Quick and easy Mixed vegetable soup

Have been down with a real bad cold for last two days - no not swine flu, thank God !

What can be better than a hearty cup of soup when you are feeling all congested. I had already put the bread for baking and that smell of fresh bread was urging me to have it with some hot and steaming soup. Since the kids and D are not letting me do anything and advising me bed rest, I sneaked into the kitchen when they were out and quickly made this soup to go with the bread.

Boil half packet ( 1/2 kg ) mixed vegetable - One chunky mix veg packet was there in my freezer: Brocolli, beans, potato, carrots etc in a pan with lot of water.

I also chopped one onion and 2 cloves of garlic into the boiling water.

When the vegetables soften, let it cool. Take the veges out and put in a blender.

Pour it back in the pan which had the water you boiled your veges in.

Add salt, black pepper powder to your taste and a pinch of turmeric powder.

Since I had a cold and wanted it more spicy, I added 2 tablespoon rasam powder in it ( that gave it a really good taste too )

Add 2-3 tablespoon milk and stir.

Let it boil to the consistency you like.

Chop some coriander leaves in it.

I had my home made mix veg soup, with freshly baked home made bread and some home made sprouts to add a little bit of crunch to my soup !

Quuick and easy paneer butter masala

This is a real quick one and everyone loved it at home when I made it last night for dinner.

In a bowl mix 2 tbsp coriander powder, 1 tbsp red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tbsp garam masala powder, 1 tbsp kasoori methi, 1 tbsp tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp tomato paste ( or 3 tbsp tomato puree). Add about 1 cup milk and mix. The mixture should be really runny.

In a pan, heat butter ( about 2 tbsp), add 2 chopped onions. Saute till onions are evenly browned, add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste. Saute for a second and then add the above mixture. Cover and let it cook till the butter oozes out. Add some more milk to bring it to right consistency ( approx 1 and half cup). Bring it to boil. Add the paneer pieces ( about 500 gm paneer chopped into cubes ). Add salt and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice or roti.

capsicum fry

Ingredients:

Capsicums -3 ( chopped), Onions- 2 ( chopped), 2 tbsp cooking oil, 1 tbsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 2 tsp ginger garlic paste, a few curry leaves, 2 tbsp dessicated coconut, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, salt to taste

Method:

In a pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add curry leaves and then add onions. Add turmeric powder, add ginger garlic paste and saute till onions are soft. Add capsicum and cook till half done. Add dessicated coconut, coriander powder, chilli powder, salt and cook till capsicum is nicely cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Carrot-walnut muffins

I made a carrot-walnut cake the other day with the same recipe except that I have made a few changes to it now to reduce the calories. I don't have the pic of the cake but you can use the same recipe for cake as well.

I had never made a carrot cake since the kids don't like it ( well, they never ask for it the way they ask for banana cake or chocolate cake or mud cake). So, I decided to try it. Got the recipe from http://www.chelsea.co.nz/ but after finding the cake too oily, I made some changes to the recipe ( reduced oil and added milk). Here it is:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup self raising flour

3/4 cup wholemeal flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup caster sugar

3 large eggs ( I used egg replacer 3 tsp)

1/2 cup sunflower/canola oil

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

2 cups grated carrot

1/2 cup raisins

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180degC. Sift flour, spices and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add al lthe remaining ingredients and stir wit ha wooden spoon or fork until just combines. Don't beat.

Line a 20-30cm cake tin ( 6cm deep) with baking paper and grease well. Pour cake mixture in the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for one and half hours. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool it on a rack.

For the muffins, cook at 180degC for 18 minutes.

Fruit loaf

Waking up to the aroma of a freshly baking bread in the morning is just too good to describe......

Well, I bought this breadmaker Breville Ultimate Baker's Oven this week to make my own breads. The 2Bs doctor has advised us to avoid any kind of packaged and processed food for their asthma. I tried the first bread yesterday - plain wholemeal bread. Which turned out quite good for a first timer.

Well, today I tried fruit loaf. Changed a few things from the recipe in the manual that came with the bread maker since I wanted to avoid bread flour. I used the same recipe as the the wholemeal bread but instead of the 100% wholemeal flour, I mixed half and half of WHolemeal and plain flour and added cinnamom and dry fruits to it, but baked it not on the wholemeal bread but on the 'sweet bread' setting. Came out wonderful !

This recipe is for 750gm loaf and the ingredients to be added in the same order. Since the measurements can be different in different countries, please refer to these measurements for all my breadmaker's recipies as it is adjusted to Australian and NZ standard cups ( 1teaspoon:5ml, 1 tablespoon: 20ml, 1 Cup: 250ml)

Water: 295ml

Oil ( sunflower/canola/olive) 1and half Australian tablespoons

Salt: 1 1/2 teaspoon

Sugar: 2 1/2 tablespoons

Wholemeal flour: 1 1/2 cups

Plain flour: 1 1/2 cups

Milk powder: 2 Tablespoon

Edmonds surebake yeast: 1 1/4 teaspoon

Cinnamon powder: 1 teaspoon

Put the breadmaker on 'sweet' setting.

Take the loaf out when the breadmaker beeps. Let it cool completely before cutting it in slices.

Chana daal with Lauki

Updating this blog after a loooooong time...

Looong time back, I had this daal at an aunt's place and loved it. Heard about it just a few days back when a friend said that she makes lauki with chana daal. Yipppeee ! Quickly asked her the recipe and made it ( you don't get fresh lauki here except for these two or three summer months, so I had it in the fridge).

It was too easy to make and totally yummy with rice - perfect when you want a simple dinner

Soak 1 cup chana daal and keep aside. Peel and chop half a lauki. Heat pressure cooker on a stove. Add a tbsp of oil. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When it splutters, add chopped garlic ( one clove). Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, then add the chopped lauki. Stir for two minutes, then add one chopped tomato, 1 tsp chilli powder, stir for another minute. add the soaked chana daal and then 1 cup water. Close the lid and pressure cook it for upto two whistles.

Open the lid when it cools off slightly, add salt to tast and cook without the lid for 5 more minutes. add some shopped coriander leaves. Serve with hot rice.