Back to snowclad and freezing Munich - with a hot and spicy pineapple soup.

I am back from my lovely India trip.This trip was beautiful and a most memorable one for me, wIth my little sister getting married and entering a new phase of her life. I also managed to travel to Rajasthan (my birth place), which is always really special to me. Visited the beautiful temples and also went to Ranthambore and did the adventurous Safari.

And then...back to Munich which is absolutely freezing with temperatures around -18 and looks life a beautiful snow-clad fairy land. I took my time to get used to the sudden temperature change, from no woolens in Kolkata to only woolens here in Munich, from all the hustle bustle of Kolkata and so many people to quiet Munich and comparitively less people :-) On one side, I do miss my home for so many years - Kolkata, but on the other side I am glad to be back to my current home.

I am a winter person and actually enjoying the winters here now, the snow, and suddenly entering in a cafe to have a cup of hot cocoa to beat the chill. It's fun!

I made this Pineapple soup which I thought is apt for this time of the year. Hot, sweet and spicy Soup and had with caper-pepper bread, recipe follows next.

view from my kitchen window...

Ingredients

9 pieces - pineapple from the can, pureed

1 1/2 cup - water

2 tbsp - sugar

1/2 tsp - cumin powder

1/4 tsp - black salt

salt to taste

3 tbsp - lemon juice, adjust according to your taste

little garam masala optional

1/2 of a fresh red chilli cut into rounds

coriander leaves to garnish

For tempering

1/4 tsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

For the paste

2 inch - ginger, peeled and chopped

1 - green chilli

Method

1. Add the pureed pineapple along with the water to a pan and cook with the sugar, cumin powder, black salt, salt and lemon juice for 5 minutes on a medium heat.
2. In another pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds and hing and let it splutter, add the ginger and chilli paste and saute for a minute. 
3. Add the tempering to the cooked pineapple mixture. Add the chilli rounds to the soup and cook further for a couple of minutes. 
4. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Hot and Cold Soup!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a great one -finally, after a long wait, we had the first snow of the season, and enjoyed it like little children :-) To celebrate the first snow, I made this Hot and Cold Soup.

I have noticed something ever since I started my food blog: my friends and family always call me whenever they eat something interesting, or notice a new way of presenting food, or a new garnish and sometimes, even when they've had something weird.

This soup idea was given to me by a friend who had a mexican hot and cold soup in a restaurant. She described the 3 layers, and that it was served in a glass and that it was very interesting. So, I borrowed the basic presentation idea and made my own version of this hot and cold soup.

The final verdict - It was a brilliant idea, I was happy with the taste of all the three different layers and the crispy zucchini skin added the zing. My hubby had a big smile on his lips when I served this soup and the smile stayed on after the first spoonful which is a surest sign that the recipe was a hit. 

Ingredients

Ginger-Garlic-Chilli Paste

2 inch piece- ginger, peeled, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped

2 - green chillies

Grind together the ginger, garlic and chillies using a little water. 

First Layer

1 - zucchini

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp - mint leaves, finely chopped

5 pcs - sage leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste (more or less)

1 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1 - bayleaf

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup - milk

Method

1. Peel the zucchini, save the skin and keep aside. Cut the zucchini into small pieces. 
2. Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the cumin seeds and bayleaf. When the seeds start spluttering, add the 1 tsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and saute for a min on medium heat. 
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except 1/4 cup of milk. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the zucchini turns soft. 
4. Let it cool, remove the bayleaf. 
5. Add the zucchini mix and 1/4cup of milk to a mixer and puree. 
6. Transfer the pureed mixture to a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Second Layer

2 cups - low fat yogurt 

1/2 tsp - dried mint leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup - milk

1/2 tsp - sugar

1 tbsp - olive oil

1. Take a tray, put 2 layers of dish towels on the tray and put a wet muslin cloth on the top of the towels. 
2. Spread the yogurt on the wet muslin cloth and leave it for appx 15 mins. 
3. Remove the yogurt with the help of a spoon and a good nice thick hung yogurt is ready. (By the way, you can use this hung yogurt for all sorts of deserts as well – and is a much quicker method than the usual actual "hanging"). 
4. Put the yogurt in a bowl, add the salt, pepper, dried mint leaves, sugar and mix. Add the milk spoon wise and mix well before adding the next spoonful. Finally add the oil and mix. Let it chill in the refrigerator.

Third Layer

1 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 tbsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste

2 - big size tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup - red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 pieces of cloves

2 tsp - cream

salt and pepper to taste

a generous pinch of sugar

1. Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and cook for a minute. Add the cloves, onions and red bell pepper and cook until the onions are soft. 
2. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and cook. Lastly add the cream and sugar and cook for half a minute and remove the mixture from the heat.

For the Zucchini Crisps

Grease a small baking tray, put the zucchini skin on the tray, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and citric acid and bake in a preheated oven to 220 degrees C until crisp. 

1. Put the zucchini cream in the serving glass. Carefully add the yogurt layer (I put the yogurt into a whipping bag with a big nozzle, for a neat result) and finally add the hot tomato mix on the top. Garnish it with the zucchini crisps and some chilli threads. 
2. Serve while the top layer is still hot.

Enjoy!

Avocado Gazpacho

I am on Avocado high these days and experimenting a lot with this wonderful and nutritious fruit, trying out new things.

In fact, there was a time when I never used to buy avocados - funny looking fruit, I often wondered then, wondered about it's taste and wether I would be able to do anything with them, and generally conveniently ignored them at the fruit counter. Well, things have changed now, so has my taste, and we now have something or the other with avocados at least once a week. 

Which brings us to today's recipe. The inspiration came from a TV show. However, my timing was bad and I just managed to catch the finished dish which was "Cold Avocado Soup with Prawns", which immediately registered in my mind and I made this soup the very next day, and served it with tomatoes and mozerella. 

Ingredients

For the vegetable stock

600 ml - water

1 - small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1/4 cup - red bell pepper, chopped

1 - bayleaf

4-5 - whole black pepper

3-4 - cloves

salt 

For the Soup

1 -  ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped

1 1/4 tbsp - lemon juice

2 tbsp - coriander leaves

2 tbsp - low fat yogurt

2 tbsp - olive oil

2 - cloves

salt and pepper to taste

a few thyme leaves
vegetable stock

4 pieces - baby mozerella

5 - cherry tomatoes

2 inch - ginger

1 - dried red whole chilli

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/4tbsp - olive oil

sprigs of thyme leaves

Method

1. Put all the ingredients for the vegetable stock into a big vessel and bring to a boil. Boil for approx 5 minutes. Sieve and let the stock cool. 
2. Put the avocado pulp, lemon juice, coriander leaves, a few thyme leaves, yogurt, olive oil, salt, pepper powder and the vegetable stock into the mixer and blend well. Sieve with a strainer and let the soup chill in the refrigerator. 
3. Heat the oil in a pan together with a few sprigs of thyme leaves. Add salt, pepper powder, ginger piece and red whole chilli. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook on a medium heat until the tomatoes are slightly tender. (I foolishly gave a cross cut on the tomatoes but would advise you not to). 
4. Arrange the mozerella and the tomatoes on to a skewer. Serve the cold soup with the tomato-mozerella skewer and a sprig of thyme leaves. 

Enjoy!

Papaya Corn Soup

December is my favourite month. I love the festivity in the air, the falling temperatures, the snow, the fragrances and flavours of winter, of Christmas. I love the enthusiasm on peoples faces while shopping for Christmas presents for their loved ones. I love seeing children buying Christmas trees with a huge grin on their cute faces. A glass of warm punch or mulled wine at the Christmas Market to warm one up... Oh!!! I love December...and yes, also for another reason: both my husband and I are december babies and we also celebrate our wedding anniversary in December, so that's another reason for me being biassed towards this month :-)

We generally don't need a reason to celebrate but when one has so many reasons to celebrate and to enjoy, there is automatically little control on the taste buds and on the calories. So this year, I am being a little clever and trying to have tasty but healthy food whenever I can - hoping that I would feel a little less guilt when I do indulge (don't know actually, if it makes sense or not but whatever...) 

So here I am with a warm, comforting, aromatic bowl of Soup. It's very healthy as well as filling and delicious. What else could one want?

Ingredients

1 - raw papaya, medium size, peeled and seeds removed

1 cup + 1 1/4 cup - water

1/2 cup - corn, boiled

3/4 tsp - cumin powder

1/2 tsp - rock salt

2-3 - lime leaves

salt to taste

lemon juice to taste 

a pinch of sugar

To garnish

coriander leaves

chilli threads (optional)

Method

1. Pressure cook the roughly chopped papaya pieces with the lime leaves in 1 cup of water for 3 whistles.
2. Discard the lime leaves and puree the boiled papaya with a hand mixer.
3. Add the 1 1/4 cup of water (more or less depending on how thick you like your soup), corn, black salt, cumin powder, salt and sugar and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and mix well.
4. Garnish with the chilli threads and coriander leaves and serve hot. 

Enjoy!

Hot and Spicy Coconut Soup

When I think of tropical climes, warm sun and sandy beaches, the two tastes that come to my mind first are Coconuts and Limes.

Lime leaves is currently on my top-3 of most used herbs / spices. Just discovered a chinese shop in Munich selling very good quality fresh aromatic lime leaves, and have, since then, been using them in every recipe possible (sometimes even when not possible!).

So here is an all time favorite combining the two - along with tons of healthy vegetables and lots of spice (It was almost too spicy for me - but my husband just loved it!)

Ingredients 


400 ml - coconut milk
1/4 cup - carrots, finely chopped and boiled
1/4 cup - babycorns, finely chopped and boiled
1/4 cup - onions and yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
2 - red chilli, finely chopped (adjust according to taste)
3 inch piece - ginger, thinly sliced
1 stalk - lemon grass, thinly sliced
4-5 - kaffir lime leaves
1/2 - 3/4 cup - water 
1/4 tsp - sunflower oil
salt and pepper to taste


To garnish 


1 tbsp - coriander leaves, finely chopped
a few walnuts, broken roughly
a few chilli threads (see here)


Method 

1. Heat oil in a pan, add onions and yellow bell pepper and cook for a minute.
2. Add the boiled vegetables, coconut milk, lime leaves, lemon grass, water, ginger and chillies and mix. Cook for 5-7 minutes
3. Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves, walnuts and chilli threads.

Serves  2

This recipe, apart from going to my Hubby's and my own tummy, goes also to Usha's Healthy Inspirations Event- Soups 

Have a great weekend and enjoy!

Fennel Soup

After a long long wait, the winter is, at last, in full swing. The last few days have been cold and full of snow, and I'm not complaining!

 A good soup does a wonderful job of warming one up from the inside in the winter - so I tired a new type of soup. I had, until now, never bought green fennel even though I am a big fan of fennel seeds.

 So i decided to give it a try, and it was a wonderful new flavour, spiced up with some star anis.

Ingredients 

1 medium size - green fennel, chopped (see how to cut fennel here)

1 medium size - onion, finely chopped

2 cloves - garlic

2 tsp - almonds, crushed roughly

2 cups - water (may need more)

1 - bayleaf

1/4 tsp - pepper powder

2 - star anise

1/4 cup - low fat milk

1 tsp - oil/butter

a pinch of nutmeg powder

a pinch of cinnamon powder

a pinch of sugar

salt to taste 

Method 

1. Heat oil in a pan, add the bayleaf, onion, garlic and cook for a minute.
2. Add the chopped fennel, almonds and water and cook until fennel is soft. Take off the heat and strain. Keep the Stock.
3. When slightly cooled, discard the bayleaf and puree the cooked vegetables in a blender.
4. Transfer the puree into a pan, add the milk, the stock and all the spices. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve hot, garnished with star anise. 

Servings - 4 

I am glad that i tried this vegetable, the soup  did come out really well:)

Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup

At last its winter! When I woke up this morning, the typical white glowing light of a snow covered neighbourhood greeted me and filled my heart with a similar glowing light. The first good snow of the season is always a beautiful sight and I simply love the snow. Especially this year, as the snow had us waiting longer than usual in this part of the world. I could not resist from capturing this breathtaking view on my camera.

Of course, the first snow also means cold cold evenings – and what better than a hot soup to warm up a cold evening. So, as promised in the last post, here is a steaming, piping hot Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup. 

Ingredients               

1/2 of hokkaido pumpkin, washed and roughly diced with the skin

1 medium size - onion, chopped

1 medium size - carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

1/4 th of a medium size red pepper, chopped

1 stalk - lemon grass , washed and sliced

2 inch piece - ginger, chopped

3-4  - cloves of garlic, chopped

1  piece - whole wheat bread

1 tbsp - pumpkin seed oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder

1/4 tsp - black pepper powder

2 1/2 cup - water

a generous pinch of nutmeg powder

a generous pinch of cinnamon powder

salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan (alternately, you can use a pressure cooker), add cumin seeds, onions, ginger, garlic, red pepper and lemongrass and saute for a minute.
2. Add the carrots and roughly diced hokkaido pumpkin and saute for half a minute. Add water, bread and all the spices, stir well and cook until soft (in a pressure cooker, cook slightly less than potatoes)
3. Puree the mixture and re transfer to the pan over heat.
4. Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves.

Enjoy!

Onion Saffron Soup

"You can't get too much winter in the winter" - Robert Frost


As the poet aptly said, winter is the time of soft white snow, of christmas and lots of goodies.


We love the winter, especially the fresh snow. This year, however, the snows are making us wait. Its still pretty warm for the time of the year and a white christmas is not guranteed.


Along with the winter go hot soups...especially after a tiring day, there is nothing like a nice fresh hot soup to cheer one up. And if the soup is accompanied by a fresh home baked bread... where the smell wafts through the apartment, and my hubby knows as soon as he enters the door on his way back from work that there is a special treat awaiting him today.


So here is special soup recipe with lots of saffron. Saffron is the queen of spices, and is one of the basic ingredients of good indian sweets. Of course, it adds to the taste of any number of non sweet dishes as well. I am a little bit of a saffron afficionado and its beautiful, bright colour and the sweet, heavenly smell make it my favourite spice.



Ingredients
              

2 1/2 cups- warm milk ( low fat)

1 - medium size onion, very thinly sliced

1 tbsp - ghee (clarified butter)

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1 1/2 tbsp - flour

1/4 cup - water

1/4 tsp - pepper powder

1/4 tsp - dried thyme

a generous pinch of nutmeg powder

10 - 15 strands of saffron ( more or less, according to taste)

salt to taste


To garnish - 1 tsp - chives

Method 

1. Heat ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add thinly sliced onions and saute for a minute.
2. Add the flour and salt and saute again for about 2-3 minutes( taking care that flour does not get burnt)
3. Add the warm milk and water and stir continously for about 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the spices and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring at regular intervals.
5. Correct the consistency by adding some water if required. Serve hot, garnished with chives.

Garnished or not... the soup tastes heavenly.

We had the soup with a spinach-coriander-chive bread and it made a perfect combination. The bread recipe follows soon.

Enjoy!