Orzo Soup

This is a very Quick and easy soup.
It tastes great with some toasted bread or just by itself.
And you need very few ingredients to make it.
So go ahead and try some!

Ingredients-

4 cups Vegetable/chicken stock or just water will do too.
1 Onion, cut in small dices
1 cup Corn(frozen)
1/2 cup Orzo(rice shaped italian pasta)
1 tsp hot sauce
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 Lime.

Method-

Place all the ingredients, except the limejuice, in the cooker.
Pressure cook till 1 whistle and switch off the gas.
Let the pressure drop on its own.
After you open the cooker, add the limejuice.
And its ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Dahi Vada

Dahi Vada is another tasty snack which can be served at tea-time.
Infact I just love it at any time of the day.
Dahi Vada are fried lentil balls soaked in yoghurt and topped with spices.

To make the vadas you will need-
1 cup Urad Dal (soaked overnight)
1/4th cup Yellow Moong Dal (soaked overnight)
Oil for deep frying.

2 Green Chillies
1"piece Ginger
Salt.

For the Yoghurt sauce you will need-

2 cups plain Yoghurt
2 tbsps Sugar
Black Salt
Cumin pwdr
RedChilli Pwdr
Sweet Chutney

How to Proceed-

After the dals have been soaked overnight, grind them in a mixer, alongwith chillies, ginger and salt. Taking care not to add much water, the batter should be fairly thick and dry.
Keep it for around 2 hrs.
Then deep-fry spoonfuls of the batter in moderately hot oil.
The vadas should be golden brown.
After removing them from the oil, soak them in a bowl filled with cold water for 10 mins.
Then squeeze out the water from each one of them and keep aside.

Meanwhile make the Yogurt Sauce-
Take 2 cups yoghurt, add sugar and whisk it well.

To Assemble-
Take a bowl and arrange 4 vadas on it.
Pour the prepared yoghurt on them.
Garnish with the sweet chutney, cumin pwdr, redchilli pwdr and black salt.
You can serve it immediately or chilled.

The vadas and the yoghurt can be stored in the fridge separately and assembled whenever required.

Lemony Egg Soup

This recipe is again from one of my favourite- Rachel Ray's Kitchen.

My daughter is very fond of soups, so I try to make different varieties of soups for her.

This soup recipe is really very simple and quick and very easy to make.

It needs just a few things which we always have at hand.

So basically it is one of those rainy day recipes.

But definately worth making on any other day too!

Ingredients-

4 Eggs

6 cups Chicken stock/ Vegetable Stock

1 big Lemon

1 Bay Leaf

1 tsp Hot sauce

A pinch of Saffron

Method-

Take the stock in a pan and start heating it.

Add a bayleaf, rind of 1 lemon and a pinch of saffron.

Let it boil.

After it starts boiling, close the Gas and let it steep for 5 minutes.

Take the juice of 1 lemon in a bowl.

Add 2 full eggs and 2 egg yolks to it and beat well.

Add Hot Sauce to it.

Add a ladleful of the stock(from the gas) to the eggs and beat well.

Then add this to the stock on the gas.

Keep on medium heat and keep stirring for about 10 mins.

Garnish it with chopped Cilantro.

And serve hot.

To make this soup as a complete meal, you can add cooked orzo or any other kind of pasta in the end and Enjoy!

Tongue-Tickling-Stir-Fried Green Beans

We had been to a sichuanese restuarant some days ago and apart from the other items that we liked, this simple Green beans were excellent.

So I tried to recreate them in my kitchen!

You need-

1 pound Green beans

1 tbsp Sesame seeds

1 tbsp minced Garlic

1 tsp Red chilli flakes

Salt and pepper to taste.

1 tbsp Vinegar

i tsp Soya sauce

1 tbsp Oil

Method-

Remove the stems of the beans and wash them well.

Heat oil in a pan or a wok.

Put in the sesame seeds.

Toast them until they crackle.

Then add the garlic and brown it.

Put in the green beans.

Stir well.

Add vinegar, soya sauce, salt, red chilli flakes and pepper.

Mix well.

Stir fry on high flame for 5-8 mins.

And serve hot as a side dish.

Enjoy!

Spicy Bittergourd

This is my mom's Recipe.

I know Bittergourd is not a very likeable vegetable...the name says it all.

But still I tend to somehow like it.

And when I make it this way, it really doesn't taste that bitter!

The recipe is quite simple though.

First of all, Cut the bittergourd into thin roundels.

Apply salt and leave them for around half an hour or so.

Then rinse them well in water a couple of times.

This is supposed to remove atleast some of their bitterness.

Then take a skillet.

Heat some oil and shallow fry the bittergourd pieces till golden.

You dont have to deep fry them so the quantity of oil should be quite less.

Remove and drain them on a paper towel.

Then in the same skillet, in the remaining oil, add finely chopped onions.

Also add, lots of finely chopped garlic.

Saute well till the onions turn brown.

Then throw in some finely chopped tomatoes.

Again, cook till the oil seperates.

Then put in all the dry spices like-

Red chilli pwdr, Coriander pwdr, Cumin pwdr, Turmeric, Garam Masala pwdr and Salt and a pinch of sugar.

Again, roast it well.

Finally add the roasted bittergourd pieces.

Garnish it with a lot of Cilantro.

And enjoy it with hot Phulkas.

Spicy Drumsticks(Saragawa)

Drumsticks are green stick like vegetables.
They are tough from outside but soft and fleshy from the inside.
The only portion that is consumed is the inner seeds and soft flesh.
While the outer stem is discarded after properly sucking the juice out of it!

The drumsticks are normally boiled before use so that they turn softer.
This drumsticks dish is a spicy side dish which is loved by my family.

Its easy to make and tastes great too!

You will need -

6-8 Drumsticks, cut into finger-length pieces
You can peel some of the outer hard skin
(you can use the frozen precut variety too)

Oil, 1 tbsp
Salt, to taste

Hing, 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Pwdr, 1 tsp
Turmeric, 1/4 tsp
Coriander Pwdr, 2 tsps
Cumin Pwdr, 1 tsp

Garam Masala Pwdr, 1/2 tsp

Juice of 1 lime or 1/2 tsp Dry Mango Pwdr

Cilantro to garnish.

Method-

Wash, peel, cut and boil the drumsticks for around 10 mins.

Drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan.

Add hing and turmeric.

Add the boiled drumsticks.

Put in all the dry masalas and salt.

Mix well.

Roast for around 5 mins.

Add the lime juice.

And Garnish with Cilantro.

And its ready to serve.

A Soup and A Stir-Fry

I often make this combo for a vegetarian Dinner.

It is vegetable Soup and Broccoli Stir-Fry.

The recipe of the soup comes from the kitchen of Rachael ray with slight variations and the broccoli stirfry is just a simple Indian variation for a vegetable that I like very much!

All in all this combo is very healthy and low cal.

For the Vegetable Soup-

You will need-

1 big Onion

2 Tomatoes

1 tsp chopped Garlic

1 cup chopped Celery

2 Carrots

A hanful of Green Peas

A handful of Green Beans

1 Potato

Salt

Black Pepper Pwdr

Poultry Seasoning(optional)

Olive Oil

Method-

Chop all the vegetables roughly.

I normally follow-chop and drop principle.

In a big vessel, heat 1 tbsp Oil.

Saute Onion and Garlic for a while.

Add Celery and Tomatoes.

Mix well.

Add the Carrots,Potato, Green Beans and Peas.

Keep stirring it occasionally.

Add salt and pepper and 1 tbsp poultry seasoning.

Instead of poultry seasoning you can also add Italian seasoning or any other combination of herbs of your choice.

Roast well and then add 2 glasses of water.

You can also add vegetable stock.

Boil well and serve immediately.

You can also add pieces of boneless chicken in the soup if you like.

And instead of vegetable stock you can add chicken stock too.

The Broccoli Stir-Fry is a very easy, quick and healthy dish.

You will need-

1 head of Broccoli chopped into florets

1 medium Onion, chopped

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Red Pepper flakes

Salt and Black Pepper pwdr

1/2 tsp Garam Masala pwdr

1 tbsp Oil

Method-

Heat oil in a skillet.

Splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Add the onion.

Saute till it turns pink.

Add the broccoli florets.

Put in all the spices and salt.

Cook on high flame till all the spices coat the broccoli well and it is just tender,but still has a crunch to it.

Serve immediately just like that or with Rotis or Rice.