Recipes by Paramhansa Yogananda
Page Two - Cream of Corn and Tomato Soup through Pumpkin
Introduction by Gitabai Heater
Paramhansa Yogananda’s recipes were amazingly healthy for the 1930’s. They include concepts of health we are familiar with like, vegetized salt, “raw” sugar, honey, ground raw beets, carrots, nuts, dates and raisins. I was happy to see an Uncooked Apple-Banana Pie using a crust of raisins, and whole wheat or carob meal that is dried in the sun! Then, on the other hand, there are surprises with many recipes using sugar, butter, American Cheese, canned food, and, my personal favorite, cinnamon (candy) drops on top of cooked sweet potatoes and apples. After all, sugar was first discovered in India!
We have to consider, the time period the recipes were written in. Yogananda had to introduce vegetarian eating in a palatable form and in a way that people were used to. When I think of how I grew up in the 1950’s when all our food was cooked to death, and meat was the main course at each meal, I can see that his recipes were groundbreaking for Americans at that time.
My advice is to substitute where necessary using ingredients from your own diet regime. There are some new ideas and combinations in these recipes that will be fun to try out, like Peanut Butter Tomato Soup!?? Let me know what you like or some new combinations you have discovered. There are so many health food products out there now, there are endless possibilities to substitute and discover. Have fun and healthy eating!
CREAM OF CORN AND TOMATO SOUP
1 can corn butter
1 cup cream
2 cups tomatoes
1 minced onion
1 teaspoon whole wheat flour
Brown onion in butter, add corn and tomatoes and cook about 20 minutes. Put all through a colander. Stir flour into little melted butter, add cream. Mix all together, season with vegetized salt and heat long enough to cook flour.
DATE AND PINEAPPLE PUDDING
1 cup finely ground whole wheat cereal
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups canned, crushed pineapple
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 egg, beaten
Put boiling water in top of double boiler. Add the salt and slowly add the cereal, stirring constantly. Cook over flame until mixture begins to thicken and then add the dates and cook over boiling water for about 15 minutes. Cream sugar and butter together, add beaten egg and mix well. Add crushed pineapple and cooked cereal. Cook in double boiler about 5 minutes. Serve hot or cold with whipped cream.
DATE BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING
Cook 1/4 cup of quick-cooking tapioca in 2 1/2 cups hot salted water in double boiler until clear, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in saucepan, add 6 tablespoons brown sugar and stir until melted. Add tapioca mixture, l/2 teaspoonful vanilla and 1 cup pitted dates cut in small pieces and 4 Cup chopped nut meats. Pour into buttered baking dish and bake in slow oven. Serve cold with cream.
DATE CUSTARD
Pit and quarter 2 cups dates. Beat yolks of 2 eggs, add 1 cup milk and dates. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until firm, in a glass baking dish. No sweetening is needed. Serve cold with cream.
DIFFERENT STUFFED CELERY
Mix together 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 tablespoon each of very finely minced parsley and tomato pulp. Add a little minced onion if desired. Mix well and stuff tender stalks of celery.
GARBANZO BEANS WITH CHEESE
2 cups garbanzos (chick peas)
3/4 cup grated cheese
1 tbs. Butter
1 tbs. green pepper chopped fine
1 tbs. onion chopped fine
Cook the garbanzos in boiling salted water until soft and then drain. Put layer in buttered baking dish and sprinkle with cheese, onions, and green peppers. Repeat with another layer and dot top with butter. Bake in hot oven until cheese is melted and thoroughly blended.
GARDEN SALAD
Toss the following ingredients together with either French dressing or mayonnaise.
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup sliced radishes
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
GRAPE TAPIOCA
1 1/2 cups pure grape juice
1 cup raw sugar
1 cup water
2 tbs. lemon juice
1/2 cup minute tapioca
little butter
Combine grape juice, sugar, and water. Heat to boiling and stir in tapioca. Add pinch of salt and cook in top of double boiler until transparent. Stir in lemon juice and butter and pour into a mold. Chill and serve with cream.
GREEN PEAS and CARROTS FLEMISH STYLE
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy saucepan and add 1/2 pound of diced baby carrots. Cover pan and cook very gently after adding a little vegetized salt and 1 teaspoon raw sugar. When carrots are about half cooked, add 1 quart of shelled fresh peas. Keep closely covered and simmer until tender. Add fresh butter and more seasoning, if desired, and serve.
LEEK SOUP
2 cups sliced leeks
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vegetized salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 small onion
3 cups boiling water
Mince the onion and brown in the butter. Add the leeks and boiling water and cook gently until the leeks are tender. Season and pour slowly over well-beaten eggs. Add the cold milk and heat to serving temperature. Sprinkle minced parsley on top and serve.
LEEKS AU GRATIN
2 bunches leeks vegetized salt
12 tablespoons grated cheese butter
Cook whole leeks in boiling water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cut in halves lengthwise and place in a buttered baking pan. Dust with vegetized salt, sprinkle with grated cheese, and dot a little butter on top. Place under broiler just long enough for cheese to melt.
LENTIL SOUP
1 cup lentils
1 large onion, sliced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon vegetized salt
2 cups water
4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup carrots
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter Smoein (vegetable smoked meat seasoning)
Editor’s note: Smoein no longer available. Substitutes: Stripples or veggie bacon strips, smoked Spanish paprika, or chipotle powder (spicy).
Soak lentils in cold water for several hours and drain. Put lentils, stock, water, carrots, onion and seasoning in a saucepan. Cook slowly for two hours. Press through a strainer, return to saucepan and add the butter and milk. Heat to boiling point and serve.
MUSHROOMS AND PEAS CREAMED
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup cooked peas
1 cup fresh mushrooms vegetized salt
4 tablespoons whole wheat flour a little chopped parsley
2 cups milk
Cook mushrooms in melted butter until brown. Add flour and cook slowly until browned. Add other ingredients, stirring constantly, and cook until thick and creamy. Serve on buttered whole wheat toast or in potato nests.
NUT AND GREEN PEA SALAD
2 cups cooked peas
1 cup diced celery
1 cup chopped walnut meats
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
little vegetized salt, Mayonnaise, watercress or Romaine lettuce
Chill all ingredients and mix all except parsley and lettuce with a little dressing. Pile on lettuce or cress, cover with Mayonnaise and sprinkle parsley over top.
NUT STEAK A LA NEWBURG
1 tbs. Butter
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon Savita (Editor’s note: no longer available, search for Vegex, or vegetable stock, bouillon or broth)
l pimento, diced
1 can India Nut Steak (Editor’s note: no longer available)
1/2 Cup peas, cooked
1 cup tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 pint cream sauce.
Simmer for five minutes the onion, green pepper, nut steak, Savita, pimento, peas, and tomatoes. Add butter, cream sauce and seasoning. Serve on whole wheat toast.
OATMEAL DATE PUDDING
1/2 pound dates, chopped
1/2 lemon – juice only
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Cup unsulphured molasses or maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix, place in buttered mold and steam for 3 hours. Serve with your favorite pudding sauce.
ORANGE AND TOMATO SALAD
Tomatoes, oranges, a little minced onion, mayonnaise, lettuce. Add onion to mayonnaise. The tomatoes and oranges may be peeled, sliced, and arranged alternately in a ring on a bed of crisp lettuce with a mound of dressing in the center, or the tomatoes may be peeled and cut 4 or 5 times three-fourths of the way down and opened to form a flower. Sections of orange may be placed between the “petals” and plenty of mayonnaise placed in the center and around base of flower, which rests on crisp lettuce. This makes a very colorful, as well as delicious, salad.
PEANUT BUTTER-CHEESE RAREBIT
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups milk or tomato juice
1/2 teaspoon vegetized salt
2 Cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons grated American cheese
Mix peanut butter with milk until smooth. Melt butter, add flour then, slowly add the peanut butter and milk mixture, stirring constantly until creamy. Add cheese and seasonings and stir until cheese is melted. Serve at once on buttered whole wheat toast.
PEANUT-BUTTER TOMATO SOUP
2 cups tomato juice
1 teaspoon vegetized salt
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups boiling water
Add tomato juice slowly to peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add water and seasonings. Simmer for about 10 minutes and serve.
PERSIMMON PIE
3 soft persimmons
2 eggs
1/2 cup raw sugar pinch salt
2 cups cream
Wash persimmons and put through ricer. Beat eggs add sugar, salt, cream, and mashed persimmons. Pour into a partly baked whole wheat pie crust. Dot a little butter over the top and finish baking in a moderate oven until the custard is set.
PUMPKIN CUSTARD
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup raw or brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine all ingredients except the egg and stir until smooth. Add slightly beaten egg and put into custard cups, filling them about three-quarters full. Set in pan of water and bake in slow oven from 20 to 30 minutes.
