The Kitchen Religion: Sweet Rice

The Kitchen Religion

The Kitchen Religion is dedicated to my beloved spiritual master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who taught his disciples by his personal example how to cook and offer delicious vegetarian food to Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Dear Friends, Welcome to The Kitchen Religion. I love to cook, and am a follower of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whose disciples taught me how to cook "Krishna prasadam" back in the early 70's. Krishna prasadam (or "God's mercy") is vegetarian food that's offered to Krishna (Krishna, or Lord Shri Krishna, is a name of God the Father which means "the all-attractive person who attracts the hearts of all living beings").

Ever wonder why the Hare Krishnas are called "The Kitchen Religion?" Because for us, cooking is a meditation. Everything we eat, we first cook with love for Lord Sri Krishna, then offer it to Him, then eat (or "honor") His remnants. The Hare Krishna Movement has become known as "The Kitchen Religion" because so much of what we are as a group has to do with cooking for Lord Krishna and then honoring and sharing His holy remnants, or prasadam, with others. We call eating prasadam "honoring" prasadam, because we understand that after we have offered the food to God and He has kindly accepted our loving offering, the food has become spiritualized. So it's like accepting a treasured gift from the Lord when we eat His remnants. Spiritual food is uplifting to the heart and purifying to the soul. Krishna prasadam is meant to be honored.

Srila Prabhupada taught us that because all things come from God, they are meant to be used in His service. He explained that we should lovingly cook vegetarian dishes for Krishna and offer them to Him with devotion. Krishna then accepts and blesses our offerings so that when we partake of His remnants, we become purified of all kinds of unwanted, sinful desires within our hearts. I was happy to learn this, as I had always wanted to know of practical ways to serve God, and I had never thought about cooking for God. But this idea made so much sense to me that I took it up immediately and have been enjoying the pleasure of cooking for God for the last 40 years! After all, God is a person. Granted, He is the Supreme Person, but a person nonetheless. And God eats. He doesn't need to eat, but He eats what His devotees lovingly cook for Him, just to give them pleasure.

By the way, did you know that God likes cows? His supreme abode, Goloka Vrndavana, is named after cows. Gau, or go, means cow, and loka means place or abode or planet. So Goloka means the abode of the cows. Because God puts so much importance on cows, we should understand that cows are very, very important for human society. We humans are given the responsibility to protect cows, and in turn, we are blessed with milk, the miracle food.

Although a lot of my recipes are influenced by my American upbringing, they are all pure vegetarian. Not all are vegan, but they're all vegetarian. We humans are given a diet just like all the other creatures on earth, and our diet is supposed to include milk and milk products. Cow's milk and milk products are beneficial and very important for human consumption. But they must be prepared properly and offered with love to Lord Krishna to provide the greatest benefit to human society.

Of course, using milk and other products from the cow necessitates treating the cow humanely. How ungrateful some people are, that they consume milk, yogurt, cream, sour cream, ice cream, butter and cheese from the cow and then turn around and slap the cow in her face by killing her and eating her slaughtered carcass! How can those people be so cruel, heartless and ungrateful?

Srila Prabhupada explained that we humans have more than one mother. Not only is our birth mother our mother, but the earth is one of our mothers as well as the cow, because the earth gives us food and the cow gives us her milk. Therefore, it behooves us to treat both Mother Earth and the cow with respect and love, just as we would our birth mother.

Speaking of mothers, my love of cooking awakened in my early childhood as I watched my mother cook and bake. From her guidance as well as the tutoring of my Hare Krishna friends, combined with years of cooking and baking for my family, trying out new recipes and repeating old ones, making up some of my own recipes and adjusting many that I have found on the internet and in cookbooks, I feel inspired to share with you some of my cooking experiences and favorite recipes.

In the recipes below, "c" means "cup," "T" means "Tablespoon," and "t" means "teaspoon."

Thanks for being here! Hare Krishna!

Phalini devi dasi

PS Srila Prabhupada demonstrated a high standard for his disciples by always using fresh ingredients. Because I almost always seem to be in a hurry, I have adopted the use of canned goods on occasion. I apologize for this aberration, and hope to switch to using all fresh (uncanned, unfrozen) ingredients in the near future.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sweet Rice

Summer is that time of year when everybody travels. We often have visitors here in Prabhupada Village during the summer months, and sometimes they come unannounced. Our house is just off of the main road right across from the temple. You never know when somebody is going to show up at the door. I like to keep some sweet rice (kheer) on hand for unexpected guests, especially in the hot summertime. The other day, our friends who own the Indian restaurant/store in Winston-Salem came by asking for go-bar (cow dung). They needed it for some medicinal purpose. I said, "Sure! Our cows poop every day!" We went out in the pasture and filled up an empty sour cream container, and they were happy. They were in a hurry and had to leave before I could cool them off with a cup of sweet rice, so instead of serving them the kheer on the spot, I handed them a jar of the yummy stuff to take with them. I was glad I had some in the fridge to give them. They were delighted, and drove away smiling and waving. Gotta keep sweet rice in the fridge at all times!

Recipe for Sweet Rice (Kheer)

1 gal whole milk
2/3 c Basmati or other long-grain white rice
1 1/4 c granulated sugar (I like to use organic raw cane sugar)
1 vanilla bean (or if you don't have a vanilla bean, try two t vanilla)
8 cardamom pods
10 threads of saffron

Cook all ingredients together in a large pot (I use a four gallon stainless steel pot with an aluminum-clad bottom). Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged pancake-turner. After it comes to a boil, keep it at a rolling boil, stirring frequently, until you can see rice grains floating near the top. Should be about one hour cooking time. Turn off the flame and remove the vanilla bean and cardamom pods. Leave the sweet rice sitting, draped with a clean cotton cloth, until it cools to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Offer to Lord Krishna with love and devotion, and then honor His remnants!

The Kitchen Religion