Butternut Squash Chickpea Curry

Sometimes the excitement of trying out a new recipe sets me in a great mood all day long. I recently stumbled upon Tasty Yummies' post on Butternut Squash & Chickpea Coconut Curry (crock pot recipe) and it looked and sounded so good, I was very anxious to make it the following day. It had chickpea (foodwise, my biggest weakness) and curry powder (my favourite spice mix), so I was easily seduced. I eagerly went and bought the missing ingredients in the morning and by lunchtime I was enjoying a generous serving of this incredibly delicious curry with a few parathas. The curry brings together butternut squash, chickpea, spinach, peas and coconut milk, making it very rich, creamy and filling. Its sweet and spicy flavours are perfectly balanced. I barely had the patience till dinnertime to enjoy it again. I even walked all the way to the supermarket to get more parathas, since they were over and I wouldn't have my curry without them:)

Aloo Chana

This is another lucky-combination-turned-awesome that I made recently when there wasn't much in the pantry to choose from - a rich, creamy, mildly sweet and spicy coconut curry with potatoes (aloo) and chickpea (chana) that satisfies the appetite and delights the taste buds. It is great served with crispy puris or papadums. As with all Indian curries, it is best eaten with the fingers (Indians believe that in order to fully enjoy a meal one should involve as many of the senses as possible - taste, smell, sight and touch).

Mango Pancakes

2010 was my busiest, most adventurous year when it comes to baking/cooking. February was the crazy pancake month. I took a basic recipe and tweaked it several times to make some very delicious fruit pancakes. If you enjoy mango as much as I do you'll love these ones. They are very easy to make, light and aromatic. The combination of mango and cardamom is widely used in India and gives these pancakes a plus of flavour.

Banana Orange Pancakes

These pancakes are great for breakfast and so easy to make. It's amazing that with simple ingredients you can make such delicious pancakes that are also light, fluffy and full of flavour. They are wonderful eaten plain or with different toppings, like sweet cream (single cream sweetened with agave nectar) or maple syrup.

Tofu Crêpes

A few days ago I was craving a snack that I ate at the Whole Foods Market last year, a half-folded tofu crêpe stuffed with lots of yummy veggies. I wanted to make something similar and while browsing recipes for the crêpes the first one that showed up was Bryanna Clark Grogan's video recipe on Everyday Dish. The crêpes were so easy to make and took just seconds to be done. I already had all the ingredients so I went ahead and made a batch. Not only were they incredibly delicious, but to my surprise they were exactly like the egg/dairy version I used to be crazy about in my pre-vegan days. Taste, texture, colour, flexibility, there was nothing missing.

Chocolate Muffins

This post is dedicated to all the chocoholics out there:) Without having tried any other vegan version, I'm still going to say these chocolate muffins are THE BEST, simply because in three years of veganism I made them so many times and yet there never seemed to be anything missing. They are perfect on their own, but you can also pair them well with chocolate cream, peanut butter frosting, or raspberries and cream cheese. The muffins have a very light, crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture, and deep cocoa flavour - I'm referring to them as muffins because of their large size, but the texture is rather that of a cupcake.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

Dum Aloo is the signature dish of Kashmir, a region in northwestern India, famous for its breathtaking landscape and unique cuisine. Kashmir boasts of exotic natural beauty that makes it a popular tourist destination: the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, sleepy lakes, meandering rivers, dazzling waterfalls, beautiful glades, dense forests, and very diverse flora and fauna.