Chickpeas Soup

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Chickpeas soup is another tasty and healthy soup i made last night

Ingredients

1/2 cup chickpeas(soaked overnight and pressure cooked)
1 green chilli
small piece of ginger (1 teaspoon grated)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1) Heat oil and throw in cumin powder and rest of the ingredients, fry for a min.

2) Cool and grind to a paste with some water. Strain the liquid to the same pan with a strainer and add more water if required and bring to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

server hot with croutons of your choice

Notes

Make sure the green chilli is very small and do not add more than one. We can add pepper to adjust the taste but if chilli is more we cannot do anything except throwing the soup. Even without chilli it will taste good. So think about your spice level and decide whether to add chilli or not

Beetroot-Carrot soup

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I am trying various soups to replace dinner so these trails with different vegetables. Last night soup is with Beetroot and Carrot. Turned out great taste and color too.

Ingredients

2 Beetroots chopped
2 Carrots chopped
1/2 teaspoon Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
Dried Basil or Oregano to garnish (optional)

Method

1) Heal oil and add chopped vegetables and garlic and fry for 1 to 2 mins. Pressure cook with 1 cup of water, cool and blend to a smooth puree

2) Bring the puree to boil by adding 2 more cups of water, salt and pepper at the end.

3) Garnish with Dried basil or Oregano and serve hot with your favorite bread

Variations:

1) Add the lemon juice at the end if required.
2) you can avoid using garlic if you don't like them
3) You can also add a green chilli to compensate the sweet taste of Beet, i added more pepper and tasted good.

Bell Pepper Soup (Capcicum)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

This is another soup which i tried and is a big hit. Quick and healthy made with very less & fresh ingredients. I used 1 yellow and 1 red pepper, but it is okay to use both red or both yellow. I felt this is the best way we can consume healthy vegetables. This soup with a your choice of bread makes a complete healthy low fat meal. Good for weight watchers.

Ingredients

2 large peppers chopped, 1 Yellow and 1 red (capcicum)
2 garlic cloves peeled
1 small onion (1/2 cup chopped)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt to taste

Method

1) heat Oil olive and throw in cumin powder, add chopped onion and fry for a minute and then add chopped red and yellow bell peppers, garlic and cover and cook in medium-low heat for around 10 mins

2) Once the ingredients are cooled, blend them into smooth paste with 2 cups of water and Strain the juice to the same pan you used for frying the veggies.

3) Bring the soup to boil, add salt and pepper. At the end add dried Basil and serve Hot with your choice of bread

Notes:

You can avoid garlic/Onion if you don't prefer to eat

Corn vegetable Soup

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

This creamy corn vegetable soup is a great starter and healthy since we cook all the fresh vegetables.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup corn
1 Tablespoon corn floor
1/4 cup each of carrot, beans and cabbage cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
salt to taste

Method

1) Boil the corn in 1 cup water and remove 1/4th cup of corn and set aside.

2) Blend the remaining 1 cup of corn with 1/4th cup of water and strain and extract the liquid.

3) Mix the cornflour in 1/4th cup of water and keep aside.

4) Heat oil in a pan, add cumin powder and cut vegetables with 1/4th cup of water and cook on medium heat until vegetables are cooked.

5) Now add the stained corn (liquid), corn and cornstarch, 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Bring the heat to low and add ground pepper and salt and serve hot

Tomato Soup

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

This soup is very quick to make with fresh ingredients. This is same as the Rasam I posted before but with some less ingredients to make it quick but still fresh and great taste.

Cooking time : 10 mins
Serves : 3

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons corn flour
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt to taste
Method

1) Blend tomatoes,garlic & cumin powder with 1/2 cup water into very smooth paste and keep aside

2) In a pan heat olive oil, add the tomato paste and bring it to boil. Meanwhile mix 2 teaspoons corn flour in 1/2 cup water and add to the pan and cook for couple of minutes

3) Now add sugar, salt, pepper and dried basil and serve hot.

Rasam (Soup with tomatoes, Garlic, tamarind)

Monday, December 22, 2008

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Tamarind extract thick
2 medium sized tomatoes

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppers
3 to4 cloves of crushed garlic
4 to5 red chillies
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida (optional)
salt to taste
curry leaves (optional)
coriander leaves for garnishing (optional)
Method

1) Grind cumin seeds and black pepper to powder and add crushed garlic to this mix and keep
aside

2) Blend tamarind extract and chopped tomatoes to paste and keep aside.

3) Heat Oil in a pan, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, once they crack add asafoetida, cumin-pepper-garlic mix, red chillies and curry leaves and stir-fry for 30 seconds to a minute and now add the tomato-tamarind paste, add 4 cups of water and bring it to boil

4) Add salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.

You can eat this with rice along with any vegetable curry or drink as a soup.

Notes:

1) If you need spicy rasam you can break the red chillies