The A to Z of Soups and Salads

The Monthly Blog Patrol did quite well this hot summer month. I received 26 entries. That's why I decided to call this the A to Z. I added my own and it became 27, but I didn't email my entry to myself, so it doesn't count! In keeping with the A to Z, the entries in alphabetical order. (This round up also starts with an A to Z salad and ends with A to Z soup. Read on to find out how!)

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen sent me the A to Z Pasta Salad from Susan's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

Arul of FoodNTaste dished out this lovely Carrot - Tomato Soup from Vineela's Cooking.

Arundathi of My Food Blog made this really pretty and refreshing Watermelon Gazpacho. She hunted and hunted and found a recipe at Married With Dinner.

Asha sent me this entire meal of Kanji with Cherupayar Mezhukkupuratti very early on this month. Her inspiration was this dish from Shn's Kitchen Mishmash.

Bhags of Crazy Curry sent me Sorisha's version of Tomato Shorba.

When Richa posted this soup, I was fairly certain someone would make it. Cham of Spice Club proved me right with this Carrot Orange Soup.

My dear friend Chitra who is another HUGE inspiration for recipes on my blog made this Penne And Fusilli Salad from my Macaroni Salad. She doesn't have a blog yet, but this is the picture she took of the salad.

Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen made a Spicy Bean Salad and Cucumber Soup from Ashwini's Bean Salad and Cucumber Soup recipes.

Divya Vikram of Dil Se was inspired by this creamy soup from Pearls of East. Her Asparagus Soup looks very hearty to me.

Easy Crafts of Simple Indian Food made this very Indian salad, my favourite Carrot Kosumbari, from Suma's Veggie Platter.

JZ of Tasty Treats made this lovely Hot 'n' Sour Soup from a recipe at Mansi's FunnFud. (It started raining in Gurgaon just now and I would love to have a bowl of this soup.)

Meera of Enjoy Indian Food made this Kosambari from Archy's recipe. Perfect with a simple Indian meal.

Namratha of Finger Licking Food made this wholesome Minestrone Soup from Sia's Monsoon Spice.

Nandita of Saffron Trail went on a junk food trail and then made this Green Bean and Tomato Salad from Smitten Kitchen to aid her rehab efforts.

Rajitha of Hunger Pangs sent in one of my favourite soups, Mushroom Soup, from a blog whose recipes fill my bookmarks: Cookery Corner.

Ranjani of Wake Up And Smell The Masala made this Greek Salad from Janet's recipe.

Revathi, my friend from school, sent in this Pineapple Rasam which has me confused. She has linked it to my recipe but says she made it from the recipe of another friend. (Since I am hosting this event, I have to allow this, haven't I? I mean, the guy who owns the cricket bat doesn't ever get out, does he?)

Shubha of Chuki Bhar Pyar made this very pretty Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup from this recipe at Vegetarian Medley.

Sig of Live to Eat made this Salad Lyonnaise from Elise's blog which called for poached eggs. Sig cheated a wee bit (with the event's support and permission) and made her Fried Egg version.

Siri of Siri's made this (and forgot to send it to me). I remembered just now that someone had an MBP entry in their Recipe Marathon entries and tracked this down. Cucumber Kosambari from Asha's Foodie's Hope.

Srimathi of Few Minute Wonders revisits the old favourite, Tomato Soup, after inspiration from Mythreyee's recipe.

Sujatha of Spicy Khazana makes this 13 Bean Soup from the "first couple" in the Food Blogosphere, Jugalbandi.

Swetha of Our Cherished World made this light and flavourful Onion & Coriander Soup from Shilpa's blog.

TBC a.k.a. The Budding Cook sends in her "bursting with colour" Pinto Bean Salad adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

Trupti of Recipe Center sent me this Healthy Mix Vegetable Soup which she made from Mansi's recipe.

Vandy of Vandy's Culinary Adventures was inspired by the Recipe Factory to make this Moth beans /Matki Salad.

Last on this list is my entry, Tomato Red Pepper Saar, a tasty, flavourful, almost Konkani Saar with a twist. I'd been eyeing this recipe at Nupur's blog ever since she posted the round up titled T is for Tomato Red Pepper Saar as part of her A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

If I have missed out any entries, please do drop me a line. I am sorry I have been unable to visit your blogs and leave comments on your entry posts. I have to thank each of you for sending across your entries. This round up will be referred to very often by me in the coming months. Thanks Coffee, for giving me this opportunity to host one of my favourite events. Over now to dear Sia of Monsoon Spice for her edition of MBP: Street Foods.

Raspberry Raisin Ring

In my endeavour to participate in this month’s AFAM, I entertained many thoughts in my head. The simplest was to make a Raspberry trifle as the first time I’d ever tasted Raspberry was in the custard-jelly combination. I checked my pantry and I had all flavours of custard and jelly… except Raspberry. Then I thought of using raspberry jam, but then I’d have to go buy a bottle of jam for this (and these raspberry jams cost a bomb!! And we don’t even eat jam much.). All this while, I forgot that S had brought me a bag of 7-fruit blend which had dried raspberries. I realized only when I made this cake and put it in the oven. Anyway, I did find something raspberry in my pantry and I’m totally amazed at how well it blended with this cake. Nandita had sent me an assortment of flavoured teas and one of them was Raspberry, Cranberry and Elderflower. That’s the raspberry that went into this cake. This was an experiment from start to finish and while the cake didn’t turn out the way I thought it would (the batter was runnier than I expected). But on the whole, it was a yummy cake and we took some of it a dinner party that evening because I knew kids would be around (and most kids I know love jam!). The rest of the cake we took to our offices where it was gone in no time.

1/2 cup Yogurt
6 tbsp Oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp Jam
1 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of salt
7 tbsp Sugar
1 Raspberry Tea Bag
2 tbsp Raisins

Whisk the yogurt with the eggs, sugar and oil. Sift together the flours, baking soda and salt.


Place the tea bag in 1/4 cup of hot water with the raisins and leave it for 2-3 minutes. Remove the tea bag and take out the raisins. Blend the tea decoction with the jam and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute.


Mix the wet and dry ingredients and the raisins and pour into a greased ring cake tin. Pour the jam into the batter and bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes.


Given the runny batter that I had, the jam and the raisins reached the bottom of the cake tin and formed a “frosting” of sorts. This was a very moist, but dense, cake. I am sending this over to Dee on the last day of this month’s AFAM: Raspberry.

Spaghetti in Bechamel Sauce

I love pasta in any form and shape and can eat it any number of times. I have some folks at work who believe that eating pasta is a sign that you are snooty and, hence, look down on rotis and rice. I am sick and tired of explaining to people that I like variety. I am even sicker of explaining to folks that I grew up eating the stuff. Somehow, people are totally unable to believe that my mother made these part of our every day meals. Long before pizza sauces and bases made their appearance in supermarkets, she dished out pizzas from scratch as Monday night dinners. And I don’t count pizza and pasta in my list of junk food. These are full meals and can be as nutritious as you want them to be.

I’ve had some spaghetti lying in the cupboard for months now and somehow never got around to making it. I love spaghetti with tomato sauce and S loves his spaghetti carbonara. In fact, he’d try and order it at every Italian restaurant. I had a lot of milk in the fridge waiting to be used up and dished this out a couple of weeks ago. I loved this dish especially for the colours. (I really wanted to add corn for the yellow, but S didn’t want corn in his spaghetti!)

150g Spaghetti
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup, Broccoli, steamed
1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup, Red Capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the capsicum and fry for a minute. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the mushrooms and fry for about 30 seconds. (Do not fry the mushrooms for too long as the water in them gets released.) Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the broccoli and cook for a minute.

Boil 2 litres of water with a little salt and 1 tsp oil. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve some spaghetti on a plate. Pour the sauce over it. Dig in.

Peerkangai Thuvayal

I found a bag of Ridge Gourd while I was shopping for groceries at the upscale GK I market. (Don't ask why I do my grocery shopping there!) I have not seen it in Delhi/Gurgaon before. I have only seen the smoother version (tori) in markets here. It is not as though I love Ridge Gourd, but when I see vegetables I don't usually, I am tempted to buy them. I made the Ridge Gourd version of Lauki Moong Dal and had some left over. I tried this thuvayal sometime back. I was so thrilled with the outcome that I know I'll make this more often.

4 medium Ridge Gourds, roughly peeled and chopped

4 Red Chillies

1 tsp Mustard

3 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

3 tsp Oil

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

Salt to taste

Place the ridge gourd pieces in a microwave safe bowl. Add 2 tbsp of water and cook on high for 2 minutes. Squeeze out the water when cool.

Heat the oil and fry the red chillies, mustard, asafoetida and urad dal for a couple of minutes. Grind the chillies along with the tamarind paste and salt. Add the ridge gourd pieces and grind again. Finally, add the fried mustard and urad dal and grind lightly.

Serve this with rice and a little ghee and some papads or vadams on the side.

Potato Mushroom Cakes

I am more an "offline" person than an "online" person. I can't read e-books for the life in me. I don't think I can snuggle in bed with a laptop. A book is so much easier. That would probably explain why, despite the existence of so many food blogs, I continue to buy cookbooks with amazing regularity. There are old favourites and then there are new discoveries. While I continue to add to my collection, I fear that some of my books will wear out sooner than the others. One such book is "Favorite Vegetarian Dishes". It was a gift from my boss in the US. It is so full of recipes that call out to me. I have made several dishes after adapting the recipes to my taste from this book. Some of them are Grilled Garlic Potato Wedges, Garlic And Sage Bread, Pumpkin Soup, Middle Eastern Salad and Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda.

I made this on a winter weekend afternoon and they were gone in no time at all. I had originally intended to send this to the Potato events that were doing the rounds, but this just sat languishing in my drafts. Sia said we could post recipes throughout the year as an Ode to Potato, so I am doing just that.

2 cups Potatoes, boiled and mashed

2 tbsp Butter

2 cups Mixed Mushrooms (I used Button, Shitake and Oyster)

1 Egg, beaten

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1 tbsp Mixed Fresh Herbs

¼ cup Bread Crumbs

2 tbsp Flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

Oil for frying

Melt the butter in a pan and add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Drain any excess liquid. Stir this mixture into the potatoes and add the beaten egg and herbs. Shape the mixture into small balls and flatten each.

Meanwhile, mix the flour with a little water to make a batter. Place the bread crumbs on a plate. Heat the oil for frying. Coat each cake with the flour batter and then roll in the bread crumbs until evenly covered. Slide each cake into the hot oil and fry on each side until slightly dark brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with tomato ketchup. Alternatively, you could shallow fry these cakes in a skillet. In that case, you could omit the bread crumbs and roll the cakes in plain flour (not flour batter).

These are like the western cousins of AlooTikkis and make for a great snack. I'm sending these to Mansi over at Fun and Food for Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme of which is Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres.

Spinach in Coconut Milk Gravy

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. That is how this dish was born. I started to make Palak Paneer, but I didn't have the patience to allow the spinach to cool and then puree it. Since it was necessary to make something, I made this gravy while the spinach was getting steamed and I just threw it right in. I didn't expect the dish to taste as good as it did because I didn't put in any effort at all (and it was my own invention!). But the end result was simply great. I think this will go very well with steaming hot rice as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups Spinach, steamed and chopped

200 ml Coconut Milk

1 Onion

1-2 Green

pods of Garlic

1” piece of Ginger

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

¼ tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Grind the onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic together to a paste.

Heat oil, add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and salt and bring to a boil. Add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve hot with rotis.

I know I'll make this every once in a while when spinach is in season. Since we've almost stopped taking rice in our lunch boxes and have left pasta for weeknight dinners, rotis with a side dish seem to be a permanent fixture on our weekday lunch menu. And I don't like spending too much time in the kitchen. So these recipes come to my rescue very often.

Ullipaya Pachadi (Onion Chutney)

I have never been a “meals” person. S is an out and out meals person. Usually when we go out, he ends up ordering a “Thali” and I order a la carte. Some south Indian restaurants here serve a “South Indian” thali, but the rice they use in Basmati. I have never been able to come to terms with that. Somehow, I cannot associate my sambar saadam and tayir saadam with basmati rice. So, of late, I have started making full meals on weekends. Every Saturday or Sunday, I cook up a storm. (I know this meal is normal everyday food for most of you, but I am Ms. Lazy!) There’s rice, sambar, rasam, a vegetable, a salad, and curds. Pickles and papads are almost always there at home. But, you see, this is my perception of a meal. Coming from Andhra Pradesh, a meal for S always includes a podi or a chutney.


In order to try and incorporate more Telugu food in my everyday cooking, I ordered “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” a few months ago. I wanted a good English book with simple everyday Andhra recipes and found this. I have made a few things from this book and am quite happy. S is happier than I. That matters more than anything else.


I made this Onion Chutney from the book, but adapted it to suit my taste. (Being married to a Telugu does nothing to my tongue or system!) I also made a few additions.

3 Onions, chopped
1 tsp Ginger Paste
2 tbsp Tamarind Paste
1 tbsp Urad Dal
2 tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
3-4 Red Chillies
2 Green Chillies, slit
½ cup Coriander Leaves
7-8 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Oil
Salt to Taste


For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil
¼ tsp Urad Dal
¼ tsp Mustard Seeds


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the urad dal. When it starts to brown, add the mustard and the fenugreek seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the red chillies and fry for a minute. Stir in the green chillies, coriander leaves, and asafoetida. Add the onions and ginger paste and fry for a few minutes. Grind to a coarse paste along with the tamarind paste and salt.

For the tempering, heat the oil in a frying ladle. Add the urad dal and mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, pour the mixture on to the pachadi.

We had this as a first course in our “saapadu” by mixing this with rice and some ghee. Perfect food for licking your fingers!