Tomato & Carrot Soup

Craving for that creamy tomato soup on a chilly afternoon with some toasted bread has become a common practice for me. After trying all the canned soups and the local grocery stores that have freshly made soup, still did not reduce my craving for a good homemade soup from scratch. Then I went to India and the cook in my sister–in-law’s house made the most amazing tomato soup I’ve had so far. So, got the recipe and couldn’t believe some of the most simplistic recipes are the tastiest too!

I used the pressure cooker for this recipe. If you do not have a pressure cooker, you could use a large pan, close the lid while cooking.

Here we go… I guarantee you after you try this one; you would not touch those canned soups again.

Ingredients:

Tomato (ripe) – 10
Carrot (large) – 3
Garlic     – 10 pods
Ginger – 2 tsps chopped
Pepper – 2 – 3 tsps
Sugar – 3 tsps
Salt – 2 tsps
Corn flour – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Cut tomatoes, carrots, garlic & ginger. Add all the vegetables in a pressure cooker. Add pepper, salt & sugar. If the tomatoes are not juicy, add a cup of water and close the lid and pressure cook.
2. After cooking the tomatoes and carrots, let it cool. Grind the veggies in a mixer grinder and strain the mixture to catch the tomato skin.
3. Mix the corn flour to half a cup of water and add that to the tomato-carrot mixture.
4. Let it come to a boil and shut of the heat.
5. Taste the soup and adjust the salt/ pepper according to taste.

Serve the soup with croutons, and a grilled cheese sandwich. Yumm…. Do leave your comment after you try this dish.

Cilantro, Carrot & Onion Tortillas (Parathas)

Have you recently visited Whole Foods or Trader Joes? All the frozen parathas are now available in most of the American grocery stores. These have been real saviors after a long day of work. But when you turn the label to read the content and the nutrition table, it is shocking to see how much of fat is packed in all these frozen parathas. So, I started freezing my own parathas. I typically do them during the weekends and they are so handy during the week days. In fact, weekend cooking has become a practice and my freezer is filled up every weekend. Anyways, coming back to parathas, here are three easy recipes that you can make ahead and freeze.

Cilantro Paratha:

Atta (unbleached wheat flour) – 2 cups
Cilantro – 1 bunch finely chopped
Mint – 4 sprigs finely chopped
Onion – 1 medium size finely chopped
Green chilies – 4 finely chopped
Salt – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Oil – couple of drops for every paratha
Water – ½ cup

Onion Paratha:

Atta (unbleached wheat flour) – 2 cups
Onion – 2 medium size finely chopped
Cilantro – 2 tsps finely chopped
Green chilies – 4 finely chopped
Salt – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Oil – couple of drops for every paratha
Water – ½ cup

Carrot Paratha:

Atta (unbleached wheat flour) – 2 cups
Carrot – 2 large finely grated
Onion – 1 medium size finely chopped
Cilantro – 2 tsps finely chopped
Green chilies – 4 finely chopped
Salt – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Oil – couple of drops for every paratha
Water – ½ cup

Method: (The method is the same for all the three parathas)

1. Mix all dry ingredients & the veggies for each of the parathas in separate bowls. Mix all together, add water and knead into a soft dough. Let it stand for an hour.
2. Heat a griddle/ pan
3. Make the dough into small balls and flatten it using a rolling pin.
4. Place it on the hot griddle and cook with a drop of oil spread on the paratha.
5. Let it cool a bit and make a pack of five or ten paratha using aluminum foil.

You can either eat the parathas fresh with a side dish or you could freeze it like me for the rest of the week’s use. Enjoy hot, homemade parathas devoid of all the extra fat and eat guilt free. Do drop your comments after you try out the parathas.

Fire roasted garlic and onion in lentil & cabbage broth

The title sounds sooooooooooooo yummy! Doesn’t it? Actually this dish is indeed very tasty. It’s a cold Saturday, December morning when you feel like having one of those yummy hot stew kinda dish that will warm up your tummy and soul.

This is an age old dish called Kadan in Maharashtra which is also very similar to the bassaru in  Karnataka. The twist is in the fire roasting of the garlic & the onion. This process caramelize the sugars in the garlic & onion and it lends such a wonderful smoked taste it is just awesome.

Here is how you can make it:

Ingredients:

Onion (large) – 1 fire roasted
Onion (large) – finely chopped
Garlic -1 whole fire roasted
Cabbage – 1 chopped or grated
Tomato – 1 large
Ginger – 1 tsp chopped fine
Green chillies – 6 – 8 slit
Coriander – 1 small bunch finely chopped
Grated coconut or desiccated coconut – 2 tsps
Thuvar Dal (yellow lentil) – 1 cup
Jeera (cumin) – 2 tsps
Pepper – 1 tsp
Sambhar powder – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Grinding:

Cooked dal
1 fire roasted onion
1 whole fire roasted garlic
Tomato
Ginger
Half of the chopped coriander
Jeera
Pepper
Sambhar powder

For Seasoning:

Oil – 2tsps
Mustard seeds – 2tsps
Urud dal – 2 tsps
Red chillies – 5-6
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Fire roast the whole garlic and the onion. If you have an electric stove, you can bake them in the oven. Once roasted, remove the skin. You could just squeeze out the pulp.
2. In a large pan wash the dal and cook it in 4 cups of water. When it is half boiled add the chopped cabbage. Add some more water if required. Shut off the heat when the cabbage is fully cooked but still crunchy.
3. The cabbage will be afloat on top of the pan. Remove the cabbage. It’s ok if you get a little bit of dal along with the cabbage.
4. Strain the remaining dal and set the water in a stock pot.
5. Grind all the ingredients listed under “For grinding”. Pour the ground mixture into the stock pot and mix it well. Season this by heating 1 tsp of oil and mustard, 3 red chilies and curry leaves.
6. Add salt and let it boil for 7- 10 mins.
7. In another pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add 1 tsp of mustard seeds, urad dal, 3 red chillies, and a sprig of curry leaves. Add the cabbage, green chilies, salt and mix it all together. Let it cook for 3 – 5 mins. Add the grated coconut and sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy the Kadan and the cabbage curry with hot rice. Do leave a comment after you try this recipe.