The Kitchen Religion: Hearty Vegetable Soup

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.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Hearty Vegetable Soup

This has been a family favorite for many years, although lately, because our ayurvedic doctor told my husband and me to avoid tomatoes, I have stopped using them in this soup. You can add them if you wish. This soup boasts a variety of colorful vegetables, fried paneer and pasta to make it a healthy, hot main dish for a winter meal. Serve with basmati rice and homemade bread for a well-rounded, satisfying supper.

Paneer from 1 gallon milk, pressed, cubed and lightly fried (save whey)
1/4 c barley
9 c mixed vegetables of your choice (I generally use potato, turnip or rutabaga, carrot, celery and bell pepper. Keep the root veggies separate from the other veggies.)
2 c water
1" diameter handful of linguine or spaghetti noodles
Scant 1/2 t hing
1/2 T mustard powder
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t methi (fenugreek) powder
1/4 t paprika
1 t turmeric
2 T unsalted butter
1 slightly rounded T salt
2 T cornstarch
2 T cold water

Make paneer from one gallon whole milk. Press it under a heavy weight for one minute. Remove weight. Allow to sit for a few minutes before cutting. Using a sharp knife, cut the paneer into 1/2 inch cubes. Deep fry in ghee until just golden brown. Do not allow it to fry too long, or it will be tough. Remove from ghee and drain. Set aside.

Measure 1/4 c barley. Wash it and drain it. Put it in a small saucepan. Add enough water to fully cover the barley, plus a little extra. Place it over a medium-low flame and bring it to a boil. Turn down to low and cover. Allow barley to simmer while you're working on the rest of the soup. Watch the barley carefully so it doesn't run out of water and scorch on the bottom. Test the barley after about 20 minutes or so. When you squeeze a grain of barley between your fingers, it should feel chewy. If you need to keep cooking them, you can add more water. If they feel chewy when you squeeze them with your fingers, they're done. Turn off and set aside.

Pour all the whey into a large pot. Add two cups of water. If you're using root veggies, add them first. Bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, then add the other veggies. Boil until almost soft.

While the veggies are boiling, add the spices, paneer, butter, pasta (which has been broken into three-inch lengths), barley (along with its water that you boiled it in) and salt.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, thoroughly mix the cornstarch with the cold water, then add to the boiling soup. Stir well. (Note: in any recipe that calls for cornstarch, always allow cornstarch mixtures to boil for at least two minutes.) You may need to add more water to make sure you have a gallon of soup.

Continue cooking until veggies and noodles are soft. Remove from heat and offer to Lord Krishna while it's still nice and hot.

Yield: one gallon

The Kitchen Religion