Vegetable and Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• Yellow Onion - 1 small
• Garlic- 3 cloves
• Carrots - 2 ( diced or shredded )
• Celery - 2 stalks  (diced )
• Zucchini - 1 small ( diced )
• Yellow Squash - 1 small ( diced )
• Broccoli Florets - 1 cup
• Noodles - 2 cups ( thin or thick )
• Vegetable Stock - 6-7 cups
• Salt - to taste
• Crushed Pepper - to taste
• Olive Oil - 2 tsp
• Dry Basil Leaf Flakes - to sprinkle

Directions: 

• Heat olive oil in a pot and saute onions in it till translucent. Add minced garlic and saute.
• Add the stock or broth. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add diced vegetables ( except zucchini and yellow squash ) and bring it to boil. 
• Simmer it uncovered for about 15 minutes, till all the vegetables are tender. 
• Now add zucchini , yellow squash and noodles and cook for 8-10 minutes. ( We add zucchini and yellow squash later as they cook faster than the other vegetables )
• Sprinkle basil leaves and stir. 
• Serve it hot in a bowl along with crackers or garlic bread sticks.

Cabbage Pakora

cabbage pakoras , as the name says, are made of shredded cabbage, however I like to add some shredded carrots to it too.

Ingredients:

• Shredded Cabbage - 1 cup
• Shredded Carrots - 1 cup ( Optional, you can avoid carrots and use 2 cups of cabbage instead )
• Besan ( Chickpea Flour )- 1/2 cup
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Carom Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Directions: 

• In a mixing bowl add all the ingredients ( except oil ) and mix well. Add just a few tsp of water , just enough for all the masalas to coat the cabbage.

• Heat oil for deep frying on medium heat. Test the oil if it is ready . Drop just a pinch of mixture in the oil. The mixture should go to the bottom of the pan and come up on the surface in just 1-2 seconds. ( should neither come up immediately not should settle at the bottom )
• When the oil is ready, drop small dumplings of the pakora mixture to fill the pan. 
• Let it fry on both the sides till golden brown and crispy.
• Take them out on a paper napkin. Repeat the process with the remaining mixture.
• Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney.

Ghee ( Clarified Butter )

Ghee, one of the most essential ingredients in the Indian kitchen. Used to make most of the sweets, used for tadka in any dal or curry, used to make parathas, or even just drizzle some ghee in rice. It is used in most of the recipes.
My mom used to collect the cream of the milk for several days and then make ghee out of it. However, It's much easier and quicker to make ghee with store bought butter.
Here is the method to make ghee.

Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter - 1 lb or as needed

Directions: 

• Place the butter in heavy bottom pan. Let all the butter melt in the pan. Cook uncovered.

• Bring it to boil over medium heat. Keep stirring. 
• It will form a foam on the surface which will disappear in a couple of minutes.

• Continue to cook on medium heat. Foamy bubbles start to form at the surface.

• Reduce the heat to low and let simmer. Keep stirring. Don't take your eyes off the stove. It might burn in seconds.
• The brown solids will now settle down at the bottom and the the liquid will turn beautiful golden in color. Turn off the heat now, as you do not want to burn the brown solids. 
• Let it cool. When cooled strain into a clean air tight jar.

• You can store it on the kitchen counter. It need not be refrigeratred. It will solidify after a couple of hours.

Pumpkin Soup

I have yet another pumpkin left from the halloween. So here I am making spicy pumpkin soup.

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin - half of the small one
• Unsalted Butter - 4 tbsp
• Yellow Onions - 1 large
• Garlic - 2 pods
• Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste 
• Vegetable Stock or water - 5 cups
• Milk - 2 cups
• Heavy Cream - to garnish on each serving.
• Salt - 1 tsp or to taste

Directions: 

• Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out all the seeds and the stingy stuff. Bake it on 350°F until soft . This would take about 45 minutes. Peel the skin and roughly chop or mash the pumpkin. Keep aside.
• In a soucepan, heat butter and add chopped onions and minced garlic.Saute till translucent.
• Add Coriander powder, red chili powder. Mix well. ( I added just half a tsp of garam masala as well, just to give it a slight Indian touch ;) It is optional though. )
• Add pumpkin and stock. Blend well and bring it to boil. Keep stirring ocassionally. Reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
• Let it cool. After cooling, blend in a blender till smooth.
• Return it to the saucepan. Add salt and cook on low heat. 
• Add milk while stirring. Cook for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
• Add a few drops of heavy cream over each serving. ( optional )
• Serve it hot. You can serve it with croutons or garlic toast.

Forgot to soak beans overnight ?

It many times happens that we plan to make rajma or chole the next day but forget to soak them overnight.
A quick soak tip is that , boil the beans in water for about 5-10 minutes.
Cover it and set aside. Let it cool for about 1 hour.
You have your soaked beans ready to cook.
Works for kidney beans, garbanzo beans, an all other beans which need to be soaked overnight.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Since it is halloween time and we have too many pumpkins around which means too many pumpkin recipes.
What do you do with the seeds? Do not throw them away. It makes a good crispy thing to munch on.

Ingredients:

• Seeds from one pumpkin
• Salt - to taste
• Water - 2-3 cups ( for boiling)
• Oil spray - to sprinkle

Directions: 

• Cut the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. To separate the seeds from the stingy core, soak the seeds in a bowl of water for about half hour. The clean seeds will float on the surface of water. Take the seeds out and keep aside.
• In a small saucepan , take the water and add salt to it. Boil the seeds in this salted water for about 8-10 minutes. Drain .
• Spread the seeds on the baking pan and spray the oil very lightly. 
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake the seeds for about 15-20 min until they brown on both the sides. You can toss them in between. 
• Eat after cooling. Eat as a whole or peel and eat the inner seed.

Pumpkin Halwa

Easy to make and good to taste Pumpkin Halwa :

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin (grated) - 5 cups
• Milk - 1 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup or to taste
• Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cashew Nuts - 8-10
• Ghee - 1/4 cup

Directions: 

• Peel and grate the pumpkin. 
• In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of ghee and add the grated pumpkin. Cook on low-med heat till the raw smell disappears.
• Now add milk and cook till the pumpkin is cooked. keep stirring to avoid burning at the bottom of the pan.
• Add sugar mix well. Cook till the ghee separates.
• In a separate small pan, heat ghee and roast cashew nuts till golden. Add roasted cashew nuts and cardamom powder to the halwa and give it a good mix.

Enjoy !!