Carrot Soup

As I mentioned before, I love to cook, I don't mind spending hours in the kitchen... but even for me, there are times when I need something hearty and really quick, or I am feeling just plain lazy and do not want to do  any or the minimal amount of cutting and chopping. So here is a recipe... actually my mom's recipe for a soup I make... hearty, filling, n quick...

You will need a pressure cooker and a blender.


The soup gets done in about 40 minutes :)

Ingredients

4 medium sized carrots,
1 medium sized onion
1 large tomato
1/2 cup rice (washed and drained)
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp roasted cumin seeds, or just cumin powder will work just fine
1 green chili
2 cloves of garlic

The Process

Roughly chop the onions and tomatoes (big pieces are okay). Peel and chop the carrots into big pieces as well, just remove the core which is hard and may make the soup bitter (if the carrots have a thin and tender skin, you don't have to peel it off). Peel the garlic cloves and remove the stems.

In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and splatter the cumin seeds in it (if using the powder just put it in after the oil heats up.) then put in the onion and garlic, add some salt to it and saute it till the onions are slightly golden.
Now add the carrots, tomato, and the rice and mix it up. Add enough water to this and pressure cook (5-6 whistles should do it).

Open the cooker after all the steam has escaped. then Let the mixture cool down, then blend it and strain it into a saucepan. (its okay if you don't strain it) Add enough water depending upon how thick or thin you want the soup to be, add salt and pepper to taste, add a bit of sugar and if you want more spice just add some chili powder. Bring this to a boil and you are done... its all rich and creamy without an ounce of cream or butter!

Creamy Carrot Soup :)

Serve this with a few croutons, or eat it with just some bread and butter or a grilled cheese (yumm!!) and it makes a good lunch or dinner! I usually just have 2 big bowls of the soup and dinner is done!! :P

Candied Bananas

" Do we have anything sweet to eat???" that's one thing I dread hearing after dinner! Because most of the time I have nothing sweet in-store.... not even a cookie. I don't have a sweet-tooth so it just slips my mind to get something sweet when I am out shopping (though my friends wont believe this given the amount of cakes n cookies I have baked over the past few months.. but hey, my hubby Loves sweet!)

Fruits are an option, but there are times when just fruits won't cut it, Avadhoot n I want a major sugar rush! So this is something quick I make. I used to make this dessert back in India for my dad, and it was his favorite, and it has become Avadhoot's favorite too!

It takes only about 15 minutes to make this one and I am writing the recipe enough for 2 servings, you can easily scale it up if you want more ... I would encourage guys to try this out too :P

Ingredients

1 Banana (not too ripe... or what the hell, take a very ripe one!! you will get all the gooey goodness!!!)

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tsp Butter (or u don't need to measure it out, just take a very small chunk of butter)

About 2 Tbsp crushed Cashews or Almonds or Walnuts... you can even use peanuts if you love them. (My personal preference is cashews or almonds.)
2 Tbsp Dark Rum (if you don't want to use it that's fine, tastes good without the rum too!)

Vanilla ice-cream to serve.

The Process

Cut up the bananas in half and then slice them up (not very thin though). In a small non-stick pan/skillet dry-roast the crushed cashews till they have a brownish tinge... don't burn them :P keep them aside in a small bowl. then in the same skillet, melt the small chunk of butter and coat the whole base of the pan with it. Then put the sugar in and stir it around till it caramelizes. After all the sugar is caramelized turn off the heat, stir in the sliced bananas till the caramel coats them, then add the crushed cashews. Do this really fast otherwise the caramel will start to harden. after mixing it up, quickly add the rum and mix it in.

And don't worry if it does not turn out to be exactly like the recipe, whatever happens it will taste good, I mean how can you go wrong with sugar bananas and rum!!!

Now get 2 bowls, and  put a nice scoop of the ice cream in each, and pour the mixture over the ice-cream. You can top it with some chocolate syrup if you want and then....Eat!! :)

Yum!!!

Its literally a 15 minute job and tastes Fantastic!!!!!

Healthy Chocolate Cake

Here is the first recipe from me.... opening with a healthy one :)

Before I start the recipe let me tell you that I don't come up with the recipes all by myself, that is I usually read about 15-20 or more recipes before coming up with THE one of my own which I feel will be perfect. Then I try that out and make adjustments. So here goes...

The cake will only take about an hour of your time, from prep to baking and an extra 10 minutes for it to cool down.

Getting Ready

Before you start baking get everything ready including the baking pan and a dishtowel to wipe hands, measuring cups/spoons, a big mixing bowl, spatula, your electric mixer (I have a Kitchen Aid 5-speed handheld mixer), or if u don't have one, just get a big whisk. And always always always, use the store bought measuring cups to measure out the ingredients when it comes to baking!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup All-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar (or white sugar, whichever you have, just that brown is healthier)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use Hershey's cocoa powder)
2/3 cup applesauce (get the original, no sugar added, unflavored version)
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup shredded carrots/zucchini.... u can use both together as well just don't exceed a cup.
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use Nestle Semisweet Mini Chocolate chips)
1/2 cup boiling water.... yes Boiling water :)

The Process

Preheat the oven to 350* F, and oil and grease a baking pan. (I used a 7 inch round pan. You can use any pan you have, just make sure that when you pour the batter in it it should come up to less than half of the pan's height, otherwise the cake will not have enough room to rise.) Also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, it makes it easier to take the cake out of the pan when it is done.

Combine and sift together in a large mixing bowl, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt.
Add the applesauce, egg, vanilla, veggies, and chocolate chips and mix to combine. Now just add the boiling water to this and mix till the batter is quiet smooth. Don't over-mix.

Now pour the batter into your greased and floured cake-pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes, till a knife/toothpick inserted in the center of the cake, comes out clean.

After the cake is done, leave it on the counter for about 5 minutes in the pan, and then loosen the edges and invert it on a plate, the cake should come out clean! then peel off the parchment paper from the base of the cake, and dig in!! or you can be patient and let the cake cool down and cover it with the frosting of your choice.

But neither my husband nor I can wait, so we just eat the hot cake with some Hershey's light chocolate syrup on top and a cup of milk :)

Looks something like this.. this is the scaled down version made in a ramekin.  (I promise to put a better picture next time :P )

You can double the recipe for a bigger cake or scale it down to make mini cakes in small ramekins, whatever works...

You can also add raisins instead of the chocolate chips... just an idea, I have never done it :) so if you do try it, let me know how that turns out!