Spinach Soup!

This cold weather calls for comforting, hot cups of soups and the one I prefer to make is this easy Spinach Soup.  The ingredients are very few but you won't compromise on the taste. Do not be put off by the number of steps, the process is very straightforward :)

Spinach: 1 big bag (family pack) or maybe a couple of bunches of Palak
Chestnut Mushrooms: about 10-12
Onion: 1/4th of an onion (sliced or chopped.)  yes, a quarter of an onion.
Garlic: 2 pods, crushed and chopped.
Stock Cube: 1
Water: 500 mls or more to adjust the consistency
Salt, pepper: to taste
Cream: 50mls
Butter: 25gms
Olive Oil: 2 tbsp

-Take a big pot and heat a tbsp of oil+ half of the butter.
-Put the water to heat up or switch the kettle on.
-While still warming, add the garlic and let the butter heat up. This imparts flavour to the dish.
-When it is hot and the garlic has cooked, add the onion and cook until it turns pale. do not brown it!
-If you prefer, you can add 2-3 roughly cut up mushrooms at this stage.
-Now when the onions are done you can add the crushed stock cube and the whole bag of spinach leaves.
-Cover and let the spinach wilt. About 2 mins. Turn them once or twice.
- When wilted, pour in some water to almost cover the spinach and season with salt and pepper and boil.
-Take it off the stove and blend with a hand blender or cool and blend in a mixer.
-Put it back on heat and let it almost come to a boil. Pour the cream and reduce the heat and let it simmer.
-When heated through, season a final time with pepper and take it off the stove.
-For added flavour, you can heat the butter and saute the remaining mushrooms until brown and add to the soup.

People who don't like mushrooms can add some croutons/fried cubes of bread for a nice crunch.

Serve this piping hot with a nice bread and this will be the best dinner for a cold cold night.

Pancakes: Eggless!!

This is the easiest, tastiest and the best pancake recipe ever!!! Thanks to a dear friend for sharing this one with me! Most eggless pancake recipes call for buttermilk and I am didn't want to a) buy it or b) look for a substitute. This recipe is simply perfect for me!

All Purpose/Plain flour: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 tsp
Salt: a pinch
Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder: 1.5 tsp
Baking Soda: 1/2 tsp
Milk: 1 cup
Oil/Melted Butter: 2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

• Mix together the dry ingredients. The best thing to do is to sieve them together.
• In a separate bowl/jug mix together the milk, oil and vanilla.
• Pour this into the flour mix and stir to combine. Please be kind to the batter and don't whisk it to within an inch of its life! Lumps are OK. Gentle stirring will do fine!
• Now heat a pan, spray it with oil and pour a ladleful of batter onto the pan. When you see bubbles on top, flip them and cook for a minute more. Do not squish them down like you do with Dosa!! 
• Remove them to a plate, butter them, drizzle some honey/maple syrup and top with fruits if you'd like to. Makes a perfect Sunday breakfast! 

[The above measurement gives me about 6 medium pancakes. ]

Tawa Chole or Chickpea Stirfry

Making chole the traditional way is usually a long, drawn out process. Today, I was short on time and had some store bought naans handy and made this easy but yummy chickpea dish!

Chickpeas/Chole (cooked): 2 cups
Salt: To Taste
Chana masala (store bought) : 2 tablespoons
Garam Masala: 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder:  1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder: 1/2 tsp
Paprika/hot chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Pomegranate seed powder (optional) : 1 tsp 
----
Ginger, Julienned/cut into thin strips: 1 inch piece
Green Chilli, sliced thin : 1 (optional)
Tomato, chopped: 1 medium

Corriander leaves: to garnish
----
Ghee/clarified butter: 4 tablespoons ( I used only about 2, but 4 would be ideal!!)
Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1 tsp (optional)

• If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse the peas. Remove all excess water and place it in a bowl. 
• To this, add all the powders listed in the first part and mix well to combine.
• You will need 2 pans for this. In a larger pan, place the chickpeas and in a smaller one, heat the ghee until it almost smokes. 
• While the ghee is heating, add the chilli, tomato, ginger to the chole and mix. 
• When the ghee starts smoking, add the ajwain (if using) and pour it immediately to the chole.
• Mix well, and let the chole cook in the ghee and spices for about 4-5 minutes. 
• Garnish with corriander leaves when done, and serve it hot with naans/rotis/pita.

How easy what that? 

Vegetable Poha

This is probably one of the healthiest dinners we have had in a while. Very easy too.

Poha/Pawa/Aval: Medium thick: 2 cups.

Cabbage finely chopped: 1 cup
Carrots finely chopped: 1 cup
One potato, cubed
Peas: 1/2 cup.
Onion: 1 medium: finely chopped
Ginger chopped: 1 heaped tablespoon
Green chillies: 2-3 finely chopped.
Curry Leaves: 1 sprig
Lemon: 1
Corriander leaves: to taste
Salt
Hing
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
Peanuts/urad dal/chana dal/mustard

--Begin by washing the poha and draining it. This will soften it.
--Before you start chopping everything, cut the potatoes and cook them separately and drain.
--Chop everything and keep it ready. Alternatively, you can pick up stir fry veggies from a store. saves time.
--Heat a wok with some oil.
--add the peanuts, urad dal, chana dal and mustard with curry leaves and let it splutter.
--Now add the green chillies and ginger.
--Add Onions with some hing and salt and allow it to cook.
--Now add the turmeric and red chilli powder and rest of the veggies and potato.
--When everything has combined and shrunk (takes about 5 mins) add the poha.
--Stir well.
--Pour the lemon juice over the poha, adjust seasoning and garnish with corriander. Chances are, you may have to fix the hing and salt at this point.

One Pot Sambar Rice.

Ever had days when you absolutely couldn't bring yourself to spend more than 5 mins next to the stove? Well, I have those days sometimes and the result is this dish AKA Kootan choru. Easy, wont take more than 5 mins prep.

You need a pressure cooker to make this one. So keep one handy before you start.

Potatoes: 2
Onions: 2
Capsicum: 1
Green Chilli: 1
Carrot: 1 (optional) or any veg that goes into a sambar.
Tuvar Dal: 1/2 cup
Rice: 1.5 cups
Tamarind: a lime sized ball, soaked and extracted.
Hing
Turmeric powder
Sambar Powder: 2tablespoons
Salt

Cut the veggies into big chunks and throw into the cooker.
Add the dal, rice, turmeric, hing, salt and sambar powder.
For regular raw rice, you need 3 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. So, for this quantity you need 6-6.5
Measure the tamarind water and for the rest, add plain water.
Cover the cooker. Leave it on until about 4-5 whistles.
Once the cooker has cooled, mix the whole lot and pour a teaspoon of ghee and some corriander leaves.
This is a really healthy, wholesome meal.

Monday Lunch- Coconut Rice

Monday Mornings are horrible! There are a zillion things to do around the house and I am always short of time. One of my favourite mixed rice dishes is Coconut Rice. I made this for lunch today and S loved it! Here's the recipe.

Rice: 2 cups: Cooked. Use Sona Masuri if you can.
Oil: 1 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds, Urad Dal, Chana Dal, Red Chillies, Curry leaves : Generous Quantities
Hing/Asafoetida/Perumkayam: A big pinch
Coconut: Grated: 1-1.5 cups

Cook the rice and keep it aside.
Now do a tadka with all ingredients except the coconut, add it to the cooked rice.
Now dry roast the coconut until you get a nice aroma and is lightly brown.
Add this also to the rice.
Mix well, adjust the salt and serve hot.

I made a simple dal to go with this today. It was a good combo.

Bread Upma

Sunday Morning. Wake up late. And ask the man "what do you want for breakfast?" He says "Anything." I say "Fine. I will give you cereal." He says"no!" and pulls a face. The options are given one after the other : Dosa, Puttu, Upma... Nope. Nothing meets his fancy. I give up and as a last option say "Bread Upma" BINGO! Fine then. This is how I made it and the picture is how it looked!

Bread : 6 slices [I used wholemeal]
Oil : 2 Tablespoons
Mustard: 1 tsp
Peanuts: 2 tablespoons
Curry Leaves: 4-6 nos
Ginger : 1 inch piece chopped fine
Green Chillies: 4 to 5 [Depending on how spicy you want it]
Onions: 2 medium sliced fine.
Tomatoes: 2 big ripe ones, sliced
Green Peas: 1/4 cup
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing/Perumkayam: 1 pinch


Heat a kadai and fry the mustard, peanuts and curry leaves.
Add the Ginger and Green Chillies and then add the onions.
Add Salt and fry well, until the onions are limp but cooked. [ Bread has salt. So be careful about the amount you add]
Now add the turmeric, red chilli powder and hing.
Add the peas and tomato and let it cook for a few minutes
Chop up the bread into bite sized pieces.
Add it to the tomato mixture. Mix well.
Every piece of bread must be coated with the mix. Add 2 tablespoons of water if you would like.
Finish with some corriander leaves.

Curd Semiya

This is one of those dishes I came across while in Hyderabad. This is great quick meal, and is very healthy. This is brilliant for folks with Diabetes as well. So, here goes.

Vermicelli/Semiya : 2 Cups
Oil: 2 tablespoons
Onion: 1 Chopped
Green Chilli: 2 nos
Curry Leaves : 2-4
Mustard, Urad Dal, Chana Dal : for frying
Curd: 2 -3 Cups

Take a thick bottomed pan and fry the vermicelli in a small amount of oil.
Now, cook the vermicelli in 4 cups of water until done.
In a kadai heat oil, fry mustard, Urad Dal, Chana dal and curry leaves.
Add Green Chilli and Onion  and fry well.
Add this mix to the cooked Vermicelli, add the curd and chill for a few minutes.
Eat this cold, after garnishing with corriander leaves.