Rich Tomato Soup

A hot soup with garlic bread on the side can really brighten up a dull evening!
Wednesday is our “Soup Day” at home. So, look forward to some healthy soup recipes !
Tomato Soup is everyone’s favorite. It is a cook’s delight as it is very hard to get it wrong!
Someone said “ Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics; and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor. “
Senti stuff – but still very true...
I truly enjoy making and eating soup !
The aroma that fills your kitchen when the lightly flavoured soup is simmering in a pot on your stove top – mmmm…I just love it....
One of those rare dishes – that is simple, healthy and yet very very deli.cio.us
Go ahead and make this one for your family.
But then, at the end don’t forget to add the secret ingredient – A dash of love .

Makes 4 servings (large)
Ingredients
5 ripe tomatoes (medium size, use the egg shaped ones, if you like it more tangy , use a mix of round and egg shaped ones)
1 medium sized carrot (diced)
1 medium sized onion (chopped fine)
2 teaspoons butter (or refined oil)
1 inch cinnamon
2 cardamom
1 tsp pepper powder
4 tsp sugar(or as per your taste)
Salt to taste
Method

1. Heat the butter in a pan and add the chopped onion. Sauté till light brown.
2. Add the spices and carrots
3. Quarter the tomatoes and add them
4. Add 1 cup of water and pressure cook it nicely
5. Once cooled , skin the tomatoes and remove the spices.We want it lightly
flavoured not strong
6. Blend the mixture fine.
7. Bring it to boil and add sugar, salt, pepper
8. Serve hot with Garlic bread or dinner rolls

Crispy Rice Ribbons

Sinful Indulgence – Blame it on your Basic Instinct!
Recently, one of our friends was seriously telling us that humans have a innate tendency to eat fried stuff. He was citing from a study that said : Early humans never knew when and where their next meal came from – so the instinct was to eat fried stuff as it allows you to store energy for a long time. I just loved this theory ! No! I am not poking holes in this one (though I do it for all other theories that I read about!). This suits me fine, just fine enough to savour my crispy rice ribbons.
I strongly urge you to believe in this theory and indulge once in a while!

Crispy Rice Ribbons

Ingredients
2 cups Rice flour
1 cup fried gram/hurigadale flour
I prefer this to besan
2 tsp ginger (grated)
3 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp hot oil
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method
Sift the flours together.
Add sesame seeds, ginger, chilli powder, salt and mix well.
Add the hot oil, mix well.
Take a little of this mixture , knead this into a dough with little water.
Ensure the batter does not become too loose.
Put this into the press with the ribbon disc(vertical stripes)
Press it in hot oil. Take it out when it is golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.
Repeat this for the entire mixture.

This surprisingly does not take too much time.
For this measure it takes roughly 20-30 mins.

Sweet corn Macaroni Soup

This is one of the dishes I demonstrated on the cookery show on TV (etv-kannada).
Of late, I have developed a great weakness for sweet corn. In all the three shows I have done so far there was at least one sweet corn dish!
Ingredients
1/2 cup sweet corn
½ cup boiled and cooled macaroni
½ cup mixed veg chopped (carrot, capsicum, cauliflower florets)

2 cups milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp maida
1 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
Oregano (optional)

Method

Melt the butter and add the maida
After a minute add the milk little by little stirring continuously
Add the salt and pepper
If you want to make it more creamy – this is when you add some cheese spread (1 tbsp)
So this is your white sauce.
Meanwhile bring 1.5 cups of water to boil and add al the veggies and sweet corn in it.
Cook it for 5-7 minutes else they become too soft – we need them crunchy
Add the white sauce and macaroni slowly into this and bring to a boil.
You can add a dash of oregano for additional flavour if you wish.
I give it to my kids with dinner rolls or garlic bread
It is very wholesome indeed!

Pineapple Kesaribath

Long time no write !

Here’s again a simple and quick dish with pineapple flavour.

Goes well with Upma, Shavige bath. This breakfast combo is a common one in Kannada-weddings.

It is also something that people used to serve when the boy-sees-girl meetings happened in the past.

We used to refer to this as UK meetings – Upma-kesaribath meetings – where marriages are made!

So, that’s a divine connection indeed!

Nothing should stop you and me to make this on a normal or a festival day and enjoy the taste and laugh about the UK meetings of the past!

Ingredients

1 cup fine (chiroti) rava

1 3/4 cup water

Few Strands of Saffron

1 cup sugar

½ cup chopped pineapple

2 tbsp Refined oil

2 tbsp Ghee (or more !)

Nuts and raisins

Method:

Roast the rava slightly with 2 tbsp oil (should not become brown at the same time should not smell raw)

Boil the water with pineapple and saffron.

Add the roasted rava slowly while stirring to remove lumps.

Allow it to cook for a minute and then add the sugar and stir well.

Cover it and simmer it for a couple of minutes.

Heat the ghee and add nuts and raisins and add to the Kesaribath.

Voila! The pineapple is ready to be savoured !

Variation : You can use mashed ripe banana or even chopped apple with fresh grapes instead of pineapple.

Shokolade Kuchen

This is Chocolate cake in Deutsch (german).

There was a simple recipe in my recipe book that I had written around 14 years back. It was lying there without anyone trying it. Patience pays! And this sunday it attained salvation and magically transformed itself from a dull bunch of words on a old paper into a sumptuous delicacy waiting to be devoured !

Heres the recipe for the low-calorie , egg less , easy to make chocolate cake.

Try it -you will be surprised that such a simple recipe can yield such a delicious treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups Maida
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Sift all the dry ingredients twice
2. Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix lightly.
3. Add the dry ingredients slowly. Do not beat just mix
4. Bake at 180 deg C in the oven (or convection mode in your microwave oven) for 40 min.
5. Prick and check if it is done and cool it before serving!

I made this in a Silicone baking dish that my sister got me. It is just superb !

The cake tiptoed so gracefully out of this !

So, all in all it was a Happy Sister’s day!

Idli Reigns Supreme!

Yes ! In the kingdom of breakfast ,Idli is the undisputed king!
Healthy, tasty and filling !

What more can you ask for?
I used to hate them when I was small – but you can't hate it for long !
Not when you are born in a south Indian family ! It grows on you and one day you will crown it …
So, here’s the easy formula for fluffy , soft and nutritious Idlis. I bet you will like this …

Ingredients
1 Cup Urad Dal
2 ½ Cups Idli Rava/Idli Soji
4-5 Tablespoons Poha/Avalakki
Salt to taste

Method

Soak Urad dal and poha for a min of 4 hours
Wash the Idli rava in water
Soak the idli rava in warm water for 30 minutes
Grind the urad dal and poha into a fine paste
Squeeze out the water from Idli rava nad add it to the dal mixture
Blend it in the mixer for a couple of minutes
Ferment it for at least 8 -10 hours (tropical climate)
Add salt and water to get dropping consistency (thicker than dosa batter)
Set in greased moulds and steam it for 15- 20 minutes
Cool it for a couple of minutes before scooping it out.
Allow the moulds to stand in a cold water bath for faster cooling

QED ! (Quite Easily Done)

Savour it with sambhar or chutney!

MultiGrain Rotti

Who says healthy food is not tasty – Try this…
Rotti cannot get more nutritious than this one !
This is a mix of 4 different cereals and is really yummy when you eat it hot.
You could pack this for lunch too.

Ingredients

• ½ Cup Rice Flour
• ½ Cup Ragi Flour
• ½ Cup Fine semolina
• ½ Cup Maize (JoLa ) Flour
• 2-3 Tsp Jeera /Cumin Seeds
• 2 Medium onions finely chopped
• 1-2 carrots grated
  
• 6-8 Green chillies (paste)
• ½ Cup Coriander chopped
• Salt to taste
• Oil
  

Method

1. Boil 2 cups of Water (1:1 of all the flours). Add salt and Jeera.
2. Switch off the flame and add the flour Mixture.
3. Mix thoroughly using a spatula (I use a thin rolling pin).
4. Add green chilly paste, carrot,onions and coriander.Mix well with your hands.(Warning: hands will be messy!)
5. Smear a little oil on a brown wrapping paper with a plastic sheet.Pat this mixture( size of a small orange) on a plastic sheet as thin as you would want.
6. Transfer the Rotti onto a hot Tawa. Leave it on the tawa with the wrapping paper for a few seconds and then carefully take the sheet out.
   
7. Dribble 1/2 tsp oil all over the rotti. Cover it and cook till one side is done.
8. Reverse the rotti and cook till done.
   
9. Serve hot with chutney or just like that.