Pumpkin Green Garlic Turmeric Soup … another winner for us at home, soup just like we love. Thick, hearty, bursting with earthy flavours and oh-so-satisfying. If you belong to the hearty, earthy soup club, this is for you.
If however you like broth like soup, thin this one out, add some blanched vegetables, maybe noodles and make it a meal! That’s just the beauty of soup, so easily adaptable, just so simple overall.
This Pumpkin Green Garlic Turmeric Soup is yet another one which includes two favourite winter ingredients, green garlic as well as fresh turmeric root. Green garlic elevates the garlicky flavour beautifully, adding fresh notes to whatever you add it too.
Fresh turmeric root on the other hand is an underlying flavour, yet adds immense health benefits to any dish. We are quite lucky to get fresh turmeric root the year through. So it’s in soups all winter, and in my smoothies the year round.
And how could I forget the humble pumpkin, the base of my soup, the heart of this bowl? The pumpkin or peela kaddu is unique because it takes well to both sweet & savoury dishes. It’s great roasted, or stir fried, and even surprisingly good in this fast tracked ‘lazy’ soup. It’s another vegetable we get the year around, so I’m thinking cold pumpkin soup for summer perhaps?
What is your favourite soup? Mine are currently all vegetarian soups, because I love them. You can always throw in chopped sausages, leftover roasted chicken etc to add more protein to yours!
Pumpkin Green Garlic Turmeric Soup
Winter means endless soups. Here's another soup today, one which has two favourite ingredients- green garlic & turmeric. Oh, make it three - pumpkin too!! Serve with stir fried broccoli with garlic & sesame seeds, a crusty bread perhaps!
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
200gpumpkin /peela kadduchopped
1onionchopped
5-6stalks green garlicchopped
5-6clovesgarlicchopped
1/2"piecefresh turmericchopped
1tspbrown sugar
1tbspghee or evoo/coconut oil
1tspadobo chili sauce
1cupvegetable stock
Salt to taste
250mlcoconut milk
1/2 - 1large fresh red chili
Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
Heat ghee. Add pumpkin and Saute on high until beginning to caramelise. Add both garlic, onion, turmeric and sugar
Cook.on high, stirring often until.pumpkin softens.
Add stock, salt, chili sauce and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. Puree and return to pan.
Add slit large red chili, coconut milk and juice of lime. Taste and adjust seasoning and consistency if required.
Drizzle over evoo. Garnish with crisp lotus stem chips and fresh herbs etc.
Silky Deep Hot Chocolate… because it’s freezing outside! We’ve been hit by a cold wave up in North India and all you need is this to soothe the soul, to comfort it and to uplift your spirits!
“Life is like a box of chocolates―you never know what you’re going to get.” Forest Gump
As you know, chocolate is one of my most favourite ingredients to work with. Style & shoot as well! I’m also really happy to say that I’ve finally signed up with Penguin Random House to write a cookbook …
And you guessed it, it’s going to be around CHOCOLATE! As I get down to working on it, you’ll see plenty of chocolate inspiration popping up now & then.
Here’s a Silky Deep Hot Chocolate to get things stirred up! ENJOY!!
Catch me onInstagram if you’re there. Do tag me on passionateaboutbaking on Instagram if you try a recipe, or follow me if you like! I’d love to connect with you.
Silky Deep Hot Chocolate.. Just perfect for these days of freezing weather! You're going to love this simple no brainer hot chocolate recipe that's sure to warm your soul.
Keyword chocolate, eggless, glutenfree, homemade, no bake, sweet
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 5 minutesminutes
Total Time 10 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
3tbspcocoa powder
1tbspcornflour
100gdark couverture chocolate72%
500mlmilk
2tbspcoconut sugar
1/2tspcinnamon powder
Instructions
Mix all the ingredients EXCEPT CHOCOLATE in by heavy bottom saucepan, and place over low flame. Whisk well, stir constantly.
Once it gets to a simmering boil, stir until it becomes creamy & thick. Add the chocolate & simmer until the chocolate has melted.
Enjoy
Fun fact: Make a big batch, refrigerate it, then reheat just before serving. Give it a dash of bourbon, kahlua or red wine if you like, but do make it
Mushroom Cashew Rosemary Soup, yet another favourite soup I created with available pantry ingredients a few days ago. Simple to make, beautifully flavoured and quite creamy because of the cashews within, I’m going to make this often. Like an earlier soup I recently made, this one too is thickened with oats {and cashews this time} making it healthy, delicious and gluten free too. I’m sure you’re going to love this one as it is a great winter warmer, just right for the current cold spell we are experiencing.
I’m not a huge soup person and don’t have great expertise in making them. I stick to a few basics, and really make soups in a hurry, often throwing in whatever I can salvage in ten minutes. Yet with these brrrrr freezing cold days and the mercury dipping day after day, sometimes soup is all that warms the soul. I like subtle flavour in my soup. I also prefer them creamy to clear possibly because I don’t know how to make a good clear soup.
Maybe it’s time to sharpen my skills as I had a really good miso soup a few days ago, and that was amazing. Until I get there, sharpen my skills a little, here’s one of my favourite soups for now. With cauliflowers literally falling off carts this winter, it’s a great way to use the humble vegetable.I did make a finger licking good roasted cauliflower salad the other day. So garlicky, so good! I loved how well the cauliflower roasted in the dressing, how beautifully the fresh beet greens and rocket from the garden complimented it. And oh, the pom pearls that add fresh flavour and a burst of colour. Would you like the recipe?
Mushroom Cashew Rosemary Soup ... truly a winter warmer!
Simple to make, beautifully flavoured and quite creamy because of the cashews within, Mushroom Cashew Rosemary Soup is a winter favourite. Thickened with oats and cashews makes it healthy, delicious and gluten free too.A great winter warmer!
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
2tbspbutter
1larger onionchopped
5-6clovesgarlicchopped
1/4cupcashews
200gbutton mushroomssliced
1TSP dried rosemary
1sprig fresh rosemary
1cupWater
1cupmilk
2tbspquick cooking oats
Salt & pepper to taste
balsamic vinegar
Instructions
Heat butter. Saute onions and garlic, then add cashews, saute.
Stir in mushrooms and saute on high for minutes.
Add rosemary, saute for 10 seconds, then add water andilk.
Bring to simmer, add oats, bring to a boil, them simmer 5 minutes.
Blend slightly for chunky finish (or smooth if you like), then return to pan
Season with salt and pepper, add balsamic vinegar, and simmer for 5 minutes.
If you'd like thicker soup, simmer a little longer.
Ginger Jaggery Wholewheat Tea Cakes. These were delicious little babies. Light, warm, spicy, moist and just right for the season. This time around no chocolate. They were still divine; apt for holiday baking which should be in full swing now!The folk from Asahi Kasei, a Japanese brand, sent me a selection of Cooking Sheet or silicon coated parchment paper, Premium Wrap {popularly known as Saran Wrap in the US} and Frying Pan Foil to use. The products are being marketed in India and it’s really nice to see how good the quality is. While the cooking sheet or parchment caught my eye, it was the frying pan foil that had me fascinated. Silicon coated on one side, it fries, or rather cooks, without oil, making food a lot healthier especially for people who are diet conscious or need to avoid oil. Obviously the easiest way to experiment was to fry an egg. Felt like child’s play. The Frying Pan Foil required no oil, cooked the egg sunny side up to perfection, and it slid off like a charm. Magic! And guess what, no wash up as the pan stayed clean. The Premium Wrap is really good quality too. Essentially it is Saran Wrap, the most popular plastic wrap in the US, and the best selling one in Japan. I have tried different varieties of cling wrap here locally. This one was markedly different; has the same Saran Wrap mark of quality. It’s great to freeze food in, wrap half cut fruits etc in to refrigerate, as also to use in the microwave. In my kitchen it’s a wrap for bread or cookie dough, or for left over salad. Use it and experience the feel. Screams quality.
Then came time for what I use the most, baking parchment or Cooking Sheet as it is called at Asahi Kasei. Really good quality parchment, silicon coated on both sides which prevents the food sticking to it. I had bookmarked these little tea cakes from Cookaroo. Instead of using Nordic ware mini bundt tins for the whole batch as initially planned, I used a combination of dessert rings and a bundt. The sheets turned out as good as can be. Nothing stuck, clean peel off – a JOY to use.
The good thing about these cooking sheets is that they work really well in the microwave too. You can steam marinated fish with vegetables, maybe just vegetables in a light marinade, or interestingly even cheese and sesame crackers! Like all Japanese products, the whole range is top on quality and easy to use. I love the bright cheerful packaging too.
Back to the bakes. I changed the recipe as I went along. Made it whole grain, added pie spice and the zest of an orange and everything came together really well. These are best served warm from the oven, though can be reheated before serving. A drizzle of unsweetened single cream makes them more special. Next time, I might add walnuts to the recipe, maybe dried cranberries.
Recipe: Ginger Jaggery Wholewheat Tea Cakes
Summary: Light, warm, spicy, moist, delicious and just right for the season, these Ginger Jaggery Wholewheat Tea Cakescome together in next to no time. Serves 6-8
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients:
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
135g jaggery granules {or jaggery, chopped fine}
45ml honey
30ml water
1tsp dried ginger powder {saunt}
1 tsp pie spice {or cinnamon or 1/2 tsp garam masala}
Zest of 1 orange {or 1/2 tsp orange extract}
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
175g wholewheat flour {aata}
Dried orange crystals or demerera sugar for sprinkling over
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment and lightly grease 5 mini cake molds, {or line one 6-7″round baking tin}
Place the jaggery, butter, honey and water in a heatproof bowl. Heat in microwave for a minute, until the butter has melted. Whisk well with a balloon whisk until the jaggery and butter have combined.
Add the ginger powder, pie spice, orange zest, vanilla extract, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk well to mix.
Whisk in the eggs one by one. Now fold in the whole-wheat flour gently.
Ladle into prepared tins, sprinkle over dried orange crystals. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until risen and light golden brown {40-45 minutes for a larger cake}. Use tester to check if done.
Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then gently loosen sides to demold. Serve warm as is, or with a drizzle of unsweetened single {low fat} cream.
“The easiest diet is, you know, eat vegetables, eat fresh food. Just a really sensible healthy diet like you read about all the time.”
Drew Carey
Baby Mustard Greens Indian Stir Fry … quick, as spicy as you like it, simple and fuss free. Fresh produce is one of the highlights of winter in North India, and mustard greens a quintessential favourite. Someone asked me the other day if I only bake, and I almost gawked! I cook more than I bake, or maybe equal amounts. I love to cook, and love trying new stuff. I just don’t blog it often enough.
So turning a corner near home yesterday, I chanced upon this young lad selling a cartload of farm fresh vegetables. The greens caught my glad eye and I hit the brakes. They weren’t the normal greens we see everyday. They were tiny, or rather baby, mustard greens … fresh, tender and absolutely delightful. All I could think of was ‘I wish I had my camera‘. The next best thing was of course to buy some, take it home and shoot! So I bought a bunch of stuff for a princely Rs100 {less than $2} and raced home in excitement.
North Indian winter is incomplete without a meal of sarson ka saag and makki ki roti. It’s a dish I make often through the winter, yet this year I haven’t got there for some silly reason. The upside of course that winter is longer and colder this year, so there’s plenty of promise of the dish showing up in the days to come. Since that is a more involved dish to make despite the several shortcuts I take, the Baby Mustard Greens Indian Stir Fry seemed a simpler option.
A quick consultation with Sangeeta who rules the roost for fresh produce and is a ‘food knowledge bank‘ in my eyes, and I knew what I would make. I cooked up a simple stir fry … loads of green chilies and loads of flavour, and served it up with one of my favourite non vegetarian dishes – a chicken korma. Kept the leaves whole for this since they were small and tender, yet you can always chop them up.
Also feel free to reduce {or increase } the green chilies. they add a nice touch of heat served alongside the mild and flavourful Awadhi Chicken Korma, which incidentally is one of our family favourites. That korma, shared here and seems to get better each time we make it! It’s simple and uncomplicated too, with staple pantry ingredients.
[print_this]Recipe: Baby Mustard Greens Indian Stir Fry
Summary:Baby Mustard Greens Indian Stir Fry … quick, as spicy as you like it, simple and fuss free. Fresh produce is one of the highlights of winter in North India, and mustard greens a quintessential favourite.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes Ingredients:
750g baby mustard greens, leaves picked
1 1/2 tbsp mustard oil
1 whole dried red chili
1/2 tsp asafoetida
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 green chillies, finely sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped
Salt to taste
Method:
Wash and spin the baby mustard leaves in a salad spinner to get rid of extra water. {You can chop the leaves f you like]
Heat oil in a wok, add the whole red chili when the oil reaches smoking point, and discard it once it blackens.
Add asafoetida, green chillies and tomato to oil and stir fry to mix.
Add all the leaves, reduce heat to simmer and cover and cook for 5-7 minutes until the leaves wilt.
Open, season with salt, stir to mix well, and simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the leaves are cooked.
Increase heat and stir fry until dryish. taste and adjust seasoning.
“Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.”
Auguste Escoffier
Mushrooms and Onion Scapes Soup … for the soul! I was completely mesmerised by the onion scapes I bought at the local bazaar. I love this fantastic season. Each time I step into the overflowing fruit and vegetable shop, I rediscover seasonal produce from last year. That day two large bunches of scapes stared at me, and again, shouting my name out LOUD!
How could I resist it? I asked the guy for a few stalks, and he packed the whole bunch off with me. Said, “Take the whole bunch. I know you’ll do something with it. All yours!!” Seriously, they are beautiful. I put some in a milk-jug and they began opening into the most beautiful flowers a while later.
Wasn’t very sure what I’d with so many, but knew how pretty they would look in a vase! Sometimes the real beauty of nature comes from flowers like these. I love them! A discussion with Man Friday followed where he declared these were garlic scapes. A nibble later, I figured they were definitely more oniony than garlicky.
I had mushroom soup on my mind that morning. With the weather nippy all over again, soups offer the ultimate comfort; a healthy option, even better. This one is simple, uses staple pantry ingredients, and can go gluten free too.
In the past I have made it with mushrooms, potato and a generous amount of fresh coriander. The base is often milk and some vegetable stock as I usually have a large jar of homemade stock in the fridge. When I feel indulgent, you can find me pouring in some low fat cream too! Oh and often walnuts to add texture…
Some onion scapes needed a more handy alternative to sitting in the milk jug as it was rather full. The soup offered the perfect destination. As I said, you can pretty much play around with the ingredients. Is fun!
I did something else with the soup too that night. I was making breaded chicken fillets for the kids. Instead of doing the normal egg, flour and breadcrumbs coating assembly line, I sneaked some soup into a bowl. Dunked the Italian seasoning marinated breast fillets first into soup, then into wholewheat home made breadcrumbs, and shallow fried the fillets.
While the son enjoyed his in burgers, the ‘constantly on a diet’ daughter ate crumb fried fillets with char grilled broccoli. The son came back to say these were the best tasting burgers ever! “Really nice Mama!” Must have been the soup!! Soup has been the call this winter! Loads of it.
So what’s your favourite comfort or soul food in winter? Do you make soup from scratch? I did an amazing Smokey Roasted Tomato Soup {pictured above} for a client I am developing recipes for. Heard the other day that a friend was making pumpkin and peanut butter soup. I was completely intrigued. I guess it’s time to explore more soups as winter is still here.
And before I scoot, it’s time to announce the winner {s} of the Nirlep giveaway on my blog. A 1000 apologies for the delay, but I was travelling a little bit, and now the elder teen has her board exams. Between driving her up and down, and feeding her ‘comfort food’ on demand 24 X 7, there seems to be little time to blog!
Food however is always cooked in the PAB household, so the handi has been put to good use. I am really happy to have received it for review because I didn’t know what I was missing! The Nirlep handi is very very versatile indeed. From cooking pasta until al dente to making pasta and pizza sauces, to numerous rounds of steamed bathua leaves or chenopodium{or lamb’s quarter}of bathua ka raita, to delicious stir fried chicken mince, then meatballs too, I have seriously used it a lot!
I am thrilled to offer one as a giveaway that was announced when I reviewed the utensil. The winner of theEbony Handi is Swapna Mickey. Since we had a load on entries, Nirlep offered to send Nirlep Cookwareto two more participants. They are Reeta Skeeter and Manjeet Kaur. Congratulations ladies and thank you so much for joining the giveaway {and for waiting so patiently}. Will mail you shortly.
[print_this]Recipe: Mushroom and Onion Scapes Soup
Summary: Soul satisfying, rich and creamy without extra calories, Mushroom and Onion Scapes Soup is pure comfort food for winter. Serve with a chargrilled broccoli salad, oven wedges, crumb fried chicken / fish, some crusty bread, maybe a green salad.
Heat oil in the handi or a heavy bottom pan. Add the onion and garlic and sweat until light pink. Add the onion scapes and saute briefly.
Now add the mushroom, chili and potato. Saute for a minute.
Add the milk and water / stock. and simmer covered for about 20 minutes until the potato is cooked.
Stir in the cornflour mix and stir until the soup thickens. You can skip the cornflour for a GF version. Reduce the water/stock, or add it only if required.
Add salt to taste. Take off heat once the desired consistency has been reached. Puree with an immersion blender once it’s cool enough to do so.
Thermomix version
Place onion, garlic and onion scapes in TM bowl and process for a few seconds on speed 5 to chop.
Drizzle in olive oil and cook on 100C, reverse speed 1 for 3 minutes.
Add whole mushrooms and a quartered potato and run on speed 5 for a few seconds until chopped.
Add the milk, cornflour, salt and water. Stir for 10 seconds on reverse speed2.
