Spinach soup

This is a twist on the traditional Palak panner that packs a punch & is just as if not more yum! Sudan & I licked our bowls clean when I made this last time, so here goes:

For two servings you will need:

1. two green chillies
2. one ripe tomato
3. Half a red onion
4. a few peppercorns
5. two pods of Garlic
6. A cup of spinach
7. a few cloves & cinnamon
8. A tablespoon of cream (optional, but it does make it more yum!)
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil

Add a tablespoon of oil & saute the spinach until it is cooked. Blend to a lush green paste.
Puree tomatoes to a fine paste
Chop the garlic, onions & green chillies finely & saute in oil with cloves & cinnamon.
Add the pureed tomatoes & salt to the mix & cook to a boil.
Powder the peppercorn & add to the mix.
Finally add the spinach & the cream & heat for 5 minutes. You should not overcook the spinach.

Enjoy with dippable bread sticks!

The soup that made itself!

The day was a perfect soup day, except for my mind-numbing drive back from work in the heavy snow! The snow is not so magical when you are behind the wheel and worse when all you have is AR Rahman for company! :(

But I managed to reach home safe and sound and make the soup that made a hearty dinner!
Let me call it the medley soup, for I used whatever I could find in the refrigerator, the snow having thwarted my grocery shopping plans!
So here goes...

Ingredients -
All the wonderful veggies you can find. I added -
1. Tomatoes - 5 to 6 small
2. one large onion
3. one yellow beet
4. handful shredded cabbage
5. Carrot - one large
6. Bell peppers - half
7. garlic - 4 to 5 flakes, cut finely
8. ginger - one inch cube, cut finely
9. one small cup - mixed lentils. I used black-eyed peas and kidney beans
10. A bunch of basil and handful cut cilantro
11. Parsley/oregano flakes
12. Red chilly flakes
13. Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
14. butter - 2 cm slice cuboid

Procedure

* Add the butter to the heavy bottom pressure pan.
* add 2 tsp of olive oil.
* once the oil-butter mix sizzles, dribble parsley, organo and red chilly flakes in comfortable quantity. You can feel the flavor from the strength of the aroma.
* to this add the cut garlic and ginger.
* Saute the onions until light golden brown
* Add all the veggies and lentils except tomato and cabbage
* Keep adding parsley or basil as required at this stage.
* Once the veggies are sufficiently smothered with the flakes, place tomatoes cut by four and spread the cabbage on top.
* Now drop the ground black pepper and remaining basil leaves
* Add enough water to just sink all the veggies.
* Add enough salt and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistles.

Tada... Serve hot with cut cilantro and lightly fried cut bread in olive oil.

The main ingredients are - parsley, basil, oregano and crushed black pepper!They give the aroma and flavor!

Enjoy!!!

(Chicken) Egg drop Soup

To commemorate the occasion of National Soup month and also being an ardent fan of soups(I even bought a soup recipe book long ago!), I decided to go on a soup dinner tonight despite of a not-so-interested-about-soups husband.. lucky for me, the weather is in my favor :D

While I was going through the recipe book to pick a soup, I was in a fix.. there were about 500 varieties! And the ingredients were from all over the world representing different climates and cultures.. I did not even hear about soups served cold till I came to the USofA. When I was really young and was introduced to the we-dine-out-of-home-for-special-occasions-only culture, the only two soups I used to see on the menu in the restaurants of Tirupati were the Tomato soup and the Veg/Chicken Egg drop soup aka Sweet corn soup. So I decided to make my favorite soup of childhood :)

Ingredients:

• Creamed style sweet corn can (you can find it in the canned food section)
• Chicken breast (cut into small pieces)- one
  
• Corn starch (not cornmeal)- 2tbspn
  
• Egg whites - 2
  
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups water
  

Procedure:

• Boil the water in a pan.
• After the water boils, salt it and add the sweet corn from the tin.
• Let it boil again. Now add the chicken breast meat and let it boil till it cooks(for about 3 mins)
• Mix the cornstarch in a separate bowl with a tbspn of water and add this to the soup. You will notice that the soup thickens.. you can always add some more or less cornstarch depending on how you like the consistency of the soup but always remember to keep stirring the soup continuously while adding the thickening agent(cornstarch) so no lumps would form.
• Add the Egg white and whisk it in the bowl so there will be no big chunks of egg. Egg whites cook very quick so this step can also be done with the flame switched off.
• Finally add freshly ground black pepper and Enjoy!

Note:

• This soup should serve about four people as a meal.
  
• As this belongs to the family of Chinese soups, it can be served with soy sauce, chili vinegar and the likes as enjoyed by you.
• For a vegetarian version, cut carrots and green beans into very small cubes(chewable) and add it to the boiling water after step1 and boil it till they cook.. the rest would be the same in both cases except of-course you skip the chicken and egg in your soup.

Be it a homemade or canned or a takeout, lets keep the soups coming for the last week left in the month!

Till then enjoy your bowl of hearty soup!

what soup are you?

There is nothing like cuddling next to the fire place with a warm bowl of soup on a cold day.  It is such a feel good meal which keeps you so full and happy after a long winter day. I came across this article and wanted to share it here.. did you know that this month is celebrated as the National Soup Month?

Soup Therapy

To honor this, I decide to have soup for dinner tomorrow. ;)

Happy soup eating! :D