Cream of Tomato Soup in veggie base

There are a couple of things my kids request me to make often. There are some common to both requests like pizza, noodles and pasta. And then there are individual requests. My younger one requested for 'Tomato Soup'. Her request went something like this "Mommy, can you make soup today for lunch? Make sure it is tomato soup". I had no choice but to make tomato soup, but I added quite a few veggies to make it Vegetable tomato soup. I almost didn't want to post this since I couldn't get a decent picture. It has been raining for the past two days here and not much sunlight.

One year back - Sourdough Biscuits
Two years back - Hyacinth beans stir fry/ Chapparadavarekayi palya
Ingredients:
Red Onion - 1 large chopped
Celery - chopped 3/4 cups (2 ribs approximately)
Carrots - 3 medium peeled and chopped
Potato - 1 medium peeled and chopped
Tomatoes - 1 28 Oz can of whole peeled tomatoes with juice (Or about 2 pounds of tomatoes blanched and skin peeled)
Garlic - 3 pods crushed
Evaporated milk - 14 Oz can or about 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
Water - 3 cups or as needed to get the desired consistency
Salt - to taste
Black pepper - 1 tsp - 2 tsp crushed or to taste
Olive oil - 2 TBSP
Sugar - 1 TBSP or as per taste (optional)

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add garlic followed by onion. Stir and add a little bit of salt and let it wilt. When onions are half done, add celery, carrots, potatoes. Add about 2 cups of water and let all the vegetables become soft. Add the contents of the peeled tomatoes, sugar, black pepper. Let it all come to a simmer. You can crush the tomatoes with the back of the ladle to disperse them. When the mixture comes to a simmer, turn off the heat. When it is cool enough to handle, take the contents in a blender in batches and puree them. Transfer back to the pot and add the evaporated milk, 1 more cup of water and bring it to a slow boil. Adjust the salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot, warm with some sour cream on top if desired.

Enjoy.

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Sweet Potato Chili

Did you know sweet potato is much better for health than regular potatoes? I was surprised when I learned it too. Try telling that to my in-laws who wouldn't eat anything that I cooked with this veggie. They would say it is bad for diabetic people even when I explained that it has low glycemic value than potatoes, which happens to be one of their favorite vegetable.

I usually make couple of Indian dishes with Sweet potato. Wanted to try something different and I happen to read a eating well magazine at a doctor's office. This recipe is largely adapted from that.

One year back - Vegan Mango Cake
Two years back - Butternut squash Pasta, Eggless Blueberry Coffee cake, Chewy Granola Bars 
Ingredients:
Sweet potato - Peeled and cubed 2 small or 1 large
Red Onion - 1 large chopped or 2 small
Tomatoes - 1 can of diced tomatoes 14.5 Oz (Or use about 4 medium tomatoes)
Green chillies - 4 - 5 chopped fine or as per taste
Garlic - 4 cloves minced
Oil - 2 TBSP
Black beans - 1/2 cup dry (Or use 1 15 Oz can drained and rinsed)
Red kidney beans/Rajma - 1/2 cup dry (Or use 1 15 Oz can drained and rinsed)
Salt - to taste
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp or to taste
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Cilantro - chopped 3 - 4 TBSP (optional)

Method:
If using dried beans like I did, soak both the beans in water overnight. Pressure cook the beans till soft. Drain the beans reserving 1 1/2 cups of water that you cooked the beans in. If you are using canned beans, skip this step. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add green chillies, chopped onion, garlic. Mix and sprinkle some salt and let it cook. When onions are cooked, add sweet potatoes. Add cumin, red chilli powder, cooked beans, tomatoes, reserved water. If using canned beans, add about 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix well and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and cover and let it cook till the sweet potato is soft. Add cilantro, adjust the salt if required and serve either with some bread or as is. We ate it as is like chunky soup.

Notes:
Adjust the water quantity as per your need. You could use more veggies if you like. Something that goes very well is squash with this.

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Curried Cream of Broccoli Soup (Vegan)

No one but me are fond of broccoli in my house. I still don't know why I bought a bag of frozen broccoli. It has been sitting in my freezer for couple of months now. I saw Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup on Joy the Baker's blog this morning. It was a perfect way to use up that broccoli. I took the idea of using cashews but flavored it differently. My kid who doesn't eat any soup that doesn't have tomatoes enjoyed it too. She called it 'Green Soup' and I liked it a lot too.

One year back - Yeast Basics
Adapted from - Joy the Baker
Ingredients:
Onions - 3 small or 2 medium chopped into chunks
Green Chillies - 3 - 4 (optional)
Olive oil - 1 TBSP
Cumin - 1 tsp
Curry Powder - 2 - 3 tsp (I used mild one and used 3 tsp)
Broccoli - 1 pound (I used frozen. If using fresh, cut into florets)
Salt - to taste
Cashews - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 - 4 cups depending on the thickness desired
Crushed Black pepper to serve (optional)

Method:
Soak the cashews for 30 minutes or more. In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add onions, green chillies if using. Sprinkle some salt and let it wilt. Add broccoli and mix well. When onions are cooked, add curry powder and mix well. Add 2 cups of water and let it all come to a boil. Broccoli has to be fork tender. Simmer it till then. When broccoli is almost cooked, drain cashews and add it to the pot. Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit.

When cool to handle, take them to a blender jar in batches and process till smooth. I like it a little coarse and I did not process till very smooth. Use more water as needed to blend. Return the whole mixture to the pot and bring it to a boil. Check and adjust the seasonings and add more water if required. Serve warm with more crushed pepper on the top if desired.

Have a great weekend.

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Vegan Tomato Scallion Soup (With roasted Cumin)

This is not the first soup that is based on tomatoes that have been published on this blog. I have made Vegan Tomato Soup, Roasted Red Bellpepper Soup before. Both of them have tomatoes in them. Then why another tomato soup? Reason is my younger one who is four years old. For her, it is not soup unless it has tomatoes in it. I have made so many different kinds of soup but all she wants is soup with tomatoes in it. So, I made this version and added carrots and scallion to it. She was a happy camper.

One year back - Vegan Zucchini Soup
Ingredients:
Peeled whole tomatoes in a can - one can of 28 Oz (Or use 7 blanched plum tomatoes)
Vegetable broth - 3 - 5 cups (I used 4 cups - See Notes)
Scallions - 7 chopped reserving 1/4 cup of green part for garnishing
Cumin - 1 heaping tsp
Oil - 2 TBSP
Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Green chillies - 3 or per taste (optional)
Salt - to taste
Ginger - 1/2" piece peeled and chopped into big chunks
Carrots - 4 medium peeled and diced (See Notes)

Method:
In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add ginger, green chillies if using. When they are half toasted, add scallions, carrots. Stir and sprinkle some salt. Let it roast a bit. When they are half done, add vegetable broth and bring it to a boil. Start with 2 cups and you can always add more if needed later. Drain the tomato can reserving the juice. If you are using fresh tomatoes, blanch them and drop them into the pan. Let it all come to a boil.
In a small skillet, toast the cumin seeds. Powder them in a mortar and pestle along with black pepper corns. Set aside. When the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Take it in a blender when a little cool and puree it. Pour it back to the pot and start heating. Add broth and or reserved juice from the can to adjust the consistency. Add the cumin and pepper powder and mix well. Simmer it for a minute or two and then turn off the heat. Serve topped with chopped scallion greens.

Notes:
Some brands have more juice in the whole peeled tomatoes can than others. That is the reason for giving the range. If you used fresh tomatoes, you will need more broth to get the desired consistency.

Enjoy. Pin It

Sweet Potato Bisque/Soup With Cashew Cream

I have a bad habit, I need to admit. This happens when I go shopping alone, which is almost all the time. I start looking at stuff that I don't even need. Last time when I was at Trader Joe's, I stopped by the isle with all the soup cartons. I have never ever bought a packaged soup till date. But still, I wanted to see what all they have. There was a stack of soup cartons with the name 'Sweet Potato Bisque'. I got curious as to what a 'Bisque' is. It is a thick creamy soup which has seafood in it. I proceeded to make the soup like all other root vegetable soups are made, but used 'Cashew Cream' to make it creamy that I had read on Vegan Yum Yum  blog some time back. She has a Sweet potato soup with cashew cream and I used that Cashew Cream idea here. This soup is hearty, filling and full of good carbohydrates.

One Year Back - Mango Rice / Mavinakayi Chitranna
Ingredients:
Sweet potato - 3 medium
White potato - 1 medium
Vegetable broth - 3 - 3 1/2 cups (If purchasing, use low sodium ones)
Salt - to taste
Crushed black pepper - to taste
Rosemary - fresh chopped 1 TBSP (You could your favorite herb)
Hot sauce - 1 tsp or to taste
Olive oil - 1 TBSP
Garlic - 2 pods grated

For the cashew cream:
Raw Cashews - 1/2 cup
Water or more vegetable broth to grind

Method:
Place washed sweet potato, potato in a pan and pressure cook it. Alternately, you could roast in the oven which will take more time. When the pressure is released, remove and peel the skin. Mash it coarsely. In a pan, heat olive oil. Saute garlic for few seconds and add coarsely mashed sweet potato and potato mixture. Add salt, rosemary and enough broth to let it boil but not too watery. When it starts simmering, turn off the heat.
Meanwhile, take cashews in the blender and make a cream out of it adding water or vegetable broth to facilitate the blades. Reserve a few tablespoons of this for garnish and add the sweet potato mixture to the blender and blend it into a smooth puree. Add the remaining broth if needed. When done, return the whole mixture into the pot back and let it simmer. Add hot sauce, crushed black pepper and adjust the salt if needed. Turn off the heat. To serve, top it off with some reserved cashew cream, more crushed black pepper.

This is a very creamy and almost sweet soup. Of course you can add more spices if you like. Kids loved them with some toasted whole wheat bread.

Enjoy. Pin It

Vegan Tomato Soup

I am not keen on drinking soups in restaurants. Reason being tasting the soup in restaurants and not liking them and the other reason is the fear of being served a vegetarian soup which was made with 'chicken broth'. No I am not kidding. It happened to me once. We went to a Thai restaurant from work and I took the vegetarian combo which had rice with some vegetables, a sweet and sour soup. When the soup was served, for some reason, I could smell something that just wasn't 'right'. When asked, the waitress said the broth was 'chicken broth'. So be very careful when you ask for soup and if you are vegetarian or vegan.

My younger one loves soup. Give some soup with bread or as is, she is a happy person. But, there is a catch to it. It has to have tomatoes in it. I have made pumpkin soup, butternut squash soup which, she will taste once and leave it.  But serve her this tomato soup or Roasted red bellpepper soup, she is a happy girl. I made this especially for her and is the reason for not using any herbs.

One Year Back - Besan Laddoo (Sweet chickpea flour balls)
Ingredients:
Plum tomatoes - 9 medium sized (See Notes)
Red Onions - 3 small diced
Apples - 2 medium cored, peeled and diced (See Notes)
Olive oil or any other oil - 2 TBSP
Garlic - 2 pods crushed
Vegetable broth - 2 - 3 cups
Salt - to taste
Crushed black Pepper - to taste
Hot sauce - 1 tsp or to taste

Method:
Blanch the tomatoes. Peel the skin. Set aside. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add garlic. Let it cook, but not get brown. Add onions. Sprinkle some salt, crushed black pepper and let it cook. When onions are cooked, add apples, tomatoes. With the back of the spoon, crush the tomatoes and let them all cook till apples are soft and the whole mixture comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat.

When cool enough to be taken into a blender, blend it to a puree. Blend it to the consistency of your liking. I like the soup to be a little chunky but, my kids like them smooth. So, I blended them till it was a smooth puree. Return back to the pan. Add vegetable broth, hot sauce and bring it to a slow boil. Adjust the salt if needed. You could use the herb of your liking. I didn't since if some green 'thing' is floating, my kids would've a problem with the whole bowl of soup. Serve hot/warm with croutons or bread. I served with warmed whole wheat pita bread.

Notes:
To use a shortcut, instead of blanching the tomatoes, you can use 1 can of 1lb 10 Oz can of peeled tomatoes. It will have about 1/2 cup of tomato juice in it and you can empty the whole can into the pot.
I like adding apples or potatoes (just 1 or 2) to thicken the soup naturally instead of adding corn starch or making a roux. Apples eliminate the need of adding sugar to the soup completely. I got this inspiration from Ina Garten's barefoot contessa show.
I am sending this to 'Souper Sunday' hosted at 'Kahakai Kitchen'.
I am also sending this to 'Winter Warmers' hosted at 'The Veggie Hut'  along with Roasted red bellpepper soup.

Enjoy. Pin It

Pumpkin Soup

I was in the mood for some soup today. I had a pumpkin on my kitchen counter. And thus, the pumpkin was turned into a soup. How? Read on...

Ingredients:
Pumpkin - cleaned and peeled and cut into cubes about 1 3/4 pounds (Yes, I weighed them after cleaning)
Apple - 1 peeled, cored and diced
Carrots - 2 medium peeled and sliced
Red Onion - 2 small or 1 medium chopped
Olive Oil - 3 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste (I used about 1 TBSP of pepper corn coarsely crushed)
Cayanne Pepper - 1 tsp
Rosemary - 1 tsp dried
Basil - 1 tsp dried
Sour cream or yogurt - 1/2 cup (optional)
Bay Leaf - 1
Water or Vegetable broth - 4 1/2 - 5 cups divided use

Garnish:
Sweetened dried cranberries

Method:
In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add the bay leaf. When the bay leaf gets toasted, add onions. Sprinkle some salt and let it wilt. When the onions are cooked, add pumpkin, carrot, apple and stir. Add some pepper and about 3 cups of water or vegetable broth. Cover with a lid and let them all get cooked. When they are cooked through, turn off the heat. When they have cooled down a bit, remove the bay leaf and discard it. Blend the veggie mixture either with an immersion blender or a regular blender. You could even use a food processor for this job.

Transfer the pureed vegetable mixture back into the pot. Add remaining water or vegetable broth, yogurt or sour cream, cayanne pepper, more black pepper powder to taste. Adjust the salt if needed. Take dried basil and rosemary and crush them on your palm and add to the soup. Bring it to a simmer and adjust the thickness as per your taste. I like my soups creamy and thick. Serve warm with either bread toast, croutons or crackers. I just served with a garnish of sweetened dried cranberries.

Notes:
You could use milk in place of yogurt or sour cream. You could change the herbs to herbs of your choice. You could add some nutmeg and all spice to it.

Enjoy. Pin It

Cranberry Tomato Rasam

Cranberries are on display shelf in the grocery stores now. I love coming up with dishes that are Indian but use locally available vegetables/fruits. This rasam is one such creation.  I don't have too many recipes on this blog that use fresh cranberries though. One favorite of mine is this Cranberry Pineapple Chutney and the other one is Cranberry Rice. An addition to cranberry recipes is this rasam which can be made in 15 minutes. Isn't that great? If you have cooked dal, you can add to it to make a thick rasam or similar to what is called Bele Saaru in karanataka.

One Year Back: Dry Fruit Cookies, Pear Spice Muffins
Ingredients:
Cranberries - 1 cup rinsed and picked
Tomatoes - 3 medium or 2 large quartered
Rasam powder - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - a pinch
Jaggery - 4 TBSP (You could use sugar too)
Water - 3 - 3 1/2 cups
Oil - 1 TBSP
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves -  few
Cilantro - chopped about 2 TBSP
Hing - a pinch (optional)

Method:
In a blender take cranberries and tomatoes. Churn them without adding any water. Pour the puree into a pan. Add salt, turmeric, rasam powder, jaggery or sugar and 3 - 3 1/2 cups of water. Let it boil. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed. Add chopped cilantro and turn off the heat. In another small pan, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add curry leaves, hing if using. Pour this on to the rasam. Mix well. Serve with rice or as soup.

Enjoy!! Pin It

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Have you heard of the song that is played everywhere during holiday season in U.S  which goes something like "It's the most wonderful time of the year" . I think that line is appropriate for fall than winter. I love spring and fall of all the seasons.

I had bought a butternut squash to make Kadagu Puli but, it has been so cold for the past couple of days here that I decided to make soup of it. I have seen many recipes of this where in, they roast the vegetables in the oven. I did it on the stove top which gets done faster compared to the oven method. I did not follow any recipe in particular, but this one is definitely inspired by many of the butternut squash soup recipes out there on food network.

Ingredients:
Butternut squash - peeled, cubed about 4 cups
Carrots - 3 medium peeled and cut into chunks
Red Onions - 2 small cut into chunks
Apple - 2 small peeled and cut into chunks
Oil - 2 TBSP
Water or vegetable broth -  2 1/2 cups (Increase it to 3 cups if you like the soup thin)
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Milk or Heavy cream or half and half - 1/2 - 3/4 cup (I used just 1/2 cup) - optional. If not using, increase the quantity of broth or water.
Curry Powder - 3 tsp or to taste (the one I have is a mild one)

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add onions. Saute for a minute. Add the remaining vegetables. Sprinkle salt and pepper and let it roast for a while. Stir occasionally. When the vegetables start sticking to the pan, add about a cup of vegetable broth or water. Cover with a lid and let it cook. When all the vegetables are tender, add curry powder and stir. Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Take them in a blender when cool enough to puree (or you could use an immersion blender if you have one). Add part of the remaining water or vegetable broth to facilitate the motor while making a puree. Return the puree to the pot. Add all of the remaining water/vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Add milk or cream if using and stir. Let it all come to a slow simmer. Adjust the seasoning if required. Serve hot/warm with some toasted bread or bread croutons. I served with some toasted bread.

Enjoy!! Pin It

Zucchini Soup (Vegan)

Officially my blog is one year old. The first post I ever wrote was on 7/17/2009. It didn't have this name or this layout then. Picture was just horrible. Even when I am not satisfied with either my pictures or my writing, I should say that I've come a long way. I started blogging regularly only in the month of November 2009 I should say.

One of my friend who visited us this weekend was teasing me saying if he printed the entire content of my blog, it would be more than 250 pages. He is so right. I already have about 200+ recipes here and I sometimes wonder if.. only if I had started doing this about 7 years back, what would've happened? Think, think, think.....

I have told you all that I have zucchini plants this summer. I have so far made Zucchini Gojju, Zucchini Kootu, Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Casserole and other stuff that I haven't blogged about. Today, it is zucchini soup. You should try this if you can get zucchini where you live. It was so refreshing and I made it totally using Indian spices. This tasted good when hot and equally good when it was cold.

Ingredients:
Zucchini - 1 large cut into chunks with skin on (You can peel off the skin)
Apple - 1/2 of large apple skin peeled, cored and cut into chunks
Red Onions - 3 small, 2 medium or 1 large cut into chunks
Olive oil or vegetable oil - 2 TBSP
Garlic pods - 2 crushed
Ginger - 1/2" piece grated
Vegetable broth - 1 1/2  - 2 cups (See Notes)
Salt - to taste
Red chilli powder or cayanne pepper - 1/4 tsp or as per taste
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro - chopped 1/4 cup (reserve about 1 TBSP for garnish)


Method:
In a skillet, heat oil. When hot, add crushed garlic and grated ginger. When they are done, add onions and sprinkle with some salt. Let it cook. Add apples, zucchini pieces when onions are almost done. Stir occasionally for couple of minutes. Now, add about 1 cup of the vegetable broth. Add red chilli powder and spices. Let all the vegetables cook till soft. Add the cilantro and turn off the heat. When cool enough to blend, blend in a blender/food processor till smooth. Pour it back into the pan. Add the remaining vegetable broth and simmer for a couple of minutes. Adjust the salt if needed and serve garnished with cilantro. If you want it to be rich in taste, you could reduce the vegetable broth and add some cream. I am not a big fan of cream so didn't even bother.

Notes:
Since I used 2 cups of vegetable broth, my soup didn't turn out to be very thick. If you like yours to be very thick, use only 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth. This can be served after adding some lime juice to taste.

Enjoy!! Pin It

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup

When I posted the 'Homemade Vegetable Broth', it was kind of incomplete without posting about me using it. I finally made this soup which all of us had liked a lot. Even though my friend gave me the recipe she had used, I just took the ingredients and came up with my own. I served with home made brioche croutons. We all loved at home and this can be easily tweaked to suit your taste preferences.

An updated picture when I served this with Focaccia instead of bread croutons.

Ingredients:
Roasted Red Bell pepper - 2 (see notes to make it yourself)
Red Onion - 2 small sliced
Garlic - 2 pods crushed
Thyme - 1 tsp dry or 1 TBSP fresh (If using dry, rub it on your palm and then add)
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized blanched and pureed (Or use 1 1/2 cups of tomato puree from the can)
Vegetable Broth - 2 1/2 cups (Home made or store bought)
Milk - 1/2 cup (You can increase vegetable broth or add water if you don't want to use milk or use heavy cream for a richer taste)
Olive Oil - 2 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
Hot sauce - a dash or more to taste (I used sriracha)
Cayanne pepper - 1/2 TBSP or more to taste
Croutons - for serving (optional - see notes how to make it)

Method:
In a pan, heat olive oil. When hot, add garlic, onions. Saute till onions are cooked. Add roasted red bell pepper (discard the seeds) and tomato puree. Add some salt, thyme, cayanne, hot sauce, sugar. Let it all cook. Turn off the heat. When cool enough, blend it in a blender. Use a little bit of broth to facilitate the motor if needed. Pour it back to the pot and add the remaining vegetable broth, milk. Let it simmer. Adjust the salt and seasoning if required. You could add a bit of rice flour or corn starch to thicken it, but I didn't need to and it was thick enough. Serve hot, warm or cold with bread croutons or some toasted bread or some salad.

Notes:
To roast the red bell pepper yourself, rub it with a little bit of oil. Either char on the gas at low flame all around or broil it under the broiler till you get charred mark on them. Sprinkle some salt on the top and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Peel the skin off and removed the seeds and discard them. Use it in the recipe.

To make the bread croutons, slice the bread (best is brioche or challah or any bread which has some fat in it). Remove the crust and cut into 3/4" cubes. Place on a greased cookie sheet in an even layer. Drizzle couple of TBSP of olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper and toss to coat. Bake in the oven at 325 F for about 15 minutes flipping once to get all the sides toasted. You might have to increase or decrease the time depending on the size of the croutons, fat content in the bread and your oven. Keep an eye the first time.
If you are using store bought vegetable broth, make sure to buy the low sodium one and add salt only at the end after adding the vegetable broth. Since that has some salt already added, you will need less salt.

Enjoy!!

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Cranberry Bean Soup/Curry?

I use a lot of legume/lentils in my daily cooking. You see, being vegetarians, it is not easy to get our required protein unless beans/lentils/legume is a part of every day diet. But, I had never ever dreamed of using cranberry beans in my life. When I won Susan's MLLA last month, I received a box of beans from Hurst. It had cranberry beans, lima beans, rajma/red kidney beans, lentils, brown eyed beans. I used up brown eyed beans last week by cooking it just like making rajma masala. To be honest, I liked that better than rajma. I have to see where to get these locally. Today, I decided to use up Cranberry Beans.

This dish was motivated by one of the food network shows by Ann Burrell. She was cooking beans with chicken stock, fish and some other seafood. She had fennels as one of the veggies. I didn't use any part of her dish except for using potato slices (big slices) to mimic her use of fish. She had seared her fish and let it cook in the final dish. I kind of toasted raw potato slices on the skillet and once they had brown spots, put them in the almost done beans soup. So, potatoes were cooked in the entire masala concoction. Also, this dish can be a one meal dish with some bread. On the show, she had used some grilled bread and dunk them in the soup. I made it to such a consistency that we could have it as soup with bread or as a curry with chapathis. It goes very well with rice too.

Here goes my recipe..

Ingredients:

• Dry cranberry beans - 1 16 Oz pack soaked at least for 4 hours or overnight and pressure cooked with salt. (See Note)
• Red Onions - 3 medium or 2 big sliced thin into 3/4" strips.
• Tomatoes - 2 big or 3 medium cut into medium sized chunks
• Carrots - 2 medium peeled and cut into medium chunks
• Oil - 3 TBSP divided use
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Garlic pods - 3 crushed
• Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp or to taste
• Garam masala - 1 tsp or to taste
• Turmeric - a big pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Cilantro - chopped finely about 1/4 cup
• Potatoes - 2 medium peeled and sliced into 1/2" thick discs
• Amchoor powder - 1/4 tsp or to taste (Optional - you could squeeze some lime juice if you don't want to use this)

Method:
In a skillet, heat 2 TBSP of oil. When hot, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add crushed garlic, sliced onions, turmeric and a little bit of salt. Let it cook for a minute or two. Now, add the carrot chunks and stir. Once the onions are cooked, add tomatoes and the cooked beans. If there is too much water, reserve some to adjust the consistency later. Meanwhile, heat another skillet and use the remaining 1 TBSP of oil to coat it. Place the potato slices on it. Let it get brown spots and get a char. Flip them and repeat the same on the other side too. Add garam masala, amchoor powder is using, chilli powder to the beans pot. Adjust the salt. Now, take these potato slices and dump them in the beans pot. Cover with a lid and let the potatoes cook completely in the beans mixture. Add chopped cilantro and adjust the seasoning if needed. Adjust the thickness by adding more reserved water or plain water if needed. Let it all simmer for a minute or two and turn off the heat.
Since this is packed with protein (beans), veggies (you can add your favorite ones) and starch (potatoes), it is a complete meal by itself. Serving with bread or rotis is just an addition to it.
Serve with toasted bread or chapathis or even rice.
For more information on this wonderful beans, read this.

Note: 
I cooked the beans in pressure cooker to make it easy. If you want nice and firm looking beans, you may choose to boil them in a stock pot.

Since I won these in MLLA, it is very natural for me to send this entry to current month's MLLA hosted here, which was started by Susan.

The Bread that you see in the picture is 'Whole Wheat and quinoa sourdough bread'.

Interested in more legume/lentil recipes, check out Methi Malai Matar, Black Eyed Beans Tomato Sauce Curry, Kala Chana Masala, Black Eyed Beans Curry in Peanut Sauce, Matar Tofu, Dilly Masoor Dal, Methi Subzi with Split green peas and Long Squash Spinach Dal. See, I wasn't lying when I said I use lot of legume in my daily cooking.

Happy Cooking!! Pin It

Menasina Saaru / Pepper Rasam

There are some dishes that no one can make it better than your mother. That is so true for many dishes. I have eaten same dishes made by different people, even though their version is good too, it is not comparable to what my mom made. Is it blind love, or is it just that my palette was trained to like her cooking, I can't answer that. This Menasina Saaru or Pepper rasam is one of those.

My mother always roasted the ingredients and ground the masala for this. To make my life easier, I converted that recipe with some alterations to a powder. All I have to do is take enough water, mix it with the powder, add salt and let it boil. Menasina Saaru is ready. How easy is that? Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:
For the Powder:
Bengal gram dal / Kadale bele / Chana dal - 1/4 cup (This was added by me since I liked the way this addition turned out)
Urad dal / Uddina Bele - 1/2 cup
Black pepper / Menasu - 2 heaping TBSP or more as per your taste
Red Chillies - 10 or more
Hing - a pea size or if powder 1 tsp
Dry coconut / Kobbari - 3/4 cup - 1 cup grated.

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast all the ingredients except Hing. Do it on a low flame and keep stirring it to get even brown. Grind it in a mixie/blender/dry grinder when cool with hing. When it is completely powdered, add grated dry coconut and run the mixie / blender for  a minute to get it evenly mixed. Store it in an airtight container. I usually keep mine in the refrigerator, but you can leave at room temperature too.

To Make the Saaru / Rasam:
To 4 TBSP of the above powder, add about 5 cups of water. Mix and heat till it starts boiling. Add salt to taste and switch off the stove. You can use more powder to get spicier or less as per your taste. In my mom's place, it was served as mentioned, but my in-laws like to drink it with couple of drops of lime juice added just before drinking. Warm the saaru to desired warmth and then add the lime juice and serve. Even though it goes well with rice, I feel it is best consumed as a soup.

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Easiest Tomato Rasam/Saaru

In my mother's house, rasam was made when the sambar or the bele saru is short for the night. We were never big fans of drinking rasam. I developed liking to drink rasam only after I left India. One of the ways we made tomato rasam was by churning tomatoes in the blender and adding rasam powder and boiling it. That was the quickest rasam one could make. I made it even simpler by using diced tomatoes can and making it. You can always cut couple of tomatoes into big chunks and churn it in the blender. Here goes my version..

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes medium 4 - 5 cut into big chunks (I used one 14.5 Oz can of diced tomatoes with no additives)
• Rasam powder - 1 - 11/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Tamarind - an inch sized ball juice extracted (I used the paste about 1/4 tsp) - You can skip this if the sourness of tomatoes is enough to your taste.
  
• Cilantro - chopped about a TBSP

For tempering:

• Oil - 1 TBSP
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - a big pinch
• curry leaves - few (optional)

Method:
Blend the chunks of tomatoes or the canned diced tomatoes in a blender with no water. Transfer into a saucepan. Add more water to the desired consistency of the rasam (You might have to add a little more since by the time it is done, some water will have evaporated). Add rasam powder, salt, juice of tamarind if using and let it boil for a few minutes. Check for the seasonings and adjust if necessary. Add the chopped cilantro. In another small pan, heat oil and when hot add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add hing, curry leaves and add this to the boiling rasam. Turn off the heat. This is best take warm and the left overs can always be refrigerated and warmed later. Since there is no dal in this rasam, it can stay fresh for a week in the refrigerator.

Variations:
Instead of tempering hing, you could use crushed garlic. You can add cumin seeds with mustard seeds.

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