Tomato Saaru / Devatsana Saaru/ Spicy Tomato Soup

I grew up in the small town of Puttur which was a quite town back then. Most of the socializing was during a temple festival or events/utsav's which is usually followed by a delicious finger licking meal for everyone who visited the festivities. These meals are often called boori samaradhane in Konkani which means meals for everyone. Back then I did not find these meals exciting, simply because there were too many of them and often. Waiting long hours for the meals to be served, on a hungry stomach wasn't very exciting. But when the meals are served on a banana leaves and the aroma of the saaru, dalitoy, gashi, pickles noNche filled the lunch rooms ..ah it was worth the the wait. It is a memory to be cherished.

Molavees

"moLavees" Yes, it is a Konkani dish. Probably one of the recipes, in the verge of extinction. When my mother-in-law mentioned it, I wasn't sure she was talking about a Konkani dish. We were talking about the dishes from our childhood, and she happened to recollect this dish. My MIL's mother was from Kerala and this must have been a dish with Keralite influence.

Tomato Soup with Chunky Vegetables

Some time back when the price of tomatoes was high, I bought a box of tomato paste and stocked up my pantry. I tried to substitute fresh tomatoes with tomato paste in the Indian curries. It proved to be a bad idea. I turned out to the net seeking ideas to use the paste. Looks like soups are the best. Now I make soup with tomato base very often.

Moroccan Lentil Soup to start the New Year 2007

This is my first post for the New Year 2007. Thanks to all my readers & fellow bloggers for the support and response shown in year 2006. Hope I will continue to keep you guys posted with more enthusiasm.



Sometime back I had posted the Spanish Lentil Soup and many of my readers liked it. But the recipe used bouillon cube instead of spices. Some of my readers are Vegetarians and its very hard to find a 100% vegetarian bouillon cube. So I did some research on the web and compiled this made from the scratch Moroccan Lentil Soup.

Barley Soup with Chunky Vegetables

I have planned to eat more healthy everyday. Why wait for Jan 1st when I can start it today? My plans is to cut down on rice and chapathi portions in half and to double the vegetables in my diet, include all varieties of cereal grains in the diet. I always loved to experiment with food to produce healthy recipes packed with nutrients without compromising taste. Here is the recipe for Barley Soup with Chunky Vegetables, which I did yesterday.

1/2 cup pearl barley
1 carrot
1 fennel
1 leek
1/4 capsicum
1/2 cup any vegetables of your choice
1 head broccoli/cauliflower
garlic salt/plain salt
fresh or dried herbs like oregano, basil, parsley, cilantro

Before I start with the recipe let me tell you more about the ingredients.

Barley is a cereal grain that is high in fiber and nutrients. It has more fiber than any other cereal grain. Most of the grains like rice and wheat are hulled and all the outer layer would have been removed before it comes to your plate. Barley too is hulled, but the nutrients left after milling is more than any other grain. Read more about barley on WHFoods.

Fennel on the left; Leek on the right

Fennel is the plant that looks like celery, but has a big pale green bulb at the bottom and celery like stalks on the top. The leaves resemble dill leaves. See the picture above. Very fragrant and add great flavor into the soup. Leek is like a giant green onion plant/scallion but is milder than onion. Leeks Lower LDL Cholesterol While Raising HDL Cholesterol. Read more about Fennel and Leek on WHFoods.

Lets start cooking now.
Cook barley in the pressure cooker with enough water to 6-8 whistles. Let it cook down.

In the meantime, Wash the fennel and leek. Separate out each stalks, wash each of it picking by hand and wash down all the dirt collected in them. Wash and Chop all the vegetables into chunks of 1/2 inch or smaller. You can transfer the content of the pressure cooker to a stock pot or continue in the same vessel to save on cleaning. Add carrot, fennel, leeks to the barley and cook on medium flame. You can add any more vegetables of your choice. When almost done, add capsicum and broccoli. Add dried or fresh herbs. Add garlic salt and pepper.

Serve hot with croûtons.

This chunky vegetable soup is a complete meal in its own.

Spanish Lentils / Lentil Soup

A few month back my eyes ran through a packet of whole brown lentils in the local produce shop. Being a health and fitness freak, I wanted to make some recipes with whole lentils. I tried making Indian dals and curries out of it, they were OK but never wanted to try it again. Later I gave up on it. Recently, my friend Manisha who is from Spain, gave me this recipe for Spanish Lentils. She says this is a gourmet food served in restaurants in Spain. Its usually served on the side of the Bread. Spanish paav bhaji!? So here it goes.

Spanish Lentils is very healthy, delicious and also very easy to make. It is somewhat between a soup and side dish. You can eat it like a dip for bread or simply eat it like a soup. The dish is loaded with fiber and veggies that just a bowl makes a complete meal.

The soup is made with whole brown lentils which are available in the local supermarkets. But you can also make this soup with whole masoor and or any other lentils from the Indian Store, but remember you need whole dals with the outer layer. Thats what makes it so healthy.

1 cup lentils
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 medium potato
1/2 bell pepper
1 tomato
1 carrot
2 tsp oil
pepper
1 bouillon cube or stock cube of your choice
1 tsp lime juice

Soak lentils for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. Chop all the vegetables into cubes.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Fry onion and garlic for a minute. Do not brown them. Add all the veggies and fry for another minute. Add lentils, pepper and stock cube. Add water just enough to cover the lentils. Cook for 2-3 whistles. Adjust salt. Usually the salt in the bouillon cube is enough. Squeeze some fresh lime juice.

Serve with bread.

I used Knorr chicken bouillon cube. You can also use veggie stock cube or any other of you choice. More on bouillon cube here

Kuleeth Saaru & Usli (Horsegram soup & Stir fry)

Saaru in Konkani or Kannada is a general name for any thin flavored liquid that has to be eaten with rice. Saaru can also be savoured like a soup. Konkanis do often use the liquid from boiling any grains/legumes for making saaru.

Kuleeth Saaru Served with rice

Kuleeth/Kulthi or Horsegram is a brown flat legume. I had written more about Kuleeth in the past along with Kuleeth Dosa.

Kuleeth is cooked with lots of water, the liquid is separated and used to make saaru. The cooked kuleeth grains is used to make Kuleeth Usli, a side dish that can be eatedn along with chapathi or rice or just like a snack.

1 cup kuleeth
6-7 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
2 dry red chillies

Cook kuleeth in a pressure cooker for about 5 whistles. Drain the liquid from the kuleeth to a sauce pan. Add slit green chillies and salt and bring it to a boil. Keep boiling till the green chillies impart hotness into the saaru.

For the seasoning, roast garlic in a tsp of oil, fry broken red chillies and add to the saaru.
Kuleeth Saaru
Serve with rice or drink like a soup.

Kuleeth Usli
Make kuleeth usli or a stir fry snack with the cooked grains.
1 cup cooked kuleeth
2 green chillies
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard
hing
1 tbsp shredded coconut, optional

Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai/wok. Splutter mustard seeds, add slit green chillies, curry leaves. Add cooked kuleeth, salt and a little water. Cook till all the water evaporates. Garnish with coconut.

Kuleeth Usli

Serve as a side dish or breakfast or snack.

Bean Soup (Sarupkari)

Sarupkari is a kind of dal made by the konkani people. Unlike other dals, dried beans are used here rather than the dals/lentils. The name sarupkari comes from saaru i.e the liquid dish and and upkari i.e palya/stir fry. So sarupkari is two in one. One can make sarupkari out of any kind of dried beans.

I often make with black beans, rajma, red beans, kidney beans, white beans, whole tuvar or togari in kannada, black eyed peas or green beans/mung beans.

Black eyed peas Sarupkari

3/4 cups any dried beans of your choice
1 potato, optional
7-8 cloves of garlic
3-4 dried red chilies
2 green chillies, optional

Soak beans overnight or for 12 hrs. It is very important to soak beans. It cooks faster, becomes more tastier and also soaking removes flatulence from the beans. Rinse the soaked beans in water 2 times and drain. Add enough water so that beans are covered. Add diced potatoes. Cook the beans in a pressure cooker. Cook until the beans are well cooked. Its better if the beans are broken and looks a little mashed. This brings some thickness to the sauce. Now transfer the cooked beans to a sauce pan, add salt and slit green chilies. Boil for 5 minutes.

For the seasoning heat a tsp of oil, fry crushed garlic cloves until golden brown. Switch off the flame and add broken red chilies. Fry for a minute and add to the beans. Bring it to a boil and switch off the flame and cover the pot.

Serve with rice.

If you do not develop a taste for the sarupkari with rice, you can simply savor on the sarupakri like a bean soup.

Make a Vegetable Soup out of any leftovers

Roasted Garlic Vegetable Soup

Soups are the best ways to eat variety of good fresh healthy vegetables. I often make soups from the scratch at home. The base for my soups are usually leftover dal's or any cooked bean. I always have frozen corn and peas in the freezer. Corn kernels and peas are very high in fiber and easily blend in in any soup. But you can make soups without corn, peas, cooked beans and dals too.

2 tbsp corn kernels, frozen or fresh
2 tbsp tender peas, frozen or fresh
1/2 cup carrot, diced
6-7 cauliflower florets
1/2 capsicum, diced
pinch of dried or fresh herbs- basil, oregano, parsley- all or any
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp pepper flakes or red chillies broken
2 tbsp leftover dal or any cooked beans, optional

Boil 1 cup water and cook carrots. When they are tender add corn, peas, cauliflower, capsicum and bring it to a boil. Add the herbs, Chop them if fresh. If using dried herbs just rub/crush them between your palms to release flavour.
If you wish to add left over dals or cooked beans, remove any chillies or curry leaves and add them to the soup. Add salt to taste. You can use garlic salt or any other flavoured salt of your choice instead.

Season the soup with roasted garlic and pepper flakes. For this heat very little oil, just enough to fry the garlic till light golden colour. Switch off the flame and stir in the pepper flakes in the oil. Add the seasoning to the soup.

If you do not wish to fry the garlic, you may add it to the soup without roasting. But roasted garlic gives good flavour to the soup.

Serve with croutons on top.