Vegetarian/Vegan Hot 'n' Sour Soup for Cold Spring Nights

Note : This post was written almost a month back in march, 2011 but I guess I forgot to hit the publish button. It's finally spring here not that cold but this soup is perfect for any weather.

What do U do when Mother Nature Gives you not only rain in the spring but some white stuff too.....

last week when spring started on calenders, in our part of the world we saw some snow too, temperatures dropping back from 80 degree to 45 degree. We did had a very warm weekend just before the spring started but it was just for couple of days and then back to cold. Mother Nature knows what's best so rather than complaining why not go out in jackets & draw some butterflies to cheer up

and then come inside and sip this deliciously spicy and perfectly sour world famous Chinese Hot 'n' Sour soup.

As an Indian we prefer Chinese food which is made Indian style mainly known as Indo-Chinese but I always enjoy this one soup no matter where ever I eat/drink........it's the perfect balance of heat from garlic + chilli sauce & sourness from vinegar and O'course lots of veggies, which makes you go for another serving of it. I also like this soup as only work in it is of chopping veggies and I love to do that( I find cleaning & chopping veggies as a very soothing & satisfying activity). It's easy recipe no oil, no saute, only boiling  the prepared stock with your choice of veggies. Though I have my personnel choice of veggies when it comes to this soup but many a times when I make it on a night before the grocery day, we get to see many different combinations of veggies in our soup bowls and no matter what veggies goes in, it always tastes good. Color, taste & texture of this soup does need your attention when it's fresh but for me I enjoy leftovers also. Now for the recipe.....

What I used :

Vegetables :

• 2 med. sized carrots, julienned/matchstick cut
• around 1 cup of thinly sliced mushrooms(i used baby bella variety)
• around 3/4th cup of thinly shredded cabbage
• half red bell pepper thinly sliced
• around 1 cup of thinly sliced baby bok-choy(keep the shredded leaves separate)
• around 2 inch piece of ginger, julienned
• 1/2 cup mung sprouts

For stock/broth :

• 4 cups of vegetable stock(* see notes)
• 2&1/2 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic or use garlic paste
• 3 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
• 3 tablespoon of green chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon of rice vinegar(regular vinegar can also be used)
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper (optional)

Corn starch mixture :

• 3 tablespoon water
• 1/2 tablespoon con starch

What I did :

Take all the ingredients from stock/broth list & whisk them together. In a big pot(non reactive kind as we are using vinegar) put them to boil, turn the heat to slow after it start boiling. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes or so.

While the stock for the soup is boiling, prepare the veggies by chopping them into thinly sliced/shredded/ julienned/ matchstick cut.

After 10 minutes of stock boiling drop all the chopped veggies into it except green leaf parts of bok choy, add that during the last 3-4 minutes only. Mix everything together give it a little taste & add salt as per your taste. I suggested to add salt at this point because various sauces used above will add saltiness to the soup, so it's better to hold it in the beg.

Let soup simmer for another 10 min. or so. When ready to serve mix cornstarch & water, making sure no lumps are there and add this mixture to soup, make sure soup is hot and on the heat at this time. Once it's stirred into the soup turn the gas off & serve the soup immediately.

Notes :

• This recipe is the one which my family likes but I've read some recipes which don't use garlic but I can't imagine making any soup without garlic, specially this one.
• For making vegetable broth I boil around 5 cups of water with roughly chopped 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2-3 stalks of celery, 3-4 garlic cloves 1/2 tsp. salt, 2-3 cloves(Laung), 7-8 black peppercorns, a bayleaf for around 30 minutes or so.
• U can easily reduce or increase the heat in this recipe by changing the quantity of chilli sauce. Black peppers also give it little extra heat.
• Veggies like green beans/french beans are also good addition to this soup. Generally tofu is also used in this soup, if using add it towards the last 3-4 minutes of simmering.
• I'm not using egg in this which makes it vegetarian/vegan. For garnish usually chopped up green onions are used but I didn't had any so didn't used any.
• Also at the end usually a spoon of sesame oil is added to the soup but I don't do that. If U like just add it to it before turning the heat off.

• I used baby bok choy in this, not a typical veggie for this soup but it's my new fav. veggie & we liked it in the soup.

UPDATE (Feb/04/2013)  : this yummy soup is on it's way to Sayantani's blog  to beat some winter chills. She's is having a giveaway sponsered by Cuponation.in at her blog.

Palak Kadi (Spinach in Yogurt base gravy)

Kadi is different than curry. The Kadi which I'm talking about today is basically yogurt based punjabi kadi, made using chickpea flour. Regular combination is with pakoras, which is absolute favorite of mine. Where as Curry is a term mainly used for any kind of dish which is gravy based and can have many versions of it, like tomato based, onion & tomato based, coconut based. To get the perfect flavors of punjabi kadi you need sour yogurt/home made dahi, even buttermilk will also do. It's perfect way to turn sour yogurt to tasty dish. So if you have 2-3 days old dahi, it's perfect for kadi or otherwise I prefer to leave it out of the fridge overnight at some warm place  and next day cook it into kadi.

What U need :

• 2 cups of sour dahi / buttermilk / plain yoghurt (in case of yoghurt dilute it using 1/2 cup of water)
• 4 Tblsp. of chickpea flour (beasn)
• 1 big bunch of spinach washed & chopped
• 1 tsp. black mustard ( rai) seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 2-3 cloves (laung)
• 2 whole dry red chillies
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 Tblsp. chopped ginger
• 3-4 green hot peppers chopped
• 1tsp. tumeric (haldi) powder
• 1 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. degi mirch / paprika

What to do :

1. Whisk the yogurt, add chickpea flour and all dry spices to it & whisk it to remove all the lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Heat little oil in a heavy bottom karahi/wok. Add mustard seeds, cumin, whole red chillies, cloves and let them splutter a bit.
3. Add garlic, ginger and sprinkle some salt on it, to prevent ginger from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the yogurt mixture to the pan.
5. Add around 4 cups of water. Once the whole mixture starts to boil turn the gas to the setting( med. high works for me) where it will still boil but won't overflow. 
6. Let it cook for approximately 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and let it cook for another 20 minute or so. Also adjust the consistency of the kadi, add more water if it's getting too thick or let it boil bit more if it's too thin. 
7. Once cooked, kadi tends to get thicker keep that in mind while adjusting the consistency.
8. Classic combo is with rice but you can always serve it with naan/ roti.

If the yogurt / dahi was sour you will get the perfect sour kadi. The recipe above is missing pakoras and some whole spices in it which are normally used when punjabi pakora wali kari is made, as my kids don't like Kadi with whole lot of whole spices in it. I will post the punjabi kari with pakoras whenever I make next time, this is little litter version of that.

Before I sign off this post I would like to say thanks to my blogger friends for visiting my blog everyday for  last 7 days and  leaving thoughts on my spinach week special. Though there are many more recipes which I cook with spinach but either they are very usual one like saag, dal palak, palak paneer or I didn't get to take the pictures. So, for now no more spinach on the blog everyday but it's surely making it's appearance on our dinner table everyday. And once in a while more recipes with spinach will make appearance on the blog too.

Bunny's Carrot Soup

When somebody on the T.V says let your kids help you make family dinner, that way they are more likely to eat what you cook....did you agree with them.....give it a try it works....Here's another recipe from my DD (first one was her applesauce) it's simple & easy....it's called "carrot soup". During summer vacation once she got a book from the library I guess the name of the book was Bunny's Carrot Soup & she wanted me to make the soup, recipe for which was at the end of the book. She checked each & every ingredient one by one from me..... if I have it or not.... and then she wanted me to cook that soup.She helped me with the making of it and Yes! she loved it. Take a toast of your favourite bread & enjoy it.

Here's our carrot soup going to WYF : Light Meal Event & also to Radhika's & Sudeshna's Food For Stages Of Life -Cooking For Infants & Toddlers event.

Ingredient :

• 6 carrots peeled & chopped
• 1 celery stick chopped
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• salt as per taste(if making for babies don't use any)
• black pepper (don't use it for babies)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil(for babies you can use desi ghee instead)
• 3 cups of vegetable stock(I use chicken stock/vegetable stock/water whatever i have on hand)

Method :

1) In a heavy bottom pan heat the ghee/oil add garlic stir it, add celery stir it after a minute or so add carrots, stir everything together. If you feel oil is little less just add 2-3 tblsp. of the liquid you are using.

2) Saute everything together for around 5 min. or so & then add stock to it. Also add salt & pepper if using. Cover it & let it boil. Once it start to boil turn the gas to slow & let it simmer for around 15 min. or so, by then carrots should be totally soft.let it stay covered & cool a little bit.

3) Puree it smoothly or to coarse consistency acc. to your requirement.

4) Serve it with a little bit of heavy cream or full cream milk or a chunk of butter on top & with the side of your favourite toasted bread.

As far the benefits of this soup goes, everyone must have heard that carrots are good source of vitamin A & very good for vision other then that Carrots antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Note :This recipe is suitable for babies 8 months & old. But before giving it to babies make sure you strain the soup so that no big chunk or any fiber from the celery is left in by mistake.

Tip : If you make baby food in little extra quantity like I do, then this is the tip, freeze extra one in ice trays(pour it into plastic ice-cube trays, cover it with foil or plastic wrap, freeze it for few hours, once frozen take it out & store it in freezer bags inside freezer, for upto 4 weeks, though you can freeze it for longer also but that's the maximum I do. And beleive me it really comes handy on those days when you are really tired after grocerries, cleaning, laundry & what not.