Chocolate Para Churros (Chocolate sauce for Churros - Vegan recipe)

This recipe for hot chocolate is much thicker than the standard hot chocolate. It is almost like a smooth, thin pudding and is designed to dip the freshly made churros. Make this while the dough for churros is cooling, keep it covered in a pan on the stove and give it a good whisk just before serving.

This recipe makes about 4 ½-cup servings of chocolate sauce. Store the leftovers in the fridge and use within 2~3 days.

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Vegan Churros with Chocolate Sauce

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 5: Mexico -- Vegan Churros with Chocolate Sauce

For the last day of this week's Combo meals, I made a addictive dessert from Mexico -- Churros with Chocolate Sauce. Churros are fingers or loops of sugar coated fried pastry dough that is usually served with cups of hot chocolate.

Churros have a light crunchy outside and an airy inside. They are quite easy to make at home. They can vary from country to country in shape and size: in Venezuela, they are shaped as dainty loops whereas Mexican churros are quite long and spiked with cinnamon. Many Latin countries like their churros with just a dusting of granulated sugar.

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Cast-Iron Skillet Pita Bread

Pita bread is a quintessential element for any Middle Eastern meal. I already have a recipe for pita bread that is baked in the oven. This one is made on the skillet and the pitas turned out soft and delicious.

These pitas involve quite a bit of work, read the recipe thoroughly and plan accordingly. I don't usually add cooking and prep times to my recipes, but I thought it is important to add them here because I miscalculated the time and it took me past dinner time to make these pitas.
A 'Sponge' made by mixing some of the flour before preparing the dough is the secret to the success of these homemade pitas. Try these and I'm sure you'll love them.

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Classic Hummus

I love hummus. I use it as a spread on sandwiches, wraps and even made a bread with it. But never made hummus myself at home -- I wonder why!! All it needs is 2 main ingredients -- chickpeas and tahini and that's all you need to make this creamy and delicious dip.
Hummus is known as the poor man's food in the Middle East and it is a versatile dish. It can be served as a snack or with any meal of the day -- it is served for breakfast for Israel. It is an easy and delicious way to add protein to the diet.

This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine. The recipe is a little unusual in that it uses warm chickpeas -- the author says the heat helps cut the garlic's acidity. It is best to make the hummus from scratch using dried chickpeas (instructions on how to cook chickpeas from scratch are included at the end of the post).

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Tabbouleh, Hummus and Pita Platter

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 4: Middle East -- Tabbouleh, Hummus & Pita Platter

Our next stop for an amazing International Combo meal is in the Middle East. This Tabbouleh, Hummus, pita and falafel platter has been something I have planned to make for a very long time. Finally I made them all for the Mega marathon :-)

Tabbouleh is a traditional Middle Eastern dish. There are many versions for this bulgur wheat salad. This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and I'm assuming it is from Lebanon since it is more about the herbs and less about the bulgur grain itself.

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Indian Style Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is the perfect accompaniment to grilled cheese sandwich. It is also great to serve warm with crusty bread on a chilly day.

I added Indian flavors to the soup along with some coconut milk to make it thick and tasty. Substitute ginger with garlic, omit the cumin seeds and red chili powder. Use cream or half-n-half instead of coconut milk and make a American style thick tomato soup.

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Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 3: US -- Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

We are stopping in the United States for a hearty and comforting combo of grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. This is a such a classic combination; crunchy, buttery bread and melted cheese just begs to be dunked in a big bowl of hearty tomato soup.

One good thing about this combo is that both the sandwich and the soup can be customized to ones palate. So I took the liberty and made them both with Indian flavors. Skip the green chutney and caramelized onion in the sandwich and you have an all American sandwich.

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Malaysian Curry Sauce

Roti Canai is usually served with a creamy curry sauce. The one served in our nearby Penang restaurant is made with chicken, so I've never tasted it myself. While surfing for Malaysian curry sauces, I found this one with potato and like I said before in my previous post, anything with potato is welcome in my house.

This curry sauce is made with generous quantity of coconut cream. But I subbed it with regular coconut milk and the sauce was still creamy and delicious. It tasted great with roti canai and even with some plain rice. I also added some green peas to add some protein to the dish.

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Roti Canai with Curry Sauce (Vegetarian Recipe)

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 2: Malaysia -- Roti Telur with Curry Sauce

Next we stop in Malaysia for an addictive combo of Roti Canai with Curry sauce. Some influence of Indian cuisine can be seen in Malaysian cuisine and this combo of roti with curry reflects a lot of it.

We have a really good Penang restaurant near us and they serve delicious roti canai. Unfortunately the curry sauce has chicken in it, so we end up eating just the bread. Penang is a state in Malaysia and is touted as the food capital of Malaysia.

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Potato Curry

We are a potato loving family. They are happy if I make anything with potato, which is great because I add it to dishes that they normally wouldn't eat and the potato in it lures them to eat it. For example, which kid really likes wheat rava upma (godhuma rawa upma)? At least I didn't while growing up, but my kids eat it without fuss when I add potatoes to it -- happy mama :-)

Today's potato curry is super simple and my kids absolutely love it. It tastes great as is, but tastes even better with mor kuzhambu. Give this combo a try, you'll know what I'm talking about.

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Mor Kuzhambu and Potato Curry

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 1: Mor Kuzhanbu & Potato Curry

We are starting our Mega marathon today and it's going to be a very very interesting September with lots of delicious International and Indian dishes. Theme for the first week is Combo dishes from different countries.
My first stop is in India, Tamil Nadu in particular. Ever since I saw this combo of mor kuzhambu with aloo/ potato curry in Sandhya's blog, I wanted to try it too. But since the husband is a yogurt-phobic, I was waiting for the right opportunity to make these dishes. Finally I made them while he was travelling and enjoyed all by myself :-)

My mom makes majjiga pulusu too but the method is slightly different from the Tamil Nadu version. Even with my very limited Tamil knowledge, I think even mor kuzhambu literally means majjiga (buttermilk), pulusu (stew). Correct me if I'm wrong my dear Tamil friends :-)

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