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Showing posts with label vegan desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegan desserts. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Black Rice Truffles with Coconut Custard ( The Vegan Attakali )

IMP - This is an original recipe created by the blogger and has been published for the first time on Oriyarasoi. 


At times, when I look at food, my thoughts begin to wander far and wide. How would a dish look like if it were to be prepared in a different realm or even in a different era ? That inspires me to take a very mundane everyday dish and give it a makeover. For me a makeover is all about preserving the very soul of a recipe while mutating it into something very different. And that is exactly what I have done with the 'attakali', a traditional Odia dessert. Of course, this recipe is a late Teacher's day tribute to Masterchef Vikas Khanna for it is his show 'Twist of Taste' that really inspires me to take on such mammoth challenges.

For the uninitiated, 'attakali' consists of rice balls immersed in a rice custard (more like a phirni). It is quite low in calories as compared to other desserts and is usually prepared on certain festive days. In my recipe, I have used two varieties of rice. The black or purple rice from Manipur is used to create the rice balls and the sweet smelling Gobindo bhog from Bengal is cooked in coconut milk to create a vegan custard. The nuttiness of the black rice complements the sweetness of the Gobindo bhog to build a unique flavor. This is a vegan version of the 'attakali'.

Read on for the recipe -




















Preparation Time - 40 mins

Ingredients -

For the rice balls -


  • 1/2 cup Black (Manipur) rice 
  • 3-4 tsp jaggery
  • 2 tsp almond paste (optional)
  • a pinch of cardamom
  • toasted sesame seeds for garnishing



For the coconut custard


  • 3 tsp Gobindo bhog rice ( one can use Jeera rice instead ) 
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 2-3 tsp sugar 
  • 2 pinch white pepper powder
  • toasted charoli seeds

Preparation - Wash and soak the two rice varieties separately . 

Grind the purple rice into a fine paste without using too much water. Add the jaggery and grind it again. Keep aside

Grind the Gobindo bhog rice separately.

Cooking - 

For making the rice balls -

Boil about 1/4 cup water in a wok. 

Add the purple rice and jaggery paste. Cook on low to medium flame as it thickens. 

Once it starts to solidify, add the almond paste and the cardamom powder. Remove from the flame and keep aside it is bearable to touch the dough.

Rub a few drops of oil on the fingers and knead it again. Divide the dough into small portions and shape into balls by rolling between the palms. 

Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on a plate. Roll these balls gently on the seeds.

For the coconut custard -

Bring the coconut milk and sugar to a gentle boil. Add the Gobindo bhog rice paste and keep stirring it till it thickens to a thin custard like consistency. 

Add the powdered white pepper and toasted charoli at this stage. Mix it in. Remove from the flame. Let it cool down before popping it into the fridge for 15 mins.

Serve the rice balls (at room temperature) with a dollop of the chilled coconut-rice custard. 


















Note - Want to look up the original 'Attakali' recipe ? Check out HERE.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Vegan Mango Mousse

Everytime I visit one of those lavish spreads at any of the popular restaurants, the one regular fixture on the desserts menu is a mousse. But the one thing that stops me from digging into them is the humongous amount of calories contained in a tiny portion. Also, it doesn't help when I think about all the chemicals that go into it. Yes, that pretty looking cup/glass might very well contain gelatin, agar agar, artificial flavoring and a slew of chemicals that might have made their way into the whipping cream/heavy cream.

That's why I choose to go vegan whenever I have the craving for some nice wholesome mousse. Taking avocado as the base ingredient, I can add any fruit plup or cocoa powder for the flavoring . For sweetening the final product, raw honey works just as great. Ta-daaa. My delicious vegan mousse is ready.

Check out the easy-peasy recipe -


















Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -


  • 2 ripe avocados
  • pulp of two ripe mangoes
  • 2-3 tsp honey ( use a bit more if you want )
  • few drops of vanilla extract ( can be substituted with cardamom powder )

Preparation - Halve the avocados. Remove the stone and scoop out the flesh.

Throw into the blender jar. Add the mango pulp, few drops of vanilla extract and the honey. Buzz for a few seconds.

Pour into the serving cups. Pop into the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Garnish with small mango cubes. Serve chilled.


















Note - This mousse stay fresh fresh for upto 24 hours when kept in a airtight container in the fridge .


Thursday, April 14, 2016

Lemon Chili Popsicles ( A Blast from the Past )

Summers can be quite unforgiving in the interiors of Odisha. The oppressive dry heat coupled with hot gusts of wind can sap up one's energy levels within the first few hours of the day leaving one with that listless and parched feeling. Not very surprisingly, digging into something chilled on such days actually feels like being offered Manna from heaven. One such sweet memory from my growing up years in Rourkela, a tiny steel township in Odisha, is that of  'Popsicles', then fondly referred to as the 'kathi' (meaning stick) ice-cream or ice lollies.

Imagine the plight of a bunch of school kids being held to ransom ( for knowledge, no ulterior motives detected here ) behind the huge wrought iron gates of a convent on the blazing summer days. The interiors of the classrooms being no better than the fiery blast furnaces that the city is known for. We would wait eagerly for the last bell to go off before rushing out to descend on the lone ice-cream vendor stationed outside the gate. That too for the ice lollies which were available in just 1 flavor and about three to four shades. Talk about being uncomplicated. Orange, beetroot red and yellow, three distinct shades which were sadly identical in taste, but were labelled as different flavors by the wily vendor. Now that my memory cells are all jogged up, I remember that there was a white one too. Milk ice-cream to be precise but which was kept always relegated to the last. Only to be picked when the others ran out. While those lollies did a great job of quenching our parched throats, there were some obvious side effects. The dripping liquid stained the hands, tongue and sometimes even one's cheek. But the worst was when it dripped all the way down to strain our pristine white uniforms and socks. No prizes for guessing the fallout. That could take up another blog post or two if I were to put it in candid details. However with the advent of branded ice-cream parlours, the ice lollies became a thing of the past and I conveniently forgot about them. That is till they re-emerged in a brand new avatar. The dazzling display of colors that stared at me from the pages of a leading daily seemed nothing like the ice lollies that we had relished. Food ! Indeed, it has come a long way.

But then I have come a long way too. 1816 kilometers to be precise. No less. Jokes apart, sitting in the cool confines of my Bangalore flat, I admit struggling to get used to this alien sounding name which kind of interferes with those sepia tinted memories of mine. "What's in a name?", Shakespeare may proclaim. " A bunch of memories and maybe some more too", would have been my reply a new months back. But not any more.

Inhibitions are the single largest factor that get in our way to achieving 'food nirvana'. This realization hit home when I tried out octopus and squid for the first time (of course with a lot of trepidation)  and fell in love instantaneously. That led me to create a bucket list of all those wonderful dishes/ingredients that I had been missing for the longest time. And i have been revising it ever since.

So, when I tried my hand at making popsicles, I went all out in my efforts to make it something memorable. And hence the birth of the 'Lemon Chili Popsicles' which also packs the freshness of mint and that subtle flavor of sea salt ( or 'Himalayan pink salt' for the more fastidious folks ). It turned out to be a double delight when my popsicles ran out within 20 mins of making their maiden debut and within another hour, I got a email mentioning 'Sweet and spicy' to be the current #foodventures theme. Now, if you have been following my blog, 'Foodventures' is an exciting venture by my food inspiration Vikas Khanna, and my favorite food and travel writer cum host Vir Sanghvi which promises to change the way we have been looking at food.

For now, check out the recipe for 'Lemon Chili Popsicles'  -


















Preparation Time - 20 mins ( plus 4-5 hours freezing time )

Ingredients -


  • 1/2 cup lime juice
  • 2/3 cup sugar syrup
  • 1 cup water
  • a handful of mint leaves 
  • 3-4 green chilis
  • 2-3 pinch sea salt/ Himalayan salt

Preparation - To get the sugar syrup ready, boil sugar and water in equal quantities for a few minutes. Once it thickens, remove from flame and keep aside to cool down.

Take the green chilis and chop into small rings. De-seed them to minimize their heat. (It is ok if a few seeds are left behind)

Take 1/2 cup lime juice, 2/3 cups sugar syrup, 1 cup water, 6-7 mint leaves, a wee bit of green chili and 2-3 pinch sea salt in a blender jar. Blend for 2 mins.

Strain and pour the liquid into the popsicle molds and top each one with a few mint leaves and chilis .

Pop the molds into the freezer and let it set for 4-5 hours. Overnight is always preferable.


















De-mold by rubbing each one between the palms. Serve immediately.

That was my version of a 'Sweet and Spicy' foodventure. Check out this fabulous video which features the culinary giant, Vikas Khanna,  with his 'Sweet and Spicy' foodventure - 









If you are also passionate about embarking on adventures with food and have something in mind that fits the bill of being 'Sweet and Spicy', share it on #Foodventures by Axis Bank Dining Delights HERE. Who knows it might just be your lucky day and you could get a chance to feature in a video with one of the two food visionaries - Vikas Khanna or Vir Sanghvi !

Do not forget to drop a comment or two on the blog. I love to read them all.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Meetha Suji (Suji ka Halwa)

Meetha Suji. I kind of grew up eating this version of 'Suji halwa' as it is popularly known in most parts of the country . Seasoned with bay leaves and just the right amount of ghee, it was the answer to every Odia kid's 4 o' clock hunger pangs. 



















Cooking Time Required : 10-15 minutes

Ingredients -

  • 1 cup Suji/semolina
  • 4-5 tsp sugar 
  • 1/4 cup ghee
  • dry fruits (raisins and cashews, i skipped as my kid does not like )
  • 2-3 nos bay leaves
  • 1 pinch salt

Cooking: Heat a pan. Put 1 tsp of ghee on it. Add the suji and stir periodically till it darkens a few shades(light brown). Remove from fire and keep aside. Fry the cashews and keep aside.

Pour 2 cups of water into a deep vessel (kadai) and put on the stove. Bring to a boil. Add the roasted suji and mix it continuously to prevent lumps formation. When the suji starts solidifying, add the sugar, cardamon and ghee. Mix it till the sugar almost dissolves, add the cashews and raisins, and remove from the stove. Keep it covered for 5 mins. Serve it hot.
















An old of mine with lots of added raisins and cashews :) :) !!

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