

pinch salt

3 oz raisins
handful of chopped walnuts (optional)

Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix together well. Add the cocoa powder and oil, and stir well. Add remaining ingredients - use a little non-dairy milk if it's too dry.

Place in a greased square 8 inch baking tin and bake at 180oC for 20 minutes or so until firm on top but soft to the touch. Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin, then cut into squares, remove carefully with spatula and enjoy!

Reversing diabetes seminar

Unfortunately no time today for a long posting - off on another Indian adventure with the family to Hampi.
Just wanted to post about an upcoming seminar in Bangalore on 24th November - Reversing Diabetes with Dr Nandita Shah, all about how this 'incurable' but 'manageable' disease can be halted and reversed through modifying dietary intake. I have met people who have managed to do this and their stories are incredible. So if you are in Bangalore and interested, or even sceptical, it's worth going as one day could make all the difference to your life!
For more information see http://www.facebook.com/events/282676285185963

Coconut water

I wrote an article earlier this year  about tender coconut water, the fluid found in the immature green coconuts sold by the roadside, for our local expat associations magazine. The virtues of coconut water are being discovered in the West and there is much discussion about its value as a post-workout drink, so I thought I'd write about it again here.

Coconut sellers are dotted all round the city, and next to any road in South India; vibrant green, occasionally mottled, nuts either piled up high forming a little stall, displayed on a hand cart or hanging off the side of  an old, rusty bicycle.  Normal tap water is not really potable, so these coconuts provide a safer option to assuage the thirst of the passing traveller - the fluid inside the green coconut is sterile as long as the nut is not damaged and there are reports that it has been used as an intravenous fluid in cases of severe dehydration when sterile normal saline is not available. Not one to try at home though!

Harvested from trees in clusters when they are between 5-7 months old, these immature nuts contain between 200mls-1 litre of sweet, unctuous water that is highly refreshing on a hot summers day and incredibly nutritious and healthy, and possibly the secret to youthful skin!! The water is contained within a gel like flesh on the inner lining of the nut and tastes very different to the milk taken from the coconut meat (see Cocoloco). This is the endosperm of the nut and contains simple sugars fructose and glucose. These sugars change and become more complex as the nut matures, as does the flavour. Once fully matured, 90% of the sugar content is sucrose which gives it a much sweeter flavour and higher calorie content.

Coconut water though is very low in calories - only 19 calories per 100ml - and contains excellent amounts of potassium and good amounts of calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, zinc and B vitamins along with an impressive array of amino acids, cytokines and other antioxidants. This is what makes coconut water such a great medium for rehydration, specifically the potassium content which helps the body to revitalise at cellular level. And probably why the sports and health foods industry are beginning to promote this as a wonder product - with a wonder price! Seeing a bottle of coconut water on sale in the UK back in the summer, I was stunned to see it carrying a price tag of £2.50 - they cost Rs 15 here (equal to 17p). 

Coconut water is a fantastic fluid replacement drink post diarrhoea, and much tastier than those revolting rehydration salts. My poor husband has been so sick the last few days with a nasty case of 'Bangalore belly' and has managed to recover drinking glass after glass of chilled coconut water. Lemon juice can be added to increase the flavour - I have a friend who added fanta, but not sure that's such a good thing (you know who you are!!).

Along with hydration, tender coconut water aids digestion (in Ayurveda it promotes Agni, digestive fire), its antiseptic properties kill intestinal worms, helps clear urinary tract problems, increases mental concentration, helps cleanse the liver and reduce jaundice and, apparently, is an aphrodisiac! So even with a hefty price tag, you can't really lose!

But that's not all! Tender coconut water is reported to be wonderful for the skin (as are other coconut products). It can help prevent prickly heat and reduces and soothes rashes from chicken pox, measles, sunburn and just general random itching. It's light, cooling properties soothes and calms. This is particularly useful in general skin care. If you have oily skin, tender coconut water can be used as a skin cleanser. For all skin types, it can also be dabbed on the delicate skin areas underneath the eyes - it soothes puffiness and hydrates the skin thereby reducing wrinkles. I must say, I've not tested this yet, but will soon and eagerly await good results!

So if you ever get the chance to stop at a roadside coconut seller, you can either drink it there and then (watch out how clean the straw is though!) or get the vendor to prepare the nut for easy opening at home, unless you happen to have your own machete in the kitchen drawer that is! Once opened, coconut water starts losing it's beneficial properties and if left more than 48 hours could turn bitter and unpalatable. I don't know how the coconut water that ends up on the shelves far away from their origins is prepared and stored, but it probably has lost a fair amount of goodies and maybe flavour. When I finally return to the UK at the end of the year, I'll give it a go and see how it compares. Maybe it will bring back some amazing memories!

Humdinging hummus

Thank goodness for hummus! Not the usual thing to say, but for me it's a lunch time saviour. Finding healthy, easy dairy free snacks can be a bit challenging at times, especially when all you want to eat is cheese, but hummus is just perfect. Back in the UK, it was easy to pick up a pot from the supermarket, but over here in India, it's not available, so I had to learn how to make it myself. Finding tinned chickpeas is not so easy either and cooking them from scratch takes a long time. Then I discovered the joys of a pressure cooker!
There are many noises that I will always associate with India - horns, mopeds, random men shouting "hoy" and the ubiquitous pressure cooker. Early in the morning, and at odd times throughout the day, a symphony of pressure cooker whistles can be heard all around the compound I live in as various breakfast and lunch dishes are prepared. I soon realised that pressure cookers are used so much to save time - Indian cooking involves a lot of preparing from the basics. Boiling items not only takes time, but also energy, and when your gas supply comes from canisters which are rationed, you want to use as little as possible. Two hours of boiling beans until they are tender is out.
Soaking chickpeas overnight for pressure cooking the next morning has become a way of life. For hummus, not only is this so much cheaper, even for organic goods, but healthier as the tinned version soaks in fluid containing added sugar and salt. The carbohydrates in chickpeas are complex, and so take longer to digest by the body, releasing a smooth flow of energy that lasts some time. Added sugar is refined and is rapidly released, giving your body extra work to do and adding stress.  I use the cooking water in the hummus as it contains extra flavour and any vitamins and minerals that may have leeched out from the pulses during cooking, whereas the tinned version I throw it away and so that extra flavour.
If you've never used a pressure cooker before, it's really easy but a bit scary!! Simply place your bean or pulse in the bottom of the pan, add water until their covered plus a little more. You don't want too much excess fluid in the pan, but equally you need enough so it doesn't burn dry. Attach the lid until it's secure, and turn on the heat to a medium level. Once the pressure has built up, it it suddenly whistle and releases a load of steam - don't stand too close when this happens. Apart from anything else, it's really loud, but you could get burnt. I usually cook my chickpeas for 10 minutes after the first whistle, then turn off the heat and leave until it's cooled down. It's really important not to remove the lid until all the built up steam has dissipated otherwise you will get a nasty burn.
Once the chickpeas are ready, it's time to whip up your hummus.  Packed with goodies, it combines the excellent protein source of chickpeas and the nutritional powerhouse of sesame seeds, the main ingredient of tahini. There's so much to say about both of these and not room here but be sure to know that both will have their own feature on the blog soon!!!
The best thing about home made hummus is being able to customise it to how you like it. Shop bought versions can be quite high in fat and tend to contain preservatives and additives. The fat content can be controlled by using less olive oil and more cooking water, or home made tahini that has less added oil into it. The lemon not only added a beautiful sharp flavour but helps release the protein and B vitamins locked up in the pulse. There's also variety, as mine seems to come out different every time I make it!! So have a play around - don't be tied to measurements too much and experiment.

Homemade hummus
250 grams of dried chickpeas soaked over night or one tin, rinsed and drained
approx 1/4 cup cooking liquid or water
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves of garlic crushed (or more if you like it strong)
salt to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil - less or more depending on how much fat you want added
ground cumin to garnish
Put all the ingredients except the cumin and the liquid or water into a food processor. Add a little of the liquid and blitz until you get a smoothish paste. Add a little more liquid if the mix is too dry and blitz again. Stop and check, taste and add more of any of the ingredients (except chickpeas) to customise your flavour and texture. Once you're happy, place in a serving dish and sprinkle ground cumin on the top. Enjoy with raw veggies, pita or in a wrap. Or just on the end of your finger if you can't wait!