{Recipe} Broccoli Soup

I could hear granpa yelling from the dining room, he had sat down near the fridge to sort through the stuff gramma and mom had bought. All I heard was "there is so much broccoli and you have bought some more... what are you going to do, they will all die and go to waste".. Gramma replied "No, dont worry, we will make something, I shall send some to mala[my mom]"... He mumbled some more and gave up! Then he came over to my room and repeated it all.. I went up to gramma and told her "Let us make broccoli soup today evening, what say?" and she agreed..

And this happened about 6 months ago... subsequent which granpa fell ill and now he cant eat most of the "green" veggies.. :/

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups broccoli florets
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

salt and blackpepper [coarsely ground]
Cream, to use when serving
Walnuts or almonds- sliced/chopped up

The process:
1. In a pan, add some water and put the broccoli florets to cook. Dont let them get mushy, take them off before that stage. Maybe 10mins
2. In a pan add the oil, and saute the garlic wee bit [burnt garlic also tastes yumm in this soup], at this stage also add the nuts and let them roast for a few seconds
3. Puree the broccoli, I like to keep aside a few small pieces to add at the end.
4. Pour the puree into the pan and bring to boil
5. Add salt and pepper and drizzle some cream on top as you serve.

Option: 
You can sprinkle some Italian herbs when you serve the soup
You can also add a few pieces of fried bread[croutons]
The same recipe works for cauliflower as well, but again watch the veggie and don't let it cook all the way through
You can add potatoes, carrots, or any other veggie to add volume.
Add water if you like the soup to be light

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[Recipe] Tawa pulao

Last evening while out walking, suddenly it hit me.. I knew what I was going to make for lunch today [monday]. I quickly walked across towards More supermarket and bought what I needed. I had seen and tasted this dish at Spoonbill when Kamalika made it, so there was no confusion on the process. What was I making? Tawa Pulao ofcourse :D

Here is what you need:-
1 cup Rice 1 tbsp – Oil 1/2 tsp – Cumin seeds 1/4 Onion chopped 1 Garlic pod 1 cup Mixed vegetables - Yellow capsicum, red capsicum, baby corn - all chopped into chunks 2 tsp – Pav bhaji masala 1/2tsp - curry powder Salt- to taste Mint leaves/coriander leaves Water to cook the rice and boil baby corn
Other Options for vegetables: Peas, cauliflower, paneer, and just about anything you can think of.

The process:
1. Take a pressure cooker and cook the rice [1cup rice =3 cups water- 4 whistles]- turn off stove and set aside I placed the baby corn in a plate along with the rice and cooked it. 2. In a pan, add oil, jeera, garlic and onion. Once sauted, add remaining vegetables and the masala powder & curry powder. Let it cook till the raw smell of masala goes away. Add required amount of salt and let it cook. 3. Add the cooked baby corn to this and saute for a minute. Now add the rice and spread it amidst the veg mix and cook for 2-3 minutes till it evenly mixes.
Voila.. Serve with curd, pappad or onion raita. I had it with boiled beetroot and curd.

PS: Am using pictures taken at Spoonbill because today I forgot to take pictures as hunger had taken over my brain.. :-)

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Serves: 2

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Broccoli & Zucchini Soup

Grandparents had attended a grand aunt's 80th birthday dinner few weeks ago. Upon returning, gramma couldn't stop raving about the simple food, especially the soup. She said it was Zucchini & Almonds soup. Today, finally i got around to making it. We decided to give it a bit of twist, and try the soup. Here is what we made,

Ingredients:

Zucchini - 1 medium- chopped roughly
Broccoli - 4-5 florets
Almonds - 5- 6
Olive oil/butter- 1 tsp
Water
Milk
Salt
Pepper
Oregano/Italian herbs

How you make it:-

1. In a pan, add a cup of water and cook the Broccoli
2. In Another pan, add some oil/butter, add the zucchini and saute till it gets cooked
3. Cool off the vegetables, add the almonds to the mixer  and blend into a fine puree
4. Pour into a pan/pot and let it boil, adding required amount of salt, pepper and herbs. After boiling a few minutes, add some milk as well.

Serve hot with some bread... Bon Apetit! 

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