Bibeki foods questions

waheguru ji ka khalsa, waheguru ji ki fateh!

i am relatively new to keeping dietary bibek, and it has been a gradual process. i have a couple of questions about whether certain foods are considered bibek or not (i know there are differing opinions on this). i'm sure others may have questions as well, so i thought i'd start a thread where we can keep all of them.

my questions are, do you eat tofu (a healthier alternative to paneer)? if so, do you make it at home or buy it?
what about nutri/nutrella (also called TVP in the west)?
what about pasta?

thanks!

waheguru ji ka khalsa, waheguru ji ki fateh!

Bhain jeeo, may Guru Sahib enable you to keep Khalsa Bibek Rehit. It can be kept only with Kirpa.

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my questions are, do you eat tofu (a healthier alternative to paneer)? if so, do you make it at home or buy it?
what about nutri/nutrella (also called TVP in the west)?
what about pasta?

In the humble opinion of this Daas, a Bibeki Gursikh should not consume the Bazaari Tofu, Nutri or Pasta. Tofu and Pasta at home. Shrimati jee makes them all at home. I will ask her to post the recipe. Another Gursikh Bibi jee makes Nutri too at home. How she does it, only she knows. Tofu and Pasta are pretty easy, they say.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh

What about milk and cheese? Fruit Juices available? What is this cocktail juice?

Bhenji its funny how you asked this question because I was planning on posting something similar to this .

I always thought Tofu was Bibek but when I did some research on it I dont think it could be classified as Bibek. Its too bad because Tofu is extremely healthy for you.
In regrets to Nutrella which is also very healthy , I always though it was soy bean grown from the ground so I never did any search on it perhaps Im wrong.

I wouldnt consider pasta as Bibek

I was wondering what about yeast is this Bibek?

Mb Singh Ji I dont consider Milk and Cheese to be considered Bibek in the West perhaps in the East but not the West.
Bibek doesnt mean just eating from Gursikhs it means eating justified food. Guru showed us through example when he refused to eat from those that did not make an honest living and Meditate on Naam.

When a farmer grows food it is a fair transaction the crop and the farmer. the farmer works hard he removes the weeds from the tree so it can partake in the photosynthesis process, he also waters the plant/tree , make the fertile soil, etc. Because of this work the tree is able to survive and produce in return of the Farmers honest and helpful work the tree happily provides the farmer with fruit.

But with the cow this is not the case. Well not in the West at least. I have recently decided to give up dairy products beacause of the treatment they face. As I drive to work everyday, I drive by many dairys and its like driving by a concentration camp. Cows are stuffed in a small area in a dirty and messy area. The cows of today are completely deformed and generic because of all the hormones and other things farmers inject them with. They also get fed their own feces and only GOd knows what else, and then eventually they get slaughtered in the most inhumane way. Where is the fair trade in this. Drinking their milk is drinking their blood and we will have to suffer from such Karma since the cow went through much misery to give us milk. In India cows get treated with decency and are regarded as pets, but in the West cows get treated slaves and are not properly maintained.

There are some exceptions I heard Organic Milk comes from Cows who are well treated, and one can by Milk from a farmer who takes cares of his cow and will promise not to kill their cow.

FOr Gursikh their is a big problem though. Butter which comes from milk is needed to make Deg? Personally I would find it difficult to turn down deg. Such decisions are hard to make.

MB Singh jeeo,

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What about milk and cheese? Fruit Juices available? What is this cocktail juice?

Milk is a real problem in Western countries. We in Toronto manage to get raw milk from farm and this way avoid supermarket milk which is pasteurized and homogenized. Bibek is about getting raw ingredients from market but the cooking should be done by a Gursikh.

Cheese can be made home and most Gursikhs in Toronto don't eat outside cheese and make their own.

Juice too should be taken out at home and Bazaari juice should not be used.

Kulbir Singh

sukhdeep veerji, we recently started buying raw milk from a farm here. the farm is small, the cows are milked by hand, and they're left to graze on real grass during the day. the farm is run on solar power. the farmer is very nice and his wife runs the shop where they sell the milk. this is an honest family business where the cows are treated liked family pets.

because the milk is not homogenized, we can skim the cream off the top. this cream can be used for butter or even home made ice-cream. the milk itself is used for drinking, dahi, and cheese.

dairy is really important in the diet, especially for us vegetarians. it gives b vitamins that we can't get from vegetables, as well as calcium.

here's a website with links to local raw milk dairies: [www.realmilk.com]

Here is the TVP recipie I found on the internet. We are definitely going to try this.

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it worked!

I made a batch of soy TVP and just a little trial with chickpeas (snuck some from the pot that my mum had cooked!) and they were both successful. I put some of both in a pasta sauce with homemade pasta and it was delish! It has an interesting roasted flavour which is better than any TVP I have tried. I'll tell you how to do it and some hints and ideas.

All you need is soy beans (or chickpeas, or try another legume), a food processor, an oven and oven trays with sheets of baking paper.

Soak and cook the beans. Because they take a while to cook I would advise a lengthy soak (I soaked for about 18 hours) and cooking a big batch. Mine were still pretty firm (but cooked) when I decided I'd waited long enough. This is good because when you cook the TVP any chunks break up. So, if the beans are totally powdered it will be like having flour in the dish instead of nice gritty bits. Drain and let cool down a bit. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius.

Process the beans until smooth, but still with little chucks.

Spread the mush over the trays and put in oven. About every 10 minutes mix it up and spread it back out to keep it toasting evenly. Depending how thick you have it, it should take 30-45 mins. But just take it out when it's completely dried out if you are going to store it, or fairly toasted if you are going to use it straight away. If it's completely dried out I reckon it would be fine to store it out of the fridge.

To use it, you just need to simmer it in water (I'd say less than packet TVP which is 1 cup of water/1cup of TVP) but I chucked it into a sauce so I couldn't tell you exactly how much water needed. It doesn't take as long as packet TVP to cook.

The way I explained doesn't achieve a convincing “mince” texture, which to me was great. If you wanted to make more of a “mince” you probably could by cooking the beans till quite soft, processing them until very fine and pinching the mix into mince chunks. Then make sure to keep together any bits that are chunked together when it's toasting.

Good luck if anyone tries it!

veerji, i have some confusion on why nutri is not allowed. it's basically just soy flour. we eat wheat flour and besan and such... is nutri really different?

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veerji, i have some confusion on why nutri is not allowed. it's basically just soy flour. we eat wheat flour and besan and such... is nutri really different?

If it is just soy flour, then it is fine but as far as I know, Nutri is a processed food prepared after some cooking. It is not straight soy flour.

Kulbir Singh

ok, that makes sense. it's soy flour that's mixed with water and extruded through a tube, cut into pieces, and dried in an oven. so yeah, i guess that's pretty processed.

1kaur Wrote:
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> sukhdeep veerji, we recently started buying raw
> milk from a farm here. the farm is small, the
> cows are milked by hand, and they're left to graze
> on real grass during the day. the farm is run on
> solar power. the farmer is very nice and his wife
> runs the shop where they sell the milk. this is
> an honest family business where the cows are
> treated liked family pets.
>
> because the milk is not homogenized, we can skim
> the cream off the top. this cream can be used for
> butter or even home made ice-cream. the milk
> itself is used for drinking, dahi, and cheese.
>

Milk.
> dairy is really important in the diet, especially
> for us vegetarians. it gives b vitamins that we
> can't get from vegetables, as well as calcium.
>
> here's a website with links to local raw milk
> dairies: [www.realmilk.com]





Bhenji you are quite fortunate to have an area were you can get such milk. Thanks for providing that link there is a place which is about 45 minutes from where I live.

Today at worked I was talking to a co- worker who owns a dairy farm and she mentioned not all dairys kills their cows for meat since they there meat becomes too old to eat. She also mentioned Beef Meat usually comes from a different cow, and not all dairys use hormones. I asked her if there is in any place I can get raw milk from where cows do not get misused and she said its illegal to buy raw milk in California. But that site you provided mentions a place in California which sells Raw milk. I will have to call and inquire some time in the near future.