Incredible India in Belgrade

Recently I held a workshop in a cookery school Il Primo in Belgrade. The title of a workshop was Incredible India. I chose to teach some of the most typical Indian preparations: PUSHPANA RICE - multi flavored and multicolored mix of rice, vegetables and spices with a rich taste of cashew nut; SABJI EXOTIC - my favourite sweet and sour tomato gravy of zucchini, carrot and panir with the exotic touch of pineapple; ROYAL KOFTA - three layers vegetable balls with the spicy creamy sauce; PURI - Indian puffy deep fried bread; GOLDEN APPLE CHUTNEY - sweet and hot apple delight; KHIR - creamy rice pudding with saffron.
There were about 15 students who were enthusiastic in all stages of preparation and cooking, after which we had a tasty supper all together. Now we are waiting for the next workshop in January with a menu from South India.
My workshops are the only vegetarian program in the Il Primo cookery school.

Golden Zucchini Carrot Soup

This is very simple recipe for the light soup with zucchini and carrot. Zucchini is one of our favorite vegetable that we use a lot because it's very light and has neutral taste, so it can be used in many different combinations - for sauces, stuffing's, dressings, in cheese pie and pizza, etc. It should not be too much cooked. In fact it's enough to add it on the end of cooking and keep it on fire or in a covered pot for a few minutes and it's done. This soup is easy and quick to make, and can be great beginning for a light dinner or lunch.

- zucchini 1 small pc or half big pc
- carrot 1 piece
- parsley root 1 small piece
- sunflower or grape seed oil
- fresh marjoram and dill for garnish
- spices: asafoetida, bay leaves, black pepper, nutmeg powder, turmeric powder, salt, sugar

Grate zucchini, carrot and parsley root. Heat oil in a pan, add asafoetida, 2 bay leaves, pinch of whole peppers, little nutmeg and turmeric powder, and fry few seconds. Add grated vegetables, salt and pinch of sugar, and fry for 1 minute. Add water and keep cooking 5 minutes after starts to boil. Remove from heat and add handful of fresh dill and marjoram herbs, chopped tiny.
If you want to make it more rich you can add little tomato puree and sour cream on the end.

Unlimited vareity of Soup

There is no better way to start a meal than the soup. Spring and summer are the times for salad, which is cooling the body, but autumn and winter are the times for soup, because the soup is best to warm and heal the body during the cold season. But, regardless the season, in our house soup is everyday on the table. There are unlimited ways to combine vegetables, herbs, spices and imagination to create soups that we never get bored to eat over and over again. I'm going to start writing ideas from Istvan's creative kitchen that could maybe inspire you to add them to your own menu for the chill winter days that are soon going to come.
I'm not going to write the exact quantities for all the items, I want to present the idea, and you can adjust the recipes to your own needs.

MISO SOUP WITH TOFU AND VEGETABLES

- tomato 1-2
- Broccoli (optional)
- pumpkin (optional)
- tofu 50-100 gr
- miso 1 tbsp
- sesame or grape seed oil
- spices: asafoetida, black and green pepper, fresh ginger, lemon, sugar, salt

Cut tomato, Broccoli and pumpkin on larger pieces. Cut tofu on cubes. Heat sesame oil in a pan on high flame, put little asafoetida, pinch of whole peppers, 1 tsp of grated fresh ginger and little bit of sugar. Add tomatoes and fry few minutes. Add Broccoli, pumpkin and tofu and fry few more minutes. Add water and wait until starts to boil. Add miso and salt, turn of the heat but keep it covered 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with few drops of lemon on the end.

Retreat Holyday

Last week we had a great time on a spiritual retreat in hilly area of Fruska Gora, north part of Serbia. The place is known as the air bath because it’s surrounded by fragrant forests full of trees, herbs, flowers and beehives. With more then 200 participants, many of them our dear friends, we were practicing yoga, listening seminars on spiritual topics, walking and playing in the nature, dancing, cooking and eating exclusively vegetarian dishes.

Cooking was fun with many people participating in cutting vegetables and preparing ingredients. We had a big and old rented kitchen where things had to be adjusted. I was doing the lunch, simple and healthy menu of rice, cooked or stir fried vegetables, salad and light fruit sweet or halava. We had a good choice of seasonal fruits and vegetables like apricot, peach, plum, pear, zucchini, broccoli, green beans, cabbage, bell peppers, tomato, etc. As I always say to people, there are nowhere so tasty fruits and vegetables like here in Serbia, especially in Vojvodina, northern part of Serbia where fertile soil spreads like a carpet all over the province. This is my experience after extensive travelling and cooking in many places around the world.

We found it inspiring and greatly helpful to have some weeks during the year spent far away from civilization in pure, natural surrounding with likeminded people doing the things we enjoy. And eating well! 

        

How to enjoy cooking

My mother in law every day comes back from the work on the field, takes a little rest, enters the kitchen and starts to cook. She’s 84. She never got an idea to buy a ready made food and heat it up for the lunch. She’s been cooking since her 12 and she still haven’t got bored to do it, every single day. These types of women are not getting birth in now days - it comes through my mind whenever I think about her.  

To be truly honest, I’m not a passionate cook. But I have an advantage to be 14 years married with a passionate cook (the son of that kind of mother!). Over a time I understood the advantages of cooking fresh food every day, in spite of time and effort it takes to do it. In the times of my mother-in law nobody would ever consider “the trouble” of cooking, that was a natural part of the family life. But, in today’s world there are so many alternatives like fast food and restaurants and so little time due to busy lifestyle of the people. In the process of making our lives more easy and comfortable it’s almost unavoidable to get used to the “fast food” solutions from the wide range of industrialized products available on the market.  But these “comfort” habits have the bills to pay on the long term path: if food that we use on regular basis is full of additives and harmful chemicals our health is at risk to be ruined and if we get used to eat on the way while running from one place to another our relationships and family life are in danger to become empty and impersonal. Cooking for the family and eating together, inviting guests and serving them with best of our capacity, those are the secrets of having warm, alive and happy home. Kitchen is the heart of the house; if kitchen is alive then you feel a circulation of healthy life energy around your home.

There were moment when I wanted to do so many other things instead of cooking, but I had to do it as a matter of duty. I’m sure there are hundreds of modern women in the world having the same conflict that lead them to anger, depression or fast food solutions. Others maybe love cooking but don’t have time for it. In either case result is development of unhealthy eating habits and unsatisfying family life. Where to find solution?

There is no magical answer but you have to somehow start to love coking and to find time for cooking. It’s too much important to be neglected or taken out of our lives. The best way to start to love doing any activity is to make it interesting, to have knowledge how to do it successfully and to enjoy the result.

If cooking is too much routine for you then make it interesting by experimenting new recipes, inviting a good friend to cook together or sing your favorite song loudly while cooking. Make a special serving table even if it’s not Sunday.

However good cook you are it always feel better to learn something new. Take a cooking course or read cook books to make your repertoire richer. If you’re into health take time to get right information’s about the quality of food and work on how to modify your choices according to your and your family needs.

The result of cooking is to enjoy the taste of the food and get sufficient nourishment, right? But whoever cooks knows that a pleasure of those who we’re cooking for is our real satisfaction. The best food is cooked with love, and love makes cooking a beautiful experience. I have noticed that usually people who cook great are the people who are emotional, loving and passionate. So, think about those you love while cooking with desire to give them pleasure and satisfaction. The same pleasure will come back to you. And you will want to do it again….                          

Conscious Food for Conscious People

Food is the source of energy for the body. Ingredients we use for coking and the way we prepare the food, in the terms of both technique and consciousness, determine the quality of that energy. From the quality of energy our body receives depends our health, and from the quality of energy our mind receives depends the way of our thinking and feeling. If we want good, vital health and positive, inspiring, constructive flow of thoughts and emotions in our mind we have to get a good quality of “fuel” on everyday basis. Eating is the part of our life that is not avoidable, no matter who we are, where we live, and what we do. Eating quality and eating habits can make us sick or make us healthy. The choice is our.

Besides having a vital influence on our personal health, food is tightly incorporated in our social lives. Eating is connecting people and giving a pleasant platform for the social interactions. From the Sunday family table to the big company events, from the group parties and celebrations to the intimate lovers late night dinners; food is there to make our relationships sweeter and more entertaining. In his writings the famous Russian doctor and bioenergetics Lazarev wrote how people are more sensitive on the subtle level while eating. That’s why it’s very important in which atmosphere and in which mood we take the food: pleasantly talking or arguing, in the fresh smelling garden or in front of the TV?

After understanding how much eating is important we can go deeper into the subject, behind the sauces, gravies, pastries, hot soups and cold desserts that are melting in our mouth. Who made all those wonders, how that person was feeling, what was thinking while cooking? You think it’s not important? Oh, yes, it’s very much important. The fact is that while our body enjoys the taste and absorbs the nutrition of the food, our subtle body “eats” all the emotions and moods of the cook who has produced that taste. It’s so simple and logic, but still so many times hidden from our attention. That’s why in cultures where understanding of this low of nature exists, like in India, cooking is considered honorable activity and being a cook is honorable position within society. And why every child in the world loves mothers or grandmothers kitchen above all? Because they made it with love and care. Maybe in today’s “fast food culture” is not so much the case, but it was throughout the history and it’s supposed to be like that! And just think for a moment what kind of energy “fast food culture” provides to our health, to our relationships and to our integrity… Fortunately, there are more and more awakening sighs in the world today, like Food Revolution, Vegan and similar type of Movements that has been bringing nature’s scale back to balance and sense of purpose back to life.             

  

The consciousness, intention, mood, and feeling – all these count in the cooking the same as stirring, frying and mixing the spices. That’s why the cooking is skill, art and philosophy in the same time. It requires skilled hands, full focus and loving heart on what you’re doing in the kitchen, if you want to make a conscious food for a conscious people. One day while driving on Santa Monica in LA we saw a title of a vegan restaurant: Conscious Food for Conscious People. We looked at each other and knew that our thoughts just have manifested.