Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

This is one of my favorite Chinese soup.  This soup is prepared a million ways depending on the region of China. Made of simple ingredients, this soup does not take a lot of your time, and is great for people suffering from cold. 

To Make a delicious  soup:

1. Always use vegetable stock. Do not use water to make hot and sour soup. You can make a vegetable stock from scratch or buy ready-made ones.

2. Use natural vinegar. Do not use cheap vinegars. Rice vinegar is preferred, especially dark ones. Best to add vinegar it last.

3. Thickening is an art.   Adjust the amount of corn-starch mixture needed.

4. Cut ingredients into similar sizes.

Sambal chili Sauce

My version is heavy on the spicy heat.

Ingredients

Carrots chopped                                 3 tbsp.

Cabbage shredded                              3 tbsp.

Chopped capsicum                              2 tbsp.

Chopped French Beans                        2 tbsp.

Freshly grated ginger                          2 tbsp.

Soft tofu –                                         ¼ cup (optional)

Snow peas (sliced)                             8-10

Fresh red chillies (sliced)                    4 nos.

Home made Vegetable stock              4 cup

 Sesame Oil                                       1 tbsp.

White Black Pepper                            ½ tsp.

Rice Vinegar                                       1 tbsp.

Chili sauce (Samba Chili sauce)           1 tsp.

Corn flour /Corn starch                       2 tbsp.

MSG (Ajinomoto )                               ¼ tsp  (OPTIONAL)

Sugar                                                  1 tsp

Salt                                                     to taste

Fresh coriander leaves                        1 Tbsp.

Method

• Dissolve corn flour in quarter cup of water and set aside.
• Heat oil in a wok, add snow peas and green chilies. Sauté for some time.
• Now add vegetable stock in it. Add chili sauce, soy sauce,  sugar, salt, ginger and pepper powder and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Now add all vegetables in it and cook for a minute on medium heat. 
• Now add MSG and  vinegar , bring the mixture to a boil.
•  Add Dissolved corn starch to the soup stirring constantly till it becomes thick.
• Cook again for a  minute then remove from flame.
• Add the cubed tofu  and boil for minute. 
• Pour the soup into the serving bowl.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Note:

•  In this recipe I used  Sambal Oelek (ground chili sauce ),  because this chili sauce  is made of chilies with no other additives such as garlic or spices for a simple taste.

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Since  a store - bought broth containes onion, garlic and leeks, my preference is to make it at home.Homemade vegetable broth is easy to make and so much healthier and more flavorful than anything that you can buy in a supermarket. A basic and flavorful vegetable broth recipe to make vegetarian soups, vegetarian gravy, or just to add flavor to a variety of vegetarian recipes. 

Ingredients:

Chopped Carrot               – 1 no

chopped Celery               – 1 stalks

chopped Potato                 – 2 no

chopped Cauliflower        – ½ cup

chopped Zucchini             1 no

 Chopped Any greens       – 1 cup

Bay Leaves                       3 no

 Chopped Capsicum          – 1 no

Mushrooms   (optional)       ¼ cup

Water                                6 cups

Dash salt and pepper

Method:

• Put all ingredients in a large pot and bring to boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes.
• Strain out the vegetables and remove the bay leaves.
• Broth is ready to use as a base for soups, gravies.

NanKhatai

Nankhatai is a shortbread cookie from India. It is very close to 'Pecan Sandies' in United States. Nankhatai originated in Surat, a large port city in Gujarat.. There is a very large Gujarati population in Bombay.,the Nankhatai were transported to markets in Bombay where it became popular teatime item. It was eaten by dunking in the sweet hot tea latte (Garam MasalaChai). NanKhatai is also a very popular cookie of Pakistan.

Ingredients

Wet mix 

Un-salted Butter:                     1 cup (2 sticks)

Powdered sugar:                       ¾ cup

Milk:                                      4 Tablespoons

Dry Mix

All Purpose flour (Maida):             2 Cups

Rava                                          – 2 tbsp

Baking powder                           :½ teaspoon

Ground Green Cardamom seeds  : 1 teaspoon

Sliced Almonds                          : 4 Tablespoon tbsp.

Method

Step 1: Wet Mixture

• Use Electric mixer. Beat butter about one minute.
• Add sugar. Beat till the mixture is light and fluffy about 7 minutes.
• Add milk. Beat one minute to make a smooth mixture. 

Step 2: Dry Mix

• Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and Cardamom powder. Sieve

 Step 3: Dough

• Add one third of dry mix at a time to wet mixture beating at low speed. Mix almond in it.
• Knead it into dough.

Step 4: Baking

• Preheat oven to 300º F.
• Divide dough into 24 parts. Roll each part in to a ball.
• Bake for 20 minutes. The cookies should just start to turn brown.
• Switch off heat. Remove the cookie sheet to let the cookies cool.
• Enjoy this pleasant experience to have these Nankhatais with a hot cup of tea on that drizzling evening.

I am " Sending to Dish it out – Sugar and Butter and Vardhini’s page"

Puttu

Puttu is a South Indian (Kerala) and Sri Lankan breakfast dish of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut.  This is one of the popular dishes from Kerala. Puttu is frequently served with poppadum, yellow Kerala Banana, Kadalai (BlackCickpeas) Curry. Here I showed you 2 types of Puttu. One is rice flour Puttu and other one is Multi flour Puttu.

Ingredients

For  Rice Puttu

Puttu Podi – 1 cup

Multi flour and Puttu kutti

Grated Coconut – ¼ cup

Water – 1/2 – 3/4 cup

Salt

For Multi flour Puttu

Multi flour Puttu Powder – 1 cup

Grated fresh coconut – ¼ cup

Water

Salt to taste

Method:

• Add salt to 1 cup of water. Sprinkle this water to the rice flour and mix till you reach breadcrumbs consistency. Do not use too much water.
• The right consistency is reached when you press little flour in your fist and it forms a shape and not crumbles off.
• For making Puttu, use PUTTUKUTTI. Put a handful of grated coconut in the Puttu kutty and then put rice powder till half followed by another handful of grated coconut. This is done till the top. Close the lid and steam it for 5 to 8 minutes until the steam passes from the top of the Puttu kutti.
•  Serve it hot with banana, pappad, kadai curry.

Mango Lassi

Lassie originated in Punjab, in the northern region of India, and in their most traditional form, are a savory drink — yogurt thinned with a little water and seasoned with salt and other spices. But there are many sweet, fruit-based lassi flavorings, mango being the most common. Using thick yogurt, like Greek yogurt or the Indian-style Dahi, makes the lassi richer — if you’re using regular yogurt, try blending just the yogurt with the mango, and adding milk only if necessary to thin out the lassi.

Mango Lassi is the perfect cooler on a hot day. You can add extra sweetness to it (if you like) with sugar or honey. If you're making it for kids and want to avoid the sugar, use unsweetened fruit juice or pulp.

Flavored lassi in different colors is served for breakfast near Dadar railway station, Mumbai. Its so yummy.

Ingredients

Mango Peeled, Chopped                    1 cup

 Greek Yogurt                                  2 cups

Cold Milk   or coconut milk               ½ cup

Sugar  or Agave syrup                      2tsp                                          

Cardamon powder                            1/4 tsp   .

Vanilla Essence (Optional )                 ¼ tsp.        

 Chopped Dry fruits     (optional)         2 tbsp.

Method:

• Blend all the ingredients together (except dry fruits) with crushed ice until smooth.
• Serve Chilled with dry fruits on top.

Note:

•  You can substitute the mango with papaya or very ripe banana to make papaya lassi or banana lassi every day.

Nellikkai Pickle (Gooseberry Pickle)

Gooseberry is a small pebble like green berries. Gooseberries have a silvery cast and a hint of sour. Gooseberry is best cultivated in cooler climates. Gooseberry is usually used in manufacturing jams, pies and other highly sweetened dishes.  

 Medicinal and Health Benefits of Gooseberry:

- Gooseberry helps to balance stomach acid.

- Gooseberry promotes healthier hair.

- Gooseberry also strengthens the eyes.

- Gooseberry also helps to flush out toxins

Gooseberry Pickle

Here I used Frozen Gooseberry.

Ingredients:

 Frozen Gooseberry                     - 15 no

Kashmiri chili powder                   - 4tbsp

Turmeric powder                        1/2 Tsp.

Vinegar                                        2 tbsp.

Fenugreek seeds                         - ¼ tsp.

Oil (Gingerly) -                             3 tbsp.

Mustard seeds                               1 tsp.

Hing (asafetida)                            3/4 Tsp.

Salt                                              to taste.

Method:

• Cook gooseberry in water and little salt. Allow it to cool.
• Keep the water aside and remove the seeds from the berry and slice it into small pieces.
•  Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. When it splutters, add gooseberries and sauté for 2 minutes.
• Reduce the heat and add chilly powder, turmeric powder, Asafetida and salt.
•  Roast it well and pour required amount of water (water which was used to cook the gooseberry) and vinegar into it and boil well.
• Add the cooked gooseberry into it and mix well. Remove it from fire and cool it.
• Store the pickle in a clean and dry bottle. This can be stored for a month or more, if refrigerated.
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Microwave Thirattipal

Normally thirattipal is made out of fresh milk and sugar or Jaggery. The milk is allowed to boil till it thickens and curdles. The milk has to be mixed continuously. This is quite a time consuming process.

Try out this simpler recipe which is made in a microwave in just 6 to 8  minutes, and which gives the same taste. 

Ingredients:

Condensed milk: 1 can (14oz)

Curd/Yoghurt: 2 tablespoon

Milk: 2 tablespoon

Ghee: 2 tsp
 Freshly crushed Elachi Powder - 1/2 tsp

Method: 

• Mix condensed milk, curd and milk, ghee and ealchi powder in a large Pyrex bowl .
• Microwave for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir it once and again heat it for 3 more minutes.
• The expected consistency is that the ghee starts to come out and the thirattipal obtains a pink color. Allow to cool. Thirattipal is ready to serve. 

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