Bangalore Vegan Treat Alert: Coco Truce Cashew Cheese and Mayo Spreads

Herby, eh? Photo Cred: Coco Truce

Yo Yo Zebras!


You gotta love this city. This Bangalore, I tell you. The amount of local homegrown vendors making vegan treats is on the rise. This means plant-based substitutes is going to be way more accessible and even affordable.  Heads up, I'll be featuring  local vegan companies a couple times a month on my blog so that YOU can dig in, support, and celebrate local food and people making  kind, ethical, and sustainable treats.

So today we have the very spectacular Coco Truce. This Bangalore based homegrown company is run by a couple of vegans in the city. They are offering Cashew Cheese spread and Vegan Mayonnaise for right now. I think they also do a beetroot Hummus too.

Looks like Coco Truce has been Hella Busy. Photo Cred: Coco Truce

This week I got a jar of the cashew cheese and the vegan mayonnaise. First of all, the jars are pretty large. I was expecting tiny bottles, but listen-up coco truce, your camera angles make the jars look smaller than they are. I'd reckon we are getting 250 grams in each jar.


So let's get down to how they taste. The cashew cheese is lovely, right amount of tang, right amount of creamy. This is great on a sandwich or on crackers. I'd say surprise your friends with a fruit, nut and cracker board with this cheese and watch your big mighty jar be finished on the quick.


Let's get to the mayo. So, this is not your traditional mayo. I was expecting it to be a mayo substitute.  In the market a lot of the diet-eggless mayonnaise brands are default vegan. That means a lot of oil, but you know, whatever, it's mayo. But Coco Truce's mayo is more like a delicious salad dressing. I didn't find it oily at all. I used it as a millet-salad dressing, thinned it out with some water, added a chili for extra spiciness and a lump of jaggery to balance it out and it was so good! This spread can be used on sandwiches, pasta salads, and even be used in place of chutney.

Vegan-up your lunch. Photo Cred: Coco Truce

What I really loved about these guys were the amount of herb garnishing on top. Adds that oomph. It's almost sexy.

Each jar of cheese is 250 rupees and the mayo is 200 bucks, which is very reasonable given the amount and the ingredients.  I haven't tried the cheese on pizza yet, but you can bet I'll be doing that this week.

Masala Papad and Coco Truce Spreads were made for each other. Photo Cred: Coco Truce

 This weekend I really scored.  I got Coco Truce treats on Friday, and this Sunday met some vegan friends for lunch and scored a batch of Vegitein Spicy vegan hotdogs and veggie meat strips from the founder of Vegitein, Salona Lutchminarain. I have tried them before and they are amazing. The veggie meat strips just need to be fried up. The texture is amazing. The price to is amazing. 200 bucks for 5 hearty sausage links or 400 grams of veggie meat strips. Listen, mockmeat is the future of meat. We have a huge-ass problem with the industrialised meat and dairy.Whether you are vegan or not, consider using mock meat for some of your meals. It goes a long way in creating a compassionate sustainable future. Let's do this, yeah?

Sneak Peak of my Vegitein swag (Hotdogs + Veggie Meat strips) - stay tuned for a blog on this! 

                                                                                Photo Cred: Coco Truce

I'll be doing an interview with Carrots (which was the first vegan restaurant in Bangalore) and talking about Vegitein in upcoming blogs. So watch out, that vegan fever is going to bite you, albeit compassionately. Haaha, don't you love lame vegan jokes?

Photo Cred: Coco Truce

Alright ants, to order Coco Truce spreads, click on their FB link here and inbox them. Have a solidly super week people!

The Incredible Hulk: Vegan Mushroom Black Bean Burger

Now that's one hot burger

Hi Kangaroos!

Today is Sunday. I cleaned out my cupboard, I washed the dishes, then set out to make some incredible burgers with all the strappings: toasty bun, vegan mayo,  mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.  I made my burger 'meat' dancing to Taylor Swift. Yeah, it was that kinda night.

So here's a meaty burger made only with kindness. no moos, no baas, all plant-based and delicious. Plus it's so much healthier (duh). Instead of breadcrumbs to coat I used cornflakes for an extra crunch, plus we're going to bake the patties! You can totally pan-fry them too. Whatever floats your boat.


So here we go, hoppers!

Beans and mushrooms make 'meat'

'
What You Need


For the Patties

2.5 cups  cooked beans ( combination of black and chickpeas or any one of the two)
If using canned:
2 cans black beans (or cook them yourself and drain)  you can also  cook them. 1.5 cup black beans and one cup chickpeas. I used one can of black beans and 1 cup of chickpeas- both were canned, it's more expensive but I always keep a few canned cooked beans in my house for quick recipes. Please note: you need a total of 2.5 cups of cooked beans. So if you are cooking the beans yourself, please measure uncooked beans accordingly.

1 package white mushrooms ( about 4 cups of whole fresh mushrooms)

1/2 onion

4-5 pods garlic

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (dhanya)

1.5 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce ( make sure it's the vegan/vegetarian kind without the anchovies)

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar (or jaggery)

1 teaspoon cumin powder ( jeera)

1 teaspoon chile powder

1 green chile chopped finely

4  teaspoons Seasonings of choice ( chileflakes, oregano, Italian seasoning, pre-mixed dry herbs)


For burger-patty coating

2 tablespoons flax seeds ground
1/4th cup water
2-3 cups cornflakes crushed


Some Condiments 

Slice tomatoes, onions, lettuce, spring onions or any other vegetable toppings you'd like

Vegan Mayo

Ketchup

Mustard

Buns

4 vegan burger buns (just make sure to check for milk solids on the package)



Let's Make It

If you are not using canned beans, cook the beans, drain and let cool. Wash all your veggies.

Finley chop your mushroom into tiny pieces

Blend your onion +garlic in a paste. Heat some oil on a pan and add the garlic-onion paste. Now add your chopped mushroom and let cook for about 5-6 minutes on a medium-high flame.

Cooking them mushrooms +onion +garlic

Meanwhile, blend your beans or mash them up with your hands. They should be rough-pasty, it's ok for some half-formed beans to be in there. Now add your cooked mushrooms. Add salt, chilies, spices, cilantro, Worcestershire sauce ( I used Wakefeild brand), and brown sugar and mix completely. It's ok if its a bit wet. You can use up to 2 tablespoons flour to make it come together a bit more.

It will 'somewhat' look like THIS

Now in a bowl mix your ground flax seeds with 1/4th cup water. On a plate crush your cornflakes.
Make large patties out of your bean-mushroom mix, it's ok if it's a a little sloppy. Just makes sure to have everything laid out including a oven pan to lay down the patties after you finish coating.

Here's you 'coating station'

Take each patty rub some flaxseed-mix on each side of the patty and coat with cornflakes. Add to pan. When you have all your patties coated, add it to a pre-heated oven at 180c. Drizzle with oil before you pop them in. Bake for about 15- 20 minutes.

That's what they should look like right before you hit'em in the oven

While they are in the oven (or you can pan-fry them too), slice up onions and tomato rounds. You can add lettuce and spring onions too.

Your Burger Veggie Bar, at your service!

Toast your buns, add a nice layer of vegan mayo (many eggless brands in India are default vegan, but some of them still contain milk solids, so check the label) Add your patty, top with the veggies, and add any other condiments like mustard or ketchup.

Now eat that baby in style!

Happy Monday folks. Behave, keep it kind, and keep it real!

Peanut Butter Power Balls (Vegan, Yes)

It's kind of hard to make protein balls look good. But meh, Instagram filters.

Hi Cats!

I was way lazy to write a blog today. It's Monday after all.


But I made these protein balls and had enough foresight to take pictures, so I am like I might as well write this thing. But still, I am like typing stream of conscious. Can you tell?


Anyway.


So these little babies have no oil. It's all protein, all nutrition. Only oat flour (no maida/flour), and there is jaggery instead of sugar. That doesn't mean jaggery is any better for you, but it has more minerals in it, so whatever, feel better about it. It also requires no real cooking or baking. Yay!

All the good stuff

Here's what you need

1 cup oat flour (just take a cup of oats and grind it in the blender)

1/2 cup almonds

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons jaggery syrup or melted jaggery (add more if you like it sweeter)

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

2 tablespoons plant-based mylk or water

1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

11/2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

How to make

In a giant bowl add everything.

That's everything. Although I ended up adding more peanut butter.

Ok wait. Before that chop up half of your almonds into bits (rough cut) and blend the other half into almond flour. Mix it with your oat flour. You can also just add half the almond and cup of oats to one blender along with your flax seeds and make one powder.

Ok so now add your oat flour/almond flour/flaxseeds powder into the bowl. Add your chopped almonds, chia seeds, vanilla, jaggery syrup,  pinch of salt, and peanut butter on top. Now slowly mix. It will be all lumpy and show no signs of ever coming together. But keep mixing. Now add your two tablespoons water/plant mylk. Now get your hands dirty and start squeezing it into a dry dough. It might be very dry, that's ok.

It will seem daunting at first. Things get better.

Start to make balls out of the dough, it will be tougher than making  oil-laddos because the mixture is not that wet, but keep working at it. If it's really way to dry you can add a tablespoon more of water.

And that's it! Makes about 8 medium protein balls. Since are nutrient packed and not that sweet they're great to start your day with. It's also a solid post- workout snack choice.

See, they look nice and healthy, right?

I'll see you guys when it's the weekend again. Until then, make it through the week cats! I know you can.

A New Vegan/Veggie Scene in Bangalore - Off The Radar

Photo Cred: Off the Radar 

Ola Blue Jays,

This past Saturday me and my partner Indra headed to Off the Radar, a travel cafe that offers a 90% vegan menu + the option to veganise most of their other vegetarian dishes. Off The Radar is the third vegan haunt that is haunting (pardon the lame pun) on koramangala 80-feet road. Carrots, Paradigm Shift, and now Off the Radar. So it's official folks, 80-feet road Koramangala is the Vegan Belt of Bangalore.

They are kind of opposite Nasi and Mee, tucked away inside the Wolfpack wildlife and nature store. To start with, we ordered their vegan peanut butter and banana shake and it was hardcore delicious. Then we had the vegan Alfredo pasta made with almond milk. I asked them to make it spicy. We were both blown away with how fantastic it was. Spicy, creamy, al-dente pasta, just the good stuff, man! Indra also had a hearty vegetarian grilled sandwich. We split a cucumber and corn salad that was fresh, zesty, with a green chili kick.

That's the almond milk pasta. This was so.freaking.good. ( Photo Cred: Off the Radar ) 

All in all a very satisfying lunch that was very easy on the pocket to boot. We will be going back. The reason I am writing about this is because there is more to the story. The owners Komal and Nithin are kind of living the dream. Travel is at the heart of their existence ( and you will def pick up on that energy with the aesthetics of this place). They want to open up the space to a community of passionate people. They already had one successful documentary screening (where they squeezed in 30 + people into their small cafe). Cooking classes, photography, and other creative workshops and documentary screenings are just some of the other stuff they want to use the cafe space for too.

yay books (Photo Cred: Off the Radar )

So, I asked Komal and Nithin 3 questions. Let's get to it!

That's Nithin and Komal (Photo Cred: Off the Radar )

Me: So what's the story with you two? Travellers, photographers, environmentalists? How does your real life passions translate to your cafe

Komal and Nithin: We are best friends, foodies, travellers and nature conservers. In addition to this, Nithin is a wildlife photographer and brings in values and principles that are environment friendly. I am an art admirer, kathak dancer and love to create beautiful spaces. We constantly seek adventure in life and meet interesting people which lead us to start the cafe.

We truly believe in exploring different terrains and location around the globe. This is due to our love and passion to admire the beauty of nature and to preserve it in its pristine form. The cafe is a space for like minded folks to hang out, communicate and spread the message to the community about responsible travel. We want to give out lots of information about travel destinations and also act as a catalyst to raise awareness about nature conservation.

Photo Cred: Off the Radar 

Me: Tell me the most dangerous situation you've gotten into while travelling?

Komal and Nithin: In 2012, we went on a road trip to the Western Ghats (Dandeli - Karwar - Gokarna) in peak rainy season. The visibility was zero at certain times which was pretty scary as there were lorries and trucks coming from the opposite direction. When we finally reached Gokarna, we decided to halt there and go for a quick trek to the one tree hill on Om beach (as the weather seemed okay with less chance of rain). Once there, we were tempted to sit on a huge rock which was slant. Just as we did that, it started to pour and a really huge wave came on us. The intensity was so much that it made us slip on the rock. That’s when we knew that we shouldn’t be there and started to head back. It had turned dark and our torch batteries died. We were soon lost in the darkness and had to be watchful of our steps as we could fall into crevices in the rocks. After a trek that seemed like an eternity, we spotted a tiny light and headed towards that. We then found the trail and reached the guest house, dripping head to toe.

Me: What are your favorite things on the menu?

Komal and Nithin: We love everything! It’s difficult to pick our favourite as every item on the menu has been personally chosen by our chefs and us. Before we decided the items on the menu, we were sure of one thing… to offer food that we would love to eat at a cafe.

Yoga Bars  (Photo Cred: Off the Radar)

Me: Where do you see Off The Radar 5 years from now?

Komal and Nithin: We would be the ‘go to’ place for any traveller or outdoor loving community where travel related activities will be organised regularly. A place buzzing with people who have interesting stories and ideas to share about travel, adventure and life that will inspire many others.


So, Bangalore, sound like your kind of people/place? The owners are always happy to chat, or leave you alone to read a book, or have a lazy meal with friends. It's the kind of place that automatically hugs the mood you want to be in.

Yay for more vegan options in Bangalore!

Orange Oatmeal Almond Cake ( You Bet It's Vegan)

That Cake Has  A Lot Going On

Yo Magpies!

This Friday I wanted to try something new-ish. I had no vanilla in the house, which is kind of a problem when it comes to baking. But meh, I did without it without any major repercussions. So today we have a Orange Almond Oatmeal Cake. It also has coconut, but I thought it would be rather narcissistic if this one baked good had to christen itself orange-almond-coconut-oatmeal cake. We get it cake, you got a lot going on.

So Bangalore totally has its orange season going on. So let's make merry. I also added a note on making a quick batch of oat mylk (takes all of 4 minutes), and you can find that below the recipe.



Here's what you need

11/4 cup flour
3/4th cup oats
1/2 sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2teaspoon baking powder
1/2teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
2 Oranges Juiced
1 teaspoon fresh orange rind
3/4th cup almonds blended into almond meal
1 cup oat mylk (or any plant mylk like coconut, soy, almond, cashew)
1/2 cup dried coconut
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Just some of the yum going in this baby

How to Make

In a large bowl mix your sugar (you can use 1 cup regular sugar if you don't have brown to mix it with) with your oil, salt, and vanilla (because unlike me you have vanilla, right?). Make sure all the is sugar dissolved. Blend your almonds into a coarse powder (that's almond meal).

That's what blended almonds look like

Add the almond meal into the sugar-oil mix, then add your coconut and oat milk and vinegar. It won't look pretty but make sure to stir well. Now add the juice of 2 freshly squeezed oranges + your orange rind. Just use a cucumber peeler to scrape the side of an orange. You'll need to finely chop the rind.

That's about how fine you want your rind

It's time to add the flour and oats, do so carefully starting with the flour, then the oats. Ad your baking powder +soda. Ok, so now you have a nice thick (put still a little bit pourable) batter. Grease your loaf pan with a good layer of oil. Preheat oven to 180-185c. Spoon your batter in the greased pan.

Right before going in that oven

Pop that lovely in for about 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes with a knife.Let it cool for 20 minutes before you try any cutting tricks. You should have a wholesome, zesty, nutty cake that will go perfect with black tea or coffee! YUM.


Quick Oat Mylk Magic

It's magic

To make Oat mylk you just basically do 3/4th water and 1/4th oatmeal and blend. So if you use 2 cups water use  1/2-3/4th cup oats. Now just blend the oatmeal and water for a minute. After that strain it out with a mesh, squeeze the leftover oatmeal pulp for every last drop. You can also add 2-3 tablespoons sugar to sweeten. To make it creamer add 5-8 cashews to the oatmeal and water too before blending. Strain as usual and there's you quick and easy oat mylk!




Have a good weekend, keep it kind, keep it real!

My First (Why) Vegan Video ( Sorta Propaganda, Sorta Not)