The Kitchen Religion: Spaghetti Sauce with Noodles

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.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Spaghetti Sauce with Noodles

Homemade, fresh-tomato spaghetti sauce stoked with fried paneer, spooned over a bed of hot pasta...what could be better? My husband said to tell you he had three helpings for lunch today!

Chunky, fresh-tomato spaghetti sauce with noodles

1 kg tomatoes (4 c chopped)
1 lg bell pepper (capsicum) cut into 1/2 inch squares (2 c chopped)
400 g paneer, cut into cubes, deep-fried in ghee, drained and set aside
400 g pasta, boiled to al dente, drained, set aside
2 T butter
2 T ghee
1.5 t fennel (saunf) roasted and coarsely ground
1/8 t red pepper
5/8 t black pepper
1/4 t hing (available at Indian groceries)
1/2 t turmeric
2 t coriander
1 1/2 t Italian seasoning (mixture of oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram and basil)
1 1/2 t salt
1 t sugar
1 c water or whey (optional)
1/4 c yogurt (curds)

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water. Remove when their skin splits. Peel, then chop fine. Set aside.

Heat ghee in large pot. Add spices except for salt and sugar. Add bell peppers and saute until bell peppers test tender. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add paneer. Boil, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break down a bit and ghee shines on surface. Add salt and sugar. If tomato sauce is too dry, you can add water or whey.

Raise heat and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes to blend flavors. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.

Boil pasta in plain water. Test after 5 minutes, to insure that the pasta does not disintegrate from over-cooking. Drain, and dot with butter.

Spoon sauce over spaghetti noodles or any type of pasta for a delicious Italian meal.

Serves: four

Note: my husband is my shopper. He couldn't find regular Italian seasoning in the store here in Udupi, so he bought a mixture that had a few of the spices I asked for. Good enough!

The Kitchen Religion