You guys all ready know how much I love Richa, so when she asked me to help promote her E-book, of course I was thrilled to help. Enter to win the giveaway below, or head on over to Richa’s site to get the e-book yourself for a mere $5 bucks.
Diwali, the festival of lights is one of the big festivals celebrated in India and is coming up on November 3. The Sweets and Desserts served for the festival are quite heavily dependent on dairy. Like any major festival or holiday in any country, we all get obsessed with vegan-izing some family favorites. With very few Vegan Indian commercial options in India and almost none in the United states, I try to vegan-ize some of my favorites around the Indian festivals that people can make at home. This year I have a decent collection that I could make into an E-book.
The names of the sweets and flavors might be new to some, but they are delicious and addictive. I have tried to keep the sweets close to traditional wherever possible, that means a few do have similar oil content as you would find in a ghee laden sweet. A good number of the recipes though are low-fat with no or little refined oil and some also use natural sugars like maple syrup. Gluten-free options are mentioned wherever possible.
Nan Khatai Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients: Makes 15-16
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 1 cardamom pod seeds or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoons organic canola oil
- 1/4 cup earth balance butter or vegan margarine or melted coconut oil or melted cocoa butter
- 2 teaspoons non dairy yogurt or cashew cream or coconut milk
- 1/4 cup fine semolina/sooji
- 1 teaspoon chickpea flour/besan (optional)
- 2/3 cup unbleached organic white flour
- 2 Tablespoons ground pistachios or cashews
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Method: Grind the sugar with the cardamom, nutmeg and salt into a fine powder. Add the oils, yogurt to the sugar and whisk to make a well combined mixture. Whisk the semolina, baking soda & powder, flour, ground pistachio and chickpea flour together then add to sugar mixture. Knead to form a dough. Spray just a little water or non dairy milk to help make the dough only if it is too crumbly.Refrigerate the dough for an hour. Shape the dough into balls. Press almond slivers or pistachio slivers on top if desired. Bake in pre-heated 350 degrees F/180 degrees Celsius for 13-14 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for another 3-4 minutes before removing from the sheet. Cool and store in airtight container for a few weeks.
Visit Richa at her site Vegan Richa to see many more of her amazing creations here .
Buy “Vegan Diwali Sweets E-Book” for $5.00 here.
For a chance to win a copy of this amazing E-book, Click on the link below to enter the Giveaway! This contest is open to entrants worldwide! You must also follow this blog by email or RSS feed to qualify. You have until the Tuesday 5th of November to enter! I will notify the winner by email on Wednesday the 6th of November. GO!!
Vedged Out 
My favorite slow cooker meal is soup! Lots of potatoes, beans, and veggies 🙂
Ellery! Slow cooker meals are great! There was a glitch in the Rafflecopter that asked about slow cooker food instead of Indian food! Sorry, all fixed now!
I’m new to trying Indian food, so this would be perfect for a newbie!
some of these are very similar to coconut based candy or cheesy truffles:) definitely try some
Richa! Everything looks so yummy! I don’t even know where to start!
Jacqui! Richa’s site is a fantastic place to start! She has easy step by step instructions and photos for nearly every recipe! You’re going to love her stuff! xx
I would love a vegan recipe for Naan!
already on my blog veganricha.com 😉 4 different versions of vegan Naan bread
http://www.veganricha.com/2011/12/naan-plain-garlic-stuffed-and-more.html
Oh my gosh! Mason, you have to see her avocado Naan!
It is nice because a lot of vegan recipes are already vegan, but I would love to see a tikka masala recipe veganized!
Hi Ani, I have a tikka msala recipe also on my blog veganricha.com . http://www.veganricha.com/2012/05/tempeh-tikka-masala-with-kale-vegan.html
See, she’s like magic 😉
I have never tried any Indian food, so I am open to anything – well, except curry.
You are so missing out! Including the curry! 😉
I agree. Indian food is fabulous!
🙂 🙂 🙂
I’ve been following Richa’s blog for a while now. I honestly can’t think of any Indian food that I would like that she hasn’t already veganized!
SO true!
Love, Love, LOVE Indian food and am excited to dive into some desserts!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipes! 🙂
Once you head on over to Richa’s site, you’ll never be the same! She makes it all seem so easy!
I would love to see saag with paneer veganized!
I think this one comes pretty close: http://www.veganricha.com/2013/10/palak-tofu-tofu-in-spinach-curry-vegan.html
Here’s her non-vegan recipe from before she went vegan, I’m sure you could easily sub cubed vegan cheese for the dairy cheese 🙂
I’d love to see saag paneer veganized
LOVE IT, Somer! I just headed over to congratulate her. So exciting! 🙂
My lovebug and I are headed to a Diwali event here in Western Australia on Saturday night and I was just saying I wished more of the desserts were vegan and then HELLO, here we are. 🙂 Rock on, girl. xxx
Thank you Rebecca! I wish people would make some for me in the Diwali parties too! oh well i will carry a few of my own 🙂
I love trying out traditional foods from different cultures, and indian is naturally such a veg-friendly culture!
Palak paneer was my favorite vegetarian (but not vegan) indian food option. i’d love to try a vegan version!
It’s unique and delicious! It was my first time making Nan Khatai. They are a very good thing indeed! Thanks for the recipe.
I’m open to just about anything (except mushrooms) but have never really done any Indian cooking but I’m sure ready!
Thanks for the giveaway and good luck to all.
I’m not sure it’s possible but I’d love some vegan version of butter chicken
Well, I”m not a big indian food fan, I do love dosa and anything not spicy. I would love to have something not spicy and not worry that it was made with ghee! Oh well, of course desserts….yes, veganize desserts!
Omg thanks for pointing that out!!how embarrassing that I had him under “empowered females” ugh yikes!
No worries!