Broccoli and Cheese Soup | Soup Recipes

I have tasted Broccoli and cheese soup only twice so far. The first time I tasted it with much reluctance doubting it to be too cheesy. But it was very tasty and not too cheesy. Since I love broccoli, I enjoyed the tiny pieces of it in the soup. Now I had wanted to recreate the soup very much and was successful in my first attempt. It was a simple process with few easy ingredients and would be

Pav Bhaji

On a lazy weekend, I looked into my fridge hoping to get something to eat.There were few vegetables which really didn't help the cause. As I was gazing through the cupboard, I came across the pavbhaji masala packet that was lying uncared. I got an idea, so rushed to a nearby shop and bought round bread (Pav) and started to prepare Pavbhaji. This is the first time I'm preparing Pavbhaji, so all those experienced chef's over there if there is something missing in my method of preparation, do pitch in :-)

Pav Bhaji as I came to know is a Marathian delicacy. As the name suggests Pav means bread in Marathi and Bhaji means stir fried vegetables. Ok, now coming back to the recipe, as I told earlier, I am going to make this dish with what ever little vegetables I had at home (Beans, Peas, Carrots and Potatoes). So I am unsure of the final outcome. I came to know that there are two more essential ingredients (capsicum and cauliflower) which are absent in my recipe today. I hope still I can manage without these two. So here I present "Pav Bhajji" my Saturday Special.

Ingredients:


Potato - 2 large

Carrot - 1/2 cup, grated
Beans - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Peas - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Tomato - 2 large size, finely chopped
Ginger - 1 teaspoon, minced
Garlic - 1 teaspoon, minced
Pav bhaji masala - 1 and 1/2 tablespoon
Chili powder - 1 teaspoon
Green chili - 1 no
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tablespoon
Coriander leaves - 5 strings, chopped finely
Butter - 1 tablespoon
Pav - 6

Method:

For Bhaji:

1) Wash the Potatoes. Now peel the outer skin of the potatoes and cut them into small pieces.
2) Mix potatoes, carrot, beans and peas together and pressure cook them by adding a cup of water.
3) When all the vegetables are cooked, drain the excess water in a bowl. Now mash the vegetables well.
4) Take wide thick bottom pan and pour oil in it.
5) When oil is hot, add 3/4th of onions and saute them well.
6) After sauteing, when onions turn slightly translucent, add green chili, chopped ginger and garlic.
7) Saute them for 2 minutes.
8) Add tomatoes and saute them until the mixture is mashed completely.
9) Add the mashed vegetable mixture, pav bhaji masala, chili powder, turmeric powder and salt.
10) Now add water. You can use the water which was drained after cooking the vegetables (as said in Step 3).
11) Stir and mash well. when the gravy starts thickening, turn the flame to low to avoid the contents getting burnt. Keep stirring and as it gets thick.
12) Now remove the contents from the flame, garnish it with the coriander leaves and remaining onion.


For Pav:

1) Spread the butter to all the sides of pav and toast them well.
2) Serve this pav with bhaji.

My experiment turned out to be successful and the Pav Bhaji was really tasty and had a good aroma.

Note: You can add cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage and beetroot to the vegetables. You can add lemon to the bhaji after turning the flame off and also with the pav while serving.

Pudhina Aloo Fry / Mint Baby Potato Fry

The Name 'Baby Potatoes' sounds cute right?. As the name suggests they are very tender and removed from soil before they completely grow up.

I usually prepare potato gravy using baby potatoes.But for a change this time, I cooked Baby Potatoes using Mint (Pudhina).

Ingredients:



Baby Potatoes - 250 gms

Mint leaves - 1/2 cup

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Green chillies - 3 Nos

Salt - to taste

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetida - A pinch

Oil - 4 teaspoon

Method:



1) Grind Mint leaves, Coriander leaves, Green chilies and salt. Make a paste out of it.

2) Boil Baby potatoes and peel its skin carefully.

3) Gently pierce the all sides of the potatoes using a fork.

4) Apply the mint paste on the potatoes. Mix them well and leave them aside for an hour.

6) After an hour, take a pan and heat oil in it.

7) Add cumin seeds.

8) When cumin seeds start to splutter, add asafoetida and the potatoes to the pan.

9) Fry the mint potatoes till the potatoes become golden yellow.

10) Remove them from stove and serve it hot.