Bio short:
Hi, I am Richa. I am the award winning recipe developer, blogger, and photographer behind VeganRicha.com. My instructions are easy to follow and step-by-step photographs welcome the uninitiated into their kitchen as vouched by millions of readers. I love to show people how easy it is to cook vegan Indian and other cuisines. I have been featured on Oprah.com, Huffington Post, Glamour, Babble, VegNews.com, Rediff.com (top 50 Indian food blogs), TheKitchn, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, and many more. My first book Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen, about easy and delicious Indian Vegan recipes, is in stores and is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon. I live in Seattle. The cookbook was Top Cookbooks 2015 by Vegetarian times and in Peta’s Must have 7 Cookbooks. My second cookbook Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen is available everywhere as well. My third book is out now! Vegan Richa’s instant pot cookbook
Connect with me about recipes, books, projects at veganricha at gmail
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VeganRicha
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/veganricha
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/veganricha
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/veganricha/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/veganricharecipes
A portion of the proceeds from the blog and my cookbooks Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen and Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen and Vegan Richa’s instant pot cookbook go to the following organizations.
Contact me:
email: veganricha at gmail dot com (No Guest Posts Please)
About and My Story:
I live in Seattle with my husband. Chewie our resident fluffster left us in 2019.
I started up my cooking experiments once I took over most of the daily cooking from Vivek, who had been our resident chef in 2007(mid 2007 to early 2008). The problem with experimenting with dinner dishes at that time was that, even if the dish comes out good, we might just not like it taste wise. And that puts the dinner at risk. So I thought and thought and picked up baking. Baking helps me make snacks/breakfast/tea-time things which can always be substituted with something else if the taste buds reject the final product:)
I have been blogging since 2009. I like to keep it healthy. Vegan Richa is my baking, cooking blog and Hypnagogic is the random life blog.
I used to be a Software Developer, recovering (almost fully recovered as much as possible) from a Craniotomy done in 2006 to remove a meningioma(brain surgery to remove a tumor). Balance and vertigo issues post surgery kept me from going back to work. I started cooking and blogging as a hobby after a while.
I am a foster parent with dog rescues . I have some balance issues and fostering and baking are helped me get back on my feet. We were fostering dogs till mid 2010, then I was hit by panic disorder brought on most likely by the follow up MRI. Everything is clear, but my brain refuses to listen. So I am working on calming it down and getting life back on track.
My right eye nerves were affected during the surgery so that limits my reading, writing, browsing in general, online or books. I do read a lot of blogs intermittently and some books a couple of pages at a time, but since the eyes get tired very easily, I am not so active in the world of blogging, connecting and commenting. I am slowly trying to get more out there.
Food photography works a bit like Tai-chi for my eyes, getting better at browsing and editing pictures and such. Reading long pages is still a pain. I love reading everyone’s stories and posts, and try to spread it out during the day to help me get to as many blogs as I can.
We are on a plant based diet (transition started in 2010 by eliminating things one by one). All the current the recipes on the blog are now vegan. Some Recipes from the archives are non vegan, but can be veganized with simple substitutions. The connection was made because of being associated with rescue and foster of dogs, getting to know about puppy mills, associating and understanding chewie and the fosters, and finally realizing that the pain, suffering, feelings are the same for all animals. Read the detailed Our Journey here.
I try to use whole, organic as less processed as possible ingredients. I do use some new products and substitutes to find out how they taste and work, but eventually phase them out with home made or unprocessed options. Our food philosophy keeps changing based on things that make sense to me and you can notice that in the posts and recipes over the years.
Update 2013: this year I have been able to read more and more and spend a lot more time on the computer as you can see from the blog post frequency. Though more time in the kitchen is still a higher priority. :). Standing and cooking up a few dishes in one day is something I would love to do almost every day.
Update 2017: I can read a lot more of course. I developed some sinus issues(Apparently, I am allergic to Seattle weather :)) which affect my balance but thats life. Depending on the day I can, or cannot deal with small crowds, shopping, get togethers, long drives and such. This is the new normal now, taking things as we go and being ready for most things. If you happen to meet me and I suddenly look for something to sit on or whip out my own cushions and proceed to sit right there on the floor/road wherever, thats normal, as I cannot stand for too long and talk. Or if I close my ears and eyes for a bit, If I request a few minutes of no talking, thats normal too. Or if I just don’t respond, my brain probably dropped whatever you said. If I have to focus and listen to one person in a crowd, that hurts. For eg, In events with more than a few people/children and consistent noise and stimulation, My ears and eyes start to ache, my eyes eventually shut down after a while and all of this affects my sleep and things calm down sometimes next day depending on many factors. Also, I might not look at you while talking if you are not already in my existing line of sight. Lots of peculiar things, just roll with it.
Update 2020: extreme light sensitivity and neuropathy pain kicked my butt and made me non functional for months. More to come.
Who knew that grief could trigger up so much. Losing chewie put my neuro and vestibular symptoms into a heightened state. For the first half of 2020, I couldn’t even have conversations more than a sentence. Took me about 2 years to feel better and eventually be mentally ready to adopt again. We adopted Loki in sept 2021. A ball of floof who ended up being a one person dog (hubbs), probably for the better? 🙂
Why Vegan:
Me: I realized I couldn’t directly or indirectly cause extreme suffering and death of any other animal or human when there are alternatives. Hubbs, found about the impact on our own health and environment because of our food choices and decided. a little bit of my compassion rubbed off too. Animals are sentient, self-aware, and capable of experiencing both pleasure and pain. They deserve our respect and deserve a natural life and freedom. We choose less cruelty and we do it all without sacrificing taste, habits and pleasure. For our Journey details see here.
What keeps this food blog going, is to prove, that any food choice, is not about giving up something, it is about finding something better.
About food:
I cook very intuitively. On the blog, you will find many cuisines, mains, snacks, desserts, breads, Veganized Indian and fusion foods, cookies, cakes, breakfast, bakes, and more.
What do we Eat:
We eat a lot of different legumes, beans, lentils, pulses, veggies, whole grains, whole grain flatbreads, nuts, seeds, greens, and rarely use processed vegan meat substitutes, processed soy, vegan cheese, mayo, butter etc. What it does include is bold flavors, variety, healthy food with a bit of indulgence once in a while. More than 1000 recipes and counting. 🙂 Please see the Recipe Index or Category Menu on to top of the page.
Thank you for stopping by. and please do let me know how you like the blog and the recipes!
xoxo
-Richa Hingle-Garg
e-Mail: veganricha at gmail dot com , No Guest Posts please.
I’d love to hear from you!
FAQs
Would you do a book Review?
Not on the blog anymore. I mention some books on Instagram (stories) if I love them. There is no guarantee that they will get a mention.
Would you do a product review?
Yes. I do feature products occasionally on the blog that I can use in my recipes. Again, it depends on the product, its usefulness in everyday life, nutrition value, and the company values. See my review post rates here.
I do Not do product reviews anymore. I mention some products that I like on my Instagram stories.
Do you advertise on the blog?
Can I post your recipe on my site, blog, newsletter?
For most cases, please link up the original post instead of copying the recipe. For other feature requests, please email me for permission.
On Facebook
I’d love to hear from you!
Christa
Hello, I recently made your biryani recipe, very tasty and turned out well. However, I’m not familiar with using the seeds and pods as the recipe calls for. There weren’t any instructions for removing the cardamom pods or cloves, I wondered if you were supposed to? I do know your remove bay leaves, so I got that done. Thank you for all the wonderful flavors you put out there, so much fun.
Vegan Richa Support
The pods are edible, but don’t have a very pleasing texture. Feel free to discard as you would bay leaves.
Jackie
Having just made and tasted the rice pudding (p. 343) I had to post a comment.
It is delicious, the most delicious version of rice pudding I’ve eaten.
Vegan Richa what an absolute legend you are!
Having already been a convert through the ‘Everyday kitchen’ cookbook, I went all in and bought your ‘Instant Pot’ cookbook along with an 8L instant pot. I figured it could help reduce cooking costs for my family of 4 in these difficult economic times.
I am vegetarian with an increasing desire to become vegan. My family aren’t, yet absolutely happy to try other things, provided they get meat every so often.
So far we’ve loved the ‘creamy sundried tomato pasta’ (p. 277), ‘butternut squash soup’ (p. 195), ‘spicy peanut noodles’ (p. 240) and ‘lentil quinoa meatloaf’ (p. 293). They’ve all turned out as instructed, even navigating a new cooking method and tasted delicious. I’ve made the ‘peanut sauce fried rice’ (p. 237) but think I need to deglaze the pot better next time. I’ve adapted the ‘arroz con pollo’ (p. 260) recipe to include chicken and chorizo for one of those meaty meals for my family!
Tonight I’m making the ‘masala eggplant curry’ (p. 164) with ‘masala potatoes’ (p.160) – getting adventurous and trying a pot-in-pot version based on other recipes you’ve done.
Thank you so much for your culinary skill and commitment in producing your easy to follow recipes. As a lover of new adventures in the kitchen, your cookbooks are possibly the most used, tasty and satisfied I’ve had.
Richa
So awesome!! Love it that you are trying so many recipes! Yea deglaze well
And also add a bit more liquid. Different brand rice can absorb a bit different amount of liquid which also adds to drying out the dish more
Jim
Hey Ms Richa, I’m a long time lurker on this website and own 2 of your cookbooks and I just want to say how much I appreciate you and the time you put in doing so many wonderful well done recipes. Seldom am I as satisfied with other recipes online as it often seems many are thrown together which leaves me to wonder if the person ever actually made them when I follow their instructions. Never have I felt that with any of yours as when made as directed they are all easy to follow and come out great. Every single one is a culinary masterpiece well thought out and written. You are truly a talented chef, author, and food blogger. For a ‘paint by numbers’ cook like me that is a beautiful thing. You have made my vegan life so much tastier. Your ‘restaurant style Masoor Dal Tadka’ in your Indian Kitchen cookbook is nothing short of sublime and a favorite to everyone I have served it to, even non-vegans. In fact all of your recipes are loved by everyone when I make them, if I choose to share. Often I get greedy and want it all to myself. LOL They are that good. They should give you a cooking show. Loving you, Jim
Vegan Richa Support
Wow! Thank you so much for all of your enthusiasm and support, Jim!
Jasbir
Hello! I love your site. I cannot find your Instant Pot pea quinoa pilaf recipe. Have you removed it?
Vegan Richa Support
Hi! There’s an Upma, and a pilaf but not an IP pilaf.
Deb Waugh
We made the Korma from the Instapot cookbook last night. It was amazing! Our home smelled like our favorite Indian restaurant and the food matched the flavor!
I also made the Garam Masala spice mix from the book to use in the Korma.
Vegan Richa Support
Great to hear!
Judith A Loue
I made the CHILI SIN CARNE MOLE from your latest cookbook (pg. 206) and saw the cook time on High Pressure is…75 minutes! Holy Batman that can’t be right, I said out loud (and it isn’t). Nisha Vora has a similar recipe in her VEGAN INSTANT POT cookbook that goes for 12 minutes at High Pressure with Natural Release (again, similar ingredients: soaked beans, but no lentils. Her recipe has more veggies though) I did my chili at 12 minutes HP, with a NR….and it’s great. I used pinto beans instead if kidney and the pintos/black beans held their shape, were soft but not mushy. The lentils look like lentils but are soft and the soy curls I used are also tender. So….just a heads up to anyone trying that recipe..it’s NOT 75 minutes….love you, J
Richa
It uses uncooked beans and 75 minutes is correct. It’s for a deep flavor and long cooked chili flavor. The lentils are supposed to break down to thicken the chili in this version. You can cook it less time of course but do try 60-70 mins once to see the difference !
Sandy
I purchased Vegan Richas Instant Pot Cookbook and am spending a lot of time reading through it and marking recipes I want to try. I would love to know the names of the recipes pictured on the cover but can’t find any reference to them in the text. Maybe you can post them on your website?
Vegan Richa Support
Thanks Sandy! sure the front cover ones are: Lentil keema page 105
Peanut noodles 240
Dal makhani 90
Peach blueberry cobbler 350 and the. back cover: Mushroom Bourguignon 308
Butter chicken sauce with tofu 66
Brownies 346
Enjoy!
Riya
I am in real awe of your work, and hope that one day when I grow
older, I will be able to do something similar!
I am a 16 year old high-schooler, from CA, obsessed with the idea of
baking. Since no one in my family or close friends knows much about
baking, I decided to start my own blog (www.thehungryblogger.com) and
a YouTube channel, to connect with those I can learn from. I have been
sharing my passion, creations and insights with those who may care,
and slowly but surely I am getting subscribers! Some of my own recipes
have received over 13K views and my blog has had over 55K visitors! I
have even received amazing feedback from the founders of Crumbl
Cookies
My parents keep pushing me towards academia and say that this passion
will not help me pay my bills at and beyond college! I want to prove
the world wrong by getting to the next level. Can you please give me
any insights? At least a one-sentence of encouragement that I can post
on my website, so that I am taken more seriously!
Any help will put me over the moon.
Thanks and keep sharing
Riya
Richa
Hi Riya, thank you for reaching out! I’ll email you as well. You can pursue something in baking or culinary school. You can also pursue photo video editing, graphic design etc or social media management, general management which are all needed for blogging and online business and small business etc.
Carolyn Barnett
Richa, I have all your books and have been “cooking and eating” with you for about 6 years. I absolutely love your books, recipes, hints, and helpful suggestions in substitutions! I have so many favorites from your creative mind that I would have to write a book to put them all down! I have just made your recipe from your Instant Pot cookbook on page 291, Baked Potato and Barbecue Lentils with those yummy mushrooms! I wanted to double the lentil/ mushroom filling to use in a stuffed pepper. Could I use brown lentils, double you suggested 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup and used soaked brown lentils instead of red? I would use the same cook time as the lentils are soaked? I’m trying to apply your principles so I can make these substitutions without bothering you, but as I am still new to Instant Pot so I thought I would ask. Thank you so much for all your lovely recipes! I’m off to eat my Jalapeno Popper Chickpea Salad Sandwich…Happy Cooking Carolyn Barnett
Deb V
Since my husband and I adopted a whole foods plant based diet, I have been searching for the best recipes and I absolutely love yours. Everything is so flavorful and I have learned so much about food! I use your Everyday Kitchen cookbook quite frequently and know that I can always find something that we both will love. Thank you so much for your dedication to healthful, flavorful plant based recipes!
Vegan Richa Support
so happy to hear & be a part of your plant based journey
Karen Weis
Hi Richa
I just made the Chickpea Potato Soup from your new book Vegan Richa’s Instant Pot Cookbook. Delicious. I have a question regarding cooking with non dairy milk. I always use Silk Brand(Green Carton) Soy Milk. My dishes always look grayish and have a slight milk smell but the taste is fine, appearance not so much. Anyway my question is which is a better choice for high heat cooking coconut or cashew milk ? Thank You
Vegan Richa Support
Excellent! coconut is better it won’t thicken up as much as cashew
Judi McCheane
Richa, I have been enjoying so many of your recipes via Instagram and your webpage for over a year now, and just ordered your new Instapot recipe book today from Amazon, as I wanted to support you and appreciate your generosity of spirit in sharing so many recipes on line.
May your health continue to improve! Warmest wishes – Judi McCheane
Vegan Richa Support
so very nice of you, thank you so much Judi
Daffodil Samson
Hi Richa, your blogs are very interesting and a whole lot of mouth watering recipes. Being an Indian myself I love seeing you shine and share these amazing recipes. Thank you for letting me read your blogs for your my personal research.
Vegan Richa Support
thank you so much 🌺