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.

Daal Baati Churma

Bati:

2 cups atta+salt+1/4 tsp Baking powder+1/2 desi ghee ( I used Amul ghee since that was the only one available here) —>Mix well and make a stiff dough.
Preheat oven to 180 degree. Take lemon size portions of the dough. Press firmly and roll into round balls. Grease a baking tray and place batis on it. Press slightly and bake @180 deg till done ( may take 15-20 min). When done, serve it hot with a bowl full of ghee to soak them and Rajashtani Daal.

Daal:

For dal, soak moong daal, urad daa and chana daal in about three cups of water for an hour. Boil the dals with turmeric powder and salt till done and mash them properly. Heat oil in a pan. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds+ a pinch of�asafoetida+2 whole dry red chillies+2�bay leaves+ 3�cloves+ 1 in piece�od cinnamon+ 2 cardamoms+ 5-6 curry leaves+ 1 tbsp ginger chopped + 3 green chillies chopped + 2 chopped medium tomatoes+ 1 tsp red chilli powder; fry till the oil gets seperated from the mixture. Add the cooked Dal and blend properly. Finish off with lemon juice ( 1 medium lemon) and chopped coriander.

Churma:

2 cups atta+4 tbsp semolina+ 1/2 cup ghee —-> mix well. add milk as required and knead into a stiff dough. Divide the dough into lemon size balls. Heat sufficient ghee in a kadai and deep fry the balls on medium heat, till they are well done ( pinkish ). Drain into an absorbant paper and cool. Coarsely grind the wheat balls in mixer. Chop handful of cashew nuts and almonds. Wash some�raisins and pat dry. Add 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp green carsamom powder and one cup warm ghee to the coarsely ground wheat ball powder. Mix well. You can also make ladoos while its still warm and you can store the churma ke ladoo in a air tight container. But I used it as churma only with the dal and bati.

Kheer - chawal ki

Happy Sankranti to you all ! I don't know how to make Til Ke Ladoo which are made specially on Sankranti but I knew something that uses Jaggery as ingredient and made that combination- Puran Poli and Kheer.

My kheer is very popular in my friends circle and that's the only sweet I can make confidentally. When I invite people for dinner, they know that the dessert is going to be either my famous kheer ( hehehehe..) or something store bought !!

This serves about 8 people:

Soak about two handfuls of basmati rice in a bowl and keep aside. In a big heavy-base pan, add a little ghee ( about 1tbsp). when it starts melting add 2-3tbsp of chopped cashews, a handful of makhanas ( optional)almonds or any other dry fruits you like. when the cashews turn pink, add the milk and let it come to boil. Keep stirring to make sure the milk doesn't burn at the bottom.

Drain the rice and crush the rice a little with your hands amd put it in the boiling milk. add a tbsp raisins and a few strands of saffron. Keep boiling it untill the rice is all cooked and soft. Now add about a cup of sugar ( more or less as per your taste) and 1/2 tsp cardomom(elaichi) pdr. boil till it reaches 3/4th volume of the original and it gets a nice creamy colour.

It being Sankranti today, I served it with hot Puran-Polis !

dried fruit salad

Got this heavenly recipe from a friend at work when she made it specially for me ( something vegetarian) for a shared lunch just before Christmas :-)

Dried Fruit Salad (Serves approx. 8)

1/2 cup soft pitted prunes, halved
3/4 cup dried figs, rinsed, destalked and quartered
1.3/4 cups dried apricots, halved if large
1/2 cup plump raisins
4 tbspns pine nuts
4 tbspns unsalted peeled pistachio nuts (packaged)
1/2 cup blanched almonds, flakes (packaged) or quartered
1/4 cup caster sugar
Few strips lemon peel
1Tbsp rose water

Put the prunes, figs, apricots and raisins in a large glass or china (not metallic) bowl. Add pine nuts, pistachios,almonds and lemon peel. Sprinkle with sugar and Rose Water.

Pour on enough cold water to barely cover then stir well.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 48 hours, stirring occasionally. Try to keep lemon peel submerged. The fruit will absorb most of the water.

Before serving remove the lemon peel and stir well.

Enjoy!

Kadhi

I make it in two different ways. Sometimes I deep fry some pakodas and make a pakode wali kadhi or use boondi instead, to make boondi ki kadhi.

For basic kadhi:

2cups - sour yogurt

3 tbsp - besan

2tsp - ginger garlic paste(optional)

2twigs- curry leaves

2 green chillies - slit length wise

1/2 tsp - turmeric ( haldi) pdr

salt to taste

In a large bowl, mix yogurt with besan and make sure there are no lumps. I use hand blender. Add 8 cups water. and rest of the above ingredients. For variation, I sometimes make it with ginger garlic paste and other times I omit it completely. Pour it in a large pan and cook it on a stove top on medium heat, stirring continuously till it comes to a boil otherwise the water and yogurt will seperate. Boil it untill the raw taste of besan goes away.

In another small pan, heat 2tbsp oil, add rai and jeera. when it splutters, add methi seeds(fenugreek) and whole red chillies. fry till it turns golden and add it to the yogurt mixture that you have prepared above.

now, you can either add some khari boondi to this or some deep fried bhajiyas.

Pasta

This is another of our favourites and it's just too simple to make. I make this for dinner whenever D is not there for dinner cause he doesn't like pasta, noodles, pizza etc for dinner - he likes proper dal-chawal-roti wala dinner.

I made this last night as he had to go to his Team dinner at work.

Ingredients:

Pasta- 500gm

Tomato & basil pesto (or normal tomato paste if pesto is not available)- 50gms

spinach- a cereal bowl full finely chopped ( or more if you like - I love it)

corainder- one bunch finely chopped

Garlic- 3 cloves finely chopped ( we get really big garlics here so adjust accordingly)

cream- 100-150ml

cheese- a cereal bowl full ( grated)

Olive oil- 2tbsp.

Onions- 1 finely chopped

tomato- 1 finely chopped

ground black pepper- as per taste

Method:

Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack with little oil and salt. Drain the water when done, but still firm. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan ( I sometimes use butter instead of oil and it tastes great). Add garlic. Once it gets slightly reddish, add onions and cook till they turn golden brown. Add the pesto or tomato paste. Keep stirring till oil seperates. Add the cream and let it boil till the oil floats.

Turn off the heat and immediately add the pasta, spinach, tomatoes, coriander, pepper and cheese. Cover. Its done.

Since I am a little lazy when it comes to cooking, I add the cheese together with that. But actually it should be added on the top after mixing everything else and should go in the oven untill the cheese starts melting ( according to the original recipe which was given to me by a chef friend). But I just mix it all together and for the kids, I add extra cheese on the top when serving them and put their bowls in the microwave for a few seconds. Still tastes great.

You can adjust the pepper as per your taste, but I like when theres lots of it so I add it generously. You can also add brocolli along with spinach to make it more nutritious. I just love spinach to I add lots and lots of it.

Beetroot Raita

Grate half beetroot. Add 500ml thick yogurt and some salt. Mix. Take 2tsp oil in a heavy bottom small pan and heat it on high. Add 1/2tsp jeers(cumin seeds) and 1/2 tsp rai(mustard seeds). When it splutters, add a few curry leaves. turn off the heat and immediately pour it over the yogurt and beetroot mix.

It tastes great and can be used as a DIP with chips too.

Veg Fried rice

I made this for the pot-luck dinner last night. And the host made the yogurt raita to go with it. I enjoy eating it without any accompaniments, just with some green chillies in vinegar.

Short grain rice - 3 cups ( I didn't get short grain so used the sona-masoori)

mixed veges- 500 gms ( I used the forzen ones from th super market - I am just too lazy to chop them all)beans, carrot, peas,corn.

Green capsicum- 1 finely chopped

Spring onions - 2 bunches finely chopped

cabbage- 1/4 finely chopped( we get really big cabbages here)

green chillies - 3 finely chopped

garlic- 3 cloves finely chopped

Soy sauce- 4 tbsp

chilli sauce- 3 spoons

tomato sauce- 2 tbsp

black pepper pdr- 2 tspoons

Ajinomoto( chinese salt) - 1/2 tsp

oil - 3 tbsp

Soak rice for half hour in lots of water. Put 1-2tbsp cooking oil and salt and keep it on stove. Let it boil and one its almost done, drain the rest of the water and keep it aside to cool.

In a pan/wok, add 2-3 tbsp oil on high heat. Put the chopped garlic. Stir fry for a minute, add half of spring onions and capsicum. Keep stiring otherwise it gets burnt due to high heat. Once that look a little soft, add cabbage. Keep stiring. once thats softened a bit, add the rest of the frozen mix veges and stir till that looks 3/4th done. Add all the sauces, pepper, ajinomoto and salt. Cook on high for few more minutes untill done.

Mix it with the cooked rice and add the rest of the spring onions on the top and mix again slightly.

aloo paratha

I made this for the lunch box yesterday.



Boiled four potatoes. Peeled. Chopped roughly. In pan, took very little ( 2 tsp) oil, added little jeera and rai. Then added 1 finely chopped onion. When the onion turned golden brown, added the potatoes, red chilli pdr, turmeric pdr, salt, I didn't have coriander in the fridge, but it tastes good if you chop some coriander and put in it. I didn't add green chillies either as the 2B's wouldn't be able to eat it otherwise add those too. fry for a minute or two and then mash it nicely and let it cool in a bowl. Kneed a real soft dough from 2cups wheat flour. Make it as soft as you can roll. That't the trick if you don't want the potatoes mix to come out of the paratha while rolling and also to ensure even distribution. I learnt it too late ( very recently) so wanted to share it. Otherwise my aloo parathas looked really horrible !


Now took a small part of the dough to make a ball. Pressed it to make it flat and kept pressing around the corners to make it slightly bigger. now took the same amount of aloo mix and placed it in the centre. brought all the sides together and close it properly.





Placed it upside sown and started rolling it lightly. Placed it on a hot tawa and shallow fried both the sides till golden.





I cut it in half on the tawa itself if I am putting it in the lunch box. Just roll it once they are slightly cold and put it in the box. And offcourse add some butter on top of the parathas.

Hyderabadi tamatar ki chutney

I learnt this very simple recipe from a Hyderabadi friend of mine. It goes really well with khichadi which I made for dinner last night and served it with this chutney and papad.

2 cans chopped tomatoes - I used tinned tomato but 500 gms of fresh tomatoes can also be used.

1tbsp - ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp turmeric pdr

1tsp red chilli pdr ( or as per your taste)

1/2 tsp jeera ( cumin) pdr

salt to taste.

a handful of curry leaves.

put all of these together in a pan and let it cook till the tomatoes are really soft. pour this into a serving bowl.

Take a small pan or kadhai for seasoning. Add 3 tbsp oil, when it's hot, add 1tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp rai ( mustard seeds). when it splutters, add 3-4 dry whole red chillies, 1tsp grated or minced garlic, once the chillies are dark brown, turn off the heat and add 1/2 tsp red chilli pdr. Pour this immediatley over the cooked tomatoes and close the lid. Its ready to be served.

pav bhaji

I made it on the weekend and it is super easy and super fast and super yummy !

2-3 potatoes - peeled and roughly chopped
1cup - peas ( I used frozen)
1cup - chopped beans ( again I used frozen)
1cup - cauli florets ( yep, frozen again )

It was faster cos all I had to chop was potatoes, the rest came out of the freezer. Now, pressure cook the above, mash it and keep it aside.

In a pan, add some butter ( 50 gms) and immediately add 3 finely chopped onions. Fry till it turns golden. Add 3 chopped tomatoes, 3tbsps pave bhaji masala, a pinch of red chilli pdr ( if you want it spicy), 1/2 tsp turmeric, cover and let it cook till tomatoes are sift and butter floats on the top. Add the boiled veges. Mix properly and let it simmer for 10 min. Adjust the water according to how runny you want it. add salt and some lemon juice.

Cut the pav/hamburger buns, butter and cook on the tawa till it is golden. Serve with bhaji, some chopped onions and lemon.

CACTS sandwich

CACTS is the name I gave to this one - Cheese, Avocado, Cucumber, Tomato, Spinach sandwich !

I took two slices of white bread, buttered them. Spread a good amount of baby spinach leaves, arrange slices of cucumber and tomato on it. Cut some avocado and arrange on top of it. Grate some cheese and spread it on the sandwich before covering with the other slice. You can see some gree chutney on top too instead of cheese but since the 2 B's don't like it, I didn't.

Cut them in two halves and gladwrap them for the lunch box. I usually add a fruit, a fruit juice, a breakfast bar/one serve size chips packet/crackers to make it a healthy yet appealing lunch !

A filling salad

I eat this on its own as a light dinner. You need:

boiled chick peas - 1 cup
half telegraphic cucumber - chopped
1 carrot - chopped
1tomato - deseeded and chopped
spring onions - a handful ( chopped)
2 cloves garlic - minced
1green chilli - minced
a pinch of salt.

Mix it all together and its ready. Just for a change, I sometimes add 1tbsp of yogurt and finely chopped coriander too.

banana cake in a jiffy

I made this yesterday after having a sudden craving for eating a banana cake. Alright, alright, it wasn't a sudden craving, I was browsing the net for some easy banana cake recipe as I had three bananas browning up. Had no intention of making it straightaway but looking at all those mouthwatering pics along with the recipies, I jsut had to have one straightaway. And this one took 10min flat to prepare ( not counting the baking time ). I was planning to make some lemon icing too when I was browsing. But I didn't have icing sugar in the pantry, so we just ate it without icing - as usual :-)

You will need:

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup milk

150gms melted butter ( I used only 100 gms though)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs ( I used egg replacer as usual)

1 cups self raising flour

3 large mashed bananas

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 C. grease and flour a 20cm baking ring tin. Dissolve baking soda in milk. Beat the butter and sugar till creamy. beat in eggs. Stir in sifted flour, soda milk, banana. Turn into tin and bake for approx 45 min or untill a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the cake.

cheese and tomato sandwich

These are again very simple to make and kids love them.

Butter a slice of bread. put cheese on top and then some slices of deseeded tomatoes. Sprinkle some pepper powder, put another buttered slice on top, cut in half and glad wrap.