Vanity Rehab

Showing posts with label Health Food. Show all posts

Friday, March 8, 2019

Mysuru Brew Kombucha by Depth 'n Green | Good to Know Facts

As you all know I was in Mysore about two weeks ago and while I roamed around exploring the city, in the hot summer heat, I landed up in this small joint Depth 'n' Green, in one of the most sort after areas of Mysore, Gokulam.

I like a place for its character, a place where the owners love what they do and that's when I met Pushpir, a trained chef from America roaming around like a busy bee talking on the phone, but what caught my attention the most was the genuine smile on his face.

Pushpir: Owner - Depth 'n' Green

This small eatery had so much life around it and the ambience so positive that you would like to sit down and get lost in your thoughts surrounded by smiling faces and some delicious vegetarian food.

I started talking to Pushpir, also excited as we share our mother tongue, and he reminded me of all the good folks back home (Punjab) and how seriously we Punjabis take our food. The next thing I know, we had been chatting for about 30 minutes and it was time for me to leave.

But in between conversations and learning about his eventful past, I had a chance to get myself a Kombucha, this fermented tea, pungent smelling when you take that first sip, but it had something about it that I had to share it with all of you.

Before I tell you more about the Kombucha, I highly recommend Depth 'n' Green, if you are from Mysore or visiting. I can't wait to visit again and try out the oh so appetising food.

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is fermented black or green tea which is naturally effervescent and a tad bit alcoholic due to the bacteria and yeast used in the preparation to make this funny smelling, yet a must have drink!

What are the ingredients of Kombucha?

Main ingredients used to make Kombucha are: Green or Black Tea, Sugar, Bacteria and Yeast.

Benefits of Drinking Kombucha?

This drink is high in Probiotics (good bacteria) and thus great for a healthy gut.
Kombucha is a good source of Vitamin B which further helps with metabolism and increased energy levels
The drink is definitely hydrating and makes for a great natural drink for summer.
When made with green tea it is also a source of anti oxidants.
It relieves inflammation and helps reduce hypertension and stress.
To top it all, Mysuru Brew Kombucha is also Vegan.

So yes, it is an acquired taste as I mentioned to Pushpir, but it sure is something you should try. The lingering taste kinda of gets you hooked and so do the immediate after effects. For me it was the best thing I had all day in the soaring Mysore heat.

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Author: Dilpreet Kaur Sandhu

Monday, February 11, 2019

Nuts about Nut and Seed Butters!

I come from where I only knew about the existence of peanut butter and I completely disliked it because of the way it tasted and all that sugar! Then I came across the JusAmazin range of nut and seed butters last year, immediately realising that there was a whole new world of nut and seed butters which most of us have no idea about.

From then on, it was not just Peanut Butter, it was also Almond Butter, Mixed Seeds Butter and to top it all Cashew Butter. If you told me to eat a cashew 11 months ago, I would have given you the stink eye, but now I eat the JusAmazin Cashew Butter Salted Caramel as dessert! It’s guilt free and absolutely delicious!

From there on I went trying the entire range and my latest favourite has been the most delicious and of so crunchy: Peanut Butter Crunchy with Sunflower and Flax Seeds! I can eat an entire jar and still crave for more.

Let me tell you more about it, this entire range is made with natural ingredients, no chemicals, no hydrogenated fats and bring to us the

goodness of nuts and seeds with the natural micronutrients needed by our body.

My top favourite reasons to eat the JusAmazin nut and seeds butters:

It’s Natural

100% natural ingredients make it taste just like one will make at home. No chemicals, no hydrogenated fats, no ingredients that I have to google, to preservatives and no refined sugar.

Delicious

One would think healthy food is not tasty, but these butters prove just otherwise. I can eat all of them

straight out of a jar, in fact I purposely add them to some or the other meal because these nut butters

enhance my food experience 10x.

Versatile

I use the Cashew Butters most often either to make the alfredo pasta sauce, add it to my paneer dishes or to saute vegetable to add flavour and some much needed fat requirement of the day. As a dark chocolate fan, the Almond butter dark chocolate makes for some delicious ice cream and mouse. I will share recipes in a later blog.

Micronutrients

Dosage of required nuts and seeds to gain important micronutrients: We all need certain amount of micronutrients like minerals, vitamins,

iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, etc. to have a balanced diet, nuts and seeds are some of the most natural and recommended way

of obtaining the same. If you remember how we grew up hearing, “you should have almonds and walnuts and cashews and raisin every

morning”. This by far is the best way to do that.

Vegan

Veganism has a lot of benefits for our body and these butters apart from being all of the above,

are also dairy free, soy free and gluten free! Being high in dietary fibre and high in protein it

ensures that you are longer for full and good cell development respectively. For our vegan friends,

these butters in all its versatility, helps with daily nutritional requirement with the attached

health benefits.

Try it to believe it.

Brand Name: Jus Amazin

Website: www.jusamazin.com

Current offer: Buy 2 and get 20% off | Use code: heart

Monday, December 24, 2018

Raisin Cheese with Honey-Sesame Vermicelli Recipe. A Warm and Sweet Edible Christmas Wreath.

Ho Ho Ho! Jingle Bells! Christmas is here and so is 'This' Santa with the "Raisin cheese" and Honey-Sesame Vermicelli to bless you with Health. No no...not the Dish but, the Recipe. :D

A Warm and Sweet Edible Christmas Wreath. :)

Did you ever eat Raisin Cheese? No...not the Raisin Cheesecake. I am talking about the Raisin Flavoured Cheese! Did you? Did i? Yes, And, that too by Accident! ;P Read on to know how. ;)

My Original Idea was to make a "Raisin Rabdi". But, after making the plain Milk Rabdi, i mixed in the Raisin puree and cooked it more to thicken it. That's when some compound in the Raisin decided to act on the milk and turn it in to Cottage Cheese consistency. And, that's how i tasted Raisin Cheese! ;P Anyhow...it tasted good with the "Honey-Sesame Vermicelli" so, i decided to share the recipe with you all. :) I will give another try with the Raisin Rabdi and if i succeed, will definitely share the recipe with you. :)

Enough of this Long and Boring(was it?) chat. Let's just jump to the recipe of this Healthy and Super Tasty Sweet Treat. :)

Note: I am not writing it in a regular step wise fashion. I am quite new to this food blogging thing and i get confused with writing steps and listing out ingredients. No no...Don't blame my MS because, i have been bad with numbers and orderly things right from my childhood. So, let me just write everything down in a 'casual chat' fashion. :)

1.Raisin Cheese with Honey-Sesame Vermicelli: First, dry roast the Vermicelli until it gives off a toasted flavour. And then, keep it aside to cool off. Click HERE for the Review of Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli.

Put the black sesame seeds in a large sieve and sieve off the stones. In India, Black sesame seeds are notorious for it's stone content so, if you are not comfortable with this tedious job then substitute it with white sesame seeds. The Flavour will be compromised a little though!

In a hot wok, put 2-3 tbspns of Ghee/Clarified butter and when it completely melts, put a small glass of water(100-150 ml) and bring it to a boil. Now add the toasted vermicelli Turn off the stove and keep it aside. When you are ready to serve then, heat it up, turn off the stove, Pour the Honey and Fold it carefully in to the cooked vermicelli. Sprinkle rest of the Toasted Sesame seeds and you're Done! :)

2.Raisin Cheese:
Take 1 litre of Full-Fat Cow Milk in a thick bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. Now, keep it on a low flame and reduce it while stirring every few minutes. When it reduces to a thick cream like consistency, add the Raisin puree(Boil a fistful of raisins and puree them without water) and cook it further to a granular cottage cheese consistency. Do not make it too dry. And the Raisin Cheese is ready!

While serving, assemble both Honey-Sesame vermicelli and Raisin Cheese while making sure not to mix them up.. Tastes Best when served warm. Serve a Sweet Christmas Wreath like i did:

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Wish you all a Merry Christmas. :)
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Here's my Forever favorite Christmas Song 'Jingle bell rock' by Bobby helms. Yes, that popular song that they dance to in the 'Mean Girls' movie.

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Infinite Merries, Infinite Love.
Siri.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Recipe: Coconut Prawn Spice Vermicelli with Tam-Or Honey Reduction. A Sweet Global twist to the Indian Spicy Prawn

Prawn vermicelli is a popular seafood vermicelli dish allover the world. (The beginning is seriously not fun but please keep reading for a full-on of it!) Usually, it is made with Rice vermicelli but here i made it with the Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli and trust me, it turned out quite yummy! What's Special you ask? Here it is: I just customized it with my "Tam-Or Honey Reduction". Wondering what "Tam-Or" is? Ha ha...'Tam' stands for "Tamarind" and 'Or' stands for "Orange". See...You don't really have to try hard to make just about anything sound Exotic! ;P

Tamarind is the best companion for Indian Prawn Recipes and i just gave it a Sweet Global Twist by Adding Orange Juice and Honey to it. And my my her her him him....i can sit with a bowl of this Reduction and Gorge away to Glory!

So, Here's my First(but, not my best) Food Blog Post:

Ingredients:

1) 200 gms Pro Nature Organics Atta Vermicelli.

2) 500 gms Small or Medium Prawns. Large/Tiger prawns don't workout well for this recipe.

3) 1 Glass Fresh Thick Coconut milk.

4) 2 inch Fresh Turmeric Root or 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder.

5) 4-5 Green chillies and 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder for Flavour balance.

6) A pinch of Garam masala powder.

7) 1 or 2 pinches Sambar powder.

8) 1 sprig Curry leaves.

Tam-Or Honey Reduction Ingredients:

1) 1 small laddoo sized Tamarind.

2) 2-3 Orange segments depending on the size.

3) 2-3 teaspoons Honey. I used Sakura Fresh Eucalyptus Blossom Organic Unfiltered Exotic Honey.

(This is the Full version of the Puzzle pic from THIS post.)

Let's Cook Away:

First, Dry Roast the Vermicelli till it turns a little brown. It is easy to burn this thin Vermicelli if you are not attentive. So, be watchful and keep tossing continuously.

Heat a little oil (I used cold pressed Coconut oil) and Add Finely chopped Green Chillies and Curry leaves to it. And then, add the prawns along with the tails and sautee for a minute. And then add Grated Turmeric or Turmeric powder and Chilli powder and mix to coat the prawns with it.

Saute for a few seconds and add salt to it. Then add a small glass of water and bring the whole mixture to a boil. Add Vermicelli to the Boiling water and cook until the water is almost absorbed and then add the Fresh Thick Coconut Milk. Cook until the coconut milk is also almost absorbed. That's it. Done.

Let's jump to the Tam-Or Honey Reduction now:

1. Take a small Sauce pan and add Soaked and Extracted Tamarind Juice.
2. Boil it for 1-2 minutes.
3,4. It should reach the consistency shown in the picture below.
5. Now add the Orange juice that has been extracted from the segments and strained.
6. Add Honey and boil until it reaches a thick Gel like consistency and then turn off the stove. Done.

Ready!

This was my First Food Blog post and i was sh*t confused with the picture taking while cooking! And in the process the daylight started to go down and i had to quickly plate up like whatever and too a super sh*tty picture of the plated food! Just can't believe i worked for 4 full months as a Food photographer at Green Path Organic State, Bangalore! :'( Lesson Learnt: I should start early in the day for Best Results. :P

Review of the Pro Nature Organic Atta Varmicelli: Click HERE.

Aaaaaaand, with this Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli, i cooked up a Dessert too! Hint: Raisins and Cheese.....;) Shall post it Next week coz i am travelling this week. See Y'all. :)

P.S: Don't forget to let me know how the "Tam-Or Honey" thing turned out.(If you try it that is :P) ;D

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Infinite Love,
Siri.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli Review. A 'Health'ified and 'Taste'ified Staple.

Vermicelli, Semiya, Shavige, Sevai, Sawine …..and whatever infinite names it is called by, is one of the staple food products that almost every Indian kitchen possesses. While ‘Upma’ is made almost thrice a week in South Indian homes, Kheer/Payasam is made on 80% of the festive occasions. Vermicelli that we get in India is usually made out of Maida. But recently, Pro Nature has introduced organic wheat vermicelli in to the Indian market. So let’s see if the Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli can beat the reputation of the classic Maida/Refined flour vermicelli.

Brand:

Pro Nature Organic Foods (P) Ltd is a Bangalore based Organic Food marketer. At Pro Nature we are committed to provide 100% Certified Organic Food Products to our customers.

Being a pro-women organization, our production work force largely comprises women and we support women driven initiatives.

Since 2006, Pro Nature has positively impacted livelihoods of hundreds of rural women who participate in our supply chain. We are committed to increase this impact every year.

Pro Nature Atta Vermicelli: Is the first organic atta vermicelli in India. It is a unique product which is made with Wheat Flour and no maida. It is priced just at Rs 40/- for 180 g pack.

Review:

1.Texture:

Before receiving this Pro Nature Organic Atta Vermicelli, i kept on thinking that the strands are going to be super thick since it is made out of wheat, It is going to be super duper difficult to roast and then to cook. But, but but but but but.....it proved me wrong in every way! The strands were super thin, got roasted quickly and It’s super easy to cook! And they did not become pasty like the maida ones and did hold their shape really well even after i forgot to check on it and left it a little longer on the stove.

2.Taste:

Usually, to me, the Wheat version of any Maida based food product tastes Bleh. But, after i made a dish out of this Pro Organic Atta Vermicelli and put the first 1/4th spoon(since i was concerned about the taste) in my mouth, it erased all such concerns right that moment. It Tasted Ahhhhhmazzzzzing! Far better than the Maida version! I Loved it to the core! <3

3.Price:

And, another Good News is: At 40/- INR per 180 gm packet, It’s Super Duper Truper Affordable. Never before was Healthy Organic Food So Affordable.

Rating: 5/5. 10/10. 100/100. <3

My Conclusion:

Just run to either a local organic shop that stocks Pro Nature products or Bigbasket.com and get yourself a few packets of this staple and be ready to win the hearts of the people you cook it for over and over and over.......(to the power of Infinity) Again. ;)

I cooked a Simple but Super Mouth Watering Dish using the Pro Nature Organic Atta vermicelli and Trust me, it Won Everyone’s Heart in my family. I Will share the recipe in the next post. Till then, Here's a Puzzle Pic of the main Ingredients:

Can you Guess what all the Dish is made out of??? ;) This Pic contains 9 of them. Tell me what all you found in the Comments section below. I'll be looking forward to it. :) If you need the Un Re-Sized Picture which you can Zoom much more to have a look at the ingredients, just Shoot Me an E-mail: vanityrehab@gmail.com

See you in the Next Post with the Recipe. My First Food Blog! :D

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Infinite Love,

Siri.

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