Soulful Creations

I never have and never will buy red velvet anything at the pastry/cupcake shops- the color is off putting and I can only guess how sweet these things might be. I never have understood the popularity of this cake/cupcake anyway. I have been looking around for a natural version of the red velvet cake and boy was I glad to see this recipe here from the gorgeous blog by Aparna . I could not wait to try it, in fact I began craving for it.    Ingredients, did not modify it, well except I got rose and beets in mine!   1 1/4 cups all purpose flour   1 1/4 cup granulated sugar   1 1/2 tbsp dark cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)   1 1/2 tsp baking powder   1/4 tsp salt   3/4 cup fresh pureed beets   1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil) 1/4 cup lemon juice   1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 tsp rose water  Method Wash the beets, scrape/ peel and slice them. Cook them (steam cook or microwave) till they’re well done. Cool and purée the cooked beets along with about 3 or

I love a lot of the food blogs and eventually I begin to love the food bloggers themselves for their creativity. One such food blogger is Raaga- The Singing Chef. She has a lovely blog filled with wonderful recipes and stories. When Divya announced that Raaga's blog is being featured on Tried  and Tasted , I was thrilled and I had to make something from her blog. I chose a rice dish for a simple reason that Raaga puts it best herself "Pulaos are multipurpose dishes. They are showstoppers at parties, timesavers on weekend and lifesavers during weekday lunches." Cauliflower peas pulao from her blog Ingredients:  2 cup Basmati Rice 1 cup Peas 2 cup Cauliflower florets Salt to Taste 1-2 tbsp Oil ¼ tsp Asafoetida 1” stick Cinnamon 3 Cloves Masala (Grind to a Paste):   3 tbsp frozen Coconut, thawed 1 1/2 cup Coriander Leaves 3 Green chillies 1" piece Ginger 3 pods Garlic 1 medium Onion, roughly chopped 1” stick Cinnamon 3 Cloves  1 tbsp Khus-Khus, soaked in

This is a Hindu festival celebrated at the beginning of Tamil month Panguni. It is in honor of Sathi Savithiri who brings back her husband from the clutches of death God Yama. Read more about her story here at Forum for Hindu Awakening . The image below is also from their website. For this festival, the women folk fast for their husband's health and constant companionship. They break their fast with these adais or cakes made with black eyed peas, hence the name karadai (காரடை). Basic Ingredients 1 cup rice flour (For the flour, rinse rice in water and then dry them until it is only slightly dry, do NOT overdry) 1/4 cup dried black eyed peas, soaked in water overnight and dry roasted the next day 1/2 cup coconut (preferred form is small chopped slices) 1 cup water 1 tbsp cooking oil/ ghee For the sweet version 1 tsp elaichi/ cardamom powder 3/4 cup jaggery (this depends on the sweetness you want) For the salt version 1 tsp mustard seeds 2-3 green chillies

You probably have had this drink, you probably have a different name for it- we, in our family, call it inji sorasam or in my words, अदरक का रस (இஞ்சி சொரசம்). Believe me when I say this one has nothing do with RASAM. This juice essentially brings back childhood memories of the days when we would be given an oil bath (an oil bath is usually an extravagant affair in our household, or at least used to be). On some eventful Saturday mornings when we were required to cleanse our systems, we would be given surathavarai kashayam,. No amount of wailing or running around the house would help, my mom would eventually make us drink the kashayam. One sip of the kashayam and anything else would seem heavenly! Half a day later of ingesting that thing called kashayam, we would be given an oil bath which was followed by light lunch and inji sorasam. Since my mom is visiting, I made her make the ginger juice for me the day after she arrived. Of course why would I even bother with the kashayam, no mo

Chocolate bread: The original recipe for this bread comes from the lovely book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking I made a bunch of alternations to include different flours and go eggless on this one. Here is my version (halved the recipe that was in the book) Ingredients For the ganache: 2 oz semisweet chocolate 1/4 cup unsalted butter Yeast and egg susbstitutes: 1/2 cup and 12 tbsp lukewarm water 3/4 pkt active dry yeast 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup applesauce 1 tbsp flaxseed in 3 tbsp water 1/2 cup and 3 tbsp honey Dry ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour 3/4 cup barley flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 1/2 oz dark chocolate, cut to pieces Egg wash Method Melt butter and chocolate ("Ganache") in a microwave, do like 20 sec or so runs and keep an eye on it- do not let it burn. Set aside. Mix the ingredients listed as "yeast and egg substitutes" in a separate bowl. Once mixed add

I chanced upon this recipe while trying to use up my red cabbage for my International Vegetarian recipe series. Ingredients 1 medium head red cabbage, cored and sliced 2 large tart apples, peeled and cubed 1 medium sweet onion, sliced  1 1/2 cups water 1 cup cider vinegar (substituted with 1/4 cup regular vinegar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup raspberry white balsamic vinegar) 1/2 cup sugar (added only about 4 tbsp ) 1 tablespoon butter 1 teaspoon salt 6 whole peppercorns 2 whole allspice 2 whole cloves 1 bay leaf 2 teaspoons cornstarch 2 teaspoons cold water Method In a Dutch oven, toss cabbage, apples and onion. Add water, vinegar, sugar, butter and salt. Place the peppercorns, allspice, cloves and bay leaf on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and stir with kitchen string to form a bag. Add to Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/4 hours. Discard spice bag. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and