Quick Vegetarian Dishes - Cooking With Kurma

[Jainarayan]

I'm thinking of getting this book Quick Vegetarian Dishes - a Kurma Dasa Cookbook along with my order for a new tulsi mala and kanthi. Anyway, I'm not familiar with these dishes. They look very tasty, but there seems to be a lot fat, frying, cheese, bread. Otoh I doubt they would be staple meals for me every week. Anyone have any insights?

 

[Vinayaka]

I'm thinking of getting this book Quick Vegetarian Dishes - a Kurma Dasa Cookbook along with my order for a new tulsi mala and kanthi. Anyway, I'm not familiar with these dishes. They look very tasty, but there seems to be a lot fat, frying, cheese, bread. Otoh I doubt they would be staple meals for me every week. Anyone have any insights?

Can't say much about the cookbook, other that the stuff looks 'fusion'. I have ordered clothing from that site, and recommend the service.

 

[Jainarayan]

Yes, fusion it looks to be. I don't mind that so much, though I'd also like to find some quick and easy Indian recipes. I got two of my dhotis from there. Heavy cotton, reasonable prices.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

There are very few indian meals I have found that are not heavily fried in oil or ghee
But it seems that south indian recipes are less fatty... But moooore spicy.

 

[Jainarayan]

I like spicy. Vinayaka has always pointed out that Indian food is often not the healthiest. It's like Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, etc. Very fatty salty and rice-y. And I need to lose 20-30 lbs. I see another book The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking - Adiraja Dasa But I may just go to B&N and see what's on the shelves.

 

[Vinayaka]

But I may just go to B&N and see what's on the shelves.

That's the best idea yet. Generally a very large section of any bookstore.

 

[Jainarayan]

Sold.

 

[Vinayaka]

Sold.

I don't envy you. I just searched 'Indian vegetarian cooking' on Amazon and got 900 books.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Jainarayan,

Am not sure how you wish to travel on the path but personally feel we should eat to keep the body fit and take 'sattvic' food to provide enough energy for meditation as 'rajasic' food which your cook books mostly offer may draw the mind away from meditation.

The choice is yours.

Love & rgds

 

[Aupmanyav]

You must take care of the extra flab. I too need to do this. Need to loose some 10 to 15 lbs. which I have gained in the last two years. Especially because of heavy breakfast.

 

[Jainarayan]

You must take care of the extra flab. I too need to do this. Need to loose some 10 to 15 lbs. which I have gained in the last two years. Especially because of heavy breakfast.

I'm afraid of actually gaining more weight because I tend to over-consume carbs, and I am insulin resistant. I have to be careful that I keep wheat products to a minimum, but it's hard because they form the basis of many meals. For example, a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat, milk and fruit is a good veg. meal. As much as I love peanut butter (I do measure it out per portion size), eating it out of the hand is a little messy.

 

[Madhuri]

I'm thinking of getting this book Quick Vegetarian Dishes - a Kurma Dasa Cookbook along with my order for a new tulsi mala and kanthi. Anyway, I'm not familiar with these dishes. They look very tasty, but there seems to be a lot fat, frying, cheese, bread. Otoh I doubt they would be staple meals for me every week. Anyone have any insights?

After my mother joined the temple where Kurma was the cook, she put on a lot of weight
It's delicious but 'Hare Krishna' food is often very oily and fatty. Something to have sometimes but not every day imo.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Do you know there is a well in Nathdwara (Krishna - Srhrinath ji) which the devotees keep full of clarified butter for preparation of 'prasada' to be distributed among the devotees?

 

[Jainarayan]

After my mother joined the temple where Kurma was the cook, she put on a lot of weight
It's delicious but 'Hare Krishna' food is often very oily and fatty. Something to have sometimes but not every day imo.

No doubt. Vinayaka always points out the fattiness, sweetness, starchiness and saltiness of Indian food (it can't be that bad if there are 1.1 billion Indians still alive ). Seriously I hear you. I did order the book along withe another tulsi japa mālā; that's in another thread... I still can't for the life of me find my first one, but I digress...

I definitely won't be having food like that every day. But some of the recipes look like a refreshing change of pace from beans and rice, rice and lentils, garbanzos and quinoa, rice and beans (gotta have variety ), eggplant parm. I ever get my butt back to temple, the gift shop may have something along the lines of simple cooking. And I can always ask some of the ladies I know for some simple recipes.

 

[Jainarayan]

Do you know there is a well in Nathdwara (Krishna - Srhrinath ji) which the devotees keep full of clarified butter for preparation of 'prasada' to be distributed among the devotees?

I haven't made ghee in a long time. And it comes out perfect, if I do say so myself... just ask me.

 

[Aupmanyav]

No doubt. Vinayaka always points out the fattiness, sweetness, starchiness and saltiness of Indian food (it can't be that bad if there are 1.1 billion Indians still alive ).

1.257 billion at the moment if we go by population clock. Clarified butter (Ghee) is known as Vaidya (Doctor), and the greatest medicine. That is why practice of Ayurveda is known as Vaidyaki (Vaidya-Ghee - that is what someone told me). I do not believe that it is harmful or that Castor Oil is harmful. We have been using these for ages. I read reports (long time back from medical fraternity) that cow fat is not harmful.

I haven't made ghee in a long time. And it comes out perfect, if I do say so myself... just ask me.

My wife makes it regularly. We buy full-cream milk, collect the cream, and prepare Ghee which is nearly sufficient for our use. We do not buy it from the market, perhaps less adulterated. Asking the ladies at the temple for recipes would be nice. They would be from all regions of India and you could get a lot of interesting recipes.

 

[Jainarayan]

1.257 billion at the moment if we go by population clock.

My my, they are productive!

Clarified butter (Ghee) is known as Vaidya (Doctor), and the greatest medicine. That is why practice of Ayurveda is known as Vaidyaki (Vaidya-Ghee - that is what someone told me). I do not believe that it is harmful or that Castor Oil is harmful. We have been using these for ages. I read reports (long time back from medical fraternity) that cow fat is not harmful.My wife makes it regularly. We buy full-cream milk, collect the cream, and prepare Ghee which is nearly sufficient for our use. We do not buy it from the market, perhaps less adulterated. Asking the ladies at the temple for recipes would be nice. They would be from all regions of India and you could get a lot of interesting recipes.

I think ghee is wonderful. I was really surprised at how well it turned out even on my first attempt. It was as clear as chicken broth (pardon the reference), no solids whatsoever. Bandages soaked in warm ghee were used after cataract surgery (in the centuries BCE!) to help the healing of the eyes. I think the problem with the bad fattiness comes in with some of the vegetable oils, which have terrible fatty acid profiles. Olive oil, coconut oil (if you abide the strong aroma) and peanut oil are about the only plant oils that are decent. I'm not familiar with castor oil except via the jokes.

It might be a good idea if the temple launched a project to gather favorite recipes, which would of course be from all over India, compile them into a book, have it bound and printed, and sell it to raise money. Many churches and community organizations do that. I'm sure there are people from Gujarat who know nothing of Tamil cuisine, but might like to try it, for example. It's an idea.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

For example, a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat, milk and fruit is a good veg. meal.

Run from the peanut butter you fools ! It's so full of fat ! And calories ! Run !

Ahem anyway did you try to change little by little some things ? For exemple, a nice home made vegetable soup with some bread and fruit/yoghurt is a nice and healthy evening meal, and veg soup is very easy to make !

For exemple, when you eat some pasta, throw away the ketchup and carbonara sauce, and put instead some nice spinach with a spoonful of 0% fat cream into it

If you can try drinking some green tea, it drain the fat and clean the inside. Also, completely drop the soda and drink at least 1 liter of water everyday, water help the body assimilating the fat, while the sugar in sodas doesn't

Indian veg cuisine is very technical and kind of difficult to cook at first. I think you should maybe change some things on your diet that are easier to find and to accomodate, then after move into to technical tastiness of Indian cuisine

Don't think about what you shouldn't eat, more about what you can eat without worrying ! Like soups, they are so low in fat and calories, you can just have always more ! Same for the raw vegetables, cut some carrots, cucumber and clean a cauliflower, then just eat them like that as snacks every time you are hungry, or dip them into a 0% fat homemade sauce (you can make it with a yoghurt and some spices easily)

I love raw vegetables, and you can eat them without thinking "oh my, I shouldn't, it will be bad for my diet !" so you have the satisfaction of eating something good for you without the quantity - guilt.

Like my mother say: eat like a king on the morning, like a man on mid day, like a bum on the evening

 

[Vinayaka]

Dangers lie in the quantities, or over-consumption. We use oil, sugars, salt, in moderation.

 

[Jainarayan]

Run from the peanut butter you fools ! It's so full of fat ! And calories ! Run !

Lol. As Vinayaka points out, it's the quantity. I really do measure out 2 tbsp of p.b.. I have a small scooper, it looks like a tiny ice cream scooper (it's really a butter scooper) that is exactly 1 tbsp.

Ahem anyway did you try to change little by little some things ? For exemple, a nice home made vegetable soup with some bread and fruit/yoghurt is a nice and healthy evening meal, and veg soup is very easy to make !

For exemple, when you eat some pasta, throw away the ketchup and carbonara sauce, and put instead some nice spinach with a spoonful of 0% fat cream into it

Yes, bit by bit. Not cold turkey (pardon the expression) like I've tried in the past. Actually I'm not thinking about what I shouldn't or can't eat, but rather what I should eat. Last night I made a spicy black bean soup "con-kook-tion", as I call my recipes. It is black beans (well duh!), recaito (a Spanish paste of cilantro, peppers, garlic), chopped bell peppers, a small can of tomato sauce, some Goya Sazon, black pepper (no salt needed, the Sazon has salt in it). I simmered it in a a cast iron pot for a couple of hours to let it blend and thicken a bit. It's really pretty good. I'll have it with some rice and some other vegs. When I make pasta, I occasionally use tomato sauce, but often it's some kind of vegs like sauteed spinach, escarole, or broccoli. Adding cannellini beans or garbanzos punches up the protein profile. It then becomes pasta e fagioli (pasta fazool in my family's dialect of Italian).

If you can try drinking some green tea, it drain the fat and clean the inside. Also, completely drop the soda and drink at least 1 liter of water everyday, water help the body assimilating the fat, while the sugar in sodas doesn't

I haven't had real soda in years, and rarely, diet soda. I don't drink as much water as I should but I am improving. I keep a half gallon plastic milk jug at home filled with water, and carry it around the house. I have water bottles at work too.

Indian veg cuisine is very technical and kind of difficult to cook at first. I think you should maybe change some things on your diet that are easier to find and to accomodate, then after move into to technical tastiness of Indian cuisine

That's why I want simple, simple, simple. I do not like using a lot of ingredients, because after all, I cannot smell very much. Most of our sense of taste is smell, so I tend to use chili pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, garam masala (store bought), Chinese Five Spice, etc. and really spice things up.

Dangers lie in the quantities, or over-consumption. We use oil, sugars, salt, in moderation.

Yep, there it is. I'm actually thinking this may help me lose the weight I am trying to.