veganrecipes – 10 Weeks to Vegan – India

Easy Homemade Soy Milk Recipe

BhavyaV — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 07:25:36 +0000

A quick and easy recipe for making lactose-free, vegan, nutritious soy milk at home. Goodbye, store-bought preservative-laden soy milk.

Packed with protein, calcium, and vitamin A, soy milk is a staple in every vegan’s refrigerator. This super versatile nut milk tastes great in tea or coffee and is a great substitute for dairy milk in baking. It has immense health benefits and has become a preferred choice amongst non-vegans as well.

About a year ago, I started making soy milk at home. It is extremely easy, doesn’t take much time, highly cost-effective compared to store-bought soy milk and is healthy as it comes without any added preservatives!

So why not make your own soy milk? Here’s a super simple 2 ingredient recipe for making delicious soy milk at home:

Homemade Soy Milk Recipe

What you’ll need

Making soy milk at home requires only 2 ingredients:

1. Soybeans
2. Water

You will also need a high-speed food processor/blender to blend the beans and a non-stick pot (makes cleaning easier) to boil the milk.

How to make soy milk at home

Soak the beans overnight in water. Remember, soybeans expand to 2-3 times their size, so choose a container accordingly. Around ½ cup of soybeans make about 1 litre of milk.

In the morning, discard the water used for soaking, and wash the beans with fresh water.

Remove the skin from the soaked beans. While this is optional, peeling the beans makes it easier to blend and squeeze the mixture. In my opinion, it gives a smoother texture to the milk and elevates the taste as well. The skin comes off very easily by hand in no time, so I’d definitely recommend it.

Transfer the peeled beans to a food processor or blender, and add 4 cups of water. Blend until a creamy shake consistency is reached.

Place a nutbag/cheesecloth over a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the nut bag, and squeeze as much liquid as you can.

Transfer the liquid to a non-stick pot, and simmer on medium heat. Keep stirring the liquid to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

You will notice some froth forming on top of the liquid. Scoop out as much of the foam as you can.

If you like your soy milk a little sweet, add sugar/medjool dates/maple syrup, or any other plant-based sweetener. You can also add cardamom, cinnamon, cacao powder, vanilla extract or any other spices to give your milk some extra flavor.

Bring the milk to a boil, and turn off the flame.

Let the milk cool down and transfer it to a bottle or jar. I prefer straining the milk once more while transferring it to a jar, but this step is totally optional.

Voila! Your homemade soy milk is ready.

You can store homemade soy milk in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Since it is preservative-free, this milk will start to smell/turn yellowish in about a week. However, if you’re like me, it’ll probably be finished long before that.

Try this easy recipe for homemade soy milk, and you’ll not buy packed soy milk from the shelf again, I guarantee.

– By Samarth Amarnani

Follow us on Instagram (@veganoutreachindia) to join our vibrant vegan community and discover more information and inspiration on embracing a vegan lifestyle.

Also, read:

Secret tips for making the best coconut milk at home

5 easy ways to cook tofu

Good Dot Mock Meat Biryani

BhavyaV — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:22:33 +0000

Some say Biriyani is not a dish that originated from India. But we Indians made it a household name. Biriyani unites all of us, north, south, east, or west. The recipes change from region to region, but all of them are unique on their own. So here is a fantastic recipe for all the fellow vegans. I hope you enjoy making and sharing it with friends and family.

Ingredients:

2 packets GoodDot Mockmeat
500 gms Long Grain Biryani Rice
10 Large Onions sliced thin
4 tbsp Edible Rosewater
1tbsp Oil

For the Marination:

6 strands of saffron soaked in 1 tbsp water
30 gms Biryani Masala (Shaan Bombay Biryani Masala or any other)
4 Large Tomatoes chopped into medium-sized pieces
4 Large Potatoes
2 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
4 green cardamoms
3 black cardamoms
2 2” cinnamon sticks
1-star anise
1 piece mace
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt

For the Rice:

4 green Cardamom
3 Big Cardamom
2 2” Cinnamon sticks
6 strands of Saffron
2 Bay leaves
4 Cloves
1 Star Anise
1 pcs Mace
1 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Salt

For Garnishing:

½ cup whole mint leaves for Mock meat
1/2 cup whole mint leaves for the Rice
2 tbsp cashews for Mock meat Mix
2 tbsp Cashews for Rice Garnish
2 large onions sliced and deep-fried
1 tsp Oil

For coloring the rice:

10 strands of Saffron
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp rose water

Method:

Ideally, prep for biryani is done 5 hours or a day in advance.

Unpack and break apart the Good Dot meat into pieces. Break them up into mouth-sized pieces with your hand so they appear irregular in shape.

Pressure cook the mock meat in exactly 1 cup of water for 3 whistles. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to reduce naturally.

Now take a large bowl or vessel and add all the boiled Mock meat, potatoes (chopped into large cubes), and all the marination ingredients into the bowl except for the rose water. Mix in all the ingredients well with your hand mashing the tomatoes to let the juices flow. Cover and set aside for at least 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Slice 10 of the onions thinly and keep them aside.

Slice the remaining two onions thinly and deep fry them (150gms) to make crispy fried onions for garnishing.

Wash the rice and drain in a colander and keep aside. Put about 1.5 liters of water on the hob on high heat and start with the cooking of the mock meat in another dish while the water for the rice boils.

Heat a thick bottom steel pan and add 1tbsp oil. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add the marinated ingredients and sauté for around 8-10 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of rose water and 30-50ml of water and sauté for another 5-7 minutes. Add 2 tbsp broken cashews and ½ cup fresh mint to the mixture and turn off the heat. Cover the pot and keep it aside till your rice is ready.

Once the water begins to boil add the rice whole spices, saffron, oil & salt to the boiling water, followed by the washed rice in a thin stream to prevent the water from losing its heat. Let the rice boil for exactly 5 minutes and immediately drain the water out and set the drained rice aside.

Heat the pot in which you want to layer the biryani and add 1 tbsp oil. Add the sliced onions and 1 tsp salt and mix it well. Now spread all this onion evenly at the bottom of the pan. Avoid caramelizing the onions at this point. Just a saute for a minute is enough.

Spread the cooked mock meat and potatoes along with the masala without disturbing the onions at the bottom.

Top the mock meat with ¼ cup of mint and 1 tbsp of cashews and some pre-fried onions. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of rose water on the mixture. Now spread the drained rice evenly and lightly.

Garnish the rice with the remaining cashews, mint & fried onions. Set some fried onions, mint & cashews aside to top your biryani while serving.

To add more color take 1 tsp Turmeric and mix some saffron and 2 tbsp rose water in it. This is a better option than adding chemical-based color to your Biryani.

Spread this over the rice. Add in1 tsp oil over the rice.

Cover the pot & place a weight over the lid and cook on a very very low heat for around 1 hour to 90 minutes. Check every half an hour to make sure the bottom is not burning. For a great biryani, the onions should be caramelized well and the mock meat and rice should be cooked well. The flavors of the mock meat get infused very well into the fragrant rice when cooked this way.

Serve the biryani hot & in layers as it’s cooked. Scoop up the white rice with one serving and dig into the layer of Mock meat & potatoes with the other.

Avoid disturbing the rest of the Biryani while serving. The layers should ideally be intact.

Garnish with little crisp fried onions, a few mint leaves, and the remaining cashews.

Enjoy it for lunch or dinner with some delicious Vegan Raita on the side.