Kale and Vegetable Soup

Right now is the perfect time, to start back on to the blogging. Nothing special about this time, it's just that once you take a break from something it's always difficult to go back. So, right now and I really mean that, hardly 5 minutes back(before I started to write this post) while checking some old photos I saw this photo taken back on August 24th of this year and I decided right now is the right time to blog about it. If I don't do it right now it'll again take months.

 

This soup was not made for blog. But when I made it for the first time back in august and one spoon of it and first thing I said to myself(actually to my family) was that this recipe needs to be shared. It's so tasty, specially with the onset of cold weather it's perfect for any night of the week. Since then I have made few different versions of this but the one I'm gonna share today is the original one. Kale is the star ingredient in this. Kale is one of the super foods, it has lot of good qualities but it's also the food which has lot of residual pesticides, so organic is the way to go for this.

 

Notes :

•  It's not easy to buy everything organic but in my household I have my own list of what to buy organic and what not to. So kale, celery, carrots and corn from this recipe falls under the organic list. I so want to discuss more about organic food here but it has to wait.
• I like to chop veggies, specially kale, very fine for this kinda soup. Pressure cooker method does make veggies very soft but the veggies used in this soup still retain their shape & the reserved sautéed veggie mixture of mushrooms, peas & corn give the final soup a nice texture.
• In case if Kale is tough you can skip using it's stem or chop little extra at the bottom to discard & chop rest of the stem very finely. In my case I'm getting some really young & soft  organic kale in my local grocery store.
• I'm using Pressure cooker but this soup is very easily doable in any regular pot/pan.
• The peas and corn I use are usually very tender, in case if you have tough ones you can also boil them first.

What I Used :

• 1 small bunch of fresh organic kale, chopped(approx. tightly packed 3 cups)
• 2 stems of celery(pref. organic)
• half red onion
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 green chilies
• 2 medium size carrots
• one cup chopped mushrooms
• half cup peas (I used frozen)
• half cup corn kernels(I used organic frozen)
• water/chicken stock/ veggie stock around 4 cups
• salt as per taste
• 2 pinches of black pepper
• squirt of tomato ketchup (don't miss this, it add a nice flavor)
• Lemon juice as per taste
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin oil (divided use)
• few spoons of grated cheese of your choice for garnishing(our new fav. is Jarlsberg)

What I did :

1. Clean and wash all the vegetables. In case of Kale if using fresh bunch, chop around 1 inch stems from the bottom & discard.
2. Finely chop all the veggies, garlic & green chilies.
3. Heat the pressure cooker on med. high and add 1/2  tablespoon of oil and sauté chopped mushrooms in it. Once they start to get little brown add peas & corn. Sprinkle pinch of salt and sauté  for 3-4 minutes, stirring in between.
4. Using a slotted spoon take out half of this mushroom, peas & corn mixture out of the cooker and save it for using it later in the soup.
5. Turn the gas to med. and add rest of the oil to the cooker. Add chopped garlic in the cooker. Let it cook for 30-40 seconds & then add rest of the veggies. stir everything and sauté  for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add salt, black pepper, green chilies and tomato ketchup. Add around 4 cups of water. Close the cooker lid and let it cook.
7. After one whistle turn the gas on slow & keep for another 2-3 minutes. Turn the gas off. Once all the steam escaped then only open the cooker.
8. When ready to serve. Pour soup into the soup bowls, add some lemon juice, mix and  garnish each bowl with tablespoon or so of reserved mixture of mushrooms, peas & corn and top it with some grated cheese. Enjoy it with some hardy toasted bread.

Everyday meal : Sabut Masoor & Chana dal /Whole Red Lentils soup

Dal is an important part of any Indian meal. We all love chicken and fish in our house but it's dal which comes under the category of everyday food. It's comfort food for us. Growing up soup was a fancy meal it was dal which was our soup/stew, without it dinner felt incomplete. Even now after so many years it's same. If there's no chicken or fish, there has to be dal, that's our protein part of the meal. No particular one but any dal, depending upon how much time you have to cook and what kinda mood you are in.

 

I have 21 different dals/lentils/dried beans in my pantry(yes, I counted them). So, there are many different combinations which are made out of these  and then there are some dals which are cooked standalone, just made like that, no mix and matching. Every household have their favourite and further every family member have preference of one dal over other.

 

Coming to today's recipe Sabut/whole masoor and chana dal, is one of the hit combination in my house. While growing up I don't remember my mom making this combination, though both the dals were popular but separately. I don't remember when I started cooking them as a mixed dal but we like the texture & taste both and also chana dal makes it more nutritious.

 

 

It's very simple, the only thing is whole/sabut dals usually take little extra time to cook as compared with dhuli(skin off) dals. I have used 2 part masoor & one part chana dal, feel free to change the proportion as per your taste. Same recipe can be used for making only masoor dal also. 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sabut Masoor (Whole Red Lentils)
• 1/3 cup Chana Dal (Bengal Gram)
• 1 onion, finely chopped (around 3/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped/grated ginger
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped (or puree them in the blender)
• 2-3 green chillies
• salt
• 1/ tablespoon Jeera (cumin)
• 1 tsp. dhania powder (ground coriander)
• 3/4 tsp. haldi (turmeric)
• 3/4 tsp. Kashmiri Mirch powder/deggi mirch (or Paprika can be used ) *see notes
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• A big handful of fresh dhania/ cilantro ( finely chopped)
• 3-4 tsp. cooking oil/ghee
• Water

Method :

1.  Pick out any stones from the dal, specially sabut masoor, because this dal do have small stones in it. Wash both the dals in running water together and soak them in enough water to cover them, for at least 3-4 hours.
2. Once ready to cook, drain all the water in which dal was soaked and boil them with fresh water(3 times of the dal), turmeric & salt. Like most Indians I also use pressure cooker, I have never tried to boil them without pressure cooker.
3. Cooking in pressure cooker : Put dal, water, turmeric & salt in the cooker close the lid. Put it on high flame. After first 3 whistles turn the flame to med. low & let it cook for 5-7 minutes more. DO NOT OPEN the pressure cooker till all the steam escapes by itself. Once all the steam escapes open the cooker  and check dal, if you press cooked dal between your fingers it should be easily squished. It might look separate (water & dal) but once U mix tarka, mix it & let it simmer together for few minutes & it'll be all good and delicious looking.
4. While dal is boiling in the pressure cooker,start working on tarka/seasoning. Take a heavy bottom pan. Heat it on med. high, add oil.
5. Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, once they start to sizzle, add Garlic. Few seconds and garlic is cooked(do not let it get brown) add chopped onions & sprinkle a pinch of salt.
6. Turn flame to med. low, slowly onions will turn translucent(around 6-8 minutes), keep stirring them as we are not using lot of oil then add ginger.
7. After 30 seconds or so add coriander powder, Kashmiri mirch powder, mix & cook for few seconds. Add tomatoes and chopped green chillies, mix well.
8. Keep the flame med. low & let tomatoes get cooked properly .
9. Once the tomatoes are cooked add this tarka to cooked dal , mix it and let it simmer for 6-8 minutes, check the consistency of dal. If it's too thick add some water & let it simmer for 5-7 minutes on med. low. And if by any chance dal is too soupy let it boil for a while till it comes to the right consistency.
10. Add garam masala & chopped fresh cilantro(hara dhania).
11. It tastes good with both rice as well as any kinda flat bread,

 Notes:

1) Here's the pic of uncooked sabut masoor, they are also referred as brown flat lentils :

 

2) Kashmiri mirch/degi mirch powder is relatively mild but flavorful and gives very nice color to the final dish. If not available use paprika.

3) If U don't have time to soak the dal, you can boil them straight away but it'll take extra time.

4) If boiling without pressure cooker, try to soak dal a night before, it'll cut the cooking time. Also do check in between boiling to make sure there is enough water in the pot.

5) This dal tastes good when it's not too soupy or not too thick.

6) If you are new to whole lentils, so let me share this tip: make these little ahead of time at least 3-4 hours before meal time, they taste better once they are sitting after getting cooked. Just warm it before eating.

 

This delicious & hearty dal stew is on it's way to  My Legume Love Affair # 57 event hosted this month by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds. This event is brain child of  Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now this event is administer by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen.

My Brother

List of foods I'm gonna cook & bake for him was ready in my mind. Last time when I was there he liked the kheer/rice pudding I made, very much, so I made it every other day just for him. He always loved the cakes I made, but plan for this vacation was mainly baking breads, one of his favourite.

In the morning when we skyped I kinda gave him the warning that this is the last time I'm asking him what he want from here and he said "nothing". I asked him are you sure & he said yes, you can get everything here....You just come. It was after many years that I was planning to stay there for one full month as last few trips it's always been a short stay. In my mind I decided Pistachios is one of his fav. food so that's final I'm gonna take that for him. Who knew it was going to be literally last time. Middle of the night I got the call from my father and could not believe that our world is changed my brother was gone, gone forever.

I lost my brother/bhai back in the month of June 2012. It took less than a minute or so and he was gone, no sign of any illness. I'm sure God must be having his own reasons to take him away, which we can never understand. He was only in his early 40's not the time of the life when you think it can happen to you but it happened, my father had no choice but watch helplessly. I can only pray that no body ever have to face anything like that.

He was the kind of brother who would cook for me when our mom was out of town for some wedding. I use to be his sous chef, who would do prep work & he'll cook & later I'll do cleaning. Food was one big connection. Even my lil'one never forget to mention about him whenever she eats Smiles(potato snack), like Mamu(mom's brother) use to make for me. Time never was important for him,10:00 p.m he's back from his work & he would make noodles or smiles for the kids just because they asked for it & I refused to make it so late in the night.

He was always there whenever I needed anything, be it my visit to meet some friend at the other end of the city or my lil'one needed a diaper change and I was sleeping due to jet lag. Life is uncertain we all know, but never thought that much uncertain It's been more than 9 months but still every single second my mind keep thinking how it's possible that we not gonna meet each other again, ever. So many materialistic things in life are not important at all any more. Life's priorities are changed a little bit, in the morning when kids go to school now, I don't forget to say "I Luv U", even if I've been yelling at them that U r getting late but still a kiss before they leave for school with the words "Luv U" seems much more important.

Every single day since I came back from India, I've been thinking about writing this post but had no guts to write it but this is some thing I had to share before I can start blogging again. He'll always be in our heart and I can only pray that wherever he is, may God rest his soul in peace. Miss You Bhai.

It's Pink......It's not a food.....I made it

Only 3 yr. & 6 months late....call me lazy or real life mom. Back in the summer of 2008 I started this quilt when I was pregnant with my second daughter. Bur never get to complete it on time and once she came, life started getting busy & busy only.

My crafter friends would know once U leave the project in between how hard it can be to finish. But, finally I managed to complete it just on time for her 3&1/2 yr. b'day, that's today. 

It's special because it's for my little princess, even if it's late she can still fit in it.....every time she saw me working on it in past few months she was so happy to know that it's for her.....and could not hold her excitement & hug me saying "thank you mumma.....it's for my b'day"......another reason for it being special......It's my first quilt. Quilts always fascinates me, now, finally I can also say I have made one and that too all by myself....it's totally handmade..... from cutting squares to sewing them together and quilting all the layers together and finally finishing off with pink edging.....totally handmade. 

It's Easy....It's Colorful....It's Dessert....It's Wiggly too...

If you guessed Jello....you are right......a dessert is wiggly if it's made out of gelatin or in this part of the world more commonly known as Jello, no matter what U do it's gonna wiggle. First of all let me clear one thing, it's easy as it's no cooking required dessert other then boiling water BUT it's a time consuming process. If U gonna do all the layers it will take U approximately 2 hours(at least 75% of the time is waiting period, but U need to be around, as this waiting period is divided into several 10-15 minute periods ) but end result is so cute looking, nothing less then an art work.  Kids gonna love it but adults also won't say no to it. Last week few weeks few months back(I'm lazy but finally I've completed the post :) ) while blog hopping I found this blog and she have this cute collection of jello creations that first look at this picture & I knew it, I'll be making it soon. You really have to look at her pictures as they are so neat& clean, in my case bottom layer stuck a little bit but hers are so impressive.

It's a simple recipe, not even a recipe in fact a procedure. I'm only giving the recipe here because I cut it down to half as I knew it's gonna be lot of jello for our family. So, instead of 9x13 dish I made it in 8 inch square Pyrex dish. Now, as I divided the recipe, I did a lot of measuring :) & somewhere I believe went little wrong(may be the dish size or eye balling the half can of condensed milk) so my milk layer was not very thick, but nothing to hold U back from picking that master piece to eat.....

Note : It was still a lot of Jello for our family of 4, but good thing is it can be kept in the fridge and it taste good even after 3-4 days. It's good dessert for a party, U can make it ahead of time and impress your guests with your artwork.

Note directly from the original recipe source : Please make sure you have a level refrigerator!

Click here for Original recipe.

What I used :

• 1 - 3 oz. pack of  Red Jello, divided in two equal parts
• 1 - 3 oz. pack of  Blue Jello, divided in two equal parts
• 1/2 can of Condensed milk
• 2 packets of unflavoured gelatin(I use Knox brand)
• Boiling water
• 5 small bowls ( or use 2 & U can wash & dry one after each Jello layer)

Note : 1 pack of Unflavoured gelatin is needed to be divided in 4 parts. 1 pack is around 2&1/4 tsp. so I simply used 1/2 tsp. every time in each jello layer.

What I did :

Jello Layer :

1. Mix one half (1.5 ounce) package of Jello with 1/4 package of Knox. (see the note above).
2. Add half cup boiling water and stir to dissolve.
3. Cool to room temperature and pour into dish(8 inch square Pyrex dish).
4. Refrigerate 15 minutes until solid enough for next layer.

Milk Layer:

1. In a large bowl, mix half can sweetened condensed milk with half cup boiling water.
2. In a small bowl, place 1/4 cup cold water. Sprinkle 1 package of  unflavored gelatin on the water. Allow to sit for a 2-3 minutes for gelatin to bloom. Add 1/4 cup boiling water to dissolve the gelatin.
3. Combine the dissolved gelatin with the milk mixture. 
4. Now, the milk mixture is ready again we gonna use it in 3 equal parts, total mixture is around one & a half cup.
5. Once cool to room temperature  pour half a cup over the Jello mixture(which was set in the fridge). Refrigerate 15 minutes until solid enough for next layer.

• Repeat Jello and Milk layers (starting and ending with Jello)
• Refrigerate little longer after final layer to make sure that Jello is fully set and cut into desired shapes.

IF you don't want to spend this much time, here's a simple version I usually do from long time back(in fact this pic is also from my initial days of blogging). I always love to do it with fresh fruits but U can certainly do it without any fruits.

Couscous Salad / Pilaf

Couscous - the national dish of North Africa, is a wheat based product made out of semolina of hard wheat using water to bind them. When using couscous for cooking it's a two part process....first part which is most time consuming  is forming the couscous (click here to read the process), which is rarely done anymore. You can easily buy instant couscous(ready to cook) in most of the grocery stores, I in fact bought my first pack from my local Indian grocery stores(it came without any instructions to prepare). Second part is cooking it which is a simple process, how simple if you ask me ? So, the answer is as simple as boiling the water, and I mean literally. On the name of cooking U only need to boil water.

I've been making this since past one year. I won't say it's a family favourite(given a choice between rice & couscous, my family will choose rice only & 4th grader will specify white rice only please, if not I'll take couscous :) ) but if I make it once or twice a month everybody enjoys it & also it doesn't take long to get it ready, so it's a time saver recipe.

Nutrition wise Couscous is among the healthiest grain-based products. It has a glycemic load per gram 25% below that of pasta. It has a superior vitamin profile to pasta, containing twice as much riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and folate, and containing four times as much thiamine and pantothenic acid. In terms of protein, couscous has 3.6 g for every 100 calories, equivalent to pasta, and well above the 2.6 g for every 100 calories of white rice. Source : Wiki

Today's recipe is merely a guideline. U can add what ever flavours U like  or make it plain & use it with any kind of curry based dish. I have been normally serving it with any kind of fish I make dry or gravy based but last time I served it with pork chops & it was a hit. We love ours with lots of veggies & nuts in it as it give it a little crunch as otherwise the texture is little too soft  for our taste buds.

What I used :

• 1 cup Instant Couscous (now a days I'm using Near East brand & I like it's texture)
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 tsp. finely chopped garlic
• 1 large tomato
• 1 small onion
• 1 cucumber
• 1 carrot
• half red bell pepper
• 1-2 stalk of celery
• 1-2 green chillies
• handful or more of your favourite nut(I like peanuts, pistachio or cashews in it....chop them if u like)
• juice of half a lime
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• water 1&1/2 cup *see Notes

Notes : Usually ratio of couscous & water is 1 : 1&1/2 . Using more water can make it mushy/soggy.

What I did :

1. Take a flat kind of dish. I use square Pyrex dish with lid(avoid using deep pot/pan). Pour the dry couscous on it.
2. Boil the water, once it's boiled take it of the heat add oil,salt, black pepper & lime juice. Pour it on the couscous, cover it & let it rest for 5 minutes.
3. In the meantime finely chop/dice all the veggies.
4. After 5 minutes are over, take the lid off & fluff the couscous with a fork.
5. Add all chopped up veggies and nuts to it & gently mix it., taste & adjust the seasoning if needed.
6. Serve it as is or as a part of a meal.

If you add a little more protein to it in addition to nuts, it will be a good lunchbox item and can be prepared a night before.

Kanji......A Fermented Black Carrot Drink made without Black Carrots

Perfect sunny day for having A Perfect tangy drink : Kanji

A black Carrot drink, you read it write. It's fermented, made at home....so I call it desi wine. In northern parts of India, during the months of basant(spring) that's march, a seasonal carrot which is dark purple almost similar to beet and is called Kali gajar (Black carrot) comes in to the market, is used to make this drink called Kanji. Perfect for the season when weather is turning warm, as this drink is meant to be consumed during the warm weather, it's good for digestion also. Here in USA, I don't think I'll ever find those carrots. So, many years back when my MIL was here during the march-April months she suggested to use beets along with regular carrots to make Kanji. Color of the food does make a lot of difference, so using a bit of beet solved the color problem.

This year in north east we had very mild winter, so with weather permitting I already made this in the beg. of march and it was perfect as it was Holi also at that time. In North India Kanji is kind of a traditional drink around Holi(a festival of colors)........now a days is also a good time.

Few things to remember :

It take 4-5 sunny days to ferment this drink. Once ready it can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. This drink is good for digestion but is cold in nature, so given it's nature it should be consumed during the warm hours in the day.....means best time is afternoon while enjoying the sun shine. We don't drink it if it's a rainy day specially here in north east, during spring rain makes the temperature fall. It's a fermented drink so don't forget to use glass jar & steel spoons only.

Spices for the drink

What I used :

• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium size beet
• 1 litre water
• 2 tablespoon of mustard seeds/rai
• 1 tsp. regular salt
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. black salt(kala namak-but actually is little pink in color & little sour in taste)
• 1/2 tsp. red chili powder(lal mirchi powder)--- Optional
• Large glass jar with lid  OR earthern ware pot if available

What I did :

          

Before & After Picture....it did not evaporated but I took the picture after having couple of glasses :)

• Grind the mustard seeds using coffee/spice grinder into little coarse powder(stop when it's few grinds away from being very fine powder).
• Wash & clean carrots & beet. Cut them into around 2 inch long batons.
• Put everything in the glass jar & stir it with stainless steel spoon. Close the lid & let it rest on a sunny space for 4-5 days.
• When it's ready, serve it with carrot & beets from it on the side.
• If want to store it for longer, strain the drink into another glass jar & refrigerate it. Left over pickled carrots/beets can be either served with Kanji or eaten as salad/side with lunch/dinner.

Beets do give you nice color but if U wanna see how pretty the black carrot Kanji is then click here and check Anita's version. And in fact if U google for Kanji, couple of results show U very beautiful picture of Kanji and if you pay even a little attention you will realize that those pictures are same & they are copied from Anita's blog. It's sad that we can't do much about it but at least  we can bring these kind of acts in every one's notice, so just doing my part.