Vegan Gumbo

Gumbo... I read somewhere that in western Africa it is used to refer Okra. It is a very smoky, tangy, soupy broth served with a little rice. I heard it's first reference in the movie Forrest Gump. I Actually tasted it recently when I visited New Orleans. Gumbo is usually non-vegetarian, We got lucky as we found this wonderful place in New Orleans which served Vegan Gumbo and to our good luck, it was introduced just three days before we visited the beautiful city.

I have a perfect and natural substitute for liquid smoke in this recipe. Try it, you will be surprised. 

It is a very simple recipe. So let me get to it fast.

Prep time: 10-15 mins.

Cook time: 40 mins.

Servings: 3 - 4.

Ingredients:

1. Onions - 1 cup, finely chopped.
2. Tomatoes - 1 cup finely chopped or 1 to 2 tbsp paste.
3. Garlic -  5 cloves minced or grated
4. Okra/ladies finger -  4 cups cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5. Red Beans - 1/2 cup cooked. 
6. Rice - Cooked, about 1/4 cup per serving
7. Dried Thyme - 1/2 tsp.
8. Dried Rosemary - 1/2 tsp.
9. Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
10. Dried Red Chilli -  1, choose the heat level for the chilli you are comfortable with. 
11. Nutmeg - grate a little powder.
12. Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tbsp
13. Dijon Mustard - 1 to 2 tbsp based on the flavor you may like.
14. Ground Pepper - To taste
15. Chilli powder - To taste
16. Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp or a little more, adjust according to how it tastes after the broth cooks
17. Salt - To taste
18. Oil - 2 tbsp.
19. Water - add enough to cover all the ingredients in the vessel and a little more to make good broth. Ready to eat broth must be around lentil soup consistency.
20. Soya nuggets - a few cooked  (optional)
21. Vegan Balls -  a few (optional)

Procedure:

• Heat oil in a medium sized vessel which can fit all the above ingredients and fit water as well.
•  Add garlic and all dried herbs except dried chilli. Saute for a few seconds.
• Add onions, a pinch of salt and saute for a few minutes till it starts to turn slightly brown. Add nutmeg powder, mix well.
• Add tomatoes and cook till it softens.
• Add okra, beans and add water and let it cook. If you use soya nuggets, now is the time to add.
• Now mix vinegar, soya sauce and dijon mustard in a bowl and add it to the vessel.
• Take the red chilli and on an open stove hold it on the fire. Let it smoke a little bit (be careful not to burn it completely). In a mortar now make a coarse powder of this chilli and add it to the mixture. If you do not have a mortar, you can chop the chilli finely and drop it in the broth.
• Add enough salt pepper and chilli powder and let the broth cook till okra is well done. Be careful with salt, you also add soya sauce , hence add salt, only if necessary 
• After gumbo is cooked, serve it in a bowl with a dollop of rice over it. If you are using vegan balls, now just drop them in the broth. You can garnish it with scallions or parsley or cilantro.

Tip:

Burning the chilli and adding the powder to the broth gives it a very nice smokey flavor. This a great substitute for liquid smoke. 

Udon Noodle Soup

Hi friends... It has been a long time since I updated the blog with any recipe. Sorry about that. From now on I will try to be regular. Since it is winter and all I want is a hot bowl of soup, I thought why not put up the recipe of this simple yet delicious soup. It if filling but not heavy. Good for dinner or lunch, just add some tofu to it and it is a complete meal. This soup calls for some sea weed and miso. Miso is fermented barley paste. You can get miso from your local Asian stores or whole foods market. There a a few different kinds of miso, but if you haven't tried it please get the white miso, it is very soft in taste, other types may get a bit over whelming. Sea weed can be omitted from the recipe, but this makes the soup a lot flavourful, try using it if you haven't tried it yet.  I have not used udon noodles in this soup [the picture], I ran out of them and had to have this soup, so managed with what i could get from the store near by. If you do not get udon noodles, you can use any thick noodle for this soup. Enough of me yappi'n...So here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1. Udon noodles - 1 bundle, cooked as per the instructions on the bag.
2. spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. carrots - 1, peeled and finely chopped
4. Garlic - 3 pods well minced
5. Bell peppers - 1/2 a cup of any or all colours mixed, finely chopped 
6. Sea weed - 1 sheet
7. Miso - 2 to 3 tsp
8. Tofu - 1/2 cup cubes [optional]
9. Oil - 2 tsp
10. White or Rice vinegar - 2 to 3 tsp
11. Soy Sauce - 3 tsp
12. Salt and pepper - to taste
13. Water - enough to make a thin borth of all the ingredients and boil noodles

Method:

• Put the noodles to cook as per instructions on the bag it came in. Make sure to add adequate salt to the water to slat the noodles.
• Heat oil in a pot which can fit in all the ingredients.
• Add garlic, carrots, spring onions, bell peppers one after the other sauteing each for a few seconds till the sweat.
• Add a pinch of salt to let them cook faster.
• Add enough water to make a broth it has to be watery. Let the water come to a boil.
• Now add vinegar and soy sauce and let it cook for a few minutes.
• Now mix miso with a bit of water to make the paste easily soluble in the broth so that it does not form lumps. Make sure you do not make it very watery. Add miso to the broth and let it cook for a few seconds.
• Now tear the sea weed sheet into a few pieces and add to the soup. stir well.
• Add the cooked and drained noodles to the broth stir ... turn the stove off. Taste it if you need salt and pepper.. if you do, this is the time to add it. Miso and soy sauce are pretty salty, you have to be careful with salt when you use both of these ingredients together. let it sit for a few minutes and serve.

Lemon Coriander Soup

I am sure you all must have tasted this delicious soup in some Indo-Chinese restaurants. It is a very simple soup to make it will get ready in about 20 minutes. Add some quinoa/barley into the soup it will become a one pot meal. I tasted this for the first time when our friends Venu and Usha took us to a restaurant near their house. So, without further adieu, i give you the recipe for this light yet satisfying soup.

Perp time: 15 Minutes

Cook time: upto 20 minutes

Serving: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Lemon Juice - 1/4 cup
2. Coriander - a handful, not too much though.
3. Green chili - 2 to 3 (more if you like it  very hot)
4. Vinegar - upto 3 tsp
5. Garlic - 4 pods grated/minced or upto 3 tsp paste
6. Water - upto 6 cups
7. Tofu - 1 cup diced (optional)
8. Mushroom - 1/2 cup finely chopped
9. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
10. quinoa/barley - 1/4 cup (optional) [if you choose to use barley, soak it for 4 hours prior to use]
11. Corn Starch - 2 tsp (use only if not using quinoa or barley)
12. Salt - to taste
13. Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

• Heat oil in a pot which can hold all the ingredients.
• Saute garlic and spring onions for a minute.
• Add Mushroom and saute for a minute.
• Add water and 2 tsp vinegar and add quinoa or barley if you are using them and let it boil. 
• In the mean while, take the coriander, green chili, 1 tsp vinegar and two pinches of salt and make a paste of it.
• Add tofu and the paste to the soup and stir to mix well.
• Now add the paste, salt and boil for 5 minutes.
• If you are not using quinoa or barley, mix the corn starch in cold water and mix it in the soup while adding water in the beginning. 
• Add half of the lemon juice, stir and give it a taste, if it is not sour enough, add more till you get your desired taste. Add salt mix and enjoy this soup hot.

Tip:

If you do not eat green chili, you can eliminate it and use pepper powder instead. just add some cracked pepper in to the soup after it cooks and stir well.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Hmm... Yes, I know, I know... have been lazy again. So to compensate that, I am going to post a mouthwatering, easy recipe which will make good use of left over rice. You can make fresh rice as well, however, this will taste better with a day's old rice. My friend Nivedita told me that she ate this is in KL when she went to visit her brother, since then I had only been dreaming of it's taste, I can make it now :)... to make it more interesting, you can serve it in a cored pineapple half, not only will the presentations look splendid, rice will absorb more flavour. Also you can add soy nuggets or tofu to make it a complete one pot meal.

Prep time: 10 Mins 

Cook time: 10 Mins, (If the rice is ready)
Servings: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Cooked rice -  2 cups
2. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. Garlic - 4 pods, minced/grated, or 2 tsp paste
4. Ginger - 1 tsp grated/minced or 1/2 tsp paste
5. Pineapple - Fresh 1 cup coarsely chopped or 1 14oz can pieces
6. Tofu - diced, 1 cup (Optional)
7. Soy sauce - 2 tsp if dark if a lighter use a bit more
8. Red chili flakes - 1/2 tsp or to taste
9. Salt - to taste
10. Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
11. oil - 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric - 1 pinch

Method:

• Heat oil in a wok or a vessel which can fit all the ingredients.
• Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few seconds and add finely chopped spring onions, keep sauteing for a minute.
• Mix soy sauce, chili flakes, salt, turmeric and sugar in a small cup and set aside.
• Add pineapple and saute for a minute. Saute Tofu for a minute as well.
• Add rice and mix all the ingredients together
• Add the sauce mixture to the wok and mix till everything is well blended.
• Serve and eat hot. 

Suggestions:

As I suggested earlier, you can serve this rice in a cored pineapple half..yummm!! 

Tips:

You can add 1/8 tsp of pineapple essence to the dish, it will make the entire preparation smell more pineappily :)

Quinoa Salad

Talk about healthy food and this is what comes to mind. Quinoa* is considered a complete grain, gives a lot of nutrition in the form of protein, carbs vitamins and a few minerals. I love it due the ease of use and the way it blends with anything makes it very versatile. Make a puliogare by adding it instead of rice or make a salad out of quinoa, it tastes good as anything. I also see a philosophical point here, acceptance makes a human being blend and mix into so many tastes and flavours. Enough of my philosophy here goes a very healthy recipe.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes for quinoa to cook.

servings: 2 for a meal and upto 6 as a starter

Ingredients:

Quinoa 1/2 cup cooked. Cook according to instructions on the bag. From the picture you can see, I have added, Red, yellow and green bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, jalapeno and avocado. I have also added green leaf and romaine lettuce. I have diced them into tiny bits and mixed every thing together. Crushed a few tortilla chips and I topped this incredible salad with Honey mustered dressing, which i give below and put a spoonful of feta cheese just for the heck of it... :D.... As I have been saying, with salads, sky is the limit. Use whatever you think will go together. I have used approx 1/2 cup of each vegetable.

For honey mustard:

1. Mustard paste - 1/4 cup

2.Honey - 1/4 cup, or slightly more (you can use less too)

3. Vinegar - 3 tsp

4. Salt - 1/2 to 3/4 tsp

5. Pepper powder- 1 tsp (more if you want)

6. Chilly flakes - 1/2 tsp (optional)

7. Oregano dry - 1/2 tsp (optional)

8. Oil - 2 tsp (optional)

Method: 

Combine every thing in a bowl by whisking the ingredients with a fork or a whisk, pour on salad, toss lightly and enjoy.

* look in glossary.

Shevid Pulao/Pilaf/Pulos

Shiveet is dill weed in farsi. This Pulao is traditionally made with black eyed peas (alasande/alasandalu) and dill weed. I substituted lentils for black eyed peas as i did not have them on hand. A very aromatic item. When you cook this, you will get hungrier just by smelling the aroma. I feel like Tom from Tom and Jerry cartoons, floating to the kitchen with the aroma, if you can picture what i am saying. A complete one pot meal and it will certainly make your guests go mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! Just by smelling it. Easy to cook and certain to impress, you will be a hit when you make this pulao for your friends and family... here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Servings: 3 to 4

Ingredients:

1. Lentils dry - 3/4 cup

2. Raw basmati rice - 1 cup

3. Onions - 1 big, thinly sliced

4. Garlic - 2 pods grated or minced or 1 tsp paste

5. Ginger - 1 inch piece grated or 1 tsp paste

6. Fresh mint - 1 tbsp, finely chopped

7. Coriander - a handful, finely chopped

8. Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp powder or 1/2 inch stick

9. Cardamom - 3 popped, with the skin. just open it by pressing hard on the top, the bud must be open.

10. Clove - 3 pods or less than 1/4 tsp powder

11. Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp

12. Bay leaf - 2 

13. Cashew or Pistachio or Almonds- broken about 1 tbsp (optional)

14. Potato - Medium sized, sliced about 1/2 cm thick. (optional)

15. Oil - 2 tbsp

16. Salt - to taste

17. Pepper powder - 1 tsp or to taste

17. Water - 2 1/2 to 3 cups (depends on kind of basmati and how long lentils soaked)

Method:

1. Wash and soak lentils for atleast 3 hours or soak them in very hot water for 1/2 hour. Wash and soak rice with 1 tsp salt for half hour.

2. Heat oil in a big pot on medium heat. Add cinnamon, clove, cardamom, fennel and bay leaf and saute for a few seconds.

3. Add onions with a little salt, saute for a few seconds, put the lid on and let it get golden brown.

4. Now add the nuts if you are using any or all of them and saute till they get slightly brown.

5. Add ginger, garlic and mint and saute for a few seconds. Add sufficient salt and pepper for the whole dish and mix in well. Keep in mind that rice was also soaked with salt.

6. Add dill and saute till it wilts.

7. Drain rice and lentils, add them and saute for a few seconds so that oil coats the rice and lentils well. Be sure to do it gently, so that you break as little basmati grains as possible.

8. In a another vessel or in a rice cooker, layer potatoes on bottom and side and spoon out the pulao mixture into this vessel.

9. Add water and chopped cilantro/coriander to the vessel and cook it till well done and pulao is ready to eat.

Serving Suggestions:

It is aromatic and slightly bland. So you can jazz it up by serving a vegetable  or NV korma or raita on side. I eat it just the way it is with home made yogurt.

For NV and Andhra recipes, please visit, my pal Sruthi's Blog...

Tips:

1. It will be good to cook this in a rice cooker, rice cooks well this way. You can add about 1/2 cup less water in rice cooker. It generally depends on how much your basmati rice absorbs water. So use water accordingly.

2. If you cook on the stove, cover the vessel half way through and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 mins, just stick a fork or spoon to the bottom of the vessel, if it feels dry and like potatoes\ rice is sticking to the bottom, turn the stove off.

3. Let it cool for 15 minutes with the lid open, this will ensure the rice does not get sticky. Take a big serving platter in which all of pulao will fit in, and reverse the vessel of pulao in it. In order to do so, Cover the vessel with serving platter, hold both vessel's mouth and platter together with a cloth so you don't burn your hand and invert the vessel. Pat the vessel and the platter on a flat surface and lift the vessel up. You will see, the pulao comes out in the shape of the vessel, makes it look beautiful to serve like that. Before you serve it, make sure you you mix it well.

Bisi Bele Bhat/ Rice and split lentil porridge

Bisi = hot, Bele = Lentil, Bhat = a spicy rice dish. This is a spicy treat, a complete one pot meal which fills one up for a whole day. Made on special occasions for its taste, this dish is sure to make your guests go wow!!! when you serve this. This recipe originally is from Karnataka, India. Every household will have their own recipe, I have borrowed from two families to make a new one of my own. This recipe has been passed down from mother to daughter from ages, however, I have taken a ingredient or two from my mother in law as well :D.

Prep time - 1 hour

Cook time - 1/2 hour to 2 1/2 depending on the method adopted.

servings - 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1. Split yellow lentils (toor dal) - 1 cup

2. Raw Rice - 1 cup (use Indian rice (sona masoori), it is less starchy which is good for this recipe).

All the vegetables, roughly chopped. The choice of vegetables are of your own, you can add a wide array of them. Try experimenting with them, however, do not add extremely watery vegetables and bitter gourd.

3. Potato - 1 small

4. Green beans fresh.frozen - 1/4 cup

5. Green peas fresh/frozen - 1/4 cup

6. Carrots - 1/4 cup

7. Bottle gourd or snake gourd or pumpkin or all of them or any combination - 1/4 cup

8. Cilantro - a handful

9. Tamarind Paste - to taste or 1  to 2 tsp.

10. Salt to taste

11. Water - as required.

12. Groundnuts/peanuts shelled - 1/4 cup

For dry roasting (bisi bele bhat masala): (this will make more than sufficient for one use can be used for making sambar too. Also adjust quantities according to your taste) If you have no patience to make this powder, use store bought masala..

1. Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup

2. Cumin seeds - 1/4 cup

3. Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp

4. Poppy seeds - 2.5 tsp

5. Urad Dal (split black gram) - 1 to 1.5 tsp

6. Chana dal (split chickpeas) - 1 to 1.5 tsp

7. Raw rice - 1/2 tsp

8. Dry red chillies - 8 to 10 (depending on how hot you want it. if you like it less hot, reduce the amount)

9. Cloves - 4 to 5 or powder, 1/4 tsp

10. Cinnamon - 1 big piece broken or 1/2 tsp powder

11. Star Anise - just 2 segments of  the flower. use max 1/2 of a flower (optional)

12. Dry coconut flakes/powder/pieces - 1/4 cup
13. Black pepper whole or powder - 1/2 tsp 

Tempering:

1. Oil - 2 tbsp

2. Curry leaves - 1 string

3. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

4. Asfoetida - 1/4 tsp

5. Pearl onions - 1/2 bag or finely slice a medium onion. (Optional) 
6. Dry red chillies - 2 broken into half

Method:

1. Wash lentils and rice and set aside.

2. On low medium heat, dry roast all the masala ingredients one after the other, roasting coconut in the end. Let it cool to touch and make a dry powder of it. 

3. If not using onions, make the tempering in the pressure cooker and add all the vegetables to it one after the other and saute them for sometime by adding slat so that they sweat. Add pea nuts, rice, lentil, tamarind paste  prepared powder and more than sufficient water, all the ingredients must have drowned well, when you put your hand vertically on the surface of the ingredients, water must immerse your fingers. set it on the stove for upto 4 whistles, depending on how fast the lentils generally cook for you. Your bisi bele bhat is ready after the cooker cools.

4. If using Onions, saute them separately and mix them in after the bisibele bhat cooks.

5. If you do not have a pressure cooker. Soak the lentils for atleast 2 hours in hot water and follow the regular procedure of making this recipe. It will take minimum 2 hours for the lentils to cook completely.. you will need patience with this method. Add a glass more water than pressure cooking method and let it cook om medium heat till done.

Serving suggestions:

This goes well with a yogurt or yogurt vegetable dip called "raita". It can also be served with spicy boondi (chickpea flour spicy mixture). 

Tips:

1. Do not use tomato, it alters the taste to a very large extent.

2. Do not use, garlic or ginger, does not go well with this recipe.

3. Do not use vegetables like brinjal/eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, corn and etc.

4. If using pearl onions, please take the core out before you cook them, some may not like the taste of it.
5. Shortcut, use smabar powder in lieu of masala. it may not taste as fresh n spicy, however, is a quick fix. 

Basic Bean Soup

Healthy Bean Soups

Bean and lentil soups are protein heaven for vegetarians. They provide us with good amount of protein and other essential vitamins and minerals. I hear people complain about not getting enough time to cook after they come home from a very hectic day of work, so they are unable to eat healthy. But Guess what? Eating healthy is not difficult, it is just training your brain to understand that healthy vegetarian food can be scumptily upmptious. I hope my blog gives people some good recipes so that they can eat healthy and get in shape.

Beauty of bean soups is that they are highly filling and satisfying after a hard day. When you need all the energy and you have no mood to cook 10 different varieties to get the same nutrition. They are also good when someone is trying to recover from illness.. yummy tasty bean soups are a HUGE staple in our house hold. Men love it... i am still unable to understand the relationship between beans and mens' taste buds... neways, below is the recipe.

(This is a basic soup, i will post Photographs and variations shortly... please bear with me. Thank you)

Prep Time: 15 to 20 minutes approx (includes cleaning) 

Cook time: 1/2 hour to 2 hours

Servings: 6 approx 

Basic Bean soup...

Ingredients:

1. Beans of your choice - 1 16oz can
(pink, pinto, navy, black, red, great northern and many more) i buy the Goya cans. 1 can will make about 4 big bowls of soup.
2. Celery - 2 Stalks
3. Onion - 1 big or 2 medium sized
4. Garlic - 3 to 4 pods (can be reduced)
5. Tomatoes - 2 to 3 or 1/2 of 6 oz can of tomato paste
6. Cumin Powder - 1 to 1/2 tsp
7. Dry parsley - 2 tsp
8. Dry Oregano - 1 1/2 tsp
9. Black Pepper powder- to taste
10. chilli/cayenne/paprika powder - to taste
11. Salt - to taste
12. Oil - 2 tsp

13. Water enough to cook the beans, please eye ball it. It depends on how thick or watery you like the soup to be.

Method:

1. Take a big pot and heat oil in it. Turn the stove on medium heat.
2. Add the parsley and oregano and saute it for 15 seconds, this infuses the flavours of the dry herbs and promotes deeper flavour.
3. Add garlic and saute for about 15 seconds to infuse the flavour.
4. Add onions and half a tsp of slat saute and let it get transparent.
5. Add celery to it and saute for a few minutes.
6. Now add cumin powder, chilli powder, pepper powder and saute for a few minutes.
7. Add tomatoes and saute till it gets soft and leaves out moisture. If using paste, you may have to add a little water and let it cook for about 3 minutes.
8. Add your choice of beans from the can without draining it. Draining the beans will take away some essential nutrients. Drain the beans only if you are concerned of the gas it may form after you eat them.
9. Saute all the ingredients for 2 to 3 minutes add sufficient water and let it cook for about 1 hour atleast and the soup is ready to eat. If you want it more tangy, add some lime or lemon juice.

Tips:
1.You can prepare it ahead of time and leave it in a slow cooker. since you don't have to chop everything fine, you can actually finish the chopping and sauteing in 15 minutes when done simultaneously. so just do the sauteing and go to work, come back and cook it for an hour or put it in a slow cooker before you go to work and you have a meal ready to eat.
2. Cook it for more than an hour for additional taste, if u are in a hurry to eat, it can be ready in just 1/2 an hour (cooking).
3. Never pressure cook these soups, it will destroy all the wonderful flavors.
4. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.
5. It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
6. Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.
7. Anise root or fennel root can be used in any of the bean and lentil soups. They add a lot of aroma and unique flavour to the dish. Add about half a cup pf any of these roots.

Serving Suggetion:

You can serve almost all soups with some bread, like ciabatta, garlic bread etc. You may also garnish these soups with variety of (seasoned/plain)croutons available in the market. Just be careful when you add salt to your soup, as croutons are salty if you wish to use them in your soup as a garnish.

Vegetable Bean Soup

This Bean Soup has a lot more wholesome goodness... It includes veggies, so more fiber, more vitamins and minerals. Here goes the recipe.

Prep Time: 20 minutes approx (includes cleaning)

Cook time: 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hour

Serving: 6 to 8 approx

1. Basic Bean Soup Recipe

(chop the following veggies coarsely)

2. Zucchini - 3/4 cup

3. Carrots - 3/4 cup

4. Any kind of squash - 3/4 cup (optional)

5. Red/green/yellow/orange/purple bell pepper or (all of them) or (any of them) - 3/4 cup

6. Green beans - 3/4 cup

Method:

1. Saute all these veggies one by one after sauteing celery.

2. Now add beans from the can and continue as in Basic bean soup recipe.

Tips:

1. Chop the veggies coarse it will save you time. If you have time on hands you can chop 'em as fine as you like.

2. It is essential for the veggies to sweat a little in the pot before adding beans. It enhances flavour.

3. If you would like to cook beans at home. Then, soak the overnight and then pressure cook them with some salt for upto 4 whistles. Do not over cook beans as they will have to cook in soup too and flavour gets lost by over pressure cooking.

4. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.

5.It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.

6. Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.

 

 

Greens and Beans Soup

This soup has All the goodness of Beans and smooth flavour of Greens such as Spinach and etc.


Prep time, cook time and serving same as vegetable bean soup.

Method:

1. Follow the Basic Bean Soup Method and add a whole lot of chopped greens such as Spinach/Collard Greens/Kale or all of them to the soup.

2. You can combine a few veggies and greens as you may wish and make an even more yummy and and nutritious soup.

Tips:

1. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.

2. For Garnish, add some croutons. You get them in variety of flavours. Just watch out for the salt in the soup if your are planning to add croutons. They are pretty salty.

3.It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
4.Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.

Some More variation to Bean Soups:

1. You may soak barley for 4 hours and add it to these soups. Half a cup of barley goes a long way. This will also give additional protein and carbohydrates. Barley is good for Urinary system, so add it in your diet once in a while.

2. Quinoa is another super grain full of iron, protein and some carbs. you can find it in health food stores/organic produce stores and Whole foods stores. Cooking quinoa is fairly simple, just rinse and add it to your soup. half a cup will do. I will post a lot of quinoa recipes and pictures shortly...

 

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup unlike bean soups is easier to digest and has good amount of protein. The recipe below makes a whole lot of soup. So you can cook one day and eat for 2 to 3 days. Great one pot meal, which is good for bachelors and working families. It does not compromise on nutrition and flavour...

Prep Time: approx 20 minutes (includes cleaning)

Cook Time: 1/2 to 2 hours

Serving: approx 8 to 10.

Ingredients:

1. Lentils - 2 cups dry or 2 16oz cans.

2. Onion - 2 medium or 3 small.

3. Celery - 2 to 3 stalks

4. Garlic - 3 to 5 pods, depending on your taste. grated or finely chopped or crushed.

5. Tomatoes - 2 to 3 or 1/2 of 6 oz can of tomato paste

6. Cumin powder - 2 to 3 tsp

7. Fennel powder - 1 tsp

8. Parsley dry - 2 tsp

9. Oregano dry - 2 tsp

10. Carrots - 1/2 cup coarsely chopped

11. Green beans - 1/2 cup coarsely chopped (you can use frozen)

12. Bell peppers any kind, preferably green and red - 1/2 cup

13. Plain yogurt - 3 to 4 tsp

14. Chilli/cayenne/paprika powder - to taste

15. Ground black pepper - to taste

16. Salt - to taste

17. Oil - 2 tsp

18. Water - sufficient to cook the soup, please eye ball and add more if needed.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a big pot. Use a thick bottomed pot and cook in medium heat.

2. Add all the dry herbs and saute for a few seconds.

3. Add garlic and saute for a few seconds.

4. Add onions and a little salt and saute for a few minutes, close the lid and let it get transparent.

5. Add celery, carrots, beans, and bell peppers one after the other. saute each of them for about 2 minutes.

6. Add cumin, fennel, chilli, and pepper powders and saute for 2 minutes.

7. Add tomatoes and let all of it sweat. it will take up to 4 minutes. if you are using paste, add some water and leave it for about 3 minutes.

8. Soak the lentils for atleast 1 hour or more. If using canned, you can omit soaking. if you had no time to soak, just rinse it and put it in the pot, saute it and add enough water for everything to cook.

9. Add enough salt and cook for about 1 and a half hour if unsoaked, 1 hour if soaked and 1/2 for canned lentils. If using canned, do not add any more salt until you taste it at the end.

10. Add yogurt and cook for a minute. Soup is ready to eat. You may add more yogurt if you like into individual bowls.

Tips:

If in hurry you can use high heat, however, make sure you stand near the stove. Simmer for 5 minutes before you turn the stove off for a little extra taste.

Variations:

1. You can add red lentils aswell. 
2. You can add 1/2 cup worth quinoa or barley to it. If using barely, make sure you soaked it atleast 4 hours prior to it's use.
3. Green leafy veggies and other veggies in the vegetable bean soup also go with this soup. However, the above given combination gives the best taste.

Aash

Aash:

This is a highly nutritious Iranian soup. Filled with lentils, chick peas, blacked eyed peas and wholesome goodness of a bunch of different greens make this soup very delicious. Aash basically means soup in Persian, this is a heavily aromatic and heavy in the tummy soup. Have a bowl full of this and you will forget eating for the rest of the day :D.

Prep time: 30 minutes approx (including cleaning) 

Cook time: 1/2 hr to 2 hrs.

Servings: 8 to 10 approx.

Ingredients:

1. Black eyed peas - 1 16oz can

2. Chick peas - 1 can 16oz or half if you don't want too much.

3. Lentils - 1 16 oz can.

4. Big onion - 1 or 2 small medium onions.

5. Garlic - 4 to 5 pods

6. Parsley - 2 tsp (dry) you can use fresh herbs if available.

7. Chives/scallions - 4 tsp(dry) if using scallions about 1/4 cup.

8. Dill weed - 1/4 cup

9. Cilantro/coriander - 1/4 cup

10. Mint Leaves - 1/4 cup

11. Spinach - 2 cups or more if you like

12.Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

13. Ground black pepper - to taste

14. Salt - to taste

15. Oil - 2tbsp

16. water - enough to cook, please eye ball it. approx 6 to 7 cups.

17. Kashk*/Wine vinegar/sour cream - 1/4 cup

*Kashk is a yogurt based ingredient, used in Persian cooking. You will find it at middle eastern stores or where a lot of middle eastern people shop for groceries. Only substitute it if you absolutely cannot find kashk. It is the main ingredient which gives this soup an unforgettable taste. It is salty, so when you add salt to the dish, add less so it gets adjusted when you add kashk.  It is generally found as white dry balls or now in liquid form. Next best substitute to Kashk is sour cream.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a big pot.

2. Saute all the dry herbs first for a few seconds.

3. Add Garlic and saute for few seconds.

4. Add onions saute for a few seconds and add salt mix and close it till it gets slightly golden brown.

5. Now add Mint, dill, parsley, chives, scallions, turmeric and saute for a few minutes.

6. Add spinach and let it wilt slightly.

7. add all the beans from the can, add sufficient water and let it cook for atleast 20 minutes.

9. Now add cilantro and cook for 2 minutes.

10. Add kashk and black pepper and cook for a 3 to 5 minutes.Aash is ready to eat.

Tips:

1. You can soak all the peas and lentils overnight and cook them using the above method. However, it will easily take up to 2 hours for it to finish cooking. if you do not have enough time, use the can version. It cooks a lot faster.

2. If you hate garlic. Do not chop or grate them into your dish. Just crush them and add them to the dish and pull them out when the cooking is done. you will have the garlic flavour but no garlic. This trick can be used for all the dishes which uses garlic.
3. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.
4.It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
5. Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.

Goes well with Persian naan, if you can't find it, you can use pita bread.