The Kitchen Religion: Prema Pasta

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, May 6, 2015

Prema Pasta

Prema Pasta is an "Indian" version of Stove-top Casserole, being spiced with typical Indian spices, and filled with vegetables that are readily available here in India. Easy to make, rich and hearty, a batch of Prema Pasta can serve as a one-pot-meal for 4-6 guests.

Prema Pasta

250 g pasta (3 cups)
100 g butter
1/2 c whole wheat or white wheat flour
1 T mustard seeds, dry popped
1 1/2 t methi (fenugreek) seeds, dry roasted then coarsely ground (methi powder is also good)
1 1/2 t black pepper
1 t hing (asafoetida)
handful of curry leaves (preferably fresh)
1 t turmeric
1 T coriander
3 c water
500 ml (approximately 2 c) milk
415 g yogurt (curds)
1 med cauliflower, cut into florets, deep-fried in ghee, then drained
3 med bell peppers (capsicum) cut into 1-inch pieces, deep-fried in ghee, then drained
2 lg carrots, peeled, sliced on a diagonal, deep-fried in ghee, then drained
2 t salt
400 g paneer cubes, deep-fried in ghee and drained (opt)
200 g meltable cheese (opt)
220 g sliced black olives (opt)

Wash, cut and deep-fry vegetables. Drain and set aside.

Boil pasta until al dente, then as soon as your pasta reaches al dente, add cold water to the boiling water to stop the cooking process. Drain and rinse, then drain again. Set aside.

(Note: I have found that in India, if you follow the package directions for how many minutes you should boil your pasta, the pasta gets disintegrated by the time they say to cook it. So better to greatly reduce the cooking time. Test a noodle after about 3-4 minutes, just to be safe.)

Dry-pop the mustard seeds in a large pot. Cool pan slightly before adding butter to mustard seeds. Melt butter on low flame. Add methi, black pepper, hing, curry leaves, turmeric, and coriander. Stir in flour, then slowly, little by little, add the water, stirring constantly and thoroughly with each addition, until water is fully incorporated into the flour. If adding friend paneer cubes, add now. Add milk, raise the heat, and keep stirring until mixture returns to a boil. Add the vegetables, stirring them into the white sauce gently with a wooden spoon to avoid breaking them up. Turn off heat. If adding cheese and/or olives, stir them in now. Add the salt and stir thoroughly. Now gently fold in the yogurt and the pasta. Cover and allow flavors to mingle for a few minutes before offering to Lord Krishna.

If serving as a one-pot meal, serves 4-6.

Note: If you like, you can add 200 g or more of fried paneer to this dish. Salt should be increased slightly to accommodate the additional volume. My husband is an olives-and-cheese man, so he likes it when I add 200 g meltable cheese and a cup of sliced black olives to this dish. If doing so, make sure you add these salty items after turning off the heat, because salt cooked with milk becomes poisonous.

The Kitchen Religion