Cho-Coco-Late

I've been successfully staying away from most of the processed food except the chocolate bar. Though I eat the Nestle's dark chocolate, I was looking at ways to make my own. Also to avoild chemicals and preservatives. You-tube didn't help me much as most of the recipes needed cocoa butter(edible, not cosmetic :p ) ,which I can't find in the local stores.

I did this experiment with a very small batch and my husband loved it. Moreover, the ingredients make the recipe work so well. Here is the picture.

Only one drawback is that it will not be as hard as the chocolate bar you buy outside. It is more gooey, a little harder than a fudge ball and remains so, even when the temperature is not cold. But it's sinfully dark and delicious.

Ingredients :

2 tbs coconut oil

4 tbs cocoa powder

4 tbs date syrup ( I used lion brand)

   

Makes 9 cho-coco-lates. Want more/less? Just double/half the measures.

Process:

In a bowl, add your coconut oil and heat it till it's liquid (In India the oil is already in liquid state because of the temperature, so it takes around 5 seconds on stove to get the watery consistency). Take the bowl off the stove and add the cocoa powder and date syrup while you stir it continuously. You will realize that as you stir, it turns from a liquid to a paste and to a chocolate fudge consistency.

You can either pour this in a piping bag and fill in cupcake liners or refrigerate it till it becomes hard and make cute little balls of it. 

As soon as I made it, I dropped a dollop each in 1"cupcake liners with the same spoon (without using the piping bag) and added colored sprinkles. Finally, licked off the spoon and the bowl to avoid mess :)

Result: Amazingly gooey chocolate which vanishes immediately. A few friends thought it had coconut flavor, but never imagined there's coconut oil in it :) I have all the copyrights for this recipe.If you try it, do let me know how it turned out. Would love to know...

The one month vegan experience and more..!!

Hello....
It's been ages I wrote. Marriage has kept me busy, in a good way. If not, marriage can be something which can suck you in to a dark deep hole before you know. Life has been good. People around kept telling me that I lost a few pounds (what a relief!!), though the truth is that I put on a few after wedding. But if you are happy, people perceive you positively. You must be thinking why I am jabbering personal life?
Well, just so know am leading to something important. Finally!!

The food choices you make can define you. Do you think so? I have been a vegetarian all my life and people ridiculed me. I had a tough time going out to a lot of places where menu has 10 non veg items and 4 veg items. But I like doing what I do and I don't care. But unknowingly I came across this horrific video  on diary practices and Bham!!! It struck me that I was a part of this harsh world. I love animals and so am a veggie but still am hurting them.
So I did some research on how to not hurt them, and came across the VEGAN world. I knew that vegans don't eat meat which is fine but they don't even eat dairy. I mean how is that possible!!
Can you imagine a life without milk, butter, cheese, curd(am a South Indian :P) and buttermilk and chocolates and cookies and biscuits. GOSH!!!! I thought it's scary. But knowledge is divine. After knowing how animals are hurt, I lost any appetite for dairy products. If you have doubts about what Vegan is and how it is done, check this Hyderabad vegan page. All your myths about how calcium comes only from milk, bones need milk, growing kids need milk will all be solved by Dr.Nandita Shah who is a vegan from a very long time and runs her own organization.

I don't like making my blogs long, I know you will lose interest but there is too much to write here. Too much pain, too much cruelty unknowingly. So I became a vegan last month, got in touch with those who are from a  long time, those who reside here in Hyderabad and are vegans and got enough support. One of them is Sejal. I thank her for helping me. And I never craved any dairy.

There are hundreds of eating out options for you in India (even chocolates, biscuits and ice creams). Although I just stopped eating any processed food (anything packed-It's a whole different story why and I'll write in my next blog). At home I make curd from peanut milk, eat almonds, dates and sesame seeds for calcium and stopped eating processed sugar(Jaggery is tastier than that). And I lost a few kilos, just in one month, all healthy.

A lot of myths are busted here, as the discussion can run too long. Also many people think that they are balancing the earth by eating animals and saving trees instead. If you see Dr.Nandita Shah's vidoes, one of which I have posted above and this second part of it, you will get most of the answers.

I will end the blog here for you to write and leave any comment.
I have tried to put in a few things here, although I think it's just 1/1000th of the whole veganism spectrum.