Name: Jasmeen
What you do: Community Engagement. Also likes making cat games.
Food rule you had when you were a kid: When storing leftovers, I had to use a cereal bowl, a metal plate as the lid and leave it in the fridge. We had a lot of containers at home, but this was the way we stored our leftovers.
Favourite food: At the moment, Coconut Bliss caramel ice cream.
What are you working on right now: Coding, Python. It is everything. I would like to create something Sailor Moon related.
Day in the life: No breakfast, banana at work, Vega protein drink, cookie, packed veggies, big dinner at home.
Jasmeen has been a good friend of mine for a few years now. We met at a continuing education class at the Ontario College of Art and Design-University. Both of us had full-time jobs and remained very ardent about our extracurriculars. That has been a point of our conversations more than anything else. We never had another class together, but still found many moments to create and make.
Jasmeen is vegan and I am vegetarian, so that was another similarity we shared. Because vegan foods are highly available now and work ties up our hands, our recipes seem “lazy.” Jasmeen shares her simple Tandoori recipe (this is the most I’ve seen her cook)!
The Recipe – Tandoori Cauliflower And Veggies
Vegan
2 portions
Ingredients:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- Some old onions and peppers (traditionally it is chicken, onions and potatoes)
- 3 large tablespoons of coconut yoghurt
- ½ tablespoon of tandoori masala
- ½ tablespoon of garam masala
- Pinch of salt
* Jasmeen added some curry powder to experiment.
Steps:
- Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and wash.
- Mix yoghurt, spices and salt in a separate bowl. It should look red.
- Mix all vegetables with the sauce and coat.
- Put everything into a baking dish.
- Bake dish in an oven at 400 Celsius for about 20 minutes. Check periodically.
Why did you choose this recipe?
I mentioned my favourite foods go in phases. The food I’m making today was my favourite food from the ages five to 20. It was what made it so hard for me to turn vegetarian because I would come home and it would always be there and I could not not eat it. I don’t know why it took me so long to make a vegan version of this. I don’t eat yoghurt, so sometimes I forget the existence of vegan yoghurt. You usually can’t find Indian yoghurt.
It’s a really simple dish, you just make the yoghurt sauce and prep the veggies. Making it has shown me that making Indian food isn’t as intimidating as it seems.
Do you incorporate any Indian cooking into your meals? Other cultural influences?
I’ve made some things with lentil, mostly hybrid recipes. Indian sometimes takes too long. For example (this is another lazy meal), you take lentils, old Italian pasta sauce and Indian spices.
I generally like spicy foods. There’s a comfort in spicy foods. I grew up with them, so it’s an expectation that food should be spicy.
I agree. I grew up with spicy foods. When I was transitioning to vegetarian foods, everything a few years ago was so bland, I added hot sauce to everything.
Where did you get the ingredients?
I got these right here actually! At Lansdowne and Queen, there’s an Indian grocery store and everybody speaks Sikh. I see a lot of Tibetan people in there as well and they speak Hindi to each other.
Did your parents teach you any cooking techniques growing up?
My sister and I would only help at the end or if it was an activity like baking.
I found it was usually a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation. My mom, who did all the cooking, wanted us to learn but would see us cooking incorrectly. It came from a loving place and wanting to take care of their kids.
Cooking has taken me a while to learn and you will see my food today is still a work in progress. You sometimes learn a lot more when they aren’t there watching you.
How did you learn to cook?
Mostly Youtube and the cooking channel. Wikihow when I need to learn cooking hacks.
When did you become vegetarian and vegan? What was your progression?
I became vegetarian six to seven years ago. Vegan was three years ago. Vegetarian came from a simple assessment of what I was currently eating and what I wasn’t. I would just eat two meat dishes and a piece of bread. Being vegetarian helped me become more aware of what I was eating.
Over time, I started to align with what vegetarianism meant and how it dealt with animals. I made a slow progression before I was vegetarian’ I would cut out fish and then eggs. Eggs actually stemmed from a nightmare where I fed a chick scrambled eggs and become very angry. Then I cut out cheese.
Vegetarian ethnic foods can be hard to find, but they are out there.
How did your parents take to your veganism?
They hated it. For their diet, vegetarian was fine because they don’t eat meat often. But vegan meant I couldn’t eat yoghurt or any sauces. It was a lack of understanding about what vegan food is and they felt bad they couldn’t make me stuff. A lot of their food can be made vegan. They do try.
What do your parents cook? Do they cook the same thing now?
Yes, for their entire lives. My mom was just eating chickpeas…roti. They have added a lot of Western foods, like lasagna, pasta and fried chicken. Not tacos yet, but they do like it.
Have you ever cooked for your parents?
Most recently, I made nachos for my mom. I just make snack foods, never Indian. I’ll try to make more healthy stuff.
I find there’s a change where the younger generation is teaching the older generation how to eat healthier.
Is there anything you want to change about your eating habits?
I would add more. More juices, smoothies.
What would you say is your cooking style?
This kitchen is too small, so I make really basic food. Do you ever watch Lauren Toyoto, Hot for Food? She has a food channel and her own blog on Youtube. Hot for Food has a series called “Recipe ?!” because she would post pictures on Instagram of what she was eating and all the viewers would ask, “Recipe? Recipe?” She just wanted to show what she was eating, not a whole recipe, post and video, so her and her partner would laugh about that. Now, they have a segment where they just pull food out of their fridge and figure out a meal. It’s all about trying things out and not being afraid.
What do you think the next trend or shift in food will be?
I don’t think this is fully formative yet, but fusion food is on the up. I don’t see it for all of cuisines right now. Have you been to Odd Seoul? It’s more Western, Korean. A lot of thought and skill has been put into it. It’s not just added cheese.
I don’t see Indian fusion enough, variety, regional differences or ways to make it more healthy. When you go into an Indian restaurant, you see the same things. Where I grew up, a lot of the new immigrants came at the same time and wanted to recreate the food they had back home. That became the standard. There’s a lot of room to play.
I would like to see an all vegan Indian restaurant. I would love to make an almond milk paneer.