My family really loves Indian food, especially from Southern India, where there are many tasty vegetarian dishes, such as the crispy dosa, and it’s thicker culinary cousin, the uttapam. Whereas dosa is like a crepe, thin and maybe crispy, the uttapam, or uthappam, resembles an American pancake, thick and smaller, but usually not sweet.

Although it may look like naan bread with toppings, uttapam is quite different in ingredients. Uttapam is made from fermented flours and dal, or dried and split legumes, such as lentils, peas, and beans. It is generally filled with different toppings, like onion, chillies, tomatoes, and even coconut. Uttapam is served with flavorful chutneys.

Because I love South Indian dishes so much I already have a couple of recipes:  Vegan Paneer Tikka Masala and Chana Masala. I wanted to show how to make another of our favorite dishes, the uttapam. The secret is the batter, which takes time to make through fermentation, about 10 hours. You can start this the night before and prepare the next day. There are several batters for different kinds uttapam and dosas, and depending on how the batter is fried it can be thicker, like and uttapam, or thinner and crispy, like dosa.

You can add various toppings in the batter as it is frying. Things I like are onion, tomato, and carrots. Give this tasty Indian dish a try!

Do you have yogurt lovers? This cashew yogurt recipe tastes like regular yogurt and is 100% vegan! It’s so good it will please even dairy lovers, and is easy to make. The hardest part of this recipe is waiting 12 hours for the fermentation to transform the cashew mixture into tasty yogurty goodness.

To make this dairy-free yogurt you just need 4 ingredients: raw cashews, vegan probiotics (or a spoonful of vegan yogurt with live cultures), salt, and water. That’s it. Some supermarkets, such as Sprouts, sell vegan probiotics, as well as milk-free yogurt. If you don’t have such a supermarket you can order the probiotics online like the one I used in the video.

Start the recipe by washing the cashew nuts then placing them into a blender. Add an equal amount of filtered water, then blend on high until the mixture is silky smooth. Pour into a bowl and add the probiotics and salt. Stir well to mix in the cultures. Let the mixture sit in a warmer part of the kitchen for 10-12 hours until the fermentation has time to get the job done.

Once fermentation is finished the cashew mixture will be slightly sour, like dairy yogurt. This means it’s ready. Add your favorite toppings, such as granola, berries, fruits, or oats, and serve. You can also chill before serving. This recipe is can also be used in place of other milk-based products, such as sour cream, and cream for cakes. I hope you enjoy this tasty plant-based yogurt!

Cashew Yogurt

Alyona

Tasty plant-based cashew yogurt recipe

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Prep Time 10 mins

Rest Time 12 hrs

Course Dessert

Servings 8 people

Calories 88 kcal

Equipment

• blender
• glass bowl

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1 tbsp plant based yogurt or powder from 2 capsules of vegan probiotics
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

 

• Wash cashews in water and place in bowl.
• Add water to cashew nuts.
• Mix at high speed in a blender until very smooth.
• Pour the mixture in a glass or ceramic bowl.
• Add 1 teaspoon of plant-based yogurt or vegan probiotics. If powder is in capsules, remove from there before adding to bowl.
• Add a pinch of salt.
• Mix well, cover, and let it sit for 10-12 hours.
• Serve with you favorite berries, fruits, nuts, or granola.

Keyword plant based dessert, plant-based, vegan, vegan yogurt, yogurt

Almost everyone loves popsicles, and these watermelon popsicles with a touch of lime are not only tasty, but super-simple to make. Not only that, they are only 25 calories a pop and full of vitamin C, vitamin A, and fiber.  I make this frozen treat from only three ingredients: watermelon, frozen strawberries, and lime juice.

To make these watermelon popsicles, I start with a fresh-cut watermelon and fill a measuring cup to 4 cups. I do the same with the frozen strawberries only with  2 cups (this will not quite be 4 and 2 cups). You can make larger or smaller portions, but keep the watermelon to strawberry ratio 2 to 1. Next, squeeze juice from two limes as well, and add everything to a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix. This blender is good because of the ice-crushing ability and the tamper, which use may use to safely push down ingredients. This is especially effective on frozen fruits.

After blending pour the fruit mixture into molds and freeze before serving.

Watermelon Popsicles

Alyona

Quick and nutritious popsicles with watermelon and lime

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Prep Time 10 mins

Freeze time 1 hr

Course Dessert

Servings 6 people

Calories 25 kcal

Equipment

• Popsicle molds
• High-powered blender (preferably with tamper)

Ingredients

  

• 4 cups sliced watermelon
• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 2 limes

Instructions

 

• Place watermelon and frozen strawberries in blender
• Squeeze lime juice from 2 limes into the blender
• Blend ingredients using tamper to push down if necessary
• Pour liquid into molds
• Let freeze then serve

Keyword frozen, fruit, popsicle

I wanted to share a recipe that is very popular where I am from in Ukraine – stuffed cabbage rolls. In the traditional recipe, they use meat, but I will make a delicious plant-based version of this recipe. This stuffed cabbage dish is very tasty and a great main cours for lunch or dinner.

Bon appetit!

Vegan Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Alyona

Delicious vegan

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 2 hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine Russian

Servings 6

Equipment

• large cooking pot
• large saucepan
• tongs

Ingredients

  

• 1 head cabbage
• salted water enough to cover cabbage head

Filling

• 2/3 cup rice
• 1/2 cup mung beans
• 2 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 onion
• 1 small carrot grated

Sauce

• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 medium carrot sliced
• 1 medium bell pepper sliced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp spices of your choice

Instructions

 

Prepare rice and mung beans

• Cook 2/3 cups rice with 1 1/3 cups water(2 cups prepared)
• Cook 1/2 cups mung beans with 1 cup water (1 1/2 cups prepared)

Cabbage

• In a large pot pour enough water to cover head of cabbage and bring to boil, with some table salt.
• Remove stalk from cabbage and place in boiling water.
• Cook the cabbage for a few minutes. Don’t overcook.
• When cabbage leaves start to cook use tongs to pull them off head and leave them to boil in pot until soft. When soft pull out of pot and place on the side.
• Put all of the leaves on the plate to cool them down.
• Carefully cut the hard part of the leaves with a knife.

Stuffed Cabbage

• Mix the rice, mung beans, onion, carrots and spices, so that the mixture holds well together.
• Put the filling on top of the cabbage leaf and gently wrap.
• Place some pieces of cabbage or cabbage trimmings at the bottom of the pot, to keep the rolls from sticking to the pot.
• Carefully lay down all the cabbage rolls, pouring gravy on each layer.
• Stew cabbage rolls on the stove, a multi cooker or the oven until ready

Sauce

• Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan, cook for about 10 min.
• Pour sauce with vegetables to the pot on the top of stuffed cabbage

Keyword golubtsi, plant-based, stuffed cabbage, vegan

I love to make pancakes for breakfast, and I frequently make this super simple gluten-free pancake recipe. Most people have all the ingredients already in their cupboard, so no need for a special try to the market.

All you really need are bananas, oat flour, and baking soda. If you don’t have oat flour, you can easily make this by blending any kind of rolled oats in your Vitamix, or other blender. You can do this all in less than 40 minutes.

These gluten-free pancakes are vegan, plant based, and sugar free.

4-Ingredient Gluten-free, Vegan Pancakes

Alyona

Simple, gluten-free, vegan pancakes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Breakfast

Servings 4

Equipment

• non-stick pan
• blender

Ingredients

  

• 2 bananas
• 2 cups oat flour
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

 

• Puree banana with a fork or in a blender
• Add flour, baking soda, and water
• Mix all the ingredients until they are well combined
• Heat a non-stick pan to a medium heat
• Pour the batter into the pan and cook for a few minutes
• Flip and cook for another two minutes
• Serve with your favorite toppings

Keyword breakfast, gluten-free, pancakes, vegan

The other day I wanted to surprise my husband with a nice breakfast. Sometimes I make tofu scramble (as opposed to scrambled eggs), but this time I came up with idea to combine tofu scramble with hash browns. I call my recipe tofu hash brown scramble.

There are a couple of things that really bring out the flavor. I used black salt powder, which comes from India. This has a natural smell that is somewhat reminiscent of eggs. I also use nutritional yeast for a cheesy-like taste. You can get this from many grocery stores.

I am happy that my family loved this recipe and I hope you will too!

Tofu Hash Brown Scramble

Alyona

Healthy breakfast recipe is a mix of scrambled tofu and hash browns

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Equipment

• non-stick pan

Ingredients

  

• 8 oz firm tofu
• 1/2 onion
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Indian black salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp avocado oil

Instructions

 

• Mash tofu thoroughly with a fork.
• Grate potato with a vegetable grinder
• Cut the onion and bell pepper into strips
• Heat the pan on a medium heat and add avocado oil
• Put potatoes and onion into the pan and cook until golden brown
• Add tofu, bell pepper and spices
• Cook for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft
• Serve immediately on a piece of bread or with tortilla or place in a bowl and garnish with fresh herbs and sliced avocado

Keyword breakfast