Paste masala refers to spices and herbs that have been ground to a moist, smooth consistency. When slowly simmered, paste masalas impart a full-bodied flavor that is distinctive yet subtle—an ideal spicing for dry bean dishes, dals, gravies, and moist vegetables.
We’re featuring dishes that are quick and easy. Puffed rice is a light meal. Not exactly “instant,” but almost.When it comes to food, we want it effortlessly and fast.
Even the classiest restaurants aren’t prepared for the vegetarian. A vegetarian friend who was obliged to go to a famous Italian restaurant for a business lunch told me of her plight.
For the unexpected guest here are some nibblers you can prepare and keep on hand to serve between meals. They have a diverse range of textures and flavors. You can store them and eat them at room temperature, or warm them in the oven.
Cooking for Krsna, offering the prepared foods to Him with devotion, and tasting this offered food—the prasadam—stimulates our dormant love for Krsna.
Chickpeas are a good source of protein and iron, as well as fiber, vitamins A and b6, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, calcium, phosphorous, sodium, and potassium. But the best thing about the chickpea is that we can offer it to Krsna.
The first thing you’ll notice is its wonderfully tender, thin pastry crust, golden-brown from deep-frying. Inside are peas, potatoes, or small chunks of cauliflower, seasoned not too little so that the samosa’s bland, and not too much so that it’s hot, but just enough to delight the palate.
Krsna would steal yogurt and butter from the gopis. Then He would run off to enjoy His booty and share it with the monkeys from the nearby forest. When the gopis caught Krsna, He’d feign innocence and say, “Why do you call Me a thief? Do you think butter is scarce in My house?”
You can make substantial beverages by combining fruits, spices, nuts, and essences with milk, buttermilk, or yogurt. Milk, also the basis for cold shakes, makes a soothing nightcap when served hot.
Preparing and eating these foods for our own pleasure is not the same as preparing and offering them to Lord Krsna for His pleasure, because food that’s material when unconnected with the Lord becomes transcendental when offered to Him.
ISKCON Cinema has just released a documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupada. Titled Your Ever Well-Wisher, the film traces Srila Prabhupada’s life from his birth in Calcutta in 1896 to his passing away in Vrndavana in 1977.
Meat-eating is bad for many reasons. For health reasons: “The inherent cholesterol, toxins, uric acid, high bacteria count, general indigestibility, and lack of fiber in the flesh of an animal whose life was aborted in turn shortens the life of the carnivore”