Cream of Broccoli Soup

A creamy soup made of broccoli and served with almonds. You can have it hot or cold. This is the only way I could make my kids have broccoli; otherwise both hate that veg.  Ingredients: Broccoli separated into florets - 1 small

Butter  2 tbsp Oil 1 tbsp Onion ,chopped 1 medium Garlic 2-3 cloves Flour/Maida 1 tbsp Vegetable Stock  2 1/2 cup/1 cube Milk 1 cup Salt to taste White pepper 1/4 tsp Fresh cream 1/2 cup Almonds 4-5

Method: 1.Melt butter in a thick bottomed pan on medium heat. Add oil to avoid burning of the butter.  2.Add chopped onion, garlic and sauté till onions turn translucent. 3.Add refined flour and sauté for a minute.  4.Add broccoli florets and cook for around two to three minutes. 5.Add vegetable stock, bring it to boil and cook for five minutes on high heat without covering the pan. 6.Strain and cool the broccoli. Keep aside the stock. Pass the solids through a sieve or blend in a mixer. Mix it with the strained stock and milk in a pan. 7.Put the pan back on high heat, bring to a boil and season with salt and white pepper powder.  8.Add fresh cream, simmer for two to three minutes and serve hot garnished with sliced almonds. You can add some grated cheese,pepper or lime juice to season it to your taste.

Classic Sandwich

 A healthy and fresh sandwich  with a glass of fresh juice. What more you need in a hot sunny morning? Whether you are in need of a light breakfast to start your day or wanted to make fresh your morning, these are the best choice to have with your green tea or juices. I hate heavy breakfasts during summer and anything fried or cooked... I prefer my choice of bread and play a lot with the veg in hand. Last week after dropping ma kids near their school bus early  morning,  saw this recipe prepared by Sunita Rodrigues in Food First Tv. All the veggies were there with me; so ran to the kitchen & assembled those ones.. This is a classic one & the same as most of us do; but she used roasted capsicum & I just loved it.. So thought of sharing this with you guys..

Ingredients:

Bread of your choice
Butter/Mayonnaise
Mustard Sauce
Lettuce
Capsicum
Salaami/Mortadella/Sausages
Tomato
Jalapeno ( pickled) I didn't have Jalapenos with me, so used olives instead
Cheese slices
Salt
Pepper

Method:

1.First, we can roast the capsicum. Insert 2 wooden skewers together into capsicum . Fire your stove and hold the capsicum above that touching the fire. Roast all the sides equally. It will turn into ash and then to black colour. Don't worry about that, we will remove the skin and you will get a perfect green colour. Once it is roasted, take them and wrap in a kitchen towel and leave it to cool it. This will help you remove the skin easily.  After 2-3 minutes;may be after 2-3 steps, remove the skin of the capsicum with that towel. Slice it. Btw, roasting is optional, you can use fresh ones too.. but the former adds a kick to it.

2. Toast your bread. You can grill it in oven for 2-3 minutes to turn it crispy.

3.. Spread butter/mayonnaise to moisture your sandwich.

4.. A few drops of Mustard sauce on that. Add it according to your taste as it is sour and some don't prefer it much.

5. Tear some Lettuce leaves . Iceberg Lettuces are preferred. You can soak in cold water for a while and then strain and dry it using a kitchen tissue which turns your lettuce crispy. Slice all the veggies and sprinkle some salt & pepper on it. Keep some Lettuces on your bread.

6. Arrange Salami/Mortadella/Sausage/Tuna or chicken pieces above that. You can grill or steam the sausages.

7. Now tomatoes, cheese slices, capsicum, olives/jalapenos and then again some lettuces on top. Close your toast. You can secure your sandwich with toothpicks if you are packing them  for your kids' lunch box or for picnics.

Mango Lassi

Nothing can be as inviting as a cool and rich smoothie or ice creams these days... The mercury is rising... sun s shining like never before...  the school were ordered to close at-least a week before.. and we ladies started burning in the kitchen.The temperature here in UAE hits 51+degrees now. Talking about the weather in UAE, it is warm and sunny in winter and hot and humid during the summer months. I used to have a bowl of grapes or freshly cut watermelon on ma kitchen table to grab in between cooking lunch and drinks huge glass of juices, smoothies or lassi after ma work there. This is the one way I find to stay cool.

Lassi ,as you all know is a traditional Punjabi yoghurt-based drink, usually sweetened with fruits or drunk plain as it is.You can have it spicy too by adding Jeera (cumin powder) and salt to your lassi instead of fruits or sugar.

 

Ingredients

 Recipe courtesy: Manju Malhi

• 100ml/3½fl oz Fresh cream
• 200ml/7fl oz full fat milk
• 400ml/14fl oz natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 400ml/14fl oz mango pulp /Mango pieces (preferably Alphonso)
• 4 tsp sugar or more
• Pistachios, roasted (optional)
• Crushed ice

Method:

Blend all the ingredients except pistachios and ice together.

Crush the ice and put it in your serving glass. Pour the lassi over it .

If you have unroasted pistachios, roast it first and then crush it to serve on top.

Sending this to Prachi's Beverages Event

Paneer Butter Masala/Paneer Makhani

Paneer Butter Masala/Paneer Makhani , a very common & popular North-Indian dish, is a rich ,creamy and buttery flavored one which pairs well with rotis ,naans, rice etc. The paneer cubes along with green peas in a thick and delicious gravy is a party meal in itself and u may need no other side dish or fries along with this.

 Ingredients:
courtesy:Lakshmi Nair


Greenpeas 1 cup
Paneer 2 cup (cut in squares)
Water 1 1/2 cups
Onion sliced 2
red chilli powder 1 tsp
Ginger paste 1 tsp
Garlic paste 1 tsp
Tomato paste 2
Fresh Cream 1/4 cup
Cashew (soaked in water) 25gm
Garam masala 3/4 tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Cumin powder 1/4 tsp
Kasuri Methi 1/4 tsp
Butter 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves 1/4 cup
Red food color
Oil 1 tbsp
Tomato Sauce 2 tbsp




Method:


1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and saute onions in it. Saute a bit ; no need to make it brown.


2.Make a paste of these onions along with the soaked cashews.


3. Melt some butter in a pan and add ginger-garlic paste to it.Saute for 2-3 minutes .


4.Now add red chilli powder & then tomato paste & tomato sauce to it. Saute till this dries up a bit and leaves the sides of the pan.


5.Add green peas to it and some water .


6.When the green peas are cooked well, add the onion+cashew paste,cumin powder,garam masala, kasuri methi, salt & paneer. No need to fry the paneer. Add red color to it and let it boil for 5 minutes.


7.Garnish with cream , coriander leaves and butter.

 

Alisa /Arees

I can see ma biriyani weeping without Alisa... :) ..Both goes really well.You can hardly see any malabar wedding without these two dishes . Coming all the way from the middle-east ,this has turned to be an unavoidable dish in malabar functions. Arabs usually make this during special occasions such as Ramadan,Eid or weddings. When they make it in bulk, dig a big hole outside and dump the vessel inside to cook Harees in dum. We make it hassle-free in pressure cookers. But the taste slightly differs. They use lots of mutton & fat in it compared to us.

Back home, people have it with sugar sprinkled on it. But we hate to eat it that way. We usually have it plain or with some delicious chicken or beef fry. Branless wheat is used in this recipe. Vegetarians can avoid chicken .






































Ingredients:

Wheat 1 1/2cups (branless/without skin)
Chicken 1 piece (preferrably leg with thigh)
Garlic 7 pods (whole)
Onion 1 (sliced)
Cinnamon 1" stick
Cardamom 2-3 (i don't use)
salt
Water 4-5 cups

Garnish:

Onions 2
Ghee 1/2 cup
Cashews/rasins

Method:

Soak the wheat overnight for best results. You can cook otherwise too, but will take lesser time if soaked.
 

Boil water in a pressure cooker, add all the ingredients in it & let it boil.

Close the lid & after the first whistle, turn the fire to low & leave it to cook for about 1/2 an hour. The time varies between soaked & unsoaked one. So take care of that. Check that after 20 mts.

Now when the wheat is done, switch off the flame & remove the chicken & whole spices from it.

Remove the bones of the chicken & put the chicken back to the harees/alisa.

Now start whipping the alisa using a wooden spoon, a potato masher at times , a foodprocessor or an egg beater too.... But take care while using a blender or foodprocessor...Just pulse it & don't grind all the wheat; also harees should be cooled enough before using a blender.

Now fry the onions, cashews and raisins in ghee. Serve harees garnished with these along with ghee.