Simple Spinach soup

I saw an expat celebrity chef's show on TV the other day. She was making a spinach based gravy. Her method was to boil lots of water , cook the spinach in it, drain the water and dunk the leaves in cold water! "Preserves the color", she chirped! I was outraged at the sheer waste of all those fabulous nutrients. Why not preserve the nutrients instead! Greens are delicate store houses of nutrients. Treat them easy. Here's a quick n healthy spinach soup going right to Sunshine mom's TumyumTreats Monthly Mingle - Soups event. The Monthly mingle event was started by Meeta of "What's for lunch, Honey?".

Fresh Spinach (palak) - 1 medium sized bunch
Coriander leaves (cilantro) - 3 to 4 sprigs
Shallot - 1
Ginger - 1/2"piece
Green chillies - 4 Nos (more or less)
Low fat milk - 1/2 cup
Grated parmesan - enough for sprinkling over each serve
Salt to taste

Rinse the greens well. Slice up the shallot, ginger, and green chillies. Place these and the greens in a thick bottomed pan. Cover and simmer cook till the leaves wilt (3-4 minutes). Blend to smooth puree, add the milk and salt and simmer for a couple of minutes. Ladle onto serving bowls, sprinkle on grated parmesan.

Ragi kool (finger millet porridge)

You see that big brown, crispy dosa (crepe) that forms the background to my blog's title? It's made of ragi (finger millet/nachani/kelvaragu/panjapullu). Apart from dosas, ragi makes wonderful adai, puttu, sevai,idli,and 'kool'(porridge).

In rural Tamil Nadu (in South India) ragi is most commonly used to make 'kool' a porridge kinda dish. When summer rages at its worst then ragi kool with buttermilk and a dash of salt is liberally consumed by villagers involved in hard, physical labour. This is said to neutralise the energy draining effects of the sun and the hard work at hand.

The sweet version of this 'kool' uses jaggery (indian unrefined sugar) and milk. Jaggery adds in essential iron to this fortifying, comfort food. When had slightly warm, this tastes like manna and used to be my instant whip up option when I was pregnant and midnight hunger pangs struck!

Ragi , a nutritional treasure trove is a great source of the essential amino acid, methionine. Methionine is essential for vitality. Ragi, especially if sprouted, goes a long way in supplementing the nutritional deficiencies caused by a diet of highly refined cereals like white rice.

Today, we had to take Abhi for inoculation early in the morning.A nice, warm bowl of ragi porridge with a few cubes of sliced pappaya made for a wonderfully nourshing, easy breezy breakfast.



For 1 serving

Ragi flour (you can buy it ready made, look for sprouted and ground varieties) - 20 gms (4 heaped teaspoonful)

Water - 2 cups

Jaggery syrup - 2 teaspoons

Milk - 1/4 cup

Mix in the ragi flour into luke warm water and set on stove top at medium heat. Keep stirring till the mixture thickens and gets a glazy appearance (about 5 minutes). Add the jaggery and milk, and stir for a couple more minutes. Take off flame and enjoy while warm.


To make Jaggery syrup

Jaggery is usually available as lumps, either golden brown or dark brown.The dark brown version is denser in minerals but the golden brown version is cleaner.Since jaggery is unrefined it can contain sediments. Boil about 250 ml water for 100 gms of jaggery. Place the lumps in and simmer to dissolve jaggery. Simmer on for an extra few minutes to allow the syrup to thicken. Filter to remove scum. Once cool, transfer into airtight containers, and refridgerate. Stays good for a month or more.

Ragi kool is off to the JFI - Ragi event on at Madhuram's Eggless cooking

A relook at Falafel and Hummus

My favourite aunt emailed me yesterday. She wanted to know all that I remembered about Lebanon - the people, places, food et al because the new novel she was about to teach at school is set in Lebanon (she is a French teacher in a Canadian high school).Our stay at Beirut, Lebanon dates back to 2005. That's where my software hubby was catapulted to, just after our betrothal, by his parent company to work on a Middle East Airlines project. And after marriage, that's where my role of the 'trailing spouse' began

I loved the beautiful terrain. We lived in a serviced apartment a short walk from the corniche and the picturesque pigeon rocks.

Could go on about the place! But food is what matters out here
I'd earlier posted two famous Lebanese recipes along with the story behind my learning them, and I repost them now to make it easier for my athai to look up.

Falafel with Garlic labenah dip

http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/07/falafel-with-garlic-labenah-dip-and.html

Hummus (chickpea dip with sesame paste)



http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/09/hummus-chick-pea-dip-with-sesame-paste.html

Quick coconut laddu and rava kesari for Deepavali with baby

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo! Back again after seven months!! Wish you all a very happy and delightful Deepavali.

I have my little girl with me now to celebrate deepavali with. She leaves me with very little time to cook or blog, but decided I just need to make a quickie something for her first deepavali. The easiest thing was to make the coconut laddu recipe that I had collected from a Nestle 'Milkmaid' condensed milk wrapper all the way back when I was at college. It takes just 10 minutes and minimal cooking to conjure them up.
In her fifth month, she is now ready to start with semi solid food, and so I also wanted to make something of which she could also take a teeny little bite. so decided on a quick fix rava kesari.

Coconut Laddu

Dessicated coconut - 150 gms (you could choose to use fresh grated coconut and toast it to perfection)
Sweetened condensed milk - 50 gms
Cardamom (elaichi)- 4 Nos

Powder the cardamom. In a thick bottomed vessel pour in the condensed milk and add the coconut. Turn down the flame to very low and stir the two together till they form a soft, pliant dough. Add the cardamom and keep stirring till a wonderful aroma emanates (all of 5-6 mts). While still warm shape lemon sized balls out of the mixture.
In another plate spread out some more dessicated coconut and roll the balls to give them a beautiful coating. Ready to eat!

Quick Rava Kesari

Roasted rava (semolina?cream of wheat) - 1 cup
Demerara sugar (you can use plain sugar) - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Ghee (clarified butter) - 1/4 cup
Raisins and nuts - a handful

Pour the ghee into a thick bottome dvessel along with all the other ingredients escept water. Let roast on low flame till the sugar starts to melt and the nuts start to roast (you will know by the smell). Add the water. Increase the flame to medium and keep stirring till the rava cooks into a gooey mixture of jam like consistency (about 7-8 minutes). Ready to go!

Take another look at the coconut laddu



Sending these over to Festive Food : Diwali Dhamaka hosted by Purva's Dawat. The event is on at http://purvasdaawat.blogspot.com/2009/10/diwali-dhamaka-announcement.html