Barfi (Indian sweet meats)

This weekend I went out to an Indian restaurant with my friends, and after eating dinner, a few them decided they were still up for a dessert. The restaurant had a big array of Indian sweet meats, and so I stood and explained to everyone what each one was. After everyone had finished scarfing down all the desserts, I realized that I could probably replicate them pretty well. There are many types of Indian sweat meats(ludoo, rusgula, gulab jamun), but out of all of them, my favorite is barfi. Barfi is traditionally made with boiled down milk, jaggery (home-made evaporate cane sugar), and ghee (clarified). Basically, this stuff is heavy, really heavy. If you can imagine what solidified poisonous deliciousness tastes like, that’s barfi. So now, with my barfi, you can enjoy all the wonderful flavors of barfi, with none of the common side effects (brick feeling in your stomach, immediate sleepiness, general malaise, etc.). Enjoy this one!

This recipe is from Roshi’s Raw Lifestyle. To see original posting click here .

Well, my attempt this week to make an Indian style dish ended up in a funk of different flavors that didn’t exactly please the palette. So after having a somewhat unpleasant lunch and getting inspired by an episode of Iron Chef, I decided to take a new direction and make some thing with a little Asian flavor. I’ve always enjoyed simple, stir-fry dishes, because they really bring out the flavor of the vegetables, instead of masking them with all sorts of spices and sauces. That’s exactly the flavor I was going for with this dish, which has the added benefit of being ridiculously simple to make. For anyone who doesn’t have an hour to prepare dinner, I’m sure this will be one of your new favorites.

This recipe is from Roshi’s Raw Lifestyle. To see original posting click here .

Roshi’s Online Store

As the first order of business for this post, I would like to announce the opening of the Roshi’s Online Store . As our very first product, we will be selling incense sticks (known as agarbathies in India) which I brought back from India this summer. The incense sticks are hand made by the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. The Aurobindo Ashram is well known for its support of cottage industries (industries made by hand, in a home and not a factory), like production of incense sticks, textiles, artwork, etc. I brought back a bunch of these incense sticks for myself because they smelled so wonderful and they are made with all natural ingredients. For more information on the incense, you can visit the
Auroshikha website. Then head over to our store to pick up a batch.

Chaat it up Pizza

So I actually started this recipe with something completely different in mind, which ended up not working out like I wanted it too (I would of had to use a dehydrator to get it just right, and you all know how Ro and I dislike waiting for food). After playing around with what I had made, I thought I would go for more of a fusion feel on this one. The idea of pizza popped into my head, and so the chaat it up pizza was born. I actually wasn’t sure if it would taste good until I took a bite, and wow! what a bite.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with chaat (literally meaning to lick or to taste), this should be a good introduction. Chaat is style of Indian snack food, mostly found in the north of India, and consists of all of my favorite Indian dishes. Chaat usually consists of a variety of cracker like snacks, topped yogurt, tamarind chutney, yogurt, and basically every spice known to man. The result is an explosion of flavors you probably didn’t know was possible and a stomach that will likely be angry with you for submitting it to such a concoction. Luckily, this dish should give you all of those wonderful flavors without the resulting gas problems. Hope you all enjoy it!

This recipe is from Roshi’s Raw Lifestyle. To see original posting click here .

Hi everyone! Well, here it is, my first recipe post since I got back from India. After traveling around for three long months, I learned a lot about how Indian food is put together and what all the spices can be used for. I also learned a lot about the different styles of Indian cooking. Food really differs from state to state in India, almost as if each state is a different country with a different culture (each state also has its own set of dominant languages). Most of the Indian food you are probably familiar with (such as Tandoori Paneer or Naan or Paneer Makhani) is from the state of Punjab (my families home state), but there is so much more variety in Indian food that most people in the West are unfamiliar with. So I’m going to try to bring some of that variety here, and of course, do it raw!

To start with, I’m bringing you an all-over-Indian all-time favorite known as halva. Halva is usually made out of semolina, but there are dozens of other varieties like almond, carrot, jackfruit, and strawberry. Halva was something I grew up with, and it was always one of my favorite desserts/breakfasts. Its sweet, spiced, buttery, delicate and just overall amazing. If you’ve ever had freshly made homecooked halva, you know what I’m talking about. I really tried to capture that traditional halva taste in this raw halva, and I think I hit this on the head. I hope you all try this one out and enjoy it. And to all of Roshi’s Indian followers who have given up this tasty treat, I hope this brings you back to your childhood like it does for me.