The Kitchen Religion: Mac 'n' Cheese from Scratch

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, September 22, 2017

Mac 'n' Cheese from Scratch

In these days of packaged, processed, instant foods, to make a pot of macaroni and cheese from scratch--with chewy chunks of deep-fried paneer--is an act of love and a work of art.

Macaroni 'n' Cheese (Photo courtesy of Arjun Anchan)

6 c milk (about 1500 ml)
1 c cool water
200 g meltable cheese, cut into small pieces for melting in the sauce
250 g macaroni noodles (3 c dry)
400 g fried paneer cubes
3/4 t black pepper
1/4 t hing
1/4 t methi powder
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 c cornstarch (aka corn flour in India)
2 T + 1 t unsalted butter
1/2 T salt

In a small bowl, mix the spices (except for the salt) with the cornstarch. Add 1/4 c of the water to the cornstarch. Mix thoroughly. Add a little more water and mix thoroughly. Keep adding more water until the whole cup of water is added and mixed into the cornstarch.

In a large pot, bring about 3 quarts (about 3 litres) water to a rolling boil. Add pasta to the water. Stir to separate the noodles. Return to a boil and check after three minutes. Test a noodle. If it is soft enough to break with your thumb nail, it is done. Pour noodles and water through a colander. Rinse with water so that noodles don't stick to each other. Set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter. Pour the milk into the butter. Add the cornstarch mixture. Add the fried paneer. Place over a medium high flame, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until you feel some film start to collect on the bottom of the pot. Immediately turn down the heat to low, and keep stirring constantly, this time with a scraping tool like a stainless steel spatula. Make sure to keep stirring and scraping constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. After it comes to a boil, continue stirring frequently. Boil for two minutes. Turn off the heat and immediately add the cheese and the salt and stir thoroughly until the cheese is melted. Now gently fold in the noodles.

This preparation thickens as it sits, so if you make it early, be prepared to add a cup or two of boiling hot, filtered water to the mixture before offering to Krishna. Stir the hot water in thoroughly and then offer. It will still thicken up as it sits. After offering to Lord Krishna, serve the macaroni and cheese hot.

Note: A couple of fried bell peppers (capsicum) are a nice addition to this recipe. Also, if you like, you can add some black olives.

The Kitchen Religion