ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Homemade hummus is much, much better than any shop-bought version, unless you are purchasing the freshly made product from a traditional middle-eastern suppler.

This traditional fruitcake is ideal for weddings, birthdays, or any special occasion requiring a luscious, rich cake. It can be kept for several weeks after baking.

Here's a last minute Christmas menu idea - especially good for meat-eaters!

Semolina halava is the most popular dessert served at any of the Hare Krishna restaurants worldwide. This version of the famous hot, fluffy pudding with juicy raisins, raw sugar, and walnut pieces rates high in the "halava-top-ten". I have cooked halava for 4 or 5 persons and for 1500 persons; either way, following the same basic steps yields equally stunning results.

Despite the fact that okra, the seed- pod of the plant Abelmoschus esculentusis is enjoyed the world over, for many cooks okra is still an unknown vegetable. If this is your first experience of okra, I think you’ll enjoy this recipe.

This simple and sublime dessert is popular, in one form or another, all over South East Asia. Various fruits can go with it - typically mango, jackfruit, or durian. It is also sometimes eaten with palm sugar syrup, with thick coconut milk and a pinch of salt, sprinkled with sesame, or served with a type of coconut milk custard called sankhaya.

You can even serve it with sweetened or unsweetened cream. In Thailand, where it is known as Khao Neow Mamuang it is eaten not just as a dessert, but as a sweet afternoon snack, or any time. Serves 4.

Pistachio burfi is a delightful example of a traditional Indian milk sweet, where the milk is reduced gradually until it thickens to a fudge-like paste. Note that, as all burfis, pistachio burfi will firm up as it sits. If you keep it well covered, you can store it for up to 10 days in the refrigerator.

Chickpeas are rich in good quality protein – 100 grams of cooked chickpeas contain nearly 20 grams of protein. These savoury, butter–soft chickpeas coated with spiced tomato glaze are substantial and delicious. Serve them with fresh bread or rice. Serves 4-6.

I tasted this ultra-delicious combination of fresh buffalo-milk mozzarella cheese, slices of ripe tomato, and fresh basil leaves for the first time in Rome.

This nourishing combination of beans and vegetables is given an extra protein boost with the addition of crumbled home-made curd cheese (panir). To make this a dairy-free dish, add frozen tofu that's been thawed and crumbled instead of the curd cheese. Chili is delicious served with your choice of breads or rice.

Serves 6-8.

Wild rice is the seed of an aquatic grass that grows in ponds, lakes and waterways of the USA and Canada. It is not actually a grain, but it is treated as such. It’s long, thin ash-brown to blackish grains cook to a chewy texture, with a slightly smoky flavour. Wild rice teams up very well with basmati rice, and in this recipe is joined by continental parsley, slivered toasted pecans, currants and orange zest.

A pitabread (flatbread) is a simple bread made with flour, water, and salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many pitabreads are unleavened—made without yeast or sourdough culture, although some pitabread is made with yeast, such as pitabread made with whole wheat flour.

This dish proves just how delicious pumpkin can be if teamed up with the correct flavour partners. Succulent Gujarati Pumpkin is excellent served with hot chapatis. Makes enough for 6 persons.

This is a version of the famous "Radha Red" plum chutney that has been a favourite at many Hare Krishna multi-course feasts throughout Australia for decades.

This nourishing combination of beans and vegetables is given an extra protein boost with the addition of crumbled home-made curd cheese (panir).

Select the thin, green-stalked variety (English Asparagus) for this soup. It serves 5-6 people.

Vaidhi Bhakti from Mauritius wrote:

"I have made sambar using your sambar powder recipe. It's tastes great. Only by your kind mercy can I make my own sambar powder.

I have a humble request. If you have a recipe for rasam powder, I will very much appreciate if you could share it with me.

This irresistible dessert can be served in two ways. You can smother the freshly cooked crisp hot doughnuts with the cold, smooth, fruit-studded yogurt for an experience of contrasting textures and temperatures. Alternatively, if you leave the doughnuts in the yogurt, they swell up and become succulent, soft and spongy, drinking up the juices and flavours of their sauce. The choice is yours. Serves 6-8.

Simply Wonderfuls are fudge-like sweets made from butter, sugar, and milk powder. They require no cooking. Combine the ingredients, and the result is simply wonderful!

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes, YIELD: about 15 sweets

Tempe is a cheesy substance made by soaking and boiling soya beans, inoculating them with a fungus Rhizopus oligosporus, packing them into thin slabs wrapped in polythene (or banana leaves pierced with holes) and leaving to ferment. Tempe is easily digested, delicious and a great source of protein, and best fried for optimum taste and texture. Serves 4.

South India has many regional varieties of rasam. This one comes from Bangalore. Serves four.

The brilliant corn chutney has become one of my favourites. It marries perfectly with sweet potato, its South American partner from ages past. Best consumed the day it’s made.

Anyone who enjoys a good shortbread will love these melt-in-the-mouth delights from Iraq. They are exceptionally easy to make.

Here is a recipe from my first cookbook 'Great Vegetarian Dishes'. A friend's grandmother from Tuscany, Italy, parted with this recipe for doughnuts (Bomboloni). Serve them hot at afternoon tea for a delicious treat.

I've not named this recipe after myself! Rather, the name korma, sometimes spelled quorma, indicates a fragrant braised dish often containing yogurt and sweet spices, and thickened with either ground white poppy seeds or a paste of ground almonds. This Mogul-influenced style of cooking invariably centres around non-vegetarian ingredients. My version features cauliflower, the "queen" of vegetables. Serve Cauliflower Korma hot with flatbreads or rice.