Category: Vegan

Rustic Tomato Soup

It has been raining in Bangalore for like ever and its super awesome weather here. It gets quite chilly sometimes surprisingly at this time of the year God knows what’s in store for December. And I am again down with a running nose and cough – It has become a monthly affair almost.

So what’s better than some hot piping soup in this weather to keep my throat happy? Okay the Knorrs, and Chings and Maggi soups are little mainstream – nothing beats the old fashioned freshly made soups minus the corn flour. I am a big fan of fresh soups whenever I have time.

So here goes a simple recipe of a rustic tomato soup for all the soup lovers. And yeah it’s thick and no the watery kinds.



All that you’ll need

1. Canola oil – 1 table spoon –  you can use Olive/Vegetable oil
2. Tomato – 4 large – diced
3. Garlic – 4 cloves
4. Red onion – 1 large chopped – you can use white onion also
5. Salt & pepper – to taste
6. Sugar – ¼ tspn
7. Basil – I have used dried basil about 1 tspn. If you have fresh basil then nothing like it.
8. All purpose flour – 2 teaspoon
9. Butter – 1 teaspoon
10. Fresh Cream – 1 tspn (totally optional)

Let’s get started

  • Take a large pot, heat oil and fry the onions and crushed garlic
  • Add the diced tomatoes in the pot and mix them well till they are juicy and gooey.
  • Once the tomato is cooked take a hand blender and blend it well. Transfer the mixture in a bowl and set aside.
  • Add some butter and let it melt. Add the flour and fry it in the butter to make the rue. This will give a very nice flavor and will add a good texture to the soup. It will also make it thick. 
  • Add your soup to this rue and mix well so that there are no lumps.
  • Add seasoning and herbs and mix well.
  • Add a little fresh cream on top and serve hot with croutons/ toast or just enjoy it as it is.
And hey you are done before you can think anything else.
Wasn’t that easy? I am sure you’ll enjoy. 

Let me know. 


Aamer Chutney or Mango Chutney

So I am back again in this space after some centuries. Before you people forget me completely let me quickly start blogging once again and get some great recipes for you all.

That’s my new Kitchen
Hey, let me first update you on everything that has been happening from last November – that’s last when I had updated this blog – such a shame. Anyways, I have bought my own apartment (rather we have bought and not I alone) and moved in the suburbs of the city. I designed my own kitchen and love it. I still don’t have a cook so I am doing most of the daily cooking and yes Indro chips in too whenever I return late.

All this travel between work and home is leaving little time for the me-time and that’s why you see my absence from this space – of course apart from my laziness. Haha..

So what am I going to share today? Let me share a good Bengali after meal recipe. We call it “Aamer Chutney” or you may say Mango Chutney. Now green mango or raw mango is very famous all across India, people use it for chutneys and pickle. We Bengalis love our sweet and need something sweety tangy at the end of our meal. This recipe is little different from any other chutney or pickle so do read carefully. It’s really easy by the way.

All that you need:

      1.       Raw green Mango – 1 big mango diced keep (the skin on)
      2.       Lemon juice – 1 tspn
      3.       Salt –  to taste
      4.       Paanch phoron*(5 whole spices)- 1 tspn  
      5.       Oil – 2 tspn
      6.       Green Chili – 1
      7.       Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn
      8.       Red chili – ¼ tspn
      9.       Sugar – ½ cup
      10.   Water – ¼ cup
 
*Paanch phoron – This is a special spice mix which every Bong household will have. It is used extensively in Bengali and Oriya Cuisine. It’s really easy to create one if you don’t have. It requires 5 different spices – Cumin, Kalaunji, Fenugreek/Methi, Fennel seeds/Mouri and Black Mustard Seeds.





Let’s get started:
  •           Heat oil in a pan and add ‘paanch phoron’
  •           Add the diced mangoes once the spices start sputtering
  •           Add salt and mix it well with the mango
  •           Cover and cook it for 2 mins
  •           Once the mangoes soften up add a green chili, turmeric powder,              red chili powder and mix well
  •           Add water, cover and cook for 10 mins
  •           Once it turns mushy add sugar and mix well
  •           Finish it off with a little squeeze of lime

Suggestions

This mango chutney is made mostly in the summers. We have it after lunch and it helps in digestion after a hearty meal.

So go ahead and enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

Payesh – Rice Kheer



If you are a Bengali you can never escape the evergreen ‘payesh’. You have any traditional function, any festival or even a birthday payesh is omnipresent. 

Payesh or rice kheer is a dessert item traditionally made with milk, rice and sugar. However, there are many variations of payesh and can be made with various things like semolina, thatched rice, flour and even with Rasgulla!! Surprised… that’s what I like about cooking you can get so creative.

But this one here is a traditional payesh with rice but with some little twist. Little additions to make it even yummier.

All that you need 

Milk – 2 litres 
Rice – 1/2 table spoon (if you can manage ‘gobindobhog’ rice then even better) 
Granulated Sugar – 2 table spoon 
Green cardamom – 2 pods crushed 
Condensed milk – 1 table spoon (for the added taste) 
Batasha – 8-9 (sweet sugar drops) 
Dry fruits – chopped almonds, cashew, raisins 



Method

Bring milk to boil in a pot. 

Take care to stir the milk as it reduces. Add the rice and let it cook in the milk. 

Keep the gas low and stir at regular levels. If you don’t stir the milk will start sticking at the base and might get burnt. 

Add crushed cardamom Add the sugar only when the rice is cooked.

It’s important to note when to add the sugar – if you add sugar before it will not let the rice cook properly. So add sugar or the sweeteners only when the rice is cooked. 

Add the batasha. Batasha is made of flour and sugar. These sugar drops not only adds flavour in this dessert but also gives an amazing consistency. It helps in thickening the payesh. 

Add the dry fruits and condensed milk and stir for another 2-3 mins.

Let it sit for some time and then you can serve. 

It always tastes best if you let it rest for a good 3-4 hours.


Pasta Alla Trapanese

Italian cuisine and pasta have become synonymous everywhere. But somehow I have seen people here (in India) obsessed with only two kinds of pasta – in red sauce or in white sauce. Well you can make pastas even without the same old sauce. How about pasta with pesto? A classic recipe from Trapani – it’s a small province of Sicily.

Italians love their pomodoro & basilico and so do I. [tomato & basil respectively]. This is a David Rocco inspired recipe btw.  


All that you need:
  1. Tomato – 3 chopped
  2. Garlic – 4-6 cloves
  3. Eggplant – 1 sliced thin
  4. Potato – 1 sliced thin
  5. Spaghetti – 250g (you can use a pasta of your choice)
  6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1 cup (for pesto as well as frying the potato & eggplant)
  7. Salt – to taste
  8. Oregano – 1 teaspoon
  9. Thyme – 1 teaspoon
  10. Basil – a hand full
  11. Pecorino cheese – as much you like!


Let’s get started:

Making this Pesto alla Trapanese is very simple.

Put the tomatoes, garlic & basil leaves in a grinder and coarsely grind them. Add salt and half a cup of extra virgin olive oil to make a smooth pesto. [Traditionally these are supposed to be done in a large stone mortar & pestle – but I don’t have it so I am sticking to my blender]

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and pan fry the eggplant & potato slices. [Before frying I dust them with little salt usually, that helps is reducing the water and lessens the frying time]. Take out of flame and drain excess oil on a kitchen paper.

Cook the spaghetti in hot boiling salted water for 15 mins or till it’s just becoming soft. Don’t overcook it – it will just start falling apart.

Now here’s my twist – Put the tomato pesto in the frying pan, add the cooked spaghetti & fried potato & eggplant and toss them together. Add some thyme and 1 ladle of the pasta water. It really helps to get the pasta together.

Add a generous amount of grated pecorino cheese.

And you are done – add a sprinkling of oregano and enjoy!

Hot Fried Samosa

samosa, singara, potato samosa, indian snack
Samosa or ‘singara’ as we Bengalis call it, is almost a national savoury item throughout India.  You can find hot samosas in every corner of the country.
 
It’s a fried savoury pastry which can be stuffed with your favourite vegetables. Though the calorie content is a little more but hey, it’s yummy and sometimes you can indulge.  
 
So let’s get started.
 

Continue reading Hot Fried Samosa

Gajar ka Halwa

carrot kheer, indian dessert, gajar ka halwa, carrot halwa

I am a complete dessert person and enjoy almost everything which is sweet, creamy and gooey. In India gajar ka halwa or carrot halwa is enjoyed all across the geography, its predominantly a north Indian sweet dish. I have had many kinds of adaptations of Gajar ka halwa in North India, East and now in South India. But this one here is my rendition – Carrot Halwa made easy (and yes yummy too).

Continue reading Gajar ka Halwa