Vegetarians go through lot of torture when they go travelling abroad, unless they are carrying their own tiffin of home-cooked food, or vegetarian soup packets that can be boiled in an electric kettle in the hotel room. Although much has changed over the years and you do find exotic salads or stir fries, but the safest vegetarian meal you may get is french fries or a block of cheese. You learn to explain your dilemma in multiple languages, stressing the fact that you need food that contains no fish, no egg, no bacon, no meat, no chicken, just vegetables cooked in pure seed/vegetable oils. You explain that vegetables colonise your taste buds and are careful not to attract attention of meat eaters.
Luckily, if you are travelling in India, you have no such complications, there is vast variety of vegetarian cuisine available all over India, even in the remote places. Lentils, vegetables, milk products, innovation is plenty and cooking methods differ from region to region, the masalas, the sauces, the stew, you don’t have to question the chef. Only in India, you can safely enjoy pure veg diet.
Manaswee Sahoo makes some interesting vegetarian bakes, such that you will not miss non-veg at all
Manaswee Sahoo loves baking tea cakes and brownies along with breads.
Her most loved baked dish would be New York style Baked Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Compote. She prefers her bakes to be moderately sweet. She is also planning to develop a Healthy treats menu which would use alternate flours, no refined sugar etc. All her baked treats do not contain any preservatives or artificial ingredients. She feels it’s important to use best quality ingredients to ensure the end product is of good quality.
She started her blog “Meraki Delights” in July 2018 to share her kitchen experiences with the world. In 2019, she got an opportunity to turn her dream into reality by enrolling into Diploma in Baking and Pastry and life has taken a complete turn post completion of the course. She got a chance to work with her Mentors at SEP until the pandemic set it’s foot in the country.
She has recently started taking orders from her home bakery “Meraki Delights Patisserie”.
She has good knowledge about different cuisines from having travelled widely.
“My father was a banker and had a transferable job. As I result I had the opportunity of exploring food of different states. During our stay at different places we interacted with people of different cultural backgrounds and got to share their traditional food items. This is how I got to eat food from Garhwali cuisine, Bengali Cuisine, Rajasthani cuisine apart from Odia food (I belong Odisha). I really feel my food style is immensely inspired by my exposure to different cuisines found in India. Maybe, for this reason everyone in my family and friends prefer me ordering food for everyone when we are dining out.”
She still craves for Ghevar, that her father used to get specially for her.
“Even though now I am a pastry chef, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I eat sweets very rarely and selectively. I have stayed on northern part of India most of my childhood. I clearly remember during the Shravan month, my father used to buy Ghevar only for me as it’s availability is restricted to that month only during our stay in Rishikesh, Dehradun and New Delhi. Even though ghevar is plentily available in Rajasthan, but other states it’s not found easily. It’s the only thing which I haven’t eaten in the past 3 years ever since I moved to Mumbai after my wedding.”
She is happy to share her recipe of Quick Mushroom Broccoli Filo Pie
1. Thaw the frozen 12 Spring roll Sheets for at least 20-30minutes.
2. Once they are at room temperature, separate the sheets from one another and keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel.
3. In a pan, add 2 tbsp butter and let it heat.
4. Ensure that the butter doesn’t burn.
5. Add 1tbsp minced garlic and sauté till the raw smell goes away.
6. Add 200gms finely chopped Mushroom and 200gms Broccoli and sauté in high heat.
7. Season it with Salt and 1tsp Black Pepper.
8. Once the veggies are cooked, add the f1tsp all purpose flour and sauté well.
9. Add 2tbsp milk and stir continuously to form smooth sauce without any lumps.
10. Add the 1tsp mixed herbs, 1tsp tandoori mayonnaise (optional) and 2tbps of processed cheese.
11. Mix until the cheese melts.
12. Take off the heat and let the mushroom and broccoli filling cool down to room temperature.
13. While the filling is cooling, pre heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
14. Cut the Springroll sheet into 4 squares equally.
15. Grease the muffin tray or moulds lightly with oil or melted butter.
16. For the pie, arrange the cut Spring roll Sheets one on the top of other diagonally up till 4 layers by brushing the top side with little oil.
17. This implies each pie will have 4 layers of small Spring roll sheets placed diagonally.
18. Add this layered Spring roll Sheets in each of the muffin mould.
19. Add 1 tbsp of mushroom and broccoli filling and top it with some grated cheese.
20. Bake the Creamy Mushroom & Broccoli Filo Pie at 180 degrees Celsius for 12-15 mins until it crisps and the cheese melts.
21. Once baked, serve it with your favourite dips or sauce.
22. You may eat it alone as well.
She is currently doing her research and recipe trials for diet foods
Contact her on Instagram,
Or on her watsapp 9540362224.
She also has a virtual storefront on ChefBuddy app which is clickable link wherein anyone can order themselves online.
