Hearty pumpkin soup

After watching Matt Preston's simple pumpkin soup on Masterchef Australia last night, I knew I had to make it. pumpkin happens to be my new favorite veggie, knocking cauliflower and potatoes off the list. I <3 the simple south Indian red pumpkin subzi. And to that I addthink buttermilk to make a yummy raita. And the usual sambar.

 But that's about how far I had gone with using the pumpkin in my food. This pumpkin soup gave me purpose.. More variety. I didn't follow the recipe shared by Matt Preston..I just did my own thing. And it turned out wonderfully fragrant, think, creamy and so delicious. 

Here's what I did

I had 1 whole red pumpkin (about 700 gms) and decided to use the entire thing. 

5 cloves of garlic

2 large onions

1 small potato

1 large carrot.. This is just for colour and of course the goodness..I somehow don't like the yellow of the pumpkin.

A generous sprinkling of cinnamon powder

A pinch of royal garam masala

Salt to taste

olive oil

maharashtrian garlic chutney powder as a relish..just before eating

As Matt Preston suggested, I cut up all the veggies into large chunks and placed them on my baking tray. Drizzled olive oil, sprinkled cinnamon powder, garam masala and salt and tossed well to incorporate the masalas. 

I put it into a 170 degree oven for 45 mins. Here I had a bit of a problem. I had cut the pumpkin into very large and thick slices so they were still raw at the end of 45 minutes. I decided to go with the slow / pressure cooker method that am most comfortable with.

 So I tossed all the beautifully cooked, slightly brown veggies with 3 small cups of water into a cooker. I dont have a gas connection so most of the cooking is on my induction cooktop. Set it on 'pressure cook' mode at 1000 degrees for 3 whistles.  With every whistle, the aroma filled the house and I was becoming more and more impatient. I just had to eat it! 

Once I opened the cooker, I hurriedly peeled the skin off the HOT pumpkin chunks, juggling them between both hands and blowing desperately to cool them. Yes.. I do get hopelessly impatient when it comes to tasting new food. :p 

Put the veggies under a fan to cool them, tossed them into my mixie and whiiirrrrrrrrrrr. The soup was ready. Thick and a beautiful light orange. I Quickly served it in a bowl, added a few pieces of paneer and a teaspoon full of the garlic chutney powder ( I love anything garlicky also. you can gladly omit this) 

Oh yummmm. Heaven. Polished off 2 bowls of the soup and am craving for more. 

The next time I make it, I will oven bake only the onions to get that beautiful, slightly burnt, sweet flavor going. All the other veggies will go straight into the pressure cooker. 

Gulpaote (gul- pao-tay)

This has been a favourite ever since I can remember eating sweets. And I like the one my grandmother makes.. none of the other versions even come close.  So this time, when she visited us, I got her to teach me how to make it. And its so simple. Took less than 20 minutes in all!

You need

1 measure fine sooji
1 measure dessicated fresh coconut
3/4 to 1 measure powdered jaggery (depending on how sweet you like it)
A little milk (to moisten sooji)
Ghee 1 cup

Heat ghee in a non stick pan. Add rooji and roast till it turns golden brown. Take it off the flame and det aside to cool.

Then heat jaggery ober a low flame, stirring constantly. Once it turns into a syrup, check for any impurities and strain if necessary.  While still on the flame, add the dessicated coconut to thw jaggwry syrup and allow it to cook in the syrup for a few minutes. 

In the meanwhile, thw sooji should have cooled down.  Add about 2 tbsp of milk (at room temperature) to the sooji and mix well. Allow it to rest for a max. Of 5 minutes.  By this time the coconut and jaggery mixture should have turned a beautiful golden brown and wonderfully fragrant. Add the moistend sooji to it and keep stirring to avoid any lumps.

Let it sit on a low flame, remembering to stir all the while, till the sooji soaks up all the jaggery and coconut syrup. Once done, it will start leaving the sides of the pan.  Take it off the heat, top it with a generous amount of ghee, mix well and let ut cool.

You can then made small laddoos or scoop it into a bowl and enjoy it.

Note:
1. I prefer using a deep nonstick kadhai as it tends to get messy.
2. You may add dry fruits and cardamom if you like it. I like the plain version the best.

If you tried it...tell me how it turned out!

Maalpua!!

Easy recipe + simple everyday ingredients + desperate craving is what pushed me to making this.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup maida
1 cup khoya
5-6 tbsp desi ghee (for frying the maalpuas)
warm water (to make the batter)

Make a thick sugar syrup by boiling the sugar in little water. keep stirring continuously and keep aside.

Add water to the maida and make a thick batter. Grate / powder the khoya and mix well with warm water to make a slightly thin batter. Mix both the batters and keep aside for about 15 minutes.

Heat the ghee in a deep vessel on low flame. Put scoops of batter in the ghee and fry till they turn golden brown on both sides.

Remove the golden maalpuas and strain the excess oil. Put them into the sugar syrup.

Place them on a plate and garnish with pistachios, almond and saffron. Serve hot!

Credits: Chef Marut Sikka for the simple recipe.
http://cooks.ndtv.com/listrecipesbyanc.asp?chef=Marut%20Sikka&pg=recipes

Chat Evening!

Bored of the regular fare of rice, rasam, rotis and subzi, Mom and I decided to cook up something different for dinner. And since all of us were craving for some street-style chats, chat it had to be! On the menu was Papdi chat and Pani puri.

We bought some puris for the pani puri, and papdis, thin (nylon) sev, chat masala and kala namak (black salt) from the local farsan store. Maa always has a stock of frozen green chutney and the marwadi sweet chutney which just has to be thawed and sufficient amount of water added.

Recipes for both the chutneys in my next post. Some pics for now :)

Boiled moong sprouts to make the snack healthier. This along with boiled potatoes 

(mixed with salt and chat masala was the filling for the pani puri and topping for the papdi chat)

Green chutney mixed with water and kala namak for the 'pani'

Papdi's neatly laid out on a plate with the boiled alu topping 

Now add the moong sprouts, finely chopped raw onions and a dash of green chutney 

Topping it with just a bit of meetha chutney

And finally the Sev!

The chat stall is all ready and loooksss soooo welcoming!

Kadhi (the kinds you eat with Dal khichadi)

This was for lunch yesterday..to satisfy one of my random cravings. And it got done in 5 minutes..not exaggerating.

Ingredients (for 2 people):
- Besan 2 tbsp
- curd or buttermilk 1 cup
- water 2 cups
- ginger & green chilli paste
- Dhania-jeera powder 1 tsp
- Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
- salt and sugar to taste
- Oil, mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves for seasoning

Mix the besan and curd together and ensure there are no knots. Add the water and mix well. Heat oil in a pan and prepare the seasoning. Add the ginger and green chilli paste and sauté for a minute. Add the besan+curd+water mixutre to it. Then add the DJ and RC powder, salt and sugar. Keep stirring. Switch off after 2 boils and serve steaming hot.

Bhakarwadi

One of my favourite snacks...typically Maharashtrian and a great blend of flavours.

Some random cookery show on a Kannada channel showed the recipe last afternoon. The list of ingredients that goes into the stuffing is endless! And by the time I could make note, they moved on to a new recipe :(

So much for being ambitious and wanted to try making the wadis at home. Am going to stick to the expert-made ones available in Prashant.

Layered Krackjack Pudding

I remember first eating this when i was about 3 or 4 years old made by one aunt of mine. Then Amma used to make it quite often. After 22 years, for the first time, I tried it and it turned out just the way I've always known it to be :D Thanks Maa for the Telephonic support!!!! (bear hug)

What you need:
- 1 litre of fresh milk
- 4 tbsp custard powder (vanilla flavour)
- 6-8 tbsp sugar
- 2 packets krackjack biscuits. You can use any biscuits you like!
- A deep bowl for setting the pudding
- a refrigerator
and of course hungry people who are watching you make it and can't wait to eat it!!! :D


In a bowl, add 4 tbsp custard powder, sugar and add enough milk to make it into a thin paste. Ensure that there are no lumps. Boil 1 litre of milk in a deep vessel and as the milk starts to boil, add the custard-sugar-milk paste (acc. to my mom's instructions: pour the mixture into the boiling milk with your left hand while continuously stirring the milk with your right to ensure that it gets mixed well and there are no lumps.) Then bring to a boil, still continuing to stir. Set the custard to cool. Once completely cooled, take a deep dry bowl and pour a 1 inch layer of custard as the base layer. The arrange whole biscuits on the first layer of custard. the continue to alternate with layers of custard and biscuits. Ensure that the final, topmost layer has custard (I don't know why, but this is as per instructions in krackjack-pudding-expert mom).

Keep the bowl in the freezer for exactly 10 minutes and then move it into the refrigerator till it sets completely. You can garnish with dry fruits / cherries or powdered biscuit / jam / cream...just about anything you like.

Serve (small portions) cold. Small portions just so that it doesn't get polished off instantly and you can slyly have a midnight helping when no one else is watching ;)