French Carrot Soup

Easy to make and healthy carrot soup.

Ingredients:

• Carrots- 5-6 Orange ones
• Rosemary- 2-3 big sprigs
• Silken tofu 1 cup
• Garlic- 1 big pod
• Ginger- small piece
• Salt to taste

Method:
Wash and cut the carrots into big chunks. I don't always peel them. Steam them in a pressure cooker with little water, Rosemary, salt, ginger and garlic. 2-3 whistles.

Let it cool down. Remove the Rosemary sprigs and grind everything in a mixer with silken tofu. You'll get a silky smooth consistency. Empty the soup into a container in which you can heat it as and when you'd like to have some.

Garnish with a little extra virgin olive oil before eating.

Enjoy!!

Ragi Banana Chocolate Walnut Cake

I came across this recipe posted by a runner in one of the running magazines in India. Made it for the first time on Christmas Eve and it turned out to be much better than expected.

The cake uses all healthy ingredients  and can be made in vegetarian / vegan way.

Ingredients A:

• 1 cup ragi flour
• 1 cup wheat flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 2 level tea spoons baking powder

Mix the above and sieve all together.

Ingredients B:

• 1-1/4 cup jaggery powder (I used "bhoora" powder)
• 1 cup oil / melted butter
• 1 cup milk / smooth beaten curd / soy milk
• 3 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed (leftover over-ripe will also do just fine)
• 1 level tea spoon vanilla essence (optional, as the chocolate and bananas already lend plenty of flavour)
• 1 cup walnut (lightly crushed)

Mix the above with a wooden spoon stirring in one direction only. You can use a cake blender, if you use one. It should be well blended with no big lumps. The small lumps of jaggery (about the size of a wheat grain) are hard to avoid. But that’s fine. They will dissolve slowly or melt when baking and meld with the cake.

Fold ingredients A into ingredients B. By fold, we mean add the flour a spoonful at a time and gently incorporate it into the wet mixture using the side of your spoon while continuing to stir in one direction only. You will be maneuvering the spoon with your wrist.

When all the flour is incorporated, pour it into a baking mould of around 10 inches in diameter, lined with aluminium foil or butter paper at the base. (This is my no-fail way of ensuring cakes willingly slide out of their pans when done. You don’t need to oil the pan.)

Bake for about 40-45 minutes at 180 C. You know its done when a cake tester (or small knife) inserted into the cake comes out clean. If the tester still has liquid dough on it, let it bake for another 5-10 mins. Due to the mashed bananas, the cake will tend to have a moist texture, so the tester might not come out fully dry like traditional cakes, which is okay.
If using a microwave convection oven, you may need to grill it for about a minute to get the top of the cake fully cooked.

You can eat it hot or cold, separately or with vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy!

Raita Booster

I have been using the Christmas break to try out some new recipes. Also, it's a good time to post some old ones.

Starting with this very simple, easy to make and nutritious Raita recipe.

Ingredients:

• Sprouts (1 cup)
• Finely chopped cucumber (1 cup)
• Pomegranate seeds (1/2 cup)
• Roasted peanuts (1/2 cup)
• 1 green chilli
• Curd (2 cups)
• Rock Salt (kala namak) as per taste

Process:

• Remove the skin of the peanut and break into halves.
• Mix everything together.

Try not to mix too much of the usual Raita spices, since this tastes fresh and best with just green chillies and some rock salt.

Enjoy the fresh flavors !!