cooking for Krishna | The Hare Krishna Movement

Prabhupada’s Kitchari

19 Aug 2026 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: cooking for Krishna, family, food, kitchari, kitri, Prasadam, recipe, recipes, srila-prabhupada-cooking, Vegetarian Cooking

We share this memory from Nara Narayan dasa, of Srila Prabhupada’s extraordinary cooking abilities. Also at bottom of post a nice recipe for Kitchari or as it is also referred to as Kitri.

Nara Narayan : Once, in the Los Angeles La Cienega temple, on the occasion of his spiritual master’s appearance day, Srila Prabhupada cooked a pot of kitchari. He said that kitchari was his spiritual master’s favorite dish.

Prabhupada cooked it using polished urad dahl, and it had a creamy consistency. There were thirty of us at that celebration, and there were many other dishes besides kitchari.

Since it was a holiday, everyone was in a jolly mood, talking and chatting, and we all got a dab of Prabhupada’s kitchari on our plates. By this time the kitchari was cold, and Prabhupada had already gone to his quarters. We popped the kitchari into our mouths, and all of sudden the conversation died out everywhere.

As soon as that prasadam touched our tongues we fell silent. We sat there in dead silence tasting grain after grain of it until it was all gone. Then we searched for stray grains on our plates. Then everybody began crawling towards the pot in the middle of the room where there was still a little bit left.

We were taking little pieces out of the pot. No one spoke a word until there was nothing left. Then we all went back and sat down in silence. Something about that prasadam was charged with what must have been Gopi-bhava. There was ecstasy involved in that prasadam. We were struck by it. Every exquisite feeling that Prabhupada had for his spiritual master was present, and we had a chance to experience that; we realized that Prabhupada had given us an extra special benediction he had allowed us to open the door a little and peek into what his world was like.

Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint – Volume 1 by Siddhanta Dasa

Prabhupada Memories

Coming Soon; New Kurma Cookbook!

01 Jan 2023 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna Consciousness, Kurma das (cook), Spiritual Practice, Vegetarian Cooking, Vegetarian Recipies, Vegetarianism Tags: Apurva das, cooking for Krishna, Feast, Gopati das, Krishna, Kurma das, Srila Prabhupada, veteran ISKCON cooks

My wife shared this with me, something she saw on Facebook. Time Tested “Big” Prasadam Recipies. Love Kurma’s cookbooks and recipes. Hare Krishna and happy New Year!

New Kurma Cookbook!

I’ve finally opened my treasure trove of time-tested ‘big’ prasadam recipes from five decades of quantity cooking. Interwoven with hundreds of fascinating stories, realizations and memories from early disciples, FEAST includes Srila Prabhupada’s original recipes, ISKCON Sunday feast kitchen classics, and modern favourites.

This large and beautifully presented 492-page book, designed and published by Srimati Mayapriya devi dasi from Bookwrights Press, is a generous collection of 375 meticulous, large-sized vegetarian and plant-based recipes from myself and veteran chefs Gopati dasa and Apurva dasa, as well as 60 other Hare Krishna kitchen giants.

Feast is a legacy of love, offered by ISKCON’s first generation of cooks for future chefs, and for the upliftment of human society at large. Srila Prabhupada writes “Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous.” (SB 4.12.10)

Coming soon!

Basic Chapati Recipe

14 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in chapati, Vegetarian Recipies, Vegetarianism Tags: basic vegetarian recipes, cooking for Krishna, vegerarian cooking, vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism

With all this extra time at home, I have been spending more time in the kitchen. Instead of the quick meal that often took place after a long days work, we are finding renewed pleasure in going through our vegetarian cookbooks and planning nice well balanced meals. One thing we have been eating more of is chapatis. They go well with almost every vegetable dish, are easy to prepare, and are a healthy alternative to bread which usually contains yeast.

From The Hare KRSNA Cookbook 1972

Basic Chapati
1 cup Whole Weat Flour
1/4 cup Melted Butter
Warm water

Mix the flour and water together, adding water gradually until dough is soft but not wet, and can be kneaded. Knead the dough until it’s fairly soft (8 to 10 minutes). Cover and let dough rest for one hour. Sprinkle flour on rolling area and makes 1-1/2 inch balls out of dough. Flatten balls and roll out to about 4-5″ diameter. Place the chapati on a heated skillet (dry, free from oil) and cook until bubbles appear. Turn chapati quickly and let cook until bubbles appear again. Using tongs, remove chapati from pan, and hold over an open flame or burner to make it puff up. Heat it first on the side that was first cooked. You can lay directly on the burner for a brief moment, but don’t let it stick. When chapati puffs up, turn quickly and repeat on other side till it puffs. Remove, butter both sides, and cover with a clean cloth to keep in heat while remaining chapatis are cooked.

Sweet Stuffed Puri

15 Jun 2012 1 Comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Vegetarian Cooking, Vegetarian Recipies, Vegetarianism Tags: cooking for Krishna, Prasadam, puri, sweet stuffed puri, vegetarian cooking, vegetarian recipeis

While I was visiting the Prabhupada News web site the other day, I saw this extraordinary image of a Stuffed Puri and following recipe. I thought I would wait until after Ekadasi to re-post it.

Sweet Stuffed Puri
By Joline
Stockholm, Sweden

Puri is a whole wheat bread. This is a recipe especially popular among kids.
Makes 10.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup water (lukewarm)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter/ghee
Oil or ghee to deep fry