Minestrone Soup

It’s been a while since I made a blog post. The cold weather had all of us under the weather for a while. Soup has been my companion during the chilly nights :), so I restart again with my favorite soup – Minestrone soup. A nutritious and yummy soup that will keep you asking for more 🙂 This recipe is adapted from chef Usha Bail’s recipe.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes – 6
• Carrot – 1
• Onion – 1
• Garlic – 2-3 flakes
• Cloves, a few 
• Kidney beans (Rajma) – 2 tbsp
• Cooked pasta ( I used Macroni )  – 2 tbsp
• Oil  or ghee – 2 tbsp
• Flour – 2 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Pepper powder, to taste
• Milk – 1 cup
• Water – 4 cups
• For garnishing
  • Bread croutons
  • Grated cheese – 2 tbsp
  • Cream – 2 tbsp

Method

• Soak the beans overnight and wash and cook until tender
• Chop the tomatoes, onion, carrot and garlic
• Heat the oil or ghee in a pressure cooker, and add onion, garlic and clove
• Fry until the onion is light gold in color
• Add the tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes become soft and mushy
• Add flour and fry until the raw smell of the flour disappears
• Pour 4 cups of water, add salt, sugar and pepper powder
• Pressure cook for 1-2 whistles (around 10 minutes)
• Allow the mixture to cool and blend in a mixer and keep aside
• Mix in milk, cooked beans and pasta and bring to a boil
• Garnish with grated cheese, bread croutons and a dollop of cream

Enjoy 🙂

 

 

Apple and Vegetable Soup

Apple and Vegetable soup is a nutritious and delicious soup that can be enjoyed by the entire family. At first, I was skeptical to try out a soup that has apples in it, but the soup turned out to be yummy 😊 This is from my mom’s collection of recipes by Chandri Bhatt.

Ingredients

• Apples –  2 medium sized
• Potatoes – 2 medium sized
• Cauliflower, chopped – 2 cups
• Onion – 1
• Butter – 2 tbsp
• Mint leaves – 2 tbsp
• Water – 1 1/2 litres
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Milk – 1/4 cup
• Option, heavy cream – 1/4 cup or additional milk – 1/2 cup
• Mint leaves, for garnishing

Method

• Peel and chop the apples and potatoes
• Peel and chop the onion
• Heat the butter in a pressure cooker and sauté the onions for a few minutes
• Add potatoes, cauliflower and mint leaves and sauté for a couple of minutes
• Add the apples and 1 1/2 litres of water
• Pressure cook for 1-2 whistles for around 10-15 minutes
• Allow the mixture to cool down and then blend in a mixer
• Add salt, pepper, cream or milk and simmer for a few minutes
  • Note: Do not boil the soup just simmer it and keep the soup hot
• Serve hot garnished with mint leaves

Enjoy the delicious soup enriched with apples and flavoured with refreshing mint 🙂

Spring Onion Soup

  

There are times when we crave for a soup – on a cold evening, on a holiday while watching TV or to cook something tasty and healthy ! Try out this delicious spring onion soup with potato and cheese ! This is adapted from Jyoti N Parekh’s recipe. 

Serves : 4

Ingredients

• Spring onion – one bunch 
• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 1 small potato, finely chopped 
• Grated cheese – 2 tbsp
• Butter – 2 tbsp
• Water – 3 1/2 cups
• Salt and pepper, to taste 
• For garnishing : Finely chopped tomatoes, spring onion greens and cream 

Method 

• Wash the spring onion well and chop finely, separating the white part and the green part. Keep aside some of the greens for garnishing 
• Chop the onions into fine pieces
• Melt the butter in a pressure cooker, add the onions and the chopped spring onion white portion, and sauté until the onions are slightly browned 
• Add the potato, spring onion greens and fry for a few minutes
• Add water, cheese, salt and pepper and pressure cook for 1-2 whistles 
• Once the mixture cools down, purée in a blender or mixer 
• Heat the puréed mixture again and garnish with the spring onion greens, tomatoes and a dollop of cream 

Enjoy 😊

Beetroot Soup

Creamy and delicious beetroot soup ! This is adapted from Jyoti N Parekh’s recipe.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3/4 kg tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 2 small beets
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp wheat flour/ corn flour / millet flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

• Cut the beets, carrot, onion, tomatoes and garlic into big pieces and pressure cook, adding enough water to immerse the vegetables
• Let the vegetables cool and then make a puree
• Melt butter, add flour and stir for a minute
• Add milk and stir until saucy
• Mix in the vegetable puree and add the salt and pepper
• At this stage, you can adjust the seasoning and add additional water if you would like to dilute the soup
• Simmer the soup for at least 10 minutes

Serve hot and enjoy 🙂

 

 

Broccoli Beet Carrot Tomato Soup

I had lots of left over broccoli, beets and carrots. I decided to whip up something healthy and experimented with this soup. I did not expect the soup to be this tasty but all of us at home enjoyed it 😊

Note: This recipe is tagged as a toddler friendly recipe, but I would recommend you to adjust the salt and spice level according to your toddler’s taste

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized broccoli crowns
• 5-6 baby carrots
• 2 mini beets or 1 small beetroot
• 1 tomato
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1 tbsp oil or ghee
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Chop all the vegetables into medium sized chunks
• Pressure cook all the vegetables adding sufficient water for 2-3 whistles
• Allow to cool down and then blend in a blender to a smooth paste
• Heat the oil or ghee and add the corn flour. Fry till you get a nice aroma
• Add the milk and keep stirring until a thick paste is formed
• Add the vegetable puree, salt, pepper and garam masala
• Mix well and simmer for at least 10 minutes

Enjoy the soup with your favorite accompaniment 😊

Beetroot Carrot Walnut Soup

A yummy and healthy soup, which is a an enhancement of the carrot walnut soup. This soup is really simple to make and can be enjoyed by kids as well.  You can adjust the spice if you make it for your kids.

Note: This recipe is tagged as a toddler friendly recipe, but I would recommend you to adjust the salt and spice level according to your toddler’s taste

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• Carrots, chopped – 2 cups

• Beetroot, chopped – 1 cup

• Walnuts – 1/2 cup
• Fennel seeds – 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Ghee/Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Onions, chopped – 1 small onion
• Ginger, chopped – 2 tbsp
• Green chillies, chopped – 1 tsp
• Black peppercorns, crushed – 2 tsp
• Water –6 cups approx.
• Garam masala – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method

• Heat oil or ghee in a pan and saute the fennel seeds and cumin seeds
• Add the onion, ginger and green chillies and saute for 1 more minute
• Add the carrots, beetroot and saute for a few more minutes

• Add walnuts, black pepper, salt, and water and bring to a boil

• Simmer for 10 minutes till the carrots and beets are well cooked and soft
• After the mixture cools down, blend in an electric blender. The mixture can be a little coarse, it need not be a very fine paste
• Bring to a boil again and add the garam masala. At this stage you can check the seasoning and correct the salt and spice

Sit back and warm up with your soup 🙂

Carrot & Potato Soup

This is a yummy soup that can be enjoyed in the cold weather. This is one of my mom’s collections. The original recipe is by Fifie Mendonca.

Note: This recipe is tagged as a toddler friendly recipe, but I would recommend you to adjust the salt and spice level according to your toddler’s taste

Ingredients

• Carrot, medium sized – 1
• Potato, medium sized – 1
• Tomato, medium – 1/2
• Coarsely powdered cashewnuts – 2 tbsp
• Onion, medium – 1/4
• Butter – 1 tbsp
• Water – 4 cups
• Salt and pepper – to taste

Method

• Peel and grate the carrot and potato
• Boil the tomatoes for a couple of minutes and puree the tomato
• Grind the onion to a fine paste
• In a pan, add the butter and fry the onion paste till it turns light brown
• Add the grated carrot and potato and fry until the raw smell disappears
• Mix in the tomato puree and the powdered cashewnuts
• Pour in the water and add the pepper powder and salt
• Pressure cook for 5 to 10 minutes
• Pour out the delicious soup into individual bowls and garnish with fresh mint leaves

Enjoy and warm up with the soup 🙂

Tomato, Carrot, Onion Soup

Note: This recipe is tagged as a toddler friendly recipe, but I would recommend you to adjust the salt and spice level according to your toddler’s taste

Ingredients

• Tomatoes – 6
• Carrot – 1
• Onion – 1
• Garlic – 2-3 flakes (small)
• Cinnamon, powdered – 1 tsp
• Cloves – 4
• Milk – 1 cup
• Water – 4 cups
• Mint – 2 heaped tbsp
• Maida – 2 heaped tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil – 1 1/2 tbsp
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Pepper – 1 tsp
• Cilantro and bread croutons for garnishing

Method:

Basic Preparation:

Chop tomatoes, onion, and garlic.  Grate the carrot

Preparing the soup:

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the cinnamon and cloves. Fry for a while, and add the onion, garlic and mint leaves. Fry till the onion becomes golden brown in color. Add tomatoes and carrot and fry till the tomatoes are mushy. At this stage, water may ooze out of the tomatoes. Add maida and fry till the raw smell of onion disappears. Add three cups water, salt, sugar and pepper and pressure cook for 10 minutes. At this stage, the pressure will build up and it might also reach the stage of 1 whistle. In either case, you can switch off the cooker.

Allow the mixture to cool for at least 10-15 minutes and then blend in a blender to a fine paste.  Add one cup water, one cup milk and heat well for 5-7 minutes.

Serve hot, garnished with cilantro and bread croutons.

Enjoy 🙂

Carrot Walnut Soup

This is a healthy and refreshing soup packed with the goodness of carrots and walnuts. This soup is really simple to make and can be enjoyed on a cold rainy day.

Note: This recipe is tagged as a toddler friendly recipe, but I would recommend you to adjust the salt and spice level according to your toddler’s taste

Ingredients

• Carrots chopped – 1 cup
• Walnuts – 1/4 cup
• Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Onions, chopped – 1 tbsp
• Ginger, chopped – 1 tbsp
• Green chillies, chopped – 1 tsp
• Black peppercorns, crushed – 1 tsp
• Water – 500 ml
• Garam masala – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• A bunch of coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

• Heat ghee in a pan and saute the fennel seeds.
• Add the onion, ginger and green chillies and saute for 1 more minute
• Add the carrots and saute for a few more minutes
• Add walnuts, black pepper, salt, and water and bring to a boil
• Simmer for 10 minutes till the carrots are well cooked and soft
• After the mixture cools down, blend in an electric blender
• Bring to a boil again and add the garam masala. At this stage you can check the seasoning and correct the salt and spice
• Garnish with coriander leaves

Sit back and warm up with your soup 🙂

Pomegranate Soup

This is a refreshing soup with a tangy taste. If you love Indian chaat, you will enjoy this soup. It is very quick and easy to prepare. Once again, the source for this recipe is my mom’s collection.

Ingredients

• Pomegranate juice – 500 ml
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Finely chopped ginger – 1/2 tbsp
• Roasted and crushed cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Ghee- 1 tbsp
• Red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala – 1/2 tsp

Method

Note: I used store bought 100% pomegranate juice.You can also use freshly prepared pomegranate juice made at home. If so, please filter the seeds.

Heat ghee in a pan and add the ginger and cumin seeds. Once you get a nice aroma, add the pomegranate juice, red chilly powder, crushed cumin seeds, and garam masala. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt at the very end and check if the seasoning needs any adjustment. Serve hot and enjoy 🙂