Across India in 80 Minutes

As promised, I'm going to share my yummy finds from this weekend's annual India Fest at the Agricenter. In a little over an hour (probably not exactly 80 minutes, but I thought it was a cute title), I sampled snacks from about five Indian states. Many of the booths at India Fest are organized by state, and from what the event organizers told me, each Indian state has a very distinct culture and specific regional foods.

Disclaimer: I didn't inquire as to the vegan-ness of most of these foods. I know much Indian food contains ghee (clarified butter) and I typically ask at restaurants, but the environment at India Fest was a little hectic. I'm not super-worried about accidentally eating some ghee, but I did stay away from foods that I know are usually prepared with ghee, like naan.

Here I am, ready for my culinary tour of India. Check out my bindhi — they gave these to all the girls as we entered the door:

And I was joined by fellow vegans Stephanie, Richard, and their new baby Peter (he's all wrapped up in the baby sling, so Steph would have her hands free to stuff her face):

My first stop was the booth for the state of Karnataka, where I sampled Ambode with Peanut Sauce. These reminded me of falafels, and the sauce was fantastic:

After eating the amode balls, I made a b-line for the Maharashtra booth. They had a number of yummy-sounding treats, but I'd heard great things about their Vada Pav. Vada Pav are balls of mashed garlic potatoes, deep-fried and served on a tiny bun with cilantro sauce and tamarind sauce. This may have been my favorite thing I ate:

Next I stopped at a snack tent, selling water, sodas, and these crunchy Murka sticks. There wasn't a sign for what state these came from. They're crispy, spicy noodles made from rice flour:

At the same booth, I also bought a Ladoo ball — a sweet deep-fried ball made from lentils, sugar, and nuts. It reminded me of a cross between a cake donut and a funnel cake:

Richard was craving his favorite Indian treat — Samosas. And we found some exceptionally-yummy ones at a booth for Swagruha Foods (a local Indian market). In case you don't know, samosas are deep-fried mashed potatoes and peas. At the same booth, I spotted some deep-fried chili peppers called Mirchi Bhaji. Both were super yummy dipped in sweet tamarind sauce:

By this point, I was pretty full, but I realized that I'd only eaten deep-fried snacks. I wanted something of substance to keep me satisfied for hours. So I opted for the Veggie Stew with Appam and Lemon Pickle at the booth for the state of Kerela:

I purchased the stew without looking at it, and when I got my plate, I kind of freaked out because it looked like it contained milk (though I may not worry about ghee, I can't eat something that's super-obviously not vegan). But thankfully, it was just coconut milk. The rich, creamy stew of potatoes and carrots was perfect poured over my appam (an Indian flatbread made from rice flour).

After filling up, I wandered over into the shopping area to purchase some bindhis and look at the sari selection. I spotted a booth for Bombay Salon where they were offering free henna! So of course, I got in line. Here's my fresh henna before it was dry. Please ignore my flaking nail polish:

And here's an after picture (note: I fixed my nails too):

Sorry for the super-long post, but I ate a crap-ton of food at India Fest! Also, I'd like to address an anonymous commenter from my last post who requested that I give up some recipes now and then. I've actually posted several from my book in the past. But now that I have a contract, I'm not sure if my publisher will allow me to divulge anymore. Many publishers place restrictions on giving out recipes that will be in the book. I'll check, and if I'm allowed, I'll post a teaser very soon.

Until then, here are a few links to cookbook recipes already on the blog. I didn't tag them well when I originally posted them, so I'm going on memory here. There may be more hidden within the blog, but these are the ones that I can remember for now.

Sample recipes: Cheeze Eggs, Tofu Deviled Eggy Bites, Whole Wheat Beer Bread, Chocolate Gravy (for your biscuits and such), and Country Potato Soup (as featured on the Crazy Sexy Life blog).

Gardein + Sweet P Fries + Broccoli

As I've mentioned on this blog time and time again, I'm cheap. Not in a trashy, tawdry way (well, maybe). But in the "I can't believe I just spent $5 on that!" way. Although I live for mock meats, I'm rarely willing to shell out the big bucks when I know I can make a batch of seitan for way, way cheaper. But let's face it — seitan is no Gardein.

Despite the high price tag of $4.99 per bag of 10 strips, Seven-Grain Gardein Crispy Tenders fill the hole in my little vegan heart. Whatever was missing from my life before is completely fulfilled thanks to these little munchkins:

Don't you just wanna squeeze his little mock meat cheeks and dip him in maple-Dijon sauce? That's exactly what I did. But I found the Gardein flavor so appealing, I abandoned the sauce and consumed the other two strips naked (they were naked, not me!).

But enough with the Gardein gushing. On the side, I tried deep-frying a batch of my Curried Sweet Potato Fries:

I've been tweaking this recipe for my cookbook and my original instructions called for baking. But sweet tater fries (or any fries, really) don't get crispy enough in the oven for me. So I'm adding frying instructions to the recipe. But I'll also leave in a baking alternative for those who'd prefer not to fry.

I also tested my Spicy Citus Broccoli Salad again:

This cold salad is a refreshing way to enjoy lightly steamed broccoli on hot summer days. It's spiced with red pepper flakes, sriracha, and a hint of lemon. Plus, it kinda makes up for the fact that I fried the hell out of my nutritious sweet potatoes, right? Here's the whole plate:

Chop, Chop

I didn't really grow up eating pork chops all that often. At least I don't remember eating them often (correct me if I'm wrong, Mama Crunk). I stopped eating meat at age 14, so my memories of most animal flesh products are vague. Thank god.

That being said, I was intrigued by a pork chop recipe in one of my mom's old spiral-bound church-style cookbooks awhile back. It called for chops to be cooked with a sweet 'n' savory tomato-based sauce and green bell peppers. Since anything can be improved with a little veganization, I took it upon myself to make a better dish using tempeh marinated in a pork-like marinade and a tastier homemade sauce. That was in the spring of 2009, and it turned out so well that I'm using it for my cookbook.

I tested my Tangy Tempeh Chops with Green Peppers again tonight:

While some recipes need major improvements upon re-testing, this one was pretty much spot-on. I musta got it right the first time. The stewed tomatoes and hearty bell pepper chunks are the perfect complement to the mild, sauteed tempeh strips and sweet sauce. I served the dish with brown rice and a small side salad.

Global Annoucements

I don't have any food pics to share right now. Okay, well I do. But I'm saving them for later posts because tonight I want to let y'all in on a couple of important announcements, both involving countries other than the U.S.


Let's start with Voracious Vegan's "Souljourn for World Hunger." If you follow Tasha's awesome blog, you're probably already in on this one, but hear me out. Back in the spring, the lovely Tasha lived on 1,000 calories or less (all consumed in one simple evening meal) for seven days in an effort to bring awareness to the plight of the world's 1.2 billion chronically hungry people. During the seven days, she also spent her time researching the whys and hows of world hunger. Read about her journey here.

Now Tasha and Kendra Swartz Pepper of the Conducive Chronicle are asking others to join them on their next Souljourn. Beginning in October, participants may choose to live on minimal calories for anywhere from 7 to 21 days. If you're interested in helping, click through to Tasha's Souljourn post to sign up.

During her last Souljourn, Tasha discovered that the planet actually produces more than enough food to feed its inhabitants. The problem is unfair distribution. Here's what she had to say:

1 out of every 6 human beings alive does not have enough food to survive. The most heartbreaking thing of all is that it does not have to be this way. This chronic hunger is not caused by famine or lack of food; in fact we grow more than enough food to sustain everyone. According to Food First, our planet produces enough for each person on earth to have 4.3 pounds of food every day; 2.3 lbs of grains, beans, and nuts, 1 lb of fruits and vegetables, and 1 lb of meat, eggs, and dairy products. That is more than 3,500 calories per person per day, a generous amount of food that everyone could survive on. And despite what many people think, emergencies account for less than 8 percent of hunger’s victims. Chronic hunger is therefore not a matter of lack of food or natural disasters; it is a matter of unequal and unfair distribution of food.

Will Vegan Crunk be taking part? Unfortunately no. Though I'd love to bring attention to this issue through a Souljourn of my own, I have only a few months to finish my cookbook. The manuscript is due in January, and I can't take any time off from testing now. But if another Souljourn occurs after my deadline, I'm all in. I felt like linking back to Tasha's post was the least I could do for now.

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In other global news, I wanted to let my Mid-Southern readers know about India Fest this weekend at the Agricenter at 7777 Walnut Grove. India Fest runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 28th.

This annual tribute to all things Indian will feature a ton of yummy vegetarian and vegan foods from the various states of India. Of course, there's some meat too, but we don't care about that, right? Participants can walk from booth to booth, each representing a different Indian state, sampling foods from every region.

If you're not local but wish you could go, never fear. I'm toting my camera along and I'll be posting about my Indian food finds on Sunday night.

Where'd All the Crowder Peas Go?

I know absolutely nothing about farming or gardening, but I do know what's supposed to be in season. Every year around this time, the Memphis Farmers Market is awash with fresh peas and beans of all shapes and sizes — purple hull peas, lima beans, butter beans, cream peas, lady peas, and my personal fave crowder peas.

Crowder Peas (image from DineWithDanielle.com)

But here lately, I've only been able to find fresh shelled purple hull peas and lima beans. That's it. No crowders. In case you don't know, both purple hulls and crowders are in the same cowpea family. Purple hulls are just like black-eyed peas but with more of a purplish-colored eye. And crowder peas are all squashed up in the pod, so they have squared-off ends and tend to look a little bigger. They taste about the same, but I prefer the texture of crowders to purple hulls.

Purple Hull Peas (image from BackYardChickens.com)

Does anyone know what's up with the lack of pea varieties in the Mid-South this year? We've had a way hot summer with temps in the 100s for almost a month. Could that be the culprit? Anyway, I ended up settling on a bag of shelled purple hull peas to test my Harvest Crowder Pea Soup for my cookbook:

They cook up in the same amount of time, so I think it's fine to test this recipe with purple hulls. And I guess now I can give people the option in the recipe of either crowder peas or purple hulls. If you could bottle late summer and pour it into a bowl, this soup is what it would taste like. Nothing says August to me like a fresh bowl of peas.

Soup isn't a meal without bread, so I decided to give my gently-used, new-to-me bread machine another try. Remember what happened last time? My whole wheat bread totally sank. But I took all your advice from the comments, and look what happened:

Whole wheat bread success! I subbed out whole wheat bread flour for regular whole wheat flour and I added a tablespoon and a half of vital wheat gluten flour. I also stuck around the house during the four hours of the bread machine cycle so I was ready to remove the bread as soon as it was done. Last time, I let the machine kick off while I was at work and left the bread in for several hours. This soft, wheat bread was perfect schmeared with Earth Balance and garlic powder.

Hot Stuff

On Saturday, a few of my friends and I saw disco diva Donna Summer at an outdoor show at the Memphis Botanic Garden. She may be gettin' on in age, but Donna still has it. Girl had at least four fabulous costume changes, a posse of high-energy dancers, and flashy, animated backgrounds that made the whole stage look it was on fire.

The Botanic Gardens hosts these outdoor shows once a month on their lush, sprawling grounds. My friends and I go to most of the shows, and we always pack a picnic and a bottle of vino. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my Nikon into the show because there was a 30 percent chance of rain, so all I had was my iPhone camera. It takes good shots sometimes, but not when it's getting dark ... as it was in this shot of Nathan's plate:

In the center are my Butter Bean Bruschetta, a recipe going in my cookbook. On the upper left corner of the plate, you can barely see the vegan ranch dip underneath those carrots. That recipe is also going in my book. Greg's tahini-less hummus is in the bottom right. And not pictured is Nathan's creamy avocado dip. We scooped up all those dips with crudite and tortilla chips while we sipped on blush wine.

Just for fun, we took pictures of each other with my Hipstamatic app for the iPhone. This app makes photos look like they were taken in the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s (this may be my favorite app!). Here's hipstamatic Nathan with a mouth full of food:

And hipstamatic Greg, also in the act of chewing (not sure why I took everyone's photo while they were eating):

And here I am with my plate, about to stuff my face as usual:

Cheater Tamales

Full disclosure: I've never actually made a tamale from scratch. I keep meaning to give it a try, but I always hear about how time-consuming and arduous the tamale-makin' process can be. Though I typically love spending hours in the kitchen, I just haven't blocked out time in my busy schedule for a tamale day. I will. Soon. Promise.

Until then, I present you with my quickie version of the savory stuffed treat — my Hot Tamale Pie:

It's yet another recipe I'm testing for my cookbook (told y'all I was steppin' up this cookbook game, right?). I've made it once before, but I made too much filling for a 9-inch pie pan. This time, I used a 10-inch pan and lessened the ratios of ingredients. It's not as fancy as a tamale, but it satisfies when you don't have all day to spend in the kitchen.

Though tamales originated in Latin America, they also have strong Southern roots. The Mississippi Delta (the area along the river from Memphis down to Vicksburg, Miss.) is often referred to as the Tamale Trail, thanks to an abundance of tamale stands and diners serving up the Southern version of the traditional Latin treat. Why is this? There are several theories. Some say migrant workers who worked the cotton fields with African American slaves back in the day shared their foodways. Other theorize that U.S. soldiers from Mississippi brought back tamale recipes after traveling to Mexico during the U.S.-Mexican War.

While Mexican tamales are made with masa, most Southern folks make theirs with cornmeal, which lends the tamale a grittier, polenta-like texture. In keeping with Southern tradition, my pie features a cornmeal-based, polenta-like crust and topping. I gotta keep it real.