Cheese Corn Tomato Soup - A bowl of Goodness

Tomato soup is my all time favorite soup and you if you serve me this soup daily for dinner I, will happily enjoy it. This soup is very satisfying and filling, very easy to make. Most of us think that making soup at home is very cumbersome and time consuming, so avoid making and buy a packet of ready soup and have it. But this is a misconception, making soup at home is very easy, healthy and without any preservatives you have a bowl full of goodness in 1/4 the price of the packet and that too 2 servings.  So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Butter
1/2 Tablespoon All purpose flour or Whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Water
3 Tablespoons Sweet corn - boiled
6 Large Ripe firm Tomatoes - cut in large pieces
1/4 Cup Beetroot - cut into small cubes
2 Flakes Garlic.
Salt and Pepper powder to taste
Cheese according to your taste

Method

In a pressure cooker add the tomatoes, beetroot and garlic and take 3 whistles. Cool, then blend and strain, keep this aside.

In another pan add the butter, flour and stir on low flame cook for a 2 minutes then add the milk and whisk well till you get a smooth liquid. Add the water and mix well when the sauce starts to thicken add the a teaspoon of cheese and mix well. Then add tomato puree then stir and let it cook on slow flame till starts boiling adjust the thickness of the soup according to your taste by adding water. Switch off the flame add the corn, salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, with some cheese on top. We enjoyed this with the Tomato Basil loaf, you have it with the bread of your choice.

Labels : Soup, Tomato, Healthy, Blogging Marathon, Cheese, Corn,Cheese Corn Tomato Soup

Whole Wheat Tomato Basil Loaf

For November - Day 2 - Taming the yeast Veena has shared her Whole Wheat Tomato Basil Loaf that is adapted from Italian cookbook by Tarla Dalal.
This bread is  very flavourful, with all the goodness of the whole wheat, tomato and basil.
Since half the flour is whole wheat flour, the bread tends to be a little dense, but this bread was soft and moist.  This bread when it was being baked the aroma was awesome.  For this recipe I made the oven dried tomatoes at home and stored them for further use in the deep freezer click here for the recipe.

I have used regular aata, you can use all purpose flour instead.

Yield: One loaf
Ingredients:
1 Cup Whole wheat Flour
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 ½ Teaspoon Instant yeast
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
¼ Cup Sun Dried Tomato 
¼ Cup Fresh Basil
2 Tablespoon Tomato puree
3 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/3 Cup to ½ Cup Warm water - Add more only if necessary

Method
Measure all the ingredients and keep it ready.

Mix the flours together with salt.

Add the yeast to 1/3 cup of warm water with sugar and let it rest for 2 minutes.Add this mixture and tomato puree to the dry flours and knead well for 5 to 7 minutes to make it into a soft pliable dough.

Oil a wide mouthed bowl and transfer this dough to it. Keep it covered in a warm place and let it double for nearly an hour.

Now punch down the dough a little and add the sundried tomatoes, basil and knead again

If need be add a little more flour and knead applying olive oil. Dust the rolling surface and roll it into a rectangle approximately ¼” in thickness and then shape it into a loaf by rolling it from long side.

Prepare a baking tray, (either grease it or use a parchment paper)

Place the shaped loaf on a prepared tray , cover it loosely and let it rise again for 30-40 minutes.

At the end of 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 180

Now brush the top with egg wash or milk and bake it at 180C for 20 minutes or till done.

Let it cool and slice it

Serve warm with some soup ! 

Note:
To get a more soft bread use only all purpose flour

Use 1 tsp instant yeast instead of active dry yeast but skip the process of hydration.

Since used homemade oven dried tomatoes I did not soak the same, used it directly.

Check tomorrow's post to see what we had this bread with.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.

For other recipes on bread check Recipe Index.


Labels: Breads, Continental cuisine, Vegan, Blogging Marathon

Oven Roasted Sun Dried Tomatoes - Homemade

This is my second attempt at dried tomatoes in the oven. The first time, I made it, was a year back before I was blogging and we had it with pasta. It taste's really yum. Oven dried tomatoes have a tangy flavour which I am sure that you too will love.

Method

Slice the tomatoes into 4 large pieces.

I placed  a big whole pod of garlic, sprinkled a pinch of mixed herbs, salt and olive oil before placing the tomatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet.

Keep the oven at the lowest temperature i.e. at 100 degrees

Keep the oven slightly open for about 3-4 mins, every 15 minutes to let the steam out and fasten the drying process.

The end product should be leathery and non-sticky tomatoes which are all shrivelled up. Then place them in a jar filled with olive oil. Store in the freezer for further use.

Labels: Continental Cuisine, Vegan, Healthy, Homemade, Sun Dried Tomato,Masalas

French baguette

This is the recipe that was chosen for this months Tame the yeast challenge. This is Pradnya's recipe who blogs at The Pumpkin Farm. When this was shared I was very thrilled because I love crusty breads. I am great fan of baguette and our Indian brun pav. Whereas my daughter and hubby do not like crusty breads. They say it hurts their pallet. 

When I was in Europe for a brief stay of 45 days what I enjoyed the most was this French baguette. Early morning I use to go to the boulangerie to buy this freshly made bread. I can eat crusty bread with anything, be it dal, soup or butter and jam. I love to dip these slices in hot cup of chai and enjoy eating it. 

Ingredients are sufficient for creating 2 loaves of this size each – about inch length thin bread or 6 inch thick sandwich loaf.

Ingredients

2 cups All purpose flour
3 Teaspoon Honey or 4 teaspoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 ¼ Teaspoon Instant yeast
¾ Cup warm water
1 Cup ice cubes (to be kept in refrigerator until the last step)
½ Teaspoon oil only to brush the top of the dough

Method

In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast and salt well.
Add the honey to the flour mixture and mix using a spoon.
Now slowly add ½ cup of water and mix using hands until the flour gathers to form a crumbly dough.

Now gradually add a teaspoon of water at a time while kneading with one hand to smoothen the dough.
Now knead the dough at least 10 minutes till the dough is smooth, elastic and stretches easily. 

Now dip your 2 fingers in oil and lightly rub the top of the dough to cover the exposed surface from drying.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 45 minutes or until it doubles.

Now take the dough and punch it using your knuckles and flatten the dough. 

Roll out the dough using a rolling pin on a flat surface. Roughly in rectangular shape, first time about 4 inch in width and 6 inches in length.
Now fold the top lengthwise , until mid way, to look like an envelope

Now fold over the bottom half over the top. Seal the edges well and roll it out width wise and repeat the envelope folds again

Continue until you reach desired length, either 6 or 8 inch or maximum 12 to 14 inch in length

See below
Do not forget the seal the edges well at each step

Now just gently twist it using four fingers of both your hands, right hand moving upwards and left hand moving 

downwards, as if you are wriggling the dough. Do this gently and then set aside for 30 minuts more.

During this time, preheat your oven at 230 C for 10 minutes.

Now after the second rise – roughly 25 minutes, place the risen dough on greased baking tray.

Take ice cubes in a oven safe pan. Open the oven door, and slid the baking tray on the top rack and the ice cubes on the bottom rack.  Close the oven door , cover it with a kitchen towel to ensure the vapor steam does not shatter the glass door. It normally does not happen, but as a precaution, do this, alternatively you can put a barrier to the oven door, to ensure that it does not close fully.Bake it for 20 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

Look out for the post as to how I served this bread.

This bread was crusty and yummy, but not so crusty like the ones available in Europe boulangeries, may be because of their baking technique and ovens.  But still we enjoyed this bread so did my hubby and daughter. 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.


Labels: Breads, Continental Cuisine, Vegan, Blogging Marathon, France

For other recipes on bread check Recipe Index.  

Patichya Kandyachi Peeth Perun Bhaji (Spring Onions cooked with Chickpea flour)

This Spring Onion recipe is the easiest to make. This a regular sabzi cooked in a Maharashtrian home.The name can be a bit of a tongue twister for Non-Maharashtrians. Its easy to make with just 2 main ingredients and with other regular ingredients from your kitchen. H enjoys eating this  traditional sabzi. 

Ingredients
2 Cups chopped Spring Onions - (Greens and onions chopped separately)

1 Teaspoon Ginger-Garlic paste - (mix this paste in a tablespoon of water)

1 Tomato -   chopped finely

1 Tablespoon roasted Chickpea flour (Besan)
1 Tablespoon Oil
1 Teaspoon mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
1 Tablespoon Kacha masala
Salt to taste
Method

Lightly roast the besan on a tawa and keep aside.
In a kadai heat oil, add in mustard seeds when they start to splutter add asafoetida, ginger - garlic mix fry well till the water evaporates.  Then stir in the onions only (not greens)saute till onions are translucent, add the tomato and fry well then add the kacha masala, salt and the greens. Saute well cover and cook. Once the veggies have cooked, stir in the besan (chick pea flour) slowly a teaspoon at a time. Making sure you stop adding it when it reaches the consistency you like. If the dish becomes too dry again sprinkle a little water. On low heat cover and cook for 5 minutes or till cooked. Turn off the heat and keep covered for 5 minutes or till ready to serve. Serve hot with rotis or dal rice.

Labels:  Healthy, Main course, Vegan, Vegetarian, Spring Onions, Besan, Maharashtra, Maharastrian Cuisine, Gluten free