Category: This, that and the other

Cauliflower soup

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BM# 95: Week 2, Day 1
Theme : Winter warmers

Wish you all a very happy and healthy 2019!

2018 ended on a high note for our family. The entire summer was action packed with me becoming the stereotypical soccer mom. In our case it was cricket mom since most of our summer was dedicated to our son’s cricket class and matches. He is no Javagal Srinath yet, but he is away from electronics, spending time with other kids and is physically active. So Its a complete win as far as I am concerned. The game took over our complete summer, but it really was worth it.

We moved to a new neighborhood in November and are still settling in. My son is in middle school now (boy!! They grow up so fast!!) and his work load is a lot more than the previous years. So all in all the days are over way too quickly and before I realized it, 2018 has already waved me goodbye.

The new year began on a great note too as my brother and his family was visiting us over the holidays. They left last weekend and now the house feels lonely and cold. The cold part is a little too literal. It’s winter here and it’s no fun. The cold can be tolerated if you are dressed in layers, but if it’s a windy day like today, it’s very difficult. So it’s apt that I have chosen a piping hot cauliflower soup to serve you all here today. Check out the link for the original recipe from The Pioneer woman.

Read on for the recipe and you can see from the above picture that my son is having a good time too :-)

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons Butter, divided
  • 1 medium Onion, finely diced
  • 1 Carrot, diced
  • 1 whole cauliflower, roughly chopped
  • handful of fresh or dry parsley
  • 8 cups water or vegetable broth
  • 6 tablespoons  all purpose flour
  • 2 cups Milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a thick pan. Once it’s melted and hot, add the onions to it. Sauté until it turns to light pink.
  2. Add the chopped carrots and cauliflower. Saute for a couple of minutes and then cover and cook until the vegetables are softer, about 5 minutes. You can add some broth or water if the veggies starts to burn or start sticking to the bottom of the pan. Now add 8 cups of broth or water, parsley, salt as needed and let it come to a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are done.
  3. In a separate pan, melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter. In a bowl, whisk the milk and flour together until you don’t see any dry lumps of flour. Add the milk mixture slowly to the butter whisking continuously. Cook till then mixture thickens. Take off heat.
  4. Carefully add the white sauce to the soup, mixing with a spatula. Let it come to a boil. Taste test and adjust the salt if needed and add pepper. Serve hot!

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Baingan Mutter Makhini

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mymy k

I can not believe that my small break has (again) turned into a major vacation from my blog. Given the fact that I do this at least once in two years, I won’t say I am surprised by this behavior now.

With the overdose of information from social media, I find that I need a break more frequently than before. Now my everyday food is mostly from simpler sources like books and recipes from friends. I will be back to the blogging scenario, but right now I am taking it slow.

While we are on the topic of recipe from books, this one is also from Raghavan Iyer’s 660 curries. It’s a book that I really like and this recipe was also a success like the other ones I tried. It’s similar in some ways to baingan Bharta but with fresh cream and cashews involved :-). Read on for the recipe and stepwise pictures.

baingan_mutter_makhani2

Ingredients:

  • 1 big eggplant
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
  • 1/2 cup coriander leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 3 tablespoons ghee
  • 1 medium red onion, sliced
  • 1/4 cup cashews or blanched almonds
  • 2 tablespoons raisins
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2″ long piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 tomato chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • salt as needed

Method:

Rub one teaspoon of oil all over the eggplant. Poke holes all over it using a fork and microwave it for about 8 minutes until its cooked. Take out keep aside until its cool enough to handle.

Peel the eggplants and discard the stem. Mash using a fork or roughly chop using a knife. Add this into a bowl and mix in 2 cups (fresh or frozen) peas, 1/2 cup coriander leaves, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and salt. Set this aside while we prepare the gravy.

In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee or oil. Add one medium sliced onion, 1/4 cup blanched almonds (or cashews), 2 tablespoons raisins, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 2″ piece of chopped ginger. Cover and let this cook until the onion is caramelized, about 8-10 minutes. Add one chopped medium tomato half way through and let it also cook without mixing it in too much.

Once the mix is cooked through, let it cool a bit and grind into a paste, adding a little water if needed.

Clean the skillet and heat it now with one tablespoon of ghee. Add the eggplant and peas mixture and let it cook uncovered until all the moisture has been absorbed. Stir in between to prevent browning. This might take about 10 minutes. Add the onion paste to the cooked eggplant.

Add half cup of cream to the mixer jar to dislodge any remaining onion paste stuck to the jar. Pour the cream to the curry. Mix everything and cook for another 5 minutes, taste testing and adjusting the seasonings if needed. Serve with some ghee on top if preferred.

baingan_mutter_makhani

Coconut Oatmeal Raisin cookies

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I was planning on a complete different set of recipes for this week’s theme of US based recipes. But one look at my drafts folder convinced me that I was done with the theme before I even started. A well stocked drafts folder (magic folder) is definitely helpful ;-). 

Cookies are a big part of US food scene. My son loves chocolate chip cookies but my favorite is the oatmeal raisin cookies. Last year one of our friends gifted us a batch of her oatmeal cookies. It was made with whole wheat and it had coconut in them. Oatmeal with coconut was an unexpected but delicious combination. 

I got the recipe from her and promptly lost it when I switched phones. Finally I ended up looking online for an alternative recipe and that’s when I came across the one at Allrecipes.com. I replaced the chocolate chip in the recipe with raisins  and reduced the sugar a tiny bit but didn’t make any other changes. This is not a whole wheat recipe either but I prefer plain flour for treats and desserts anyway. 

 Read on for the recipe and enjoy the treat. 


Makes 2.5 dozen cookies, depending on the size 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter (226 grams)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
  • 2 Tablespoon milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 cups rolled oats 
  • 1 cup desiccated coconut 
  • 1-2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped nuts

Method:

  1. Bring the butter to room temperature. Beat it in a stand mixer with the two sugars until it’s soft and light. Add eggs one at a time and keep beating until well combined. Add in the vanilla extract, milk, baking soda and beat it in. 
  2. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour in batches. Follow it up with the oats and coconut in batches. The crushed nuts and raisins go in after that until everything is uniformly distributed. 
  3. Drop Tablespoon full of dough in a parchement lined baking tray leaving space between cookies to expand. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Take off the oven and let it cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Store in airtight containers once completely cool. 


BM # 82: Week 2, Day 2
Theme : USA
Recipe: oatmeal raisin cookies with coconut

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Creamy mushroom soup

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We have come to the end of a month long blogging marathon and this is the last recipe of the day. It’s adapted a little from All recipes site. 

The recipe is very simple – cook the mushrooms and onions, make a roux with flour and milk, and cook everything together. Usually cream is used for this recipe, but I decided to go lighter and used milk instead. I also didn’t want a really thick soup, so decreased the amount of flour a bit and increased the liquids. I usually add cooked white beans or black beans to my soups to up the filling factor. Here it would have helped with increasing the protein also, but I had to skip it since I didn’t have any that day. 

Read on for the recipe. 

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups chopped white mushrooms 
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 cups vegetable broth or water
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
  • Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Heat 2 teaspoon butter in a pan. Sauté onions until it’s a little pink. Add the mushrooms and cook until it changes color. 
  2. Add one cup of vegetable broth or water and let the mushrooms cook completely. Take off the heat and once cool, purée in a blender, keeping a little aside for adding on top at the time of serving. 
  3. Heat the rest of the butter in a pan. Add the flour and mix it for a few seconds. Add the milk, seasonings and the puréed mushroom mix. Cook everything stirring frequently to avoid lumps. Add one cup of water or broth (or more) if the soup is too thick. 
  4. Take off the heat and serve with a piece of bread. 

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