Mulligatawny Soup / Chicken Corn Lentil Soup

Mulligatawny soup is a lentil soup with mild spice level. This soup can be made as a vegetarian soup as well as with chicken. I have prepared it as a chicken soup with sweet corn in it. It serves well for lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:

1. Red Lentil / Pigeon peas (Masoor dal / Toor dal) - 1 cup
2. Split green gram dal (split mung dal)- 1 cup
3. Oil - 1 tbs
4. Onion, sliced - 1 cup
5. Ginger, chopped - 1 tsp
6. Garlic, chopped - 1 tsp
7. Chopped carrot - 1 cup
8. Chopped tomato - 1 cup
9. Chicken broth - 4 cups
10. Chicken breast, chopped to very small pieces - 1/2 kg
11. Pepper powder -1-2 tsp
12. Sweet corn - 1 cup
13. Lemon juice - 1/4 cup +2 tbs
14. Coconut milk - 1 cup
15. Salt to taste
16. Coriander leaves, chopped - 1 tbs

For masala powder:

1. Coriander seeds - 1.5tsp
2. Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp
3. Aniseed - 1.5 tsp
4. Cinnamon stick- 1/2 inch

Method:

1. Dry roast all ingredients for masala powder in a hot pan until it gives out nice aroma, about a minute.
2. Grind the above to make fine masala powder
3. Heat oil in a big heavy bottomed pan or pressure cooker
4. Saute ginger, garlic and onion  for 2-3 minutes in medium flame
5. Add carrot to the above and saute for 2 more minutes
6. Add masala powder and chopped tomato and give a stir
7. Wash and clean toor dal and mung dal  and add the same to the above
8. Add chicken broth and 2 cups of water and cook till the lentils are well cooked. I cooked it in pressure cooker with weight on for about 20 minutes
9. Keep the soup aside to bring to room temperature
10. Marinate chicken with 2 tbs lemon juice, salt and pepper 
11. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and stir fry chicken until the chicken starts to change from white to golden color. Chicken need not turn brown color.
12. Keep chicken aside for later use.
13. Once the soup comes to room temperature blend it well in a blender and pass it through a mesh sieve
14. Heat the soup again and add salt, sweet corn and chicken to it,
15. When sweet corn and chicken is cooked well, add coconut milk to it under low flame.
16. Once the soup starts to bubble, switch off  the stove, add 1/4 cup of lemon juice and coriander leaves.

Serve hot soup with a sprinkle of pepper powder on top!

I am linking this post to FridayFiesta#95 co hosted by  Loretta @ Safari of the Mind and Petra @ Food Eat Love.

Lamb Chili

We made our very first Chili at home yesterday for Anjan's office' Chili cook off competition. Chili is something which we have never tasted before.. :) Anyways, since we wanted to participate in the cook off we decided to prepare chili at home. Chili is usually made with Beef or Pork  and Beans as the main ingredient. As we both don't have beef or pork, we decided to go with Lamb Chili. We made Lamb chili with mixed vegetables in it. And to our surprise, our Lamb chili is voted to be the best Chili in the cook off.
Here comes the award winning Lamb chili recipe.
And, sorry, I don't have a picture of the chili we made... :( I shall soon update the post with the pic when i make it again.

Ingredients:

1. Lamb, minced - 1/2 kg
2. Red onion, sliced - 1 cup
3. Ginger, chopped - 1 tbs
4. Garlic, chopped - 1 tbs
5. Oil - 2 tbs
6. Chili powder - 2.5 tsp
7. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
8. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
9. Chicken masala powder - 1 tbs
10. Salt to taste
11. Black bean - 1 can (15oz)
12. Pinto bean - 1 can (15oz)
13. Ro-tel original chopped tomato with chilli - 28oz canister
14. Tomato puree - 2tbs
15. Cabbage, chopped - 1.5 cups
16. Carrot chopped - 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed big pan with tight lid ( use pressure cooker or dutch oven)
2. Add onion, ginger and garlic and give a stir
3. Add minced lamb and salt to taste
4. Saute lamb till the raw color goes
5. Add chilli powder, chili powder, cumin powder and chicken masala and give a stir
6. After 5 minutes add both beans, Ro-tel chopped tomatoes with chilli, tomato puree, cabbage and carrot and stir again
7. Cook chili with closed lid for about 2 hours in low to medium flame. (If you are using pressure cooker, you may use low- medium flame with weight on and then release the pressure and cook for another 1 hr again with or without weight. Since we use low flame we are not looking for whistle.)
8. Switch off the flame after 2hrs of slow cooking. Chili should be thick enough and all ingredients must be cooked well by now.

Serve warm chili with sour cream and sweet cornmeal bread!

Chum Chum / Cottage Cheese Sweet

Chum chum is the tastiest Bengali sweet i have ever tasted. For the very first time we made chum chum at home for this Diwali. It tastes just the same as the one from bakery.
It is very common at our home, to have some sweets after dinner almost everyday. Usually it is Laddo or badusha or something similar. It is only during Diwali time that we get to buy Bengali sweets there. As we are from Kerala, which is the southern most State of India, we usually don't have any Diwali celebrations as such except the Diwali sweets which Achan (Dad) brings from the best Bengali sweets shop there. I still remember that big box of sweets which has all the yummiest Bengali sweets in it... yum yum...
Here goes the recipe for Chum chum

Ingredients:

1. Whole milk - 3 cups
2. Lime juice - 2-3 tbs
3. Sugar - 1.5 cup
4. Water - 2 cups + 1/2 cup
5. Flour - 2 tsp
6. White chocolate, melted - 2tbs
7. Saffron - 1/2 tsp
8. Pistachios/Almonds, slivered/chopped  for garnish

Method:

Paneer/Chenna

1. Boil milk in a pan and add lime juice to it 
2. When the milk completely separates and clear green liquid is seen take it for from stove.  Don't cook paneer now, otherwise it wont be soft.
3. Pass the above mixture through a muslin cloth and wash it under water to remove lemon taste if any
4. Squeeze out water by twisting the muslin cloth and hang it or keep it on paper towels for 2-3 hrs till all the water is out from the milk solids or paneer or chenna

Sugar syrup

1. Mix flour in half a cup of water and keep aside
2. Boil 2 water in a big wide pan and melt sugar in it
3. Add 1/4 tsp of saffron in the sugar mixture and let it boil
4. After 2-3 minutes add half of the flour water in the sugar syrup
5. Remove if any dirt comes as a top layer on sugar syrup. Sugar syrup shouldn't reach thread consistency
6. Sugar syrup is ready when the consistency is easily pourable and thinner than thread consistency

Chum chum

1. Knead paneer very well using hand on a flat surface. Paneer must be very soft and smooth after this. Kneading should be around 3 -4 minutes
2. Divide the dough into 6 equal part and roll it with your palm to make Oval shapes. Oval balls should be smooth without cracks
3. Sprinkle flour on a plate and place each ball in the the plate
4. Add chum chum balls to the boiling sugar syrup by titling the plate instead of taking it individually to avoid breaking any chum chum
5. Cook chum chum with closed lid for about 10 minutes and flip it to cook both sides and cook for 10 more minutes
6. To avoid sugar syrup from getting thick and sticking to the sides, add half a cup of water along the sides of the pan while cooking chum chum
7. Once chum chum is cooked for about 20 minutes, Chum chum would be doubled in its size and it will spring back if you touch it
8. Take Chum Chum out to a bowl using a big laddle. Take 3 laddles of syrup and add it to the chum chum bowl along with a cup of water
9. Keep it in the syrup for 5-6 hrs
10. After that, take out chum chum and squeeze out the syrup gently
11. Mix 1/4 tsp of saffron in a tsp of milk
12. You may garnish chum chum with saffron milk mix and nuts OR You may make a slit on the chum chum and fill it with melted chocolate and nuts and saffron

Traditionally chum chum is filled with milk khoya/ thickened milk instead of white chocolate. For easiness I have used white chocolate instead of Khoya.

I am linking this post to FridayFiesta#95 co hosted by  Loretta @ Safari of the Mind and Petra @ Food Eat Love.

Coconut Pineapple Bhapa Doi / Steamed Sweet Yogurt Pudding

Bhapa Doi is a yummy steamed yogurt dessert. I was looking for some Diwali sweet recipe in different websites and I found Bhapa Doi in different places.. A simple Bhapa Doi has 3 ingredients, sweetened condensed milk, yogurt and milk. Before tasting this i was wondering on how a steamed yogurt sweet would taste...  But it does tastes really good.
Last time we had bought a tub of Haagen Dazs ice cream with coconut pineapple flavor and it tasted delicious. So here I am giving a Bhapa Doi recipe with coconut pineapple flavor with a fruity topping for it. I think the same recipe on a graham cracker crust would give a wonderful new yogurt pie.. Give it a try!

CONTEST WINNING RECIPE
For the contest
Festival of Lights- Diwali!!

Ingredients:

1. Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 cup + 2 tbs
2. Thick yogurt  - 1/2 cup
3. Thick coconut milk paste - 2 tbs(optional)
4. Coconut Flavor - 2 tsp
5. Chopped pineapple - 1/3 cup + 1 cup
6. Sugar to taste (approximately 1/2 cup)

Method:

1. Combine condensed milk, yogurt, coconut milk, coconut flavor and 1/3 cup chopped pineapple in a bowl and mix well
2. Pour the above mixture to a bowl in which you are going to steam it
3. Close the bowl using an aluminium foil paper
4. Take enough water in a steamer or large bowl which can fit the foil covered pudding bowl and place the pudding bowl in it
5. Close the steamer bowl and steam for 20 minutes in medium flame
6. Heat a sauce pan and cook 1 cup of chopped pineapple and sugar with 1/4 cup water till pineapple is well cooked and consistency is as thick as jam
7. Spread the above pineapple mixture on top of the cooked pudding and chill it in the fridge overnight

I am linking this post to cook once eat twice and FridayFiesta#94 co hosted by Judi and Stef @ The Kiwi Fruit

Grilled tomato and Beetroot Soup

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree." - Emily Bronte

I am loving the beautiful and colorful fall here. I have added some beautiful red and orange leaves in my below pics to bring fall into my pics.. :)

Here is an easy warn soup made with beetroot and grilled tomatoes!

Ingredients:

1. Fire grilled tomatoes - 1 can,~ 400gm
2. Sliced Beetroot - 1 can,~ 400 gm
3. Chicken broth - 2 cups
4. Garlic - 1 clove
5. Salt to taste
6. Pepper to taste
7. Butter - 1 tsp

Note:

• You may grill fresh tomatoes and use it in soup instead of canned tomatoes
• You may use fresh beetroot slices, but need to make sure it is cooked well before bending it in the blender 

Method:

1. Heat butter in a pan and saute chopped garlic in it
2. Add tomatoes, beetroot and chicken broth to it and cook it for 30-40 minutes in medium-low flame
3. Add water to it if the soup is too thick and switch off the flame
4. Blend the above mixture in a blender once it is in room temperature
5. Heat the soup again and add salt and pepper to taste

Serve the soup warm.. It is a mild tasting soup without too many strong flavors in it. You can get the roasted tomato taste and sweetness from beetroot..

I am linking this post to FridayFiesta#94 co hosted by Judi and Stef @ The Kiwi Fruit

Spinach Chicken Curry

We had Spinach Chicken curry with porotta for dinner yesterday... I was too lazy to make chapathi or rice for dinner, so finally used the frozen porotta to go with chicken curry and like most Malayalis I love to have porotta.. :)
We always have baby spinach leaves stocked in our fridge as we try to have it everyday in some form... and mostly it is a part of our morning smoothie. Yesterday I wanted to cook chicken with any new experiment recipe, partly because I am thrilled to post new recipe for the FridayFiesta event every week :)
The curry came out really yummy. Here goes the recipe for the same.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken, cut into small pieces - 1/4kg
2. Yogurt - 2 tbs
3. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil - 2 tbs
6. Cardamom - 2
7. Cloves - 4
8. Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
9. Bay leaf - 1
10. Pepper corn - 6
11. Ginger, chopped - 1 tsp
12. Garlic chopped - 1 tsp
13. Onion, sliced - 1 cup
14. Spinach leaves  - 2 cups
15. Tomato - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with pepper powder, yogurt and salt to taste for 15 minutes
2. Keep spinach leaves in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes and puree it with minimum water
3. Heat oil in a pan
4. Add ingredients from 6 to 10 and saute it till the cloves start to splutter
5. Add ginger, garlic and onion and saute them till onion is slightly browned
6. Add chicken to this and saute it in high flame till chicken starts to get slightly golden color
7. Add spinach puree, a cup of water and salt if needed
8. When chicken is half cooked, add tomato slices and cook till chicken is well cooked and gravy is thickened.

Serve it hot with chapathi or porotta

I am linking this post to FiestaFriday#93 co hosted by  Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Kaila @ GF LIfe 24/7