Friday, July 24, 2009

Quick Vegetable Soup

I think I am posting a recipe on my blog after ages. But after 6 weeks of stay in India, I actually felt a little lost when I was suppose to get dinner on the table. Probably coz I was hardly cooking in India. Enjoying my mom's cooking. And not bothered about the regular thought of " what should I make for dinner tonite"

So a couple of nights back, I did not feel like cooking any thing major. There was frozen pasta in the fridge which took care of my hubby's dinner. I thought of making some soup for myself. Checked the fridge for whatever was available. Got hold of a few veggies.

Sauteed and pureed the veggies, added some spices and there I had it, Quick vegetable soup. Nothing fancy, just a hearty bowl of soup. Here goes the recipes

You Will need
  • Green onions- 1, chopped
  • Onions-1/2 chopped
  • Green bell peppers- 1/2, chopped
  • Cauliflower- 1/2 cut in florets
  • Carrot- 1 , chopped
  • Frozen corn- 1
  • Tomatoes- 1 tin (I used the diced tomato ), You could use regular diced tomatoes
  • Tomato Sauce- 2 tbsp
  • Tabasco sauce- 1 tsp
  • Sea salt- to taste
  • Pepper- 1/2 tsp
  • Meditarrian seasoning from McCormick- 1 tsp.
  • Vegetable stock/chicken stock- 2-3 cups
  • Olive oil- 1tbsp

You have to

  1. Heat oil in a saucepan.
  2. Add the onions,saute. Add the tomatoes. Saute
  3. Add all the vegetables along with the salt. Cover and cook.
  4. Add the stock and let it simmer till veggies get cook. Cool.
  5. Puree all the vegetables in a blender.
  6. Return the puree to the saucepan. Add some more stock.
  7. Add the pepper along with the tomato sauce and the Tabasco.
  8. Bring to a boil. Taste for seasoning.
  9. Garnish with some sour cream/ butter and some green onions.
  10. Enjoy it.







I realised after tasting it, that it missed a bite. So croutons could taste really good, even boiled pasta would taste really yummy. This can even be used as a base to make some variations of other soups. Some cream too would make it richer.

Enjoy.

Monday, July 20, 2009

This took so long

Wooow, I think this is longest I have been away from blogging. More than a month.
Well for starters, my husband has been having a project in India. He went for two weeks in April and then was asked to go for 6 weeks again in June. So I joined him. Pretty half hearted, coz of the fact that his project is going on in Delhi. And Delhi in the month of June, is like stepping in a huge blast furnace. This time was no different.

This was my worse trips to India. I fell sick, was on antibiotics most of the time, could not enjoy the food, go out or do any of the fun stuff. Personally I have never liked Delhi.(Sorry delhities.....). The three years I have spent there working, had me cribbing about the distance, the people the heat......Well the only thing that actually is fun in Delhi is the shopping and that too not in summers. And the food again not during the summer seasons.

We did not anticipate that it would be so hot and ventured to Amritsar. We went to see the Golden Temple as well as to the Wagha Border.

The Wagha border is a site to see. The Indian side was full of us enthusiastic Indians as compared to the other side, where you could actually count the number of people. The flag closing ceremony takes place every day at 4:30 in the evening. The entire excitement, made us forget all about the heat, and we screamed Vande Mantram, under the scorching heat and the temperatures reaching a 45 degree Celsius. I must admit it was a lot of fun.

We ate at all the dhaba food not taking care of the water we were drinking. And there it was, both me and my husband ended up with an upset stomach. At first we thought it was just the settling in phase. Though my hubby dear got back on track with one dose of an antibiotic. I was diagnosed with stomach flu, which took 10 days of antibiotics and lots of fluids and kichadi.
(I so did not go to India to have kichadi !!).
Its not that we did not go out at all, but very little , as compared to what I usually do on my trips to India, this was pretty much restricted.

With no rains, leaving one room to go to the other, was like crossing a dessert (seriously, I am not exaggerating). No electricity, no water, the people were out on the streets. I realised that we take a few things like water and electrictiy for granted here in the US.

Kolkatta was the saving grace....or maybe that its my birth place. But the weather was good, it was raining and I was feeling much better. I made up for all the junk food that I did not have in Delhi.

Indulged in the all time famous rolls, "puchkas", masala muri. It was satisfying.

We got back to San Diego, on the 12th of July. So here I am updating my blog after such a long time.

Will be posting picstures of some of my foodie experiences in India. And off course the recipes are going to start soon too.

Hope each one of you'll are doing well and enjoying blogging. Hope to see you all around.

Karuna

Sunday, July 19, 2009

This is great. Update all ure social networks all at once. Its free. ping.fm.
great!!!