Sunday Sausage and Pasta Soup

Sunday evenings are detox evenings in our house. We like to keep it light in terms of food and activities to prepare ahead for the week and acclimate ourselves from the weekend's erratic schedule. This soup is something we like to prepare and have fresh on evenings like this.

Modified from the recipe here.

Ingredients

Italian Sausage (any sausage will do) - 4 or 1/2 pound, chopped into small pieces like coins.
Celery - 3 stalks, chopped into small pieces
Onion - 1 large or 2 medium, chopped into long pieces
Garlic - 5-6 pods, crushed
Tomato - 3, chopped into small pieces
Chicken stock - 6 cups
Parsley - 4 tbsp
Black Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Bowtie Pasta - 1 cup (any pasta similar to this will do, even Macaroni)
Canola Oil - 1 tbsp
Green Chillies - 6-7 (whole)

Method

Heat the soup pot.
Add the Canola Oil.
Once the oil is hot, add chopped Onions.
Once the Onion is half-cooked, add the defrosted and chopped Sausages and continue cooking till sausage is fully cooked (no pink).
Add chopped Celery and crushed Garlic.
Once the garlic flavor emanates and it is cooked, add the chopped Tomato, chopped Parsley and Black Pepper Powder and let it continue cooking uncovered.
Add Chicken broth and let it boil.
Stir in Pasta\Macaroni and mix it well. Add the whole green chillies (for added heat, you can crush them while eating). Cover and cook for approx. 10-15 mins in Medium-High heat till the Pasta is cooked. It helps to start a timer so you don't lose track of time here.
Fix the Salt as per taste.

Serve it with bread or just eat it as a one-pot meal. Bon appetit!

Khichra

Ingredients 

Onions - 1 large, chopped into thin slices
Ginger - 1 inch, chopped into jullienes
Fresh Green Chilli - 4-5
Canola oil - 2 tbsp
Shan Khichra Mix - 1 packet

Method 

Heat Canola oil.
Add Ginger and fresh Green Chilli and let it cook for a minute.
Follow the instructions in the Shan package. This needs to be pressure cooked.

After the pressure releases, serve in small bowls as you would serve soup.
Garnish with the onions fried into crisps.

The whole wheat in the Khichra has a unique texture. Adding the Onion crisps gives it a nice twist. We loved this dish - it was very filling, hot and delicious. However, lately, I am not finding it in our grocery store - hope I can lay my hand on some real soon!

Btw, this is supposed to made with Mutton - I kept it vegeterian and still it tasted out of this world!

This dish is being posted for dear friend Lori who had asked for this recipe quite sometime back. Sorry for the delay, dear!

Butternut squash soup

Butternut squash soup

I love soups, but somehow don't make them often! When we suffer from cold, we go scrambling for some soup in the pantry. Always have a good stock of packet soups but always miss Maa's make-from-scratch soup. She makes a delightful veg-stock chicken soup that everyone likes but that is the case with each and every item she prepares. Love you, Maa! :) Thus, I am trying to turn a new leaf and make some of my own soup from produce. Like people are scared of baking since it is so scientific, my phobia is for soup-making. Time to brace and take on the challenge! (*^*)

It was quite long time back I had the butternut squash soup in a restaurant (unless my memory fails it, I guess it was Sweetwater Tavern!) and has just loved the "delicioso creamy" feel of the same. When Maa was here last summer, I ventured to make it on my own. It was horrible - added too much salt - so much that none of us could ingest even 1 spoon of the same.

Come Thanksgiving - since noone was visiting us this time and we were not going anywhere - I wanted to do something different and more apt for Thanksgiving. Along with this soup, made Cornish Game Hen with Crabmeat stuffing, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Crisp-fried Artichoke Hearts. The 3-4 hrs of cooking for just the two of us was so worth it! Sharing the pic here - will post the recipe for the rest of the items later. Btw, can anyone guess the theme of this meal? Try..try..orange color food to symbolize the Fall colors!



Thanksgiving 2010 dinner

Ingredients for Butternut Squash soup (makes 4 big bowls)

1 medium Butternut Squash, peeled, chopped into cubes, seeded

2 tbsp butter
I medium onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock (aka 6 cups Water with 6 tsp Chicken stock powder)
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
Salt and ground black or white pepper as per taste
4 tbsp heavy cream (add more if you want it thicker and creamier)

Method

Heat butter - add few drops of olive oil so that the butter does not burn.

Add onion and cook till transparent.

Add chopped butternut squash and cook for a few mins.

As it looks a bit soft, add the chicken stock and let it continue cooking in Medium heat.

Takes about 10-15 mins - keep checking by poking a knife into the squash - if it goes in without an effort, it's done.

As it reaches room temperature, add the cream and blend it till it is creamy. Add some water if you want it thinner in texture (I added a cup of water)

Add nutmeg, salt and pepper.

IMPORTANT NOTE -- To give the gourmet $50/cup look, add a mint and a dash of cream and send me the money you saved by following this super-quick even-a-5-yr-old-can-make recipe! ;)

This recipe is inspired by: Butternut Squash Soup - by Cathy Lowe

Enjoy this in winter if you can! Miss the holidays already! :)

Tom Yum Soup

Happy New Year everyone!

My new year resolution is to make 1 post per week no matter what. My problem of the past has been that either I don't have the pic or the recipe noted exactly with respect to the ingredients - but this year, I am trying to turn a new leaf and post whatever I had. So don't get frustrated (if at all someone is still checking back! If you are, thank you :)) if the pic or recipe is missing - it will be added someday soon. It means a lot to me when readers comment/drop emails and keep coming back for more! Thank you for the same - and a big shout-out to all family and friends who have poked me to continue my blogging experience. So here goes my first 2011 recipe.

Whenever we order soup in Thai restaurants, it is always the Tom Yum soup. I am not a big fan of trying out the ready-made pastes or powders for soups other than the ones I regularly use. Sometime back, I was feeling a bit adventurous in my grocery purchase time and went ahead and wanted to try this Tom Yum soup paste. Glad I did coz I have got such an easy and delicious recipe which takes almost no time to make it!!

Ingredients (makes 2 big bowls)

Tom Yum soup paste (Maesha brand available in Lotte Plaza) - 4tbsp
Shrimp 8 frozen medium size
Mushroom 5 button size, chopped
Green onion stalks - 2, chopped
Water 4 cups

Optional : If you want it thicker, add a tbsp or two of evaporated milk

Boil water. Add the Tom Yum paste. Mix it well.
Add the frozen shrimp as the above mix is boiling. No need to thaw or defrost the shrimp.
Add chopped mushroom.
As the mushroom is almost cooked, add the chopped green onion stalks and let it continue boiling.

We did not add the evaporated milk as recommended in the paste bottle. It was just great as-is and we were so full that dinner definitely had to wait another 2-3 hours. So plan to serve it accordingly.

TBD: The pic will be added later when it is cooked next time. Thanks for your patience. :)

Sia's Carrot Coconut Shorba

When I read Sia's post on Carrot Coconut Shorba, I knew I had to try it. Maybe it was the cold cold winter outside. Maybe it was the pictures posted by Sia. Maybe it sounded like a tasty and unique combination. Maybe we are trying to eat healthy now. It was for all the maybe's. :) And I just loved it when I got to try it! I am trying hard to include soup in our dinner for atleast two evenings of the week. Wish I was not allergic to Lettuce, then I would have loved to have salad every evening. Am really jealous of people who can eat a bowl of salad for lunch and make it for the day!

Posted below is Sia's recipe with minor modifications - less coconut and more heat. Thanks, Sia, for sharing this delicious recipe!


Ingredients (makes 6 bowls)
Carrots - 3
Coconut Milk - 1/2 cup (I used Chakoah's brand, quite concentrated)
Onion - 1 medium
Black Peppercorns - 1 tsp
Green Chillies 2-3
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - ½ tsp
Coriander Leaves - few sprigs
Curry Leaves - 4-5
Canola Oil - 1 tsp
Water - 4 cups
Salt to taste

Step 1
Heat oil in a pan in high heat. Add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard starts to crackle, add the cumin and green chillis. When the cumin browns slightly, add the sliced onion and black peppercorns. When the onion crystallizes, add the carrots, salt to taste and close the lid. Cook the carrots covered (without adding any water) for five to ten minutes in medium heat. Keep stirring every two minutes or as required so that the carrot does not burn. Add water, coriander leaves and cook for further five minutes over a medium heat till carrots turn tender.

Step 2
Drain the water and reserve as stock. When the carrots are cold enough, grind it to a smooth paste (adding a few tbsp of reserved stock at a time).

Step 3
Cook the ground carrot paste for about 5 minutes. Add some of the reserved stock from Step 2 as required to get the desired liquid consistency. Mix in coconut milk and cook for another 2-5 minutes on a medium flame. Maa always advises to cook the coconut milk as less as possible, when adding to dishes.

Enjoy the shorba hot!

Tomato Shorba ( not Shorbet ;) )

The first time I had Tomato Shorba, I thought that the restaurant had cheated me by giving me flavoured tomato water ;) I slowly and gradually developed a taste for it. And it has become one of my favourites now. I got so addicted at one time that whenever I had friends visiting me, I would literally kidnap them to this restaurant! Remember, Vrindu?

Note - This was in a restaurant in Adyar, Chennai. Since morning, I have been raking my brain (read Google and Google Maps) trying to remember the restaurant's name :( Even then, no complaints against google since I got the Tomato Shorba recipe using it :) The link is here. This is supposedly a Maharastrian recipe as per Tarla Dalal shown here.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

Large tomato - 3 chopped into cubes
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup (I used the Chakoah canned coconut milk.)
Gram Flour (Besan) - 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice from half a lemon
Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste
Sugar - 1/4 tsp or as per taste

Olive oil - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaf - 4
Small Green chilli - 4, sliced into halves

Fresh coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Ground pepper

Step 1

Pressure cook the chopped tomatoes for 1 whistle in medium-high heat with half a teaspoon of salt and sufficient water. After the whistle, cook for 10 mins in low heat. Mash the tomatoes. Use a strainer to separate the skin-seeds residue from the juice. We will only use the juice.

Step 2

Mix the coconut milk with gram flour. Take care to avoid lumps of gram flour. To this, add the tomato juice prepared as part of Step 1. Add the lemon juice, salt and sugar. Mix it well.

Step 3

Heat olive oil. Add butter. Olive oil is only being used to prevent the butter from burning (Tip from Paula's Cooking in Food Network).
Add cumin seeds, curry leaf and green chilli. Once the cumin is brown, add the tomato-coconut milk mixture prepared in Step 2.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and fresh ground pepper powder.




I am submitting this for the Super Soup Challenge being hosted by Tami of Running with Tweezers. Due date for this is September 10th, 2007.