Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Soup

   Abi loves tomato soup. Its winter and our kitchen garden is flush with cherry tomatoes. So we decided to try a different version of tomato soup, a bit richer and made from cherry tomatoes. In fact this soup can be a full dinner, if served with a slice of garlic bread or buns of your choice. This one is my third and final post for this week.

   So the recipe is like this:

Ingredients:

1. 100 gms cherry tomatoes

2. 1 carrot 

3. 1 onion

4. 5 to 6 garlic pods

5.1 medium sized tomato 

6. Handful of basil leaves (tulsi)

7. Oil, salt and pepper

8. 2 to 4 cups of water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 

2. Slit the cherry tomatoes into halves and cut carrots to the same size. Put them in a bowl, add salt and pepper and give it a good mix. Lay it out on a baking tray such that they don't overlap with each other and roast for at least half an hour.

3. Once they are roasted, cool and make a paste in the mixer grinder.

4. While the cherry tomatoes are roasting, plunge the other tomato in a pot of boiling hot, salted water for a minute. Take it out, peel and chop. 

5. In a hot kadai, add a tablespoon of oil, add the chopped garlic and onion and saute till onions are translucent.

6. Add the tomato carrot paste, chopped tomatoes, basil leaves, salt, pepper to taste and 2 to 4 cups of water depending on the consistency you like. 

7. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes. If the soup becomes too thick, some more water and salt pepper can be added. 

8. The soup is ready and can be served at this stage. But if pieces of tomato in the soup is not preferred then the entire soup can be blended using a hand blender or mixie.

9. Top it off with a dash of cream and the roast tomato soup is ready! 

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Coconut apple soup

Coconut apple soup is the second one in the series of soups. As the winter is approaching, I am on the lookout for soup recipes. Since children and hubby get bored quickly with regular soups, I asked my hubby to look for soup recipes. I told him about the BM theme also. He immediately said you must try something new and I will be the guinea pig. He was more than happy to look for the new recipes. So the search began.

 This one is one of my old recipes ( learnt it when I joined a cooking class in the '80s). I was not making this often as the availability of good coconut was a problem then and slowly forgot about it. So I experimented on him first. After his and kids approval, I am sharing this with you all.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1.Apple: 1 no

2. Carrots: 2 nos

3. Potatoes: 1 no

4: Coconut milk (thin): 200ml

5. Curry powder: 1 teaspoon

6. Oil: 1 tablespoon

7. Salt &pepper: To taste

8. Lime juice: To taste

9. Fresh cream:  As needed (Optional)

10: Water: 2 cups

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add peeled and chopped carrots, apple and the potatoes. Saute them for 3minutes without browning them.

2. Add in salt and curry powder. Cook for another 2 minutes. Then add water and coconut milk. Cover and cook on low flame till the vegetables are done stirring occasionally.

3. Cool and blend it in a blender till smooth and creamy and strain the soup.

4. Before serving, heat the soup, adjust seasonings and lime juice. Top it with fresh cream and serve.

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Drumstick leaves soup

   Drumstick is one of the most favourite vegetables of my husband. He never gets tired of it. I can comfortably feed him one dish made of drumstick every day. He not only likes to eat but also loves propagating it to others to include this in their diet given its high iron content. Wherever we move, he plants this tree there successfully.

 Of late there is so much talk about the goodness of this vegetable including its leaves. Not many people know about drumstick. We South Indians eat the vegetables and the leaves. But my Punjabi friends use flowers. But in Rajasthan, most people are not aware of this vegetable barring Sindhis. So when I made soup with the leaves, my staff was surprised and asked me what kind of dish I was making. I try to teach them how to use drumstick and its leaves and its benefits.

This soup can be made in a jiffy. Not many ingredients are required but it makes for a very healthy soup. This is my third and last post for this week. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Drumstick leaves: 1 small cup

2. Onion: 1 small

3. Garlic: 3nos

4.Ginger: 1-inch piece

5. Tomato: 1 medium

6. Cornflour: 1 teaspoon

7. Ghee/ clarified butter: 1teaspoon

8. Jeera powder: 1/2 teaspoon

9. Salt & pepper: To taste

10 Water: 3 cups (250 to 300 ml approx)

METHOD:

1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add crushed garlic and ginger and fry till the garlic turns golden brown. Then add the chopped onions and fry till it is translucent. Now add the grated tomato and cook till tomato is done.

2. Add the cleaned drumstick leaves and saute for 2 or 3 minutes, taking care not to burn till the leaves start shrinking. Add salt and water. Cover and cook until the leaves are done on simmer.

3. Strain the soup. Mix the cornflour with half a cup of water add to the soup. Let it boil for a while. Add roasted jeera powder and pepper and serve.

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Ladyfinger curry

   Whenever I say Bhindi curry, my North Indian friends used to stare at me in disbelief. They would ask me about the recipe too. Back then they could not even visualise the dish. But now it is not so anymore. Thanks to the internet, anybody can make any dish if they want.

   Back home almost in every house, this dish is made. Even on special occasions like local festivals and marriages 'vendakai puli kolambu' (that is what it is called in our part of the south) is made. Marriage means like it was in the olden days, not the present days where everyone is competing with everyone to show who can spend more. In our house, I and my daughter love this dish with plain rice. Abi likes a different version of vendakai kulambu.

     Now let me take you to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Ladyfinger: 250 gms

2. Shallots: 1/2 cup (cut into two pieces)

    or the normal onion: 1 medium (cut into big pieces)

3. Green chillies: 3 nos

4. Tomato: 1 no

5. Tamarind: size of an amla

6. Jaggery/ sugar: 1 teaspoon

7. Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon

8. Salt: To taste

9. Oil: 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon

10. Mustard seeds: 1/2 teaspoon

11. Curry leaves: 1 sprig

TO POWDER:

1. Channa dal: 1 tablespoon

2. Urad dal: 1 teaspoon

3. Coriander seeds: 1 1/2 tablespoon

4. Jeera: 1 teaspoon

5. Methi seeds: 1/2 teaspoon

6. Dry red chilli: 2nos (as per taste)

7. Coconut: 3 tablespoons

METHOD:

1. Wash, dry and cut the ladyfingers. Peel the shallots and keep aside. It can be used as a whole also. If using onion, then cut them into big pieces.  Chop the tomatoes. Soak the tamarind in water and take out the juice.

2. Roast all the ingredients mentioned in 'to powder', except coconut. Let it cool and grind them into powder (like garam masala). Keep aside.

3. The coconut can be added to the roasted ingredients just before grinding OR it can be added at the end of cooking. If grinding the coconut, then water can be added and grind to a fine paste.  

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry the ladyfingers till it changes its colour. Add salt and saute for a minute. Now pour in the tamarind juice mixed with a cup of water. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

5. In another pan or kadhai, heat a teaspoon of oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, onions and green chillies. Saute them on medium heat till the onions are translucent and then add chopped tomatoes. Cook till the tomato is mushy. Add ladyfingers, turmeric, ground masala (with or without coconut), salt and jaggery. Adjust the consistency by adding water if needed. Cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked.

6. If using coconut in the end, then this is the time to add it. I have followed this method. Add grated coconut and mix well.

7. Remove from heat, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice.

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Dahi Bhindi Punjabi Dhaba Style

    Ladyfinger is one of the vegetables which can be cooked in many ways. Most people like it, including children. My grandson who is a picky eater likes it very much. So we end up making bhindi frequently.

   Here I am going to share Dahi Bhindi for my second-day post of this week. I was told this one is called Punjabi Dhaba style bhindi. But I learnt this dish from a Rajasthani. It's spicy, tangy, easy and quick to make. It goes very well with chapati.

   The ingredients for this recipe are:

1. Bhindi:250 gms

2. Onion: 2(medium size)

3. Tomatoes: 2 nos (grated)

4. Coriander powder: 2 teaspoon

5. Jeera powder: 1teaspoon

6. Turmeric: As required

7. Dry mango powder: !/2 teaspoon

8. Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon

9. Ginger + garlic paste: 1 teaspoon each

10. Curd: 1 teacup, beaten

11. Oil: 2 tablespoons

12. Ajwain: 1/2 teaspoon

13. Hing: A pinch

14. Salt: To taste

15. Garam masala & kasuri methi for garnishing

Method:

1. Wash and dry the ladyfingers. Trim and cut into 1 1/2 inch piece or as per choice.

2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the ladyfinger till it changes the colour add salt and fry for a minute more. Remove and keep aside.

3. In the same oil, add hing, ajwain, jeera and 2 whole red chillies. Saute them for a minute.

4. Add the chopped onions. Fry till it turns light brown. Add in ginger, garlic paste and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Now add the tomatoes and cook till they are done. Pour in the beaten curd. Cook till oil separates.

6. Add coriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric, salt, dry mango powder and chilli powder. Mix them well and add little  water (1/4 cup)  cook for 2 minutes.

7. Add the fried ladyfinger and 1/4 cup water mix them properly. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes.

8. Remove from the heat and garnish with garam masala powder and kasuri methi. Remember to rub kasuri methi between the palms before adding it.

9. Serve hot with plain rotis.

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One vegetables-- Three different states

   I'm happy to be back with BM girls after a long hideout! For this BM, my choice for the first week is one vegetable three different states. The theme for the second week is one vegetable and three states. This theme is an interesting one as it gives us a lot of scope to experiment with. Since we had the opportunity to travel around India during my hubby's service, I've learnt to cook some vegetables in different ways (as a necessity).

 There are so many vegetables which can be turned into yummy dishes. I have selected ladyfinger as luckily we have a small vegetable garden and I am getting a good yield even now. So this made my selection of vegetable easy. The first dish for the first is from Rajasthan as we presently staying here. This one called besanwali bhindi. 

INGREDIENTS:

1.  Ladyfinger: 250gms

2. Oil: 3 tablespoons

3. Gram flour: 2 to 3 tablespoons

4. Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon

5. Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon

6. Coriander powder: 3 teaspoons

7. Cumin powder 1 teaspoon

8. Dry ginger powder: 1/2 teaspoon

9. Dry mango powder: 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Wash and dry the ladyfingers. Trim the edges and slit it in the center without cutting into two pieces.

2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the vegetable in high flame till the vegetable changes the colour, stirring continuously.

3. Reduce the flame add all the other ingredients and keep tossing till the gram flour is cooked and nice aroma comes. Take care not to break the ladyfinger.

4. Transfer into a bowl and serve with chapati.

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Thengai burfi / Coconut burfi

    
 For the third and final day, I've selected yet another traditional sweet - yummy and chewy coconut burfi.  As children, this used to be our evening snacks when we came back from school. We could eat as much as we wanted without any guilty feeling of gaining weight like now. We loved them. The easily available ingredients and being easy to prepare, makes it possible to make it often. This, like sesame seeds laddoo, you will not find in sweet shops (different variety is available). My granny and mom used to make this very often but I learnt it from my sister when she visited our place. All thanks to my grandson, I'm learning how to make our traditional sweets so that he can also enjoy what we enjoyed as kids. Now for the recipe.

INGREDIENTS;

1. Sugar - 1/2 kg

2. Roasted gram - 2 tablespoons

3. Grated fresh coconut - 1no

4. Ghee - 100 ml

4. Cardamom - 4 nos

5. Water - as needed

METHOD:

1. Grease a tray with ghee and keep it ready.
2. Put the grated coconut in a blender and pulse it for a few seconds (should be coarse).
3. Take a heavy bottom pan/kadai add sugar and just enough water to cover the sugar and bring it to a boil.
4.Once it starts boiling, add a spoon of milk and keep simmering. Remove all the impurities floating on the top.
5. Add the grated coconut and cook for a few minutes on a medium heat. Then add half the ghee stirring all the while.

6. Keep adding the left over ghee little by little as you cook till the mixture starts foaming. 
7. Add the roasted gram and cook till it starts leaving the sides of the pan.
8.Remove from the heat, pour it into the greased tray and let it cool.
9.Once cooled, cut into desired shape and serve.

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BM 69 Indian sweets. Karai Kacchayam

Abi's li'l hands grabbing the goodies!

      

   Though we like sweets, we don't enjoy the market sweets that much. Traditional and homemade sweets are the most favorite ones. Of these, our traditional sweet called kachayam is a big family hit. We make two types of kachayam. One is made out of rice flour and sugar syrup. The process is more tedious. The second one is called karai kachayam. Karai means mixing. This is easier and instant and made by mixing all the ingredients nicely. Hence the name. Both taste fantastic. Here I'm making the second variety. 

     Every time I make this, time rewinds in my mind and brings some sweet memories. Once we visited my MIL 's sister's place, unannounced as newly married. She was too excited and anxious as it is believed the new bride has to be given sweets on her first visit and there was no sweet shop nearby. So she made this quick sweet with so much love and it tasted like heaven, something which I've not forgotten even after many decades. In fact, I learnt it that day. So I dedicate this to her.  Now to the recipe. 

                       

Ingredients:

Wheat flour   - 1 cup

Maida / All purpose flour -2 tablespoons

Ripe banana  - 1

Sugar   - 1/2 cup ( or to taste)

Grated fresh coconut - 3 tablespoons (optional)

Green cardamom   - 5 Nos

A pinch of cooking soda

Ghee/ oil for frying

Method:

1. Mash the banana well in a mixing bowl.

2. Add in all the other ingredients except oil.

3. Add water a little at a time to make a smooth batter. The batter should be of pouring consistency.

4. Make sure there are no lumps in it.

5. Heat ghee in a pan, bring to medium heat and pour a spoonful of batter into the hot oil. (You can pour 4 or 5 kachayam in one go depending upon the size of your pan).

6. Fry on both sides till they become golden brown.

7. Lift one at a time, press it in between two steel ladles to flatten them and also strain the excess ghee out. (Need to do this quickly so as to remove all of them without burning).

8. You can, of course, serve them hot or even cold (room temperature).

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Sesame seeds laddo / Til ka laddo / Ellurundai

  
   Ellurundai / til ka laddo is a traditional Indian sweet. In South India, we make these laddoos with black sesame seeds and considered as poor man's delicacy in olden days. But not anymore. Nowadays, people don't make it the traditional way and you don't get it in the sweet shops also. Making the laddoos the traditional way is a bit difficult now as we need the traditional pestle and mortar for pounding. Instead we make do with the mixer grinder now. The traditional way of making tastes so much better without any doubt. But when you crave for these laddoos even the substitute tastes great. So for those of you with a sweet tooth,this one is a must try. Here comes the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Black sesame seeds: 1/2 kg

2. Jaggery / Karuppatti: 1/2 kg

3. Fresh coconut: 1 no

METHOD:

1. Clean and roast the sesame seeds till nice aroma comes and let it cool.

2. Grate the coconut and Karuppatti and keep them ready.

3. Divide the sesame seeds, jaggery and coconut into 2 or 3 equal portions. Put one portion of the sesame seeds in the mixer and grind till coarse.

4. Add one portion of the jaggery into coarsely ground sesame seeds and run the mixer for a few more minutes.

5. Now roast one portion of the grated coconut till it turns light brown and nice aroma comes. Add it to the ground sesame seeds and jaggery while it is warm (not very hot). Run the grinder till all the ingredients are well mixed.

6. Repeat the process till all the ingredients are used.

7. Put all the portions of ground ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix them well with a spoon.

8. Take small portion of the mix and shape into laddoos while still warm. If the mixture becomes cold, it can be heated up on a low heat.

9. Cool the laddoos and store them in a container. The taste improves after a day or two.

10. One must keep in mind that while running the grinder the load becomes more. Take the portions according to your grinder's capacity.

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Pickled bitter gourd

.

   The pickled version of bitter gourd is my final post for the topic of shelf life dishes. It is a very good substitute for spicy and oily pickles and therefore very healthy. One doesn't need to add too much spice or oil to prepare this sweet / bitter, tongue tickling dish. It can also be stored for months in the refrigerator. 

   This one is always available at my mom's place as my father likes it very much. During summers, my parents prefer ragi , bajra, dalia or any millet varieties of porridge with curd and pickled bitter gourd for breakfast. It can also be served with curd rice. A very simple and easy to make dish. I learnt it from my mother. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

 Bitter Gourd - 2 nos

Tamarind - a lemon size ball

Jaggery / sugar - 2 to 3 table spoons

Green chillies - 4 nos

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon

Oil - 1 table spoon

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Curry leaves - A few

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1.Wash and cut the bitter gourd into 1/2 inch circles. Slit the green chillies.

2.Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for a minute. Now add the bitter gourd and fry for 2 minutes.

3.Take out tamarind juice before hand and add a cup of water to it. Pour the juice into the bitter gourd. Add salt and turmeric powder and let it boil. Reduce the heat and cook till half done.

4. Add jaggery/sugar, adjust water and cook on slow heat till water dries up and it looks like pickle. (not too dry nor watery)

5.Cool and store in a dry jar and use as required.

6. Chillies, tamarind and sugar can be adjusted as per one's taste.

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Curry leaves podi

   
   Though I was not planning to make this podi as it is difficult to get curry leaves in Rajasthan. But when we moved into our new house, the first thing I did was to see the backyard for any chance of finding a curry leave tree. Wow! Indeed their is one. So the first thing that came to my mind was making this podi for this month's BM. This goes very well with softly cooked plain rice and ghee and not to forget the nutrients it provides being rich in iron. So here it is.

INGREDIENTS:

Curry leaves : 1 handful/ bunch

Toor dal : 2 table spoon

Urad dal (black or white) : 2 table spoon

Red chillies : 3 nos

Oil : 1 teaspoon

Hing/ Asafoetida : a pinch

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Dry roast both the the dal and the red chillies.

2. Wash the curry leaves and let them dry naturally for a few hours or under the fan.

3. Heat oil in a pan and fry the curry leaves till they are crispy. 

4. Add salt and hing to the roasted ingredients and grind to a coarse powder and keep aside.

5. Now grind the fried leaves till coarse. Add the coarsely ground dal powder and run the mixer for a few more seconds. Can use push button at this stage. The end product should be coarse. 

6. Serve with hot rice and ghee.

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Peanut Butter

    

   I'm sure, those who have already made this would agree with me that this is one of the easiest, quickest and tastiest dishes without any argument. This one is a favourite in our home. It gets over as soon as it appears on the dining table. It is always on the top of shopping list planned or unplanned. So I was looking for a recipe to make it at home. I went through many of them and finally made it in my way. Most of them are same barring a little change in sweetening agent and grinding. It came out so well and every one liked it and now is very much in demand. Here goes the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Ground nut -1 cup

2. Any vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon

3. Honey - 1 teaspoon 

4. Salt to taste (1/2 tea spoon approx) 

METHOD:

1. Roast the ground nut in a pan on medium heat till the outer layer is brown and black spots starts appearing. Let it cool to room temperature and rub the nuts with both your hands lightly to remove the skin.

2. Put the cleaned nuts in a mixer grinder and run the mixer using the push button for a few minutes till the nuts are coarsely ground.

3. Add oil, honey and salt and grind further till the required consistency (fine paste or with granules for crunchy texture). I made one with granules.

4. Store in an air tight container. No need to refrigerate for 15 to 20 days (it will vanish before that :)

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