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HG Yadunandana Prabhu comes a few times every year. This was one of that auspicious occasions. This time we went to the Coast, when the sun was setting. We had a very ecstatic Harinam last Saturday…

Janhava and I were dancing all the time on the stage. We look exhausted but very happy!!!

…and Sunday Feast…

That’s all. I must apologize for not writing more nectar but I don’t have much time these days. I hope you can understand it. See you soon!!!. Bhakti Caru Maharaja is coming the day after tomorrow, when it’s also Radha Gopinathji’s birthday, then my birthday in one week… I will be busy busy busy!!!

Ah! I have been cooking at the temple with Uttara Mataji also. Just simple preparation for sweet Gaura Nitai and the resident devotees. Thank you Sri Sri Gaura Nitai for this special mercy!!!

…and a hint of my last service… you will discover it soon…

ys, Sol

technorati tags:harinam, service, cooking, temple, hare, krishna, Yadunandana, Malaga, Spain, pictures

I cooked something for the Lord today to celebrate the appearance day
of Sri Nrsimha!!!The festival will be observed tomorrow at the temple,
but we had a small feast at home today. Eze gave the lecture… he was
very accurate on his explanation of how Lord Nrsimhadev defeated
Hiranyakasipu… then we offered this simple preparations (vegan
burgers with mayonnaise, yellow rice with raisins, salad, apple chutney
and burfi), then kirtan and finally we honored prasadam

I will give you the recipe of the burgers, that are healthy and light. Actually it’s a personal adaptation of an ayurvedic recipe. Today I made the burgers like this:

INGREDIENTS FOR 24 VEGAN BURGERS:

2 cups lentils
7 - 8 cups water
4 Tablespoons rice
1/2 teaspoons yellow asafetida powder
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 potato
1 sweet potato
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry ginger
4 Tablespoons chickpea flour
2 eggs replacer. You can make it preparing this mixture: 4
Tablespoons plain flour + 1 teaspoon oil +1 teaspoon baking powder + 4
Tablespoons water
*You can use this replacer for any other recipe (I got it from Kurma Prabhu’s blog).

DIRECTIONS:

1. Lentils + rice + potato + sweet potato + water + asafetida. Cook and drain them.
2. Add the spices and the oil and mix well.
3. Add the egg replacer to the mixture, the salt and the pepper and mix again.
4. Finally, add the chickpea flour.
5. Make the pattys (use the Onigiri technique, dipping your hands in water before making every new patty).
6. You can either pan fry them or bake them. I decided the baking this time. 220º C, for 20 or 30 minutes.

I served them with mayonnaise… you still don’t know how to make eggless mayonnaise??? It’s veeeery easy.

Pour a little bit of milk in a container, maybe 100 ml, then, with the blender in
your hand, pour sunflower oil at the same time you blend it with the milk.
Go on pouring oil till you get the desired thickness. Add 1/2 teaspoon
of salt and a bit of lemon juice. Today I made it with asafetida
(according to Ayurveda, asafetida should be cooked but sometimes I skip
this rules for a higher purpose hehe) and fresh chopped coriander…
very tasty

Nrsimhadev Bhagavan ki jay!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:ayurveda, vegan, burger, vegetarian, eggless, recipe, nrsimha, hare, krishna, festival, feast, cooking

Falafel is a fried ball or patty made from spiced fava
beans and/or chickpeas. Invented by Egyptian bedouins, it has become a
popular form of fast food in the Levant and in the Mashriq (Arab
East). The word “falafel” is the plural of an Arabic word meaning pepper.

Falafel is usually served as a sandwich wrapped in pita bread, and
the term “falafel” commonly refers to this sandwich—falafel in a pita is typical street food or fast food.
The originally Arabic dish became popular in Israel; it is often referred to as the national dish of Israel.

Looks like this is the International Cookery week or something…hehe. I
really enjoy looking for new recipes to please the Lord…

I made falafel for the first time and it was a successful experience…

Do you want the recipe?…

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup chickpeas (soak overnight)
1/2 tsp. asafetida powder
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. cumin powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:
1) Blend the chickpeas (raw).
2) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
3) Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes (for fermentation).
4) Make the balls or the pattys and deep fry on hot ghee. Wait for a few seconds to touch them while frying…they may break!
(you can also cover them with sesame seeds before frying)
5) Serve in pita bread with salad and your favorite sauce. Hummus, mayonnaise… I served them with spiced yogurt.
6) Offer to Krsna and enjoy!

Delicious!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:vegetarian, vegan, falafel, pita, hummus, chickpea, snack, cooking, recipe, harekrishna

Today some of my brother’s school friends came for prasadam. I had a good cookery session and Sara also helped me in the dosa making. Here are some pictures of this beautiful sunny day.

Some like it simple…

Some with lots of tomato chatni…

Yuuummmm!!!

Everybody happy with prasadam

And it was Alvaro’s birthday so Bhakta Soheil made a delicious cake!!!

Srila Prabhupada maha-prasadam ki jaya!

Everyday is a good day to take Krsna-prasadam with good friends.

ys, Sol

technorati tags:prasadam, harekrishna, birthday

One good friend was coming for dinner tonight so I went into the kitchen to begin the weekend doing what I like the most: cooking for Krsna!. Usually we don’t take heavy dinner but I couldn’t avoid making pizza again…this time it was a bit more in goodness (no tomatoes).

Before the pizza I made the Dvaraka burfi that our friend loves so much. Every time he comes home (or we visit him) I make it and he eats it all with my brother. One day I must give you the recipe if you don’t know it already. It’s easy, fast and always successful!.

Here you can see me in action for the first time in my Spanish kitchen, hehehe.

Then I made the satvic pizza (zucchini, cream olives and cheese).
Before… and after.

Then some very very hot soup with lots of ginger…

And also some salad…getting the offering ready with extra olives of course!

Note: the burfi needs a few hours to cool down. If you have that time, it will look much nicer, but the taste is as good

So this is me after a cookery session, fully satisfied and ready to enjoy Prabhupada’s maha-prasadam.

Cooking for Krsna is enlivening!

…isn’t it Malati Mataji? hehe

ys, Sol

…after taking prasadam all of us where K.O. and our friend went straight home to his warm bed, same as me now. Haribol!

technorati tags:harekrishna, cooking, vegetarian, burfi, pizza

Well, I have been asked many times “what do you cook?”, specially by my Indian friends, so I though it would be a good idea to show you, and them, what do we eat on a common weekday. It is not that we always eat pizza! hehehe.

Well, today I made some very typical Spanish soup. We call these kind of preparations something that could be translated as “spoon dish” (plato de cuchara para los españoles). It’s made with chickpeas, potatoes, carrots and spinach. Very nice for winter season. It’s not winter here but we had a few very cold days so I felt inspired

I boiled the chickpeas, potatoes and carrots and I fried the spices (asafetida, cumin seeds, cummin powder, coriander powder, turmeric…) and spinach in a pan with olive oil. To get some thickness I blended a part of the soup and added to it with the spinach, then some salt and pepper and that’s it. Simple and pleasing to the heart!

And then I made rice with corn, red capsicum and looots of black olives. I don’t know if olives are used in rice dishes but I love them so I put them everywhere! I used some bay leaves, dill, yellow asafetida powder and salt for seasoning…and olive oil of course!

Offering time! Everything ready to offer to Srila Prabhupada

I offered also some bananas with “dulce de leche”, some kind of typical
Argentinian caramel… every Argentinian worships it, but that’s
another story…

“Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of
life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and
satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to
the heart.”
Bhagavad-gita 17.8 (Click here for full Bhagavad-gita).

So this is an example of what I cook… what do you think?

ys, Sol

technorati tags:chickpea, rice, olive, spanishcooking, harekrishna, prabhupada

I came back from India one month ago and since then I didn’t make any pizza… why? We were in Mayapur and we took too much of it, sounds familiar? hehehe. But I was feeling the separation so I decided to awaken my Italian side!

When we went to Italy (click here to see the report) we got a Pizza-Express machine and since then we were taking pizza maybe once a week for not breaking the Ayurveda diet too much. Pizza imbalances the pita dosha a lot, so be careful!!!

I like to use fresh ingredients and specially olive oil and olives that are so good in Malaga where we live.

Fresh fresh…

Red tomatoes for the tomato sauce… yum yum… it’s done!

Capsicum, olives and cheese… the dough… everything is ready!

Putting everything together + a few minutes of Pizza-Express…

Oregano and olive oil…

And here it is! Hot and delicious pizza ready to be offered to Srila Prabhupada…

My mum came for the pizza party and she and my brother were very happy and satisfied.
All glories to the offered pizza!

I hope I can make some for you one of these days!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:pizza, harekrishna, italy

My friends Soheil and Sara got married few months back. They had a very beautiful vedic ceremony in the Hare Krsna Temple of Malaga (click here for the report). They were going to make another ceremony for the rest of the family and friends who weren’t able to attend the first one so they asked me to prepare the cake… I’m not a “cake maker” but I wanted to please them and also help in the Holly mission of prasadam distribution (food offered to Krsna) so I accepted the challenge.

I had to decide which kind of cake would be the best for such an special occasion. I took advantage of the mango season and I chose a Mango and Saffron cake. I got all the ingredients (very basic ingredients cause there is not much variety in Spain for cake making) and I made my planning.

One day before the wedding I woke up full of enthusiasm, I took a strong breakfast to get ready for a long day of work and I went to the temple. I was supposed to bake the cake there but when I arrived…you won’t believe me… there was NO KITCHEN!. They were making a very nice new kitchen for the pleasure of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. In one hand it was a good new but… where could I make the cake then??? My first though was “This is very auspicious. Krsna always arranges whatever is the best, so I must surrender…”

I called Soheil and gave him the new… He told me they had arranged a temporary kitchen outside the temple. It was right there but I didn’t realize that that was the “new” kitchen”…

…so I made the cake here

At the end everything went well. I was all alone, just hearing lectures and concentrating in my work… There was a very sweet atmosphere that reminded me to India.

I made a couple like this and then somebody came to pick the cake up to bring it to the restaurant where I would build it up.

Then I arrived to the second new kitchen of the day. This one was also ok, but not that sweet

I made the mango filling and the vanilla buttercream…

And then I started to build the cake…first the mango cream filling…

Then the buttercream…

…and after this it was very late (23:30) and the cake needed refrigeration so I decided to come back the next day.

15th of September…my brother’s birthday, Haribol!!! I wanted to make a big feast for him but I had to finish the cake so I told him at least he would have a very big cake for his birthday
I came back and the buttercream was perfect so I whipped the cream and covered the cake with it… I enjoyed this step very much

…and then I made the decoration. I needed more flowers, more yellow buttercream and more time (I had enough raspberries) but I managed with whatever was there and this was the result…an Avadhuta Mango and Saffron Wedding Cake, only for Krsna’s pleasure.

I got the good fortune of helping the bride on her dressing, flower decoration and gopi dots painting. She was gorgeous!!!

Then the East meets West ceremony took place. Sara’s sister band played a song in between the poetical ceremony and there were even fireworks!!!… you can see Eze filming the event…

After that we took dinner; one of the plates was arranged by Uttara Mataji and Jagannath Nrisimha Prabhu. Here she is…

There was also a flamenco show and a concert and fiiinaaally they called the bride and the groom to cut the cake.

Here they are, with their Laxmi garlands very happily.

By Krsna’s grace, it was very tasty and everybody was very satisfied.

As I said, I’m not a “cake maker” but I did it with all my love and by Radharani’s mercy I was able to please the devotees, those who already are and those who will become.

Cooking for Krsna is transcendental. It’s such a simple thing but it brings full satisfaction to my heart.

Thank you Soheil and Sara for giving us a chance to serve you.

ys, Sol

Sri Bhagavat-prasada ki jaya!

technorati tags:wedding, cake, buttercream, mango, hare, krishna, ceremony, celebration

Haribol!

I met my dear friend Adbhuta Datri in Italy and she gave me a wonderful and easy ice-cream recipe.

Here it is:

1 liter or cream

1/2 kg of milk powder

1/2 kg of sugar (I put brown sugar)

1/2 liter of water
________________

1. Whip the cream.

2. Put the rest of the ingredients together and mix with the cream.

3. Add nuts/ fruits/ carob…

4. Freeze it.

5. Offer it to Gopinath…very important step and enjoy!!!

I suggest to prepare different flavors to make a Banana Split : ice-cream with fruits (bananas, strawberries, peaches, pineapple…) lot of cream, hot carob cream on the top and nuts… and maybe some biscuits too… Sounds good!!!

Make your choice!!!

Thank you for the inspiration my friend!!!

Note: ice-cream is “suitable” for people who have predominantly Pitta body type… but I don’t think Ayurveda recommends this Banana Split. It’s a big challenge for digestion!…What do you think???…

ys, Sol

technorati tags:icecream, recipe, dessert, sweets, vegetarianism

Today we had a foggy day…

…but one family friend was coming for prasad so I had to get ready for a nice cookery session. He came to the temple for Janmastami Festival and he liked samosas very much so he wanted some more. I told him that I would fulfill his desire!

After chanting my rounds I started making the panir for the “panir sak” (spinach with fresh home-made cheese) and the dough for the samosas. I made samosas with sweet potato filling cause my brother likes them very much due to their sweet flavor.

This is the filling… also with some potatoes, green pees and cauliflower…

I decided to bake the samosas. Fried samosas are very tasty but for some people they’re not so easy to digest… yes yes, I have this motherly nature…

Before…and after… hmmm they look good!

Then I made the panir sak…with cream (optional ingredient)…

Then a simple yellow rice with black mustard seeds and parsley…

And some fruits with ice-cream and delicious muffins for dessert.

Everything was ready so I made the offering to Lord Krsna…

And that’s it! Simple but pleasing to the heart

This is my brother honoring prasad, hehehe (our guest didn’t give me permission to publish his picture on Satoxi’s blog…he is not ready for fame hahaha… but he was veeery satisfied!!! :))

I love cooking for Krsna!

ys, Sol

…by the way… my brother says there are many mistakes in my
blog…he describes my English as “bizarre”… so pleeease forgive me!

technorati tags:cooking, rice, panir, samosas, muffins, prasadam