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Vegetarian Festival – Centro Yoga Devanand

17 Jan

Last Sunday we organized a Vegetarian Festival at the Yoga Center. It is the first Vegetarian festival of 2011 and the first one celebrated on a Sunday.

My friend Tania had a dream… she dreamt we did this kind of Festival on a Sunday, more people would come and try more of all the foods we offer. We usually celebrate these Festivals on Saturday nights, but people sometimes are not too fond of eating so much food at 9PM at night.

We have been doing these Festivals for a long, long time. It’s a way for the Yoga Center to demonstrate:

  • how varied and delicious Vegetarian food can be
  • the cooking talents of our Yoga Cooking Team

Usually people just bring in any dish they want to share along with the whole crowd. It’s our own vegetarian version of a pot luck dinner. It’s just a HUGE pot luck dinner featuring usually 15+ dishes, plus salads, natural juices and desserts.

Here is a round-up of all the dishes featured in this latest version of our Vegetarian Festival:

Onion Rice made by my Mom

 

Baked Rice with Spinach, Mushrooms, Pecans and Cheese aka Arroz Kristina made by me

 

Rice Pasta Lasagna with Spinach and Dairy-free Cheeses by Rosani

Chipa Guazú made by our friend from Paraguay, Ester

Vegetable Lo-Mein made by Manolo and Jesús

 

Roasted Potatoes with Spices by Mili

 

Sun-dried tomatoes Stuffed Mushrooms made by me

 

 

Breaded Eggplants made by Tania

 

BacalaFREEtos – made with some leftover batter from the fried eggplants inside the Lo-Mein

 

Pizza Pastelillitos made by Yazmín

Soy Albóndigas with a zesty Tomato Sauce made by Angie

 

We featured 2 different soups…

Roasted Plantain Soup made by Tania

Rice and Bean Soup with Smoked Veggie “Ham” made by Carmen G.

 

We had a green salad served with 2 different dressings and a natural Juice made with passion fruit, kiwi and other citric fruits.

 

And 3 desserts…

Candied Coconut (Dulce de Coco) made by Cony

Carrot Dessert with Raisins made by María Rosa

Walnut Cake with Candied Walnuts on top made by Rosani, our resident Master Baker…

Well… the Sunday plan was a complete hit. Dreams actually DO COME TRUE, right Tania?? We had 50+ people visit our center, some of them for the first time. It’s so gratifying to cook for a crowd and to see how the food would fly away and the trays be completely empty is a real joy.

The Staff - Medelicia, Carmen G, Angie, Katy and Tania, the mastermind of this Festival on Sunday.

I include some links to several recipes I have already shared with you. Click on them so you can enjoy them right away. And over the next few weeks I will be sharing some new the recipes I have learned from the star chefs in this Vegetarian Festival.

If you live in Puerto Rico, or close to our Yoga Centers in NYC/Queens or Miami Beach, I hope this display of photos make you hunger and come over to our next Vegetarian Festival. OK?? Just stay tuned to the Centro Cultural Yoga Devanand FaceBook Page were we usually post all our activities… It’s in Spanish, but you’ll enjoy it all the same. 

Hari Om.

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Top Recipes of 2010

1 Jan

I am always surprised with the amount of visitors we get from all over the world… and the acceptance my recipes have on you, our readers.

I want to share with all the newcomers to KarmaFree Cooking, which have been the recipes published in 2010 that you’ve made most popular. This will give you an idea of what others are most interested in the KarmaFree Cooking world.

Bon Appetit!!!

Spinach Croquetas

Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Better-than-Maggiano’s Stuffed Mushrooms

Tomato Basil Bruschetta Mix

Very Berry Sorbet

Avocado and Tomato Sandwich

White Truffle Mac and Cheese

Eggplant Milanese

Coquito 2

Hash Brown Spinach Casserole

If one of your favorites is not listed here, please let us know about it in the COMMENTS section. We love to hear from you!!

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Arroz con Dulce

13 Dec

This recipe is from Cielito Rosado, with whom I had the pleasure to work with when I managed the advertising of a very popular dish washing liquid. She’s one of the few well-known cooks in Puerto Rico… her recipes are simple and easy to follow.

Arroz con Dulce, loosely translated to Sweetened Rice, is a typical Xmas dessert. You really do not see it anywhere before Thanksgiving or after the Fiestas de San Sebastián. The key is to not have it be too sweet or too bland… and brown sugar is key.

 

ARROZ CON DULCE

1 ½ cups of rice, soaked in water
For the cooking liquid:
1 ½ cups water
20 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
A piece of fresh ginger
3 cans of coconut milk
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tbs raisins
2 tbs butter
Ground cinnamon to garnish

 

  1. Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks and ginger to the water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5-8 minutes. Then, strain and discard the spices. Return the tea to the same saucepan.
  2. Drain the rice that has been soaking in water; add it to the strained tea and coconut milk. Cook over medium heat until the liquids boil. Cover and lower the heat until the liquids reduce and the rice is cooked.
  3. Add the brown sugar, shredded coconut, raisins, butter and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
  4. Pour the cooked rice into a serving platter and garnish with sprinkled ground cinnamon.

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Coquito 2

10 Dec

I am a coquito FANATIC!!! Every year I make a few batches of my non-alcoholic version of Coquito. Xmas would just not be the same without it.

But I have to admit my original recipe has evolved a bit. I wanted it to be a bit sweeter and creamier so I started adding Cream of Coconut to the recipe to maintain the coconut essence without adding sugar directly into the mix.

Cream of Coconut is what we traditionally use to make Piña Coladas and the best brand is Coco López. Even if other brands might be on sale, I prefer to buy Coco López. I do read the labels once in a while to make sure no super weird ingredients have been added to it.

This newer version is still non-alcoholic, something my friends with little kids appreciate, but know it has an even creamier feel to it.  Salud!!

COQUITO 2

3 cups of water
5 cinnamon sticks (I usually use a whole bagful)
4 tbs cloves (I usually use a whole bagful)
4 tbs anise seeds (I usually use a whole bagful)
2 tbs star anise (I usually use ½ bagful)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of cream of coconut
1 can of evaporated milk
2 tbs ground ginger
1 tbs ground cinnamon
2 tbs vanilla extract or vanilla powder
1 tbs freshly ground nutmeg

 

  1. In a medium saucepan create a “spiced tea” – pour the 3 cups of water, cinnamon sticks, anise seeds, star anise and cloves. Steep for about 15-20 minutes to create a strong spiced tea. This will give the coquito most of its spiciness. Let cool a bit.
  2. In a blender, mix together the evaporated milk, condensed milk, coconut milk and cream of coconut with 2 ”cans-worth” of the spiced tea, ground ginger, nutmeg and the vanilla powder.
  3. Pour into a clean bottle and chill in the refrigerator.
  4. Serve chilled in small shot glasses. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

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Apple Crisp

10 Nov

We’re staying with my sister to accompany her and her husband for the birth of my first nephew…  it’s a whole family gathering here – my sister’s mother-in law, my mom, my dad, my uncle are all here, just to name a few.

Sio, my nephew’s grandma is staying here too and she looooves apples.  Good thing we’re in apple season and in every farmer’s market we go to there’s apples on sale.

To be honest, I know little about apples.  I am only familiar with Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious, my favorites and Red Delicious, which I know I do not like very much.  But the rest of the names, I have heard of – Macintosh, Gala, HoneyCrisp, Fuji, etc. – but I am not familiar with their distinctive tastes.

We found these Gala apples on sale for $1 a bag at The Boys Farmer’s Market.   I found Gala’s to be not as tart as Granny Smiths but crisper than Golden Delicious.  I can really say I can add Galas to my list of apples I like.  And to please Sio and her apple cravings I decided to use these newly appreciated Galas to modify my Plum and Blueberry crisp recipe to apples. 

 

APPLE CRISP

5 Gala apples, peeled, cored and sliced
5 tbs cornstarch
Zest and juice of 1 yellow lemon
1 cup of brown sugar
Sprinkle of cinnamon
½ tsp of vanilla extract
Canola Oil Spray

 For the Crisp Topping

1 cup of spelt flour
1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup of brown sugar
Sprinkle of cinnamon
2/3 cup of sliced almonds
½ cup of quick cooking oats

 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.
  2. In a large glass baking dish sprayed with canola oil, dump the cut apples and mix in the cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract.  Mix well to combine.  Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, almonds, oats with the pieces of cold butter.  Using your fingers, combine the butter with the rest of the ingredients until it becomes like the consistency of wet sand.
  4. Pour the topping over the apples evenly.  Bake in oven for about 30 minutes…  the apples will bubble and the topping will look cooked and somewhat golden.

 

I usually turn off the oven and leave it inside until we’re ready to eat… to me, it’s best served warm with a side glass of milk or vanilla ice cream.   

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