Carrot Cabbage Soup

There was a time when soup meant only tomato soup for me. Later when I went to college, I got to know about different varieties of soup. And later with the arrival of packaged soups in the market, I got to taste various soups at home. After reading about the ill-effects of MSG, which is added to the soup powders, I stopped buying them. I do see some brands with 'No MSG' labels. If it is home made you know what goes into it and no need to trust the labels.

The purple variety of cabbage is sometimes seen in the local vegetable market near my home. The usual stir fry with this kind doesn't go well with me. I usually use this for making pulav and in soup. It gives a nice flavor to the soup. With pressure cooker, it is very easy. You can cook them on stove top too.

You need
Carrot - 1 medium sized Chopped cabbage - 1 cup
Onion - 1
garlic - 3 pods
crushed pepper -1 tspn
salt

oil- 1 tspn

Method:

Take a pressure cooker. Heat a teaspoon of oil. Saute garlic and onion till they turn pink. Add chopped cabbage, carrot. Saute for two minutes. Add 2 cups of water, salt and peeper. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. When the pressure is fully released, blend to get a fine puree. Adjust the soup consistency by adding water. Simmer till it thickens.

I am sending this to FIC-Orange, hosted by Aparna, an event started by Sunshinemom
and to Neha for her SWC:Soups, which started at CookingStation

Jeera Vepam Poo Rasam - Cumin & Neem Flower Thin Soup

JEERA VEPAM POO RASAM

There is a rumbling in the stomach. You are famished. You want to eat but you are not hungry. The best antidote for such a condition is jeera rasam. A glass of hot jeera rasam topped with ¼ tsp of fresh ghee will be enough to make you ravenous in no time. My family loves to have this rasam especially when the first course of the meal is a heavy dish, or when lots of dishes are lined up waiting to be savoured. Vepam Poo or neem flowers added to the seasoning is an added benefit, as these flowers have a healing property. They also act as a deworming agent. Regular use of neem flowers is over all good for a healthy digestive system.

Collecting neem flowers during the season was great fun for us siblings. As soon as the neem tree in our garden started to bloom, Lingamma started to prepare the ground under the tree. She removed the weeds and thorns from under the tree and swept the ground well. We took part enthusiastically in the operation cleaning only up to this stage. The next step was not a very pleasant one for us, where Lingamma plastered the ground with a mixture of cow dung and water. I can still recall the characteristic odour when the hot earth greedily absorbed the cow dung and water mixture. (For those who are not aware – this is a common practice still very prevalent in rustic homes in India! Cow dung has insect repellent properties, acts as a thermal insulator and is available easily and cheaply, and therefore quite popular is rural areas!) The ground dried up very quickly and was all set to receive the shower of the fresh neem flowers. As the breeze swept through the neem tree, the pleasant smelling flowers fell to the ground and we competed in collecting them by sweeping the flowers together with a new broom. This exercise lasted till the flowers lasted. Then the flowers were cleaned and sun dried and stored up for future use. Dried neem flowers (see picture above) are also available in the departmental stores in India.

INGREDIENTS:



Tamarind – 1 small lemon size
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Salt – 1½ tsp
Rasam powder – 1tsp (I use my omni potent sambar powder as usual)
Curry leaves – 1 small cup
Red Gram Dal (tur dal) – 2 tbsps
Cumin seeds (jeera) – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Dried neem flowers – 1 tsp
Ghee – 2 tsps

METHOD:
1. Soak tur dal for a few minutes. Then grind it too a coarse paste along with jeera and curry leaves and set aside.
2. Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the juice.
3. Add rasam powder, salt, asafoetida, and a few curry leaves to the tamarind juice.
4. Boil the mixture till the raw smell disappears.
5. Now add the ground tur dal, jeera and curry leaf paste to the rasam, and immediately add 4 cups of water.
6. Let the rasam stay on low flame till it forms a lot of froth on top (see the picture of froth on the rasam, above)
7. Remove from flame when it is just about to boil. (Note: Do not actually boil the rasam, as this spoils the aroma)
8. Heat ghee and add mustard seeds.
9. When it splutters add the dry neem flowers and fry . 10. Pour the seasoning on the rasam and cover with a lid immediately. Plain jeera rasam is very popular as well, and the recipe is the same minus the neem flower seasoning. Relax and relish the rasam sip by sip and get ready to binge on your next meal!

Strawberry Chocolate Cake

For some reason I've got to bake this cake. Simple yet suit for everyone appetite. A combination of chocolate sponge, strawberries, fresh cream and chocolate fudge turn it into an ordinary celebration cake.

Recipe:

For the sponge:
4 whole large eggs/100g sugar/1g salt/80g plain flour/2g baking soda/12ml oil/40ml milk 16g cocoa powder

For the filling: 120ml fresh cream/strawberries (cut in half)

For the chocolate fudge: 50g cocoa powder/125ml water/200ml evaporated milk/100g sugar/1/2 tsp salt/1 tsp vanilla extract/2 egg yolks/60g cornflour/60g butter

How I made it:

1. Mix cocoa powder, milk and oil until a thick paste, set aside.
2. Whip the eggs and gradually add in sugar. Whip until very light yellow and fluffy.
3. Fold in shifted plain flour and baking soda. Do this gently.
4. Fold in cocoa paste (1) until well combine. Pour into two round 8 inches baking tin. Bake at 200'C preheated oven for 15 minutes.
5. For the filling, whip the fresh cream with some icing sugar if desire. Spread some whipped cream on a sponge and place with some strawberries. Spread the left over whipped cream on the strawberries then sandwich with another layer of sponge.
6. For the chocolate fudge, mix all the fudge ingredients except butter cook in a double boiler and keep on stirring with a hand whisk until the mixture thickens. Lastly add in the butter until a smooth consistency. Gently spread the fudge on top and side of the cake. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours then top with some strawberries.