Cucumber & Carrot California Sushi Roll (Vegan Recipe)

We are going on a Culinary tour of California for this month's International Food Challenge. Our host for this month, Joanne T Ferguson who blogs @ What's on the list picked some amazing dishes from California. As Joanne says there are no "official" dishes of California. California cuisine is based on fusion foods, from many cultures and recipes that were adapted throughout the history.

Personally I feel California is a country in itself. One reason being it is one of the largest states in US (FYI: 3rd largest in US and when compared to New Jersey which is in the 47th place, California is HUGE) and the most populous US state. From my working experience in compliance for many years, I know US as a country has many regulations, but California as a state has many many many more complicated regulations.

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Sourdough Carrot Cake

I made this cake first time more than 3 years ago when I first got the sourdough starter. I took it to work and everyone loved it there. But I haven't had a chance to make it again until now. I saw the recipe in the King Arthur Catalog and it reminded me of the moist and delicious cake that I made years ago.

Sourdough starter makes this cake very moist and there are no tell-tale signs of sourness or the addition of sourdough starter anywhere. I halved the original recipe and made 1 8" round cake. Then frosted the cake with a very simple cream cheese frosting.

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A Vegetarian Indian Thali

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Indian Thali

So for the last day of the marathon, I created a thali with some of the recipes that I bookmarked from last month's mega marathon. Indian thali usually consists of a Bread, Rice dish, a dry curry, a gravy curry, chutney and something sweet to end the meal. 

Most of the dishes in this thali are from the North Eastern states of India. To be honest, I had no idea about the eating habits or the popular dishes from any of the North Eastern states. Thanks to the research that all of the marathoners have done last month, I know a lot more about these cuisines now. I also wanted to make this black rice pudding from Nagaland for dessert, but I made this thali for myself and I wasn't motivated enough to make a dessert and also I was tooooo full after eating this meal. buuurp!!

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Tomato Chutney from Tripura & Green Chili Chutney from Mizoram

Mosdeng Serma from Tripura: This was one of the simplest tomato chutney recipes I have ever made, with very few ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies. We can taste all of the ingredients in the chutney which are otherwise weighed down by tamarind and the tempering that are usually added in South Indian style chutneys. This chutney can be eaten with rice, roti or even as a sandwich spread.

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