Show Me Your Soup - Roundup

Here is the roundup of Show Me Your Soup event. Thanks everyone for your delicious soup entries.

Sameena Pratap - Ladies Finger Soup
Sameena Pratap - Oats Soup


Sweet Artichoke - Spinach Ginger Soup
Krithika - Mixed Vegetable Soup


Hasna - Hot and Sour Soup
Smitha - Tomato Carrot and Bottlegourd Soup


Meghna - Vegetarian Pasta e Fagioli
Urmila - Asparagus Soup


Supriya - Veggie Noodle Soup
Supriya - Roasted Red Pepper Carrot Soup


Chitra and Dibs - Horse Gram Thin Soup
Usha - Spinach Orange Soup


Usha - Bone Soup
Ila Nila - Celery Soup


Sameena Pratap - Sweet Corn Veg Soup

Do check out the current event - Show Me your Summer Cooler! going on now at Dil Se..

Broccoli Dal

I stumbled upon this recipe a while ago and had bookmarked it to try. Recently, I have switched to a low-carb diet in order to lose some weight and this looked like a great soup to have for lunch. TH enjoyed it along with rice and a vegetable stir-fry. I adapted the recipe and cooked the dal in an indian way using the pressure cooker. It is a great way to sneak in broccoli and make kids eat their share of veggies. The end result was a bright green and yellow colored with a hint of garam masala. Makes a hearty lunch all by itself or along with some rice or rotis.

Ingredients
Broccoli florets - 1 1/2 cup
Toor dal/Masoor dal - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
Tomatoes and coriander leaves for garnish
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Red chillies - 2
Lemon juice - 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste

Directions
Wash the broccoli florets and pulse them in a mixer into a coarse mixture.


In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Add chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent. Add the dal and saute for a minute followed by the coarse ground broccoli.


Add about 3 cups of water and pressure cook until you get 3-4 whistles.

Open the pressure cooker and mash the dal well with the back of a ladle. Add the turmeric powder, garam masala and lemon juice. Switch on the stove and bring the dal to a boil. Simmer until desired consistency is obtained.

Stir in the lemon juice and garnish with tomatoes and coriander leaves.

Serve warm along with rice, roti or by itself as a soup.
This is my entry to Show Me Your Soup event hosted here at Dil Se..

Show Me Your Soup!

,It is freezing out there in many parts of the world and what can be more comforting than a warm bowl of soup and some crusty bread to dunk in it. After showing off your cookbooks, it is time to get cooking your favorite soups this month.

According to Wikipedia, "Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water or some liquid base. Traditionally, soups are classified into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups. Soups are similar to stews, and in some cases there may not be a clear distinction between the two. Generally though, soups have more liquid than stews.

Homemade soups are ideal for any healthy meal plan. So, get out your aprons and start cooking your favorite soups with your favorite ingredients.

Some guidelines for the event...

All you have to do is prepare your soup with any ingredient, blog about it and fill the details in the following form!

Please link back your post to this event announcement. 

Your soup can be vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

Archived entries are allowed if reposted and linked back to this announcement page.

Feel free to use the logo.

Send in all your entries to divyablogs[AT]gmail[DOT]com before Feb 28, 2011.

Sweet Potato - Carrot Soup

I had a couple of sweet potatoes lying around for a while after making sweet potato fries waiting to be used up. It was soup night! Yeah I have been trying to make healthy soups for dinner atleast once a week. I googled for recipes with sweet potato and found several methods. I decided to roast the sweet potatoes because I feel that roasting enhances the flavor of the veggies.

Check out my Roasted Tomato and Beet soup !

This soup tasted very similar to my pumpkin-zucchini spaghetti soup I tried in the fall. I added carrots because I wanted to finish it up. It resulted in a colorful, hearty and filling soup which was perfect for a chilly evening..

Ingredients

Sweet Potato - 2 large ones
Carrots - 2
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
Garlic - 4 cloves
Butter - 1 tablespoon
Chicken stock/Vegetable stock/water
Fresh basil / thyme chopped - 1 teaspoon
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese and red chilli flakes for garnish (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F
Peel the sweet potato and dice them roughly. Also dice the carrots. Spread the carrots and sweet potato in a single layer on a baking sheet.
In another baking sheet , toss halved tomatoes in the vinegar and olive oil.
Roast the sweet potatoes, carrots and tomatoes in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Once it has cooled a bit, collect all the ingredients from the baking sheets including the juices from the tomatoes.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the butter and add chopped garlic. Saute for a while and then add chopped onions and saute until translucent. At this point you could also add chopped celery.

Add all the roasted vegetables (sweet potatoes, tomatoes and carrots). Saute for a minute. Add stock/water enough to cover all the veggies. Also stir in the basil/thyme. Add salt and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes until all the flavors blend through.

Once the soup has cooled a bit, blend all the contents in a blender/mixie.

Bring the soup back to the pan and heat it up just before serving.

Garnish with some parmesan cheese and some red chilli flakes.

Serve with some warm bread!

Sending this to Monthly Mingle:Winter Vegetables and Fruits hosted at Cook Like a Bong and started by Meeta.
Also to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups

Roasted Beetroot and Tomato Soup

This is sure a healthy and nutritious soup which I made last week for our dinner. It has a lovely deep red color from the beets. I roasted the veggies in the oven to give more flavor to the soup. We had it with a piece of bread and it made a filling and nutritious meal. The recipe can be tweaked according to the ingredients available. The soup looks really pretty and the photos do not do justice to the recipe as they were taken in a hurry at night before our dinner.

Ingredients
Beetroot - 2 medium sized
Tomatoes - 3
Carrots - 3
Onion - 1
Garlic - 4 cloves
Bay Leaf - 1
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Dry herbs - 1 teaspoon (optional)
Garlic salt - 1 teaspoon (optional)
Vegetable stock - (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Dice the carrots, tomatoes and beetroot into cubes of equal size. Spread in a single layer in a baking dish and sprinkle with garlic salt and dry herbs and bake for about 30 minutes.
You could absolutely skip this step by roasting the veggies in a stovetop on medium heat with a teaspoon of oil until the veggies turn crispy and slightly cooked.

In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat the oil and add the bay leaf, chopped garlic and onions and saute for two minutes. Add the roasted vegetables, chilli powder, salt and pepper and saute for a while.

Add enough vegetable stock or water and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Allow the entire mixture to cool.

Remove the bay leaf and blend using a hand blender or in a mixer/blender to form a smooth liquid. Take care while blending. If the mixture is hot, it might burst on you.

Bring the soup back to the stove in a heavy bottomed vessel. Once it heats up, adjust salt and ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with some red chilli flakes and some parmesan cheese.

Serve with some warm bread!

Sending this to Healthy Inspirations event-Soups
Dont forget to send in your entries for Show Me Your Cake event by Jan 15th!

Wheat berry Kidney bean Soup

After posting my sprouted wheat berry salad, I received a lot of questions as to what wheatberry is and where was it available. Since this is the first time I have been using using wheatberries in my diet, I would suggest visiting dear Dhivya's blog. She has loads of information about how to store, sprout and cook wheatberries and several other whole grains. I would say her blog is a one stop shop for all whole grain goodies! She even has umpteen number of whole grain recipes.

Okay! Here is a soup recipe made with wheatberries. I adopted the idea of this recipe from here, making a few changes here and there. I sprouted the wheatberries and then added it t0 my soup and salad. I would say, it is absolutely delicious and there is no compromise for the taste as well as the nutrition. It is filling and makes a whole meal when had with a slice of your favorite bread. We had this for a weeknight dinner along with some garlic bread. So here comes the recipe! The photos do not do any justice to the recipe. So pardon my photos here..


Ingredients

Wheatberries - 1/2 cup soaked overnight and sprouted
Onion - 1 large sized chopped
Kidney beans / Rajma - 1/2 cup
Potato - 1 medium sized
Garlic - 1 tablespoon chopped
Bay leaf - 1
Celery - 1 cup chopped
Tomato Salsa - 2 tablespoons
Fresh Basil leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
Oil/Butter - 1 teaspoon
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Soak the wheatberries overnight and sprout them until you see small sprouts coming out.
Wash the rajma and potato. Peel the potatoes. In a pressure cooker, boil together the potato, kidney beans and wheatberry sprouts together until about 3 whistles. Reserve the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile in a pan, heat some oil and saute the garlic and onions until translucent. Add the celery and bay leaf and soft for one more minute. Mash the pressure cooked potato roughly.
Then add the pressure cooked wheatberries, kidney beans and potato and saute for a minute. Add the cooking liquid and some water/vegetable broth.
Stir in the salsa. You could replace this with tomato paste instead.
Add the fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper.
Cover and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Sprinkle some cheese and serve with some fresh homemade bread!


Lately I have been quite busy with my graduate classes, and have very little time to cook. So am looking forward to more of cook ahead recipes and frozen recipes. Please do feel free to give your suggestions on such quick cooking and cook-ahead meals! I made a huge batch of this soup and froze it. It freezes well and retains the same taste when thawed and microwaved.

This soup recipe is off to JFI:Rajma being hosted here at Dil Se.. this month and initially started by Indira
Also sending my Rajma Kurma for the event.
Sending this to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups

SOUPS

• Asparagus Soup
• Cabbage Soup
• Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Creamy Broccoli Soup with mint and thyme
• Creamy Zucchini Soup
• Pumpkin Zucchini Spaghetti Soup
• Roasted Beetroot and Tomato Soup 
• Red and yellow Bellpepper Soup
• Sweet Corn Soup
• Sweet Potato Carrot Soup
• Tomato Soup
• Wheatberry Kidney bean Soup

Creamy Zucchini Soup

I made this comforting and creamy Zucchini soup on a rainy day. We had it with garlic bread. I am trying to make healthy soups every Friday night for dinner which leaves us feeling light and filling. I was on a spree looking for a variety of soup recipes for our Soup Fridays. I landed upon various soups with zucchini and this is my personalised version which is simple and made with basic ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Zucchini - 2 large ones

Onion - 1 medium sized

Butter - 1 tablespoon

Vegetable broth/ Chicken broth/ Water - 2 cups

Dried herbs - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Frozen corn - 2 tablespoons

Milk - 1/2 cup

Shredded cheese for garnishing (optional)

Directions

In a saucepan or a pressure cooker, heat the butter and add the chopped onions. Saute them for about 2 minutes until they turn translucent. Add the finely chopped zucchini pieces and the frozen corn and saute for another two minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the broth or water and bring it to a boil. Then add the milk and simmer for about 10 minutes until the zucchini is well cooked. If using a pressure cooker cook unitl one whistle. Mash all the ingredients together. Alternatively, you can cool the ingredients and blend them. Since the zucchini is already cooked, it is better to just mash it and retain a few bite sized pieces.

Add the dried herbs(I used dried oregano) if using and stir again. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the saucepan. Ladle into soup bowls and add some shredded cheese on top!

Serve with bread!

Sending this to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups

Cabbage Soup for a Diet!

Cabbage soup diet is something which many of us have heard of. I personally feel that it is sought of a crash diet, which might lack certain nutrients and making you feel weak over a period of time. But this cabbage soup definitely works wonders and helps if you need to shed few pounds immedietaly. It promises a 10 pound weight loss in one week. But this diet should not be carried out for more than a week.. I do not recommend this diet but I feel that this soup is healhty because it is packed with many vegetables..It is not a fancy kinda soup, but it is a basic recipe which can be altered to suit ones taste buds.

Ingredients

Cabbage - half head
Onion - 1 medium sized 
Tomatoes - 2 medium sized 
Carrots - 2 
Capsicum / Bell Pepper - 1
Mushrooms - 1/2 cup chopped
Celery - 1/2 bunch
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Garlic - 3 cloves
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt and pepper
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Coriander to garnish

Directions

I used a pressure cooker to make this soup.It can also be made in a crockpot or any large vessel.

Chop the cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrot, mushrooms, bell pepper and celery.

Heat some oil and saute the garlic and onions for a while. Once they turn translucent, add the tomatoes. Once it gets cooked, add all the other vegetables. Saute for a while and add the chilli powder, cumin powder, salt and pepper. You can also add any soup mix if you like at this time. Add water so that it just covers all the vegetables. 

Close the pressure cooker and wait until you get one or two whistles. Switch off the heat.

Serve warm..

For more information about the cabbage soup diet:

Cabbage soup Diet

This goes off to Diet Foods event being hosted by me.

Last Date for submission of entries: Oct 26th

Pumpkin-Zucchini Spaghetti Soup

This is a smooth, creamy and flavorful soup perfect during fall when pumpkins are available in abundance. We had this for dinner along with breadsticks.It has spaghetti in it and is quite filling.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Onion - 1 medium sized
Tomato - 1 medium sized
Carrot - 1
Pumpkin - 2 cups cubed
Zucchini - 2
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - 1/2 inch chopped
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Dry oregano - 1/2 teaspoon
Rosemary - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry basil - 1/2 teaspoon
Bay leaf - 1
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Spaghetti - 15 strands
Red Wine Vinegar - 1 teaspoon
Olive oil - 2 spoons
Vegetable stock / water - 5 cups
Salt and pepper
Fresh Parsley to garnish

Directions

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chopped garlic, ginger and onions.Cook till they turn translucent. Then add the chopped carrot, salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Add the chopped tomato, chilli powder, cumin powder, sugar and dry herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary).Stir well unitl everything is combines. The herbs are optional.They can also be replaced by any other herbs of your choice.Cook for 3 more minutes.

Add the bay leaf,chopped zucchini and vegetable stock/water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the saucepan and allow it to simmer for about half an hour.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.Fish out the bayleaf and blend all the ingredients together.Strin the soup if required.

Bring back the strained liquid to the saucepan.Add the spaghetti to the soup and simmer for about 10 minutes or unitl the spaghetti gets tender and al dante.

Garnish with fresh parsley and serve hot with breadsticks.

Sending this to AFAM: Pumpkin hosted my Madhuram and No Croutons Required: Vegetarian Soups hosted by Lisa

And also to WTSIM # 20 for the love of gourds hosted at Cook Sister.

and Inthe Bag :Pumpkin

Sending this to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups

Tomato Soup

This is a spicy tomato soup which can be had during any time of the day and perfect with breadsticks..We had this for dinner along with garlic bread and it served a meal in itself.It can be had when one is down with cold..Here is the recipe..

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 4 or 5
Onions - 1 small size
Red Bell pepper - 1 (optional)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Bay leaf - 1
Cloves - 2
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter - spoon
Tomato ketchup - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Directions

Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the bay leaf and cloves and saute for a minute.Then add the chopped ginger,garlic,onion and saute until they soften.

Then add the bell pepper,chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, salt and pepper and bring them to a boil..Simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes until it turns mushy..

Discard the bay leaf and cloves and transfer the ingredients to a blender.Blend it into a smooth paste..Strain again if needed..Stir in the tomato ketchup..

Serve hot with croutons or bread/soupsticks of your choice...

Sending this to WYF:Salads/Starters/Soups hosted by EC..

Also sending the following entries to the event..

Sweet corn Soup

Red and Yellow Bell Pepper Soup

Asparagus Soup

Cream of Mushroom soup

Creamy Broccoli Soup with mint and thyme

Broccoli florets cooked in vegetable broth is combined with milk, and onion sauteed in butter and mildly flavored by mint and thyme to create this rich creamy soup..This is a recipe I noted down from Food Networ a long time ago.The change I made was that I omitted the cheese in the recipe and added few mint leaves to add a minty fresh flavor to the soup..The soup tastes heavenly when accompanied my fresh breadsticks..

Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients (Serves two)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 medium sized potato, peeled and diced

Pinch dried thyme leaves

Mint few leaves washed and chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

3 cups Vegetable broth, can be replaced by water

Broccoli florets 3 cups

2 to 4 tablespoons cream or half-and-half, optional

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional toppings: shaved Parmesan, shredded cheddar

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the potato, thyme, mint, salt, and broth and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook uncovered until the potato is fork tender, about 10 minutes. Add the broccoli and simmer for 3 minutes.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender or with an immersion blender. Return soup to the pot and add the cream. Bring to a simmer, taste, and season with salt and pepper.

Garnish with fresh mint leaves..Serve with optional toppings and warm breadsticks..

Sending this to Weekend Herb Blogging started by Kalyn and hosted this week by Srivalli

Sending this to AWED American hosted by Dhivya

Sending this to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups

Sweet Corn Soup

I love sweet corn soup..In my childhood days,this was the only soup I used to have whenever I go to a restaurant..So decided to create it at home..Here goes the simple recipe..

Ingredients

Butter - 2 tablespoons
Onion - 1 medium chopped
All- Purpose flour - 2 tablespoons
Fresh or frozen corn kernels - 2 cups
Carrot - 1/4 cup cut into matchsticks.
Chicken broth or stock - 1 cup(can be replaced by water)
Milk - 2 cups
Coriander/parseley - 2 teaspoons chopped
Black pepper and salt to taste
Jalapeno salsa (optional)

Directions

In a large casserole combine the butter and the onion..Microwave on high for 1 minute or until the onion is tender..Stir in the flour to form a paste..stir in corn,carrot and broth..Cover and microwave on high for 8 minutes or until heated through.Add salt and pepper to taste..Garnish with coriander or cilantro..
To get a creamy corn soup blend the broth and corn together leaving some corn kernels for garnish..
Stir in the salsa for a spicier option..

Sending this to Dhivya's AWED: Chinese

And also to Srivalli's MEC:Soups and Stews

Red and Yellow Bell Pepper Soup

I had a couple of red and yellow bell pepper soup waiting to be used up..Decided to prepare a soup for dinner..It was too good..The nice orange colour was too appealing..I loved the creamy texture of the soup the bell peppers yielded..I had it with homemade garlic bread..Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients

Red pepper - 1
Yellow pepper - 1
Onion - 1 small sized
Garlic - 1 clove chopped roughly
Olive oil - 1 spoon
Heavy cream - 3 spoons
Dried oregano - 1 /2 teaspoon (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions

Broil the peppers and peel them..
In a pan heat the olive oil and add the garlic and onions..Saute till they turn transclucent..Add the peppers and saute for a while..Transfer all the ingredients to a blender and grind till a smooth consistency is obtained..
Bring the mixture back to the pot..
Stir in the heavy cream,salt and pepper..You can add any dried herbs..It adds more flavor..I added a little oregano..

Garnish with cream and serve hot with any bread of your choice.

The voting for Open Sesame event 2 is still on..If you like my apple pie vote for me here..You need to login to vote..

I found a lot of red and yellow bell peppers in season in my place..Sending this off to Eating with the seasons..