Let us give you a piece of life advice. If you're having a long and tiring day and cannot wait to get off work and grab something to eat, do not bother checking out Purvi Shah's Instagram page. I did that and, dear reader, I regretted that decision.
I will tell you why. From gajar ka halwa to rajma curry to pancakes to brownies, she tries out a new dish every day and posts its (tempting) image which looks at you and says 'eat me'. Bad luck, you cannot. By the way, all of these dishes are vegan. This was a shocker for someone who can only picture a bowl of boiled green vegetables when they hear the word 'vegan'.
Now you know that vegan food can be intriguing. But how do you cook it? Purvi has a solution to this. This digital content creator is all set to release a vegan recipe e-book, which will be available online for free. All of the recipes have been developed by Purvi and she tells us that the book is 'getting its final touch'. "I started working on these recipes during the lockdown. Going vegan is undoubtedly the most sustainable way to live on this planet, given the current threats," says Purvi.
Now when it comes to cooking vegan food, one may have a lot of concerns starting from finding the right ingredients. "Unlike what people usually think, vegan dishes are not quite difficult to cook. It is true that some ingredients may not be readily available, but there is always an alternative," she says. "For instance, one can easily make around 700 ml of almond milk with a handful of almonds," she adds. Purvi also tells us that she also makes pista milk and rice milk at home.
So what was it that inspired Purvi to go vegan six years back? She says, "I have been a vegetarian since the beginning. But, then I got to watch videos about how animals are tortured, just to satisfy human needs. This was quite disheartening." At the same time, Purvi says that she never had a relapse. "I stuck to my cause. It was obviously quite difficult, considering we don't have a lot of vegan options in many restaurants. There were instances where I had to explain what veganism is to chefs," she says, adding that Indian food, originally is vegan.
She then goes on to tell us about some gajar ka halwa, that she cooked a couple of days back. "I did not add any milk, ghee or butter in the dessert. Instead, I substituted it with pistachio milk. And let me tell you, it did not taste any different," she says. "I also made my parents taste it. Surprisingly, they couldn't spot the difference too!" she exclaims.
