Chettinadu Vegetable Soup

Mixed veg soup that can be made easily with the leftover veggies you have at hand. I make this often over the weekends and serve during the 11 am hunger pang time :). I make a no-green chilli version of this for Mithra and serve with dosa,soup, rice etc and she loves it. She will have soup for all her meals if possible :).

I am glad to be posting again and hoping to be regular.  The pictures are not going to be that top-class from now on as I dont think I can afford to spend that kind of time at the moment.  I still cook different varieties at home, its just that there is no energy or time to click good pictures, so its going to be easy clicking but more regular blogging from now on :)


Ingredients

Serves - 4
Prep Time - 20min
Cook time - 20min
Spice Level - Medium

Mixed vegetables - 1 cup, chopped into medium size pieces [I use cauliflower, beans, carrot, mushroom]
Onion - 1 small sized chopped well
Tomato - 1 chopped roughly
Green chill1 - 2 cut into half and slit
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Garlic cloves - 2-3
Water -  4 cups
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Pepper whole - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as per need


How do you do it

1. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add pepper and cumin to roast.

2.  Add onions, curry leaves, garlic and green chilli and saute for a couple of minutes

3. Add all the vegetables and tomato pieces and saute for 3-4 minutes

4. Add little salt, turmeric and mix well.

5. Add 4 cups water and pressure cook for 10-15 minutes or for 3-4 whistles.

6. Once the pressure releases, let the soup simmer, season with required salt and pepper and serve warm

Makes a really yummy and delicious easy soup

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Butternut Squash Soup

Another soup from my no-carb-diet recipe list which dint fail to impress is the butternut squash soup. I had tasted this yummy Butternut-Squash soup at a restaurant called Mylai Masala in New Jersey during our "girls-only" meetup about a month back. Five years after graduation, 7 of us traveled from different states within the US and one of our friends flew in from Europe to make this re-union happen, how great is that?! :) I really cant explain in words how eventful and fun the trip was. Women almost always lose touch with friends post University. They get tied up in a myriad of personal-professional events and the friendship is comfortably forgotten. But somehow, thanks to whats-app  we keep in touch everyday. We share little things right from whats cooking in the kitchen to who should be the prime minister of India ;). Its extremely therapeutic.  I just hope that we continue to do this day in and day out until our hair turns a shade of grey and later than that.

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 15 min

Butternut Squash - 1/2, seeded, peeled and chopped roughly
Potato - 1, peeled and chopped roughly
Garlic cloves - 2, minced
Onion - 1
Salt - as per taste
Pepper - 2 Tsp
Coriander powder - 1 Tsp
Cumin powder - 1 Tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Microwave the chopped potatoes until they are 1/2 cooked. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and let it roast. When it starts to brown, add the onions and saute till translucent

3. Now add the in squash pieces and potato pieces, coriander and cumin powder and saute well for 3-4 minutes. Add 1 cup water and bring to boil.

4. Close the pan with a lid and let the potatoes and squash cook until they are soft. Cool it for a while.

5. Blend using a blender into a smooth paste.

6. Add milk to this paste now and bring to boil, add water as required to get to desired consistency.

7. Season with required salt and pepper.

Enjoy this super healthy soup with any bread of your choice.

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Spinach Mushroom Soup

Its going to be a soup dinner in my household for a few days now, another attempt at the no/low carb diet. Blame it on the recent trip to Kerala where we freed ourselves from any kind of diet control ;). Its become a routine to do this diet every now and then, its healthy and the fastest way to loose a few kgs :).

I have been wanting to make spinach soup for a while because I love the green color it imparts, just one look at it and you feel healthy already. A very mild-flavored and filling spinach-mushroom soup with some easy veggie patties made for a great dinner.

Ingredients

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Mild
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 15 min

Spinach/Palak - 1 bunch (250-300 gm) , washed and stems separated and chopped roughly
Mushroom - 10 , washed, cleaned and chopped roughly
Onion - 1 , chopped
Garlic cloves - 3 medium ones, finely chopped
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt and Pepper - to season
Dry Italian Seasoning - 1 Tbsp
Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp

How do you do it

1. Heat olive oil in a stew pot. Add the chopped onion and saute till translucent. Add the garlic and saute for a minute.

2. Add in the mushrooms now and let them sweat. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms change color. Add 5 cups of water now and bring to boil on low heat.

3. Now add the in chopped spinach, and baking soda. The baking soda will help the spinach to not loose its green color. Let the spinach leaves get cooked until they are soft, this takes a minute or two.

4. Remove from heat. Use your immersion blender and puree the soup in its pan. Or you may cool it and use your mixer jar to puree in your blender.

5. Bring this puree to boil again on low heat. Add the Italian seasoning, chilli flakes, salt and pepper as per need and mix well. Adjust consistency of soup by adding more water if you think its too thick.

6. Boil for a couple of more minutes. Switch off flame.

Drizzle a few drops of olive oil on top of soup before serving with some bread of your choice for a filling dinner.


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Tomato Basil Soup

Soups are comfort food for many of us and nothing can beat that. A rainy season, a cold evening , a day spent on bed feeling sick  - that's exactly when a cup of piping hot soup does not fail to soothe you. Even if it weren't for all these different moods, I love taking in a huge bowl of yummy soup along with my favorite flavored bread for a very healthy and filling dinner.

Aromas cafe in Mumbai is one of my favorite places not for the coffee they serve but for their wide variety of entree and soups. Every time I step in there, I have to order their tomato basil soup and chicken satay ,otherwise they would feel left out. ;) .So I have been wanting to replicate that tomato basil soup for quite sometime. Last weekend was when I got around to it and made the soup along with garlic pull apart rolls for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed them :)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the argument me and S had before clicking this picture. I don't have a very photogenic soup bowl in my collection yet and we had to really explore crockery options for this. I was strictly for using a white bowl which would really enhance the bright orange color of the soup , but S was quite sure this huge coffee mug would be attractive too. And the verdict? - I don't think this crockery did justice to the soup , and look at that basil tree sitting inside the coffee mug , not my idea people! :). I got my way eventually , we have a click saved with the same soup in a white bowl , but I am saving that pic for when I show you the awesome recipe for garlic pull apart bread.So we shall take a poll then to see whose side you are on OK? ;)

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoors Tomato soup

Serves - 2 [large servings]
Prep Time - 5 min
Cook time - 20 min

Tomatoes - 8 quartered
Basil Leaves - 3-4 + 2 [chopped thinly]
Onion - 1 medium sized , sliced thinly
Carrot - 1 medium length , sliced thinly
Garlic cloves - 4 chopped well
Bay leaf - 1
Pepper corns - 6
Oil - 1/2 Tsp
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 Tsp
Crushed pepper corns - for seasoning
Salt - for  seasoning
Water - 3 cups

How do you do it

Heat a pan with the oil and butter. Once butter melts add bay leaf.After a few seconds add the onions , pepper corns and saute till the onions are translucent [it should not brown]. Add in the garlic cloves and carrot slices and saute for 2-3 more minutes. Add the tomato pieces , basil leaves and saute for a couple of more minutes. Add in 3 cups of water and bring to boil. Cover with lid and let it cook in medium flame for 10-15 minutes. Once done drain the water and reserve it. Discard the peppercorns and bay-leaf. Allow the rest to cool. Once cooled, blend the mixture along with some reserved water into a smooth puree.Pass this through a sieve and press the puree well to get all the liquid from it.

Bring this soup liquid to a boil again and add in the reserved water to adjust consistency of soup.Add 1/2 tsp sugar and chopped basil leaves and stir well. Season with required salt and crushed pepper.

Serve with your favorite starter/choice of bread. :)
 
 Notes

To make it creamy, you can add in 1/4 cup cream or 1/2 cup milk and let it thicken on low flame

If you have added too much reserved water  by mistake, you can mix few tbsp of corn-flour with water and add it to the soup and boil it on low flame until it thickens

You can skip the basil if you don't have them and just follow the same recipe to make tomato soup.
 

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Vegetable Clear soup

Its a gloomy and dreamy season here in Mumbai :). Showers everyday all throughout the day.So how about some hot soup for the romantic soul? ;)

Vegetable Clear Soup

Ingredients

Recipe source - Adapted from Tarla Dalal vegetable soup

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Not Spicy but flavorful
Prep Time - 10 minutes
Cook time - 15 minutes

Spring onions bulbs [white parts] - 3, sliced thinly
Spring onion green part - 1 Tbspn chopped well
carrot - 1 Finely chopped
Cauliflower - 3 florets finely chopped
Beans - 4 Finely Chopped
Cabbage - 2 Tbsp finely chopped
Salt - as per taste
Pepper - to season
Pizza Hut Italian Seasoning/Dry herb Italian seasoning - 1 packet/1Tbsp
Corn-flour - 2 Tspn mix with 2 Tbsp water and made into a paste.
Water - 4 cups
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp

How I made it

Heat olive oil in a kadai. Add the spring onions white part. Saute for a couple of  minute.Add all the finely chopped veggies except spring onion green part. Saute for 3 minutes.Add 4 cups of water and bring to boil.Simmer flame and let the veggies get half cooked in the water. Once the veggies are half cooked, add in salt , pepper , pizza hit Italian seasoning and the corn-flour paste and spring onion green part. Boil for 3 more minutes.Switch off flame.

Enjoy this hot vegetable clear soup sitting in your balcony drowning in the beauty of the monsoon showers. :)


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Beetroot Lentil Clear Soup

Whenever I cook beetroot I am reminded of my mom , who used to try various methods to push this vegetable into our stomach. ;). Beetroot poriyal/masala dint work, due to its inherent sweet taste. I somehow never like the sweet-spice combination in any kind of dish. It has to be either completely sweet or completely spicy. So then came the beetroot soup that my mom created. The color of the soup would be so inviting, and it would be a clear soup mixed with lentils , and it would taste good.
So this became a regular almost every weekend. On Saturdays around 11.00 am, we take a glass of this soup as an appetizer. Some times, I also mix this with rice and have it as a meal with some potato chips on the side.

Beetroot lentil Soup

Ingredients

Serves - makes about 4 glasses
Spice Level - Moderately Spicy

Beetroot - 2 , cut into medium sized pieces
Onion  - 1 Chopped well,
Tomato -1  Large, chopped well
Green chilli - 3-4, slit lengthwise
Curry Leaves - 2 Sprig
Toor dal - 1/3 Cup
Turmeric - 1/2 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Water - 3 cups.

Method

Take a pressure cooker and dump all the ingredients. Pressure cook for 15 minutes. Switch off flame. Let the cooker cool. Once its cooled down, boil the soup, add the required salt. Add pepper powder if needed to increase spice level. Boil for 3-4 more minutes.

Pour in a glass and serve with beetroot piece topped on it. :). It cant get more simple than this . ;)


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Cream of Mushroom soup & Corn Cream Filling

So, Here i am Finally. Thanks to S for creating this so that i would atleast start on my food blog which i have been trying to get working on and off for more than a year now.

Cold waves are hitting mumbai and what could be more comforting than a cup of warm soup and masala sandwich for dinner. :) . So without further delay I present to you my first recipe below....ensoiiii!!!

Cream Of mushroom Soup

Ingredients

Mushroom - 1 cup [cleaned and chopped]
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Olive oil - 2 Tspn
Pizza hut Italian seasoning/Dry herb Italian seasoning - 2 packets/2Tbsp
Salt/Pepper - To Taste
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup

Method

Heat a pan with oilve oil. Add the chopped onions and saute it till translucent. Add the chopped mushrooms now and saute for 3-4 more minutes until it gives over that shiny glaze look. Switch off the stove. Cool and blend in a mixie with 3-4 tbspn of milk.
Now pour the blended mixture on to a pan along with the remaining milk and water and bring to a boil. Now on low heat add the desired salt-pepper and empty the two packets of pizza hut italian seasoning and stir for a few more minutes. Ta Daa! Soups ready. :)

Corn-Cream Filling

This corn filling recipe is adapted from Nags - edible garden

Ingredients
Corn seeds - 1 cup [boiled/pressure cooked]
Onion - 2 finely chopped
Garlic cloves - 5 Finely chopped
Green chilli - 1.5 finely chopped
Red Chilli Sauce - 2 Tbspn
Fresh Cream - 4 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste
Coriander Leaves - a handful chopped.
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Cumin - 2Tspn

Method

Heat a pan with 2 tbspn oil. Add the cumin seeds and roast it. Add the onions, green chilli and chopped gralic and saute till they are translucent. Now add salt and red chilli sauce and saute it for a couple of minutes. Now add the corn seeds and wrap it well with the onion-sauce mix. Keep the stove in sim and add the cream and mix well over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the coriander leaves mix well and switch off stove. Serve the filling over toasted bread. :)

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