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On February 23, 2010, Radha served a hearty, free meal to about 500 people in Oppenheimer Park as part of the HomeGround: a festival that provided homeless/underhoused DTES residents a safe venue, during the Olympic Games, to enjoy ample & nutritious food, community arts workshops & entertainment.

We’d like to send out a big thank you to Ventana Construction for their very generous donation that made our contribution to the festival possible. We are also so grateful to all the volunteers and karma yogis that offered their labour to make the event a success. Please stay tuned to this blog for a video recap of our HomeGround participation.

JUST DON’T CALL IT BORSCHT!

By Chef Robert Wilson-Smith

When Radha hosted its first “open house” of 2010, I did a demo of a roasted beet soup. While traveling & teaching in the Ukraine just after the break-up of the USSR, I was served a delicious version of this soup by my then-girlfriend Olya’s mother… and was told in no uncertain terms by Olya that this was the “real Borscht.” Since I do not remember the recipe except that it likely had cabbage in it – which my version does not – I could not in good conscience call this recipe by its Ukrainian name… let’s just call it a roasted beet soup so as not to stir-up the diplomatic waters!

Traditionally, this soup can be garnished with sour cream and contains dill, so to put a vegan & “Radha” spin on the recipe, I decided to add the dill to the creamy topping made with sunflower seeds. The toasted caraway seeds which spice the soup are evocative of hearty pumpernickel bread, which can also be an accompaniment.

ROASTED BEET SOUP
Serves 6-8

2 medium onions, diced
4 medium beets
1 potato, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (toasted lightly and ground)
1 tsp thyme (minced)
1 1/2 – 2 L vegetable stock
1/3 cup miso

Clean the beets and place in a roasting pan with 1+cm of water, cover with foil and place in a 180C oven for approximately 90 minutes. When cooked-through, remove from the oven and allow to cool, preserve the liquid in the roasting pan. Once cooled, the beets should peel easily with your hands, you can use a rough cloth or a peeler to help. Dice the beets into a similar size as the onions & potato.

To toast the caraway seeds, place in a dry, hot pan over a medium to high heat for a few seconds, until you can smell the spice’s perfume but before they get dark or begin to smoke. Allow to cool, then grind in a coffee grinder.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, sautée the diced onions in olive oil, when translucent add the potato (this is help to “cream” the soup later), the roasted beets and the beet liquid and the ground caraway seeds. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Once the potato is cooked through, add the fresh thyme and miso and remove the soup from the heat.

This soup can be served as is, chunky, but I like to blend it to give it a thick, hearty texture. Garnish with the sunflower-dill “sour cream”.

Haiti Benefit Vegan Bake Sale w/ Frazey Ford

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our vegan bakesale and live musical performance by Frazey Ford. The event was a total success! The bakers sold out and Frazey performed beautifully, raising over $3000 to donate to The Humanitarian Coalition in Haiti (an amount that will be matched by the Government of Canada). Here is a short video recap of the event:

A local blogger also covered the exciting event!

Open House Video

We had a very successful open house! Thanks to everyone that came out and join us again next year!

The country-to-city stretch

Deborah Pohorski has recently arrived in Vancouver from Yasodhara Ashram on the shores of Kootenay Lake. What is it like to move from a q deborah at the ashram uiet ashram in the forest to a city bustling with noise and activity? Here is a glimpse of what Deborah is learning.

“I’ve been here for 8.5 days now. I feel more settled because I’ve learned the basics of getting from one place to another. It’s so interesting, this newness! And I wonder what makes things not new? I find being in a new place heightens my awareness. I want to remember this later because that’s what yoga is about—expanding awareness.

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Who’s that server?

lucas

Servers are often simply that; they’re the people who bring you your food, flash a smile, take your money, then wish you a pleasant evening. Since we like to do things a little bit different here at Radha, we thought we’d give you an opportunity to actually get to know the people behind the faces you see.

Today we’d like to formally introduce you to Lucas:

Lucas is a prairie boy at heart; born and raised in small town Alberta, he’s an import just like our delicious Cono Sur from Chile. (Minus the Chilean part.) When he’s not working at Radha, his current focus is school. A full-time neuroscience major at SFU, there’s a reason why one usually only sees his (cute) face on Saturday evenings.

China- My Culinary Adventure

by Chef Andrea Potter

With full bags and an empty stomach, I headed to China for three weeks in August. The apparent reason for the trip was my brother’s wedding, but really I went for the food! First stop was the local market near the hostel where I was staying in Beijing. I couldn’t believe the amazing variety—everything from squash leaves, bamboo shoots and deep-fried grubs to many items that remained unidentifiable.

The population density in China is so great that people eat anything edible. Variety helps to lessen the reliance on any particular crop. It should come as no surprise then that the average North American’s diet regularly consists of 10 foods while the average Chinese diet is loaded with 100 different foods. As one of the oldest cultures in the world, China had a lot to teach me about the ingenious utilization of their surroundings to produce delicious and versatile foods

Recipe

Chinese Sweet and Sour Eggplant
1 onion
1 medium eggplant
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup grated ginger
2 tbsp sesame oil

Sauce

½ tsp chili flakes (or more if you like!)
¾ cup tamari
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar)
3 cups vegetable stock or water
4 tbsp arrowroot starch

Julienne the onion, grate ginger and mince or grate garlic. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 4 sections. Cut these into 1-inch strips and cut those in half, so that you end up with long thick strips (I keep the skin on). In a wok or large frying pan over medium high heat, fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the sesame oil until onion is translucent and the mixture is fragrant. Add the eggplant and stir.

In a 1-liter jar or mixing bowl, mix up the sauce. Add this to the eggplant mixture and reduce the heat to medium low. Stew the eggplant for about 20-30 minutes, until the eggplant strips are cooked through and soft. As the sauce thickens, be sure to stir to keep it from sticking to the bottom.

Serve over rice

Nutrition tip

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the most important qualities of food-as-medicine are heat and cold. Eggplant is considered to be a cooling or yin food. It reduces signs of heat which are responsible for conditions such as rashes, constipation, inflammation and angry temperament.

radha is an associate of Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia. Our centre is based on the teachings of
Swami Sivananda Radha, an innovative yogini who was among the first to bring yoga to the West.

radha yoga & eatery located at: 728 Main Street Vancouver, BC V6A 2V7
P 604.605.0011 F 604.605.1531