Tag: soup

Leek and Broccoli Soup:

January 22, 2018

This soup is light and creamy in texture, that too with very little calories. Addition of broccoli neutralises the strong flavour of leek as well as gives creaminess and appealing colour without adding any fat.

This is a lovely option to have when it is cold outside. With a slice of garlic bread or whole wheat bread or with lots of croutons this can be a delicious, nutrient filled meal.

leek soup_Fotor

First, we will see how to prepare this soup:

Ingredients:

Leeks- 2 to 3 (white and green parts are chopped and tops can be used in stock)

Broccoli – 1 medium head.

Toasted Pine nuts- ¼ to ½ cup (you can use any nuts of your choice)

Vegetable stock – 4 cups

Butter – 1 tsp

Turmeric- ½ tsp.

Salt

Pepper

Red chilli flakes

Method:

Method:

  • Clean leek by removing each cover,( Refer note) and chop (keep aside some roundels for garnishing).
  • Heat butter in a pan ,add reserved roundels and fry till you see the charred look. Keep aside.(this is for garnishing)
  • In this same tawa ,by using remaining butter ,add chopped leeks, sauté for a while. Then add broccoli florets ,turmeric, garlic salt and sauté for some time.

Ribbet collage

  • Then add toasted pine nuts.
  • Now add vegetable stock.
  • Boil for 10 minutes and remove from the heat.
  • After it cools down a bit ,blend this carefully.
  • Bring this puree to boil ,check the seasoning.

leek soup_Fotor

  • Serve this soup by sprinkling red chilli flakes ,pepper and toasted leek roundels.
  • If you want you can add bread croutons or have it with garlic bread.

Note:

How to clean leek : Leek has very tightly packed leafy layers. Usually we find a lot of mud in between the layers ,because they usually grow in  loose ,sandy soil. To clean this , trim off the roots and top dried part if any. Now halve the leek lengthwise ,separate all the layers ,so that it will be really easy to rinse and clean. Now leek is ready to use.

 

 

 

Plantain stem and Moringa Rasam:

July 16, 2017

Where to start about the benefits of these two super foods? From my childhood, we used to relish banana stem and its flower in various dishes. Every part of banana plant is useful, be it its leaves, flower, stem, its outer fibre or fruit. No wastage of any part. Usually after the harvest of Banana fruit bunch, we should remove that plant and should allow its baby plant to grow and fruit. Usually after the harvest, banana plant is chopped off, outer fibre is peeled off and it is dried under the sun and used as a thread in tying Jasmine flowers. Inner core or pith is divided into 3 parts. Top most part, which is very slender and less fibrous will be used in raw salads. Middle portion is little more fibrous and used in cooking and making Dosa’s. Bottom part, which is more fibrous, mature and hard to chew will be used in juices, soups or Rasam’s.

Plantain stem is one of the best, natural high fibre vegetable. It also maintains fluid balance in our body and acts as a coolant, especially in Summer season.

Moringa or Drumstick leaves are considered as a “Power food” for its nutritionally rich nature.

Here I have combined these two ingredients and made Rasam and trust me it is very tasty and can be used as an appetizer shot as well.

pic4

Ingredients:

Plantain stem – 6- 8 inches long

Drumstick leaves – 1 cup

Tomatoes – 2

Tamarind – ½ tsp

Garlic – 8 cloves

Cumin – 1 tsp

Green chillies – 2 to 3

Salt

Jaggery – 1tsp

Coriander leaves – 1 table sp.

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 2 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Cumin – ½ tsp

Hing – one pinch

Red chilli-1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

–  Slice plantain stem into discs, remove thread like fibre while slicing.

–  Chop the roundels into thin slices.

pic 1   pic 2

–  Wash drumstick leaves, here you can use as it is, with its sticks intact. No need to remove intact stalks of these tiny leaves.

–  Cook plantain stem pieces, drumstick leaves, chopped tomatoes, green chilli, tamarind in a pressure cooker for one whistle. Cool this mixture, grind and sieve. Discard the fibrous part.

pic 3  pic4

–  Dry grind garlic and cumin. Add this to collected solution, add salt, jaggery and boil for a while.

–  Garnish with coriander leaves and do the seasoning.

–  Heat coconut oil, add mustard, when it starts to splutter, add broken red chilli, cumin and curry leaves.

–  Serve this as an appetizer shot before food or as a Rasam with hot rice.

 

 

Chana Saarupkari /Chickpea Rasam:

December 29, 2016

In last post we did chana and ivy gourd dry curry and I promised you to post the Rasam which utilizes the drained water of cooked chana or chick pea. This is very nutritious and tasty too.

What we need-

Ingredient:

Drained water of cooked chickpea – whatever you get.

Cooked tor dal – 1/4 cup 

Green chillies -2

Salt

Jaggery – 1/2  tsp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tbl sp

Mustard – 1tsp

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Crushed garlic – 6

Method:

-Drain water from the cooked chana or chick pea while making any curries.

-Boil this drained water by adding 1 cup of water, cooked toor dal, salt (if needed) ,jaggery, hing, green chillies.

-Cook until green chillies are cooked and flavour  is released to water.

-Add seasoning by heating coconut oil. When it is hot, add mustard. When it splutters add  red chilli, curry leaves, crushed garlic.

-Fry till garlics are brown and add this seasoning to Rasam.

Enjoy this Rasam with hot rice and any side dishes, like chickpea dry curry and papad.

 

Bonda Soup:

November 30, 2016

I am a hard-core fan of “Bonda Soup”. It is very soothing to have in winter evenings.  Usually this is an after lunch snack at most of the Darshini’s in Bangalore.

Bonda soup is nothing but Fried Black gram dal fritters or uddina vada which is soaked in Ginger and pepper flavoured dal.

bonda

 

For this, we have to make Bonda at first:

Ingredients:

Urad dal – 1 cup

Salt

Green chilli -1

Coconut pieces – 1 table spoon

Curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

-Soak Urad dal for 1 to 2 hours. Grind this smoothly by adding little by little water at interval. Add salt.

-Batter should be smooth and fine. Usage of grinder will yield perfect batter. If you are using mixer grinder, you can use chilled water for grinding, so that batter will not become hot while grinding.

pic-1

– Add chopped curry leaves, green chilli and coconut bits.

-Keep oil in a kadai, for deep frying.

pic-2

-When oil becomes hot, make small round bonda’s, fry this in a medium heat and keep it ready.

Next we are making the Soup.

Ingredients:

Toor dal – ½ cup

Green gram/Moong dal – ½ cup

Green chillies -2

Ginger – 1” piece

Salt

Hing – ½ tea spoon

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Cumin – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper – 1 teaspoon

Seasoning: Ghee – 1 teaspoon, mustard – 1 teaspoon, Cumin – ½ teaspoon, Red chilli -1, curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

  • Take both the dals ,Wash and cook this in a cooker

pic-3

-Cool completely and churn this cooked dal by using hand blender or mixer jar.

-Now Take one vessel ,pour this dal, add salt ,turmeric ,one spring curry leaves ,hing ,chopped green chillies ,ginger juveniles.

pic-4

-Take one pestle and mortar, crush pepper and cumin and add this powder too.

pic-5

-Boil it nicely, until green chillies are cooked.

-Add seasoning by putting ghee, mustard, cumin, red chilli and curry leaves.

bonda-soup

 

-Now Soup is ready.-To serve, you should take one serving bowl; Keep couple of Bonda’s and pour one or two ladle full of Soup, garnish with coriander leaves, and serve.