Almonds and roasted apple soup

I would have never thought of making a soup with apples. However, it happened after I saw a friend who makes the most delicious cookies and cakes and so we often end up visiting to say hello and it helps that they live in the neighborhood. They have also shared a lot of gardening tips with me and gifted several plants that all Indian families love to have like curry patta, betel leaf plant, bamboo, jasmine etc. They often go out to pick their own vegetables and fruits from local farms. It was after one such trip that they shared about how they picked buckets of apples from a local farm and I was curious to know how they were going to use all those apples. They told me that they made a vegetable korma using apples! Maybe it is a common thing but I had never heard of it and it amused me and made me think of apples in a different way. 

As it happened, we too had visited the same farm and had our own little bucket of apples. I was thinking of eating one during lunch every day and then maybe make an apple cake or pie? I was thinking more about the traditional recipes with apples.

However, when I heard about that apple korma I began to think about using my bucket of apples for something a little different and that is when I decided to make a soup with it. I added blanched almonds for making it thick and creamy and some maple syrup for added sweetness. 

Ingredients

Two large apples

1-cup almonds

Two sticks of cinnamon

1 star anise

½ tsp. chopped ginger

2-3 bay leaf

4-5 cloves

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. smoked paprika

Some freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup pure maple syrup

2 tsp. sea salt (according to taste)

2 cups apple cider

Water as needed to thin the soup

Any soft cheese ¼ cup (flavored ginger mango stilton would be delicious but I did not have it at this time)

Peel and slice the apples. Apply olive oil and salt and roast them in the oven for 15 minutes or until the apples become soft and nicely browned from outside. The apples should not burn but look caramelized.  Soak the almonds for a few hours to blanch them. Peel the skin and keep the almonds aside.

Heat a tablespoon of butter with a little olive oil and add all the spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, star anise, and bay leaf). Add the apples, almonds, and mix everything well. Now pour the apple cider, salt and maple syrup. Adjust seasoning according to taste. Cover and let simmer for a few minutes. Now remove the whole spices with a slotted spoon. Blend the soup very well until it becomes smooth and creamy. Now add the cheese and mix. To serve, pour the soup in a bowl and top with a drizzle of maple syrup, marshmallows and a dash of paprika if desired. The soup is rich and filling therefore the serving size should be smaller I enjoyed it with a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.

Asparagus soup with cheese tortellini

It is almost trick or treat time with scary jack o lanterns outside people’s homes and fall leaves still hanging on the trees showing vibrant colors, but the weather outside is nothing like fall. It is snowing in October with rain, sleet and snow the only thing I could think of was a nice warm cup of soup. Here is what I made today.
Fresh asparagus soup with cheese tortellini.

INGREDIENTS

About a pound of asparagus

1 medium sized potato chopped

1 onion chopped

1 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. pepper powder

2 tsp. garlic powder (optional)

¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes

2-3 tbsp. ricotta cheese

1 tbsp. cream cheese (I used vegetable cream cheese)

2 cups cheese tortellini

Salt to taste

1 tbsp. olive oil

Boil water and cook the tortellini according to package direction (about 5-7 minutes). Drain the water and keep the tortellini in a bowl. Add some olive oil and salt to it.

In a separate pot heat the olive oil and cook onions until the edges start caramelizing. Add the chopped potatoes, cover and cook for a few minutes. Trim the hard ends of the asparagus and then chop the rest and add it to the pot, along with salt and curry powder. Add water or stock enough to cover all the asparagus and cook for about 10 minutes.  Remove from the stove, let it cool a bit, and then blend the soup adding the ricotta and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

To serve, pour the soup in a bowl add a few tortellini in it. Garnish with chopped sun-dried tomato, crushed red pepper flakes and a little sour cream if desired.

Marbled mango pie

Every year I eagerly look forward to the fall season  for the beautiful weather and the changing colors of the leaves. Growing up in India there were just two seasons, summer and monsoon. I remember waiting for June/July when it would start raining and brought the temperature down. It was a break from the unbearable summer heat. I loved the beautiful scent of earth that accompanied it. The trees would look bright green and clean.

Food can't be too far behind when I am thinking about weather.  Rain meant eating bhutta (roasted corn)  samosas and pakoras with a hot cup of tea! I do miss all that. Here we don't really have a season for rain..it just rains whenever it wants to  in summer, spring, fall or winter. It doesn't bring out the lovely smell of earth, but I still like rain as long as it is not accompanied by a hurricane or a tornado. 


Fall lasts for a short time and before we know it is winter. But I like to feel and experience this short season as much as I can. I made this pie to celebrate the lovely weather outside. It is something I have been making now for several years. It is not my original recipe and I don't remember from where I acquired it. I made a few changes to the original and I often use the basic recipe to make  pumpkin or banana pie with it.

Ingredients for two pies

2 1/2 packets unflavored gelatin

4 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

11/2 cup sugar

1/2 can mango pulp

1 can condensed milk

2 graham cracker pie shells ( I made my own. Recipe follows)

2 cups water

Method

Boil the water and dissolve the gelatin in it. Stir in the sugar until it is dissolves. Blend mango pulp, cream cheese and sour cream. Mix condensed milk with half-cup gelatin and keep it aside. Pour the rest in with the mango pulp mixture. Stir both the mixtures well. Pour the condensed milk first in the pie shell then pour the mango pulp mix. Top with a drizzle of condensed milk mix.  Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

 For the pie crust

24 Graham crackers or Parle G (I used Parle biscuits)

6 tbsp. ground almond or almond flour

5-6 tbsp. melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

To make the crust grind the crackers and mix in the almond flour, butter and sugar. Spread it in a pie dish and press it well all around the dish to make a crust.

Corn chevda

   
  I made this a few weeks ago but did not get the time to post it. Summer was still in the air and there was fresh corn in the market. This is made with freshly grated corn. This is how Ma makes it and I love it.

Ingredients

2 cups freshly grated corn

1 corn on the cob roasted and kernels removed

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger and green chilies

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

4-5 curry leaves chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup milk

roasted and crushed peanuts to garnish

chopped cilantro

pomegranate seed (optional)

salt for taste

Oil for cooking

Method

Heat some oil in a non stick pan and drop the mustard seed in it. Once the seeds pop add the ginger, green chilies and curry leaves. Cover the pan with a lid till it stops spluttering. Now add the turmeric powder, grated corn, roasted corn kernels and salt. Mix everything well. Pour the milk in it and let it cook for a few minutes till the corn is cooked. Now add the lemon juice and garnish with roasted peanuts, cilantro and pomegranate seed. I did not have the pomegranate seeds when I made it this time but I love the sweet and tart  taste of pomegranate in this dish. Sometimes I also top it with some grated cheese!

Vegetable pulao and beetroot raita

I have been making  a lot of one dish meals lately and this was one of them. I made this pulao with lots of vegetables, green tur dal and paneer. It was very flavorful and healthy. I had to add very little water as it cooked in the water released by the vegetables. The rice absorbs the flavors from the the vegetables. I paired it with a delicious beetroot raita spiced with green chilies and garlic.

Ingredients

2 onions sliced

2 diced carrots

1 diced zucchini

about 2 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 cup sliced capsicum or sweet peppers

1 cup green toor dal (lilva toor)

1/2 cup cubed paneer

2 cups rice

Spices

1 tsp shahi jeera 

3-4 black cardamom

1 stick cinnamon

2-3 bay leaf

a few star anise

1tbsp garam masala

salt to taste

 For the beetroot raita

2 beetroots boiled and chopped 

2 cups yogurt whisked

salt and sugar according to taste

a pinch or roasted cumin powder

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 finely chopped green chilli

Method

Wash the rice and let it soak in water for half and hour. Heat oil or ghee in a pan or pressure cooker add all the dry spices and fry for a minute. Now add the onions and let them get golden brown. Remove half of the onions and keep them aside. Now add  the carrots, cabbage, toor dal, and paneer. Fry for a sometime and add the garam masala and capsicum. Mix the rice in it and stir well. Season with salt and add about 1 cup water to it. You can add more or less water depending on how many vegetables you have. Cover and let it cook till done. Garnish with the fried onions, roasted cashews and chopped cilantro.

To make the raita, add the boiled and chopped beetroot to the whisked yogurt season with salt, sugar and cumin powder. For the tempering, heat some oil and add cumin seeds add garlic and green chilies to it. Let it cook till the garlic gets golden brown and then pour it over the raita.

Apricot chutney

 

    
Iam not an IT professional or a "tech savvy" person so the thought of blogging was a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Now that time has flown by and in two months, this blog will be a year old, it surprises me but I also feel a sense of accomplishment. I am very grateful to the people who encouraged me and that is what kept me going (Thank you :D). It would be an understatement to say that I love food. I think and dream of food and my conversations keeping coming back to food but I did not think I could handle blogging. It was (is) not an easy feat for me. A few years back I did not even know what blogging meant!  The purpose of this blog was to organize my recipes and share with friends and family a bit of my life through it. However, I soon realized that it is a therapeutic experience for me and I have begun to enjoy this new-found love of blogging. 


This is yet another simple recipe from my kitchen that I enjoyed cooking and clicking

 

Ingredients

1 cup dry apricots

1/4 tsp each of mustard, cumin, fennel and fenugreek seeds

3-4 cloves

1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds

1 small cardamom

1/2 tsp smoked paprika or red chili powder

2-3 whole dry red chilies

a sprig of curry leaves

a pinch of turmeric

1/4 tsp brown sugar

salt to taste

1 tbsp oil

Method

Soak the dry apricots in water for about half and hour. Drain and chop them in a blender to fine pieces. Heat oil in a pan and drop all the seeds in. Cover the pan and let the seeds splutter. Add the cloves, cardamom, red chili pieces and curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds and add the chopped apricots to it. Add in the turmeric, salt, sugar, paprika, ground fennel seeds and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Cool and serve.  I used it as a spread in sandwich or a relish with crackers and cheese or just with plain old roasted papad.

Shakahari shaami kabab (Vegetarian kabab)

Shaami kababs are typically made out of meat but this is a shakahari kabab  (vegetarian kabab).  I have used black chickpeas (kala chana) and sweet potatoes to make the kabab. The kala chana  gives it a great flavor and texture. These kababs have a smooth consistency and literally melt in your mouth. Serve it with green chutney or masala naan and raw onions.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups black chickpeas

1 large sweet potato

2 large onions

3-4 tbsp. ginger garlic green chili paste

1 tbsp kasuri methi

½-cup mint leaves (finely chopped)

½-cup cilantro (finely chopped)

3-4 black cardamom

2 bay leaves

2 tsp. black pepper powder

1 tbsp garam masala or shaami kabab masala

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp chaat masala

Method

Soak the black chickpeas overnight. Pressure-cook the chickpeas with black cardamom, bay leaf and salt until soft (4-5 whistles). Drain the water and keep the black chickpeas aside

Boil and mash the sweet potato separately.

Heat oil in a pan and add finely sliced onion to it. Fry until they turn pink then add 2 tbsp. ginger garlic paste, garam masala or kabab masala and kasuri methi to it. Add the boiled black chickpeas and mix well.  Once it cools a little remove the bay leaf and black cardamom from the mix and grind it to a smooth paste. Mix it with the mashed sweet potato and add the rest of the ingredients (cilantro, mint, black pepper powder, finely chopped onion, the remaining ginger garlic paste, chaat masala) Adjust seasoning according to taste. You can add more garam masala, salt of chili powder if desired. Mix everything very well and shape into balls. Flatten them with you palm and shallow fry the kabab. Serve with green chutney and onion rings.