Daily Archives: November 24, 2013


winter pumpkin soup

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Photo: As usual , I was just going through one of the foodie groups I am a member of ( chef at large ) and came across a post where they had baked bread cups to serve soup in . Just went head over heels with the idea , scrolling down another post with a soup bowl made with buns . This version seemed better practically , visually and make cooking fun . Already it was soup and sandwich for dinner so just added the soup bowl bun as well . Made the soup bowl with burger buns and did a little thinking to get the bun crisp and a bit hard to stand and hold the soup in it . Finally brushed with butter and baked to crisp and it worked perfect . I recommend these soup bowl buns to impress your guests  .  Made pumpkin soup to celebrate the short span of winter we have at my place as its cold now .  ( I know it sounds wired as Nellai and the word cold are far apart from each other ) . The pumpkin soup recipe is Donna hays which I had  hastily transcribed from one of her telly shows . The soup was warm , smooth , velvety and a perfect comfort winter soup . The caramelised ingredients mingle beautifully with the slight sweetness of the honey .The hot soup just gets soaked in to the side walls of the soup bun giving a soft gooey melt in mouth bread and breaks down to bits of crisp bread that can be dipped into the soup and had .  Who ever said " stylish meals have to cost the earth " try out this versatile winner with oohs and aahs guaranteed .

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

As usual , I was just going through one of the foodie groups I am a member of ( chef at large ) and came across a post where they had baked bread cups to serve soup in . Just went head over heels with the idea , scrolling down another post …with a soup bowl made with buns . This version seemed better practically , visually and make cooking fun . Already it was soup and sandwich for dinner so just added the soup bowl bun as well . Made the soup bowl with burger buns and did a little thinking to get the bun crisp and a bit hard to stand and hold the soup in it . Finally brushed with butter and baked to crisp and it worked perfect . I recommend these soup bowl buns to impress your guests . Made pumpkin soup to celebrate the short span of winter we have at my place as its cold now . ( I know it sounds wired as Nellai and the word cold are far apart from each other ) . The pumpkin soup recipe is Donna hays which I had hastily transcribed from one of her telly shows . The soup was warm , smooth , velvety and a perfect comfort winter soup . The caramelised  Ingredients mingle beautifully with the slight sweetness of the honey .The hot soup just gets soaked in to the side walls of the soup bun giving a soft gooey melt in mouth bread and breaks down to bits of crisp bread that can be dipped into the soup and had . Who ever said ” stylish meals have to cost the earth ” try out this versatile winner with oohs and aahs guaranteed .

Ingredients
Ingredients
Quantity
Pumpkin2 wedges seeds removed
Onion1 large whole with the skin
Olive oil1 tablespoon
Saltto taste
Garlic flakes3 whole with the skin
Chicken stock4 1/2 cups , ( dilute 2 chicken stock cubes ( i used maggi chicken stock cubes ) in 4 1/2 cups of warm water )
Cream1 cup
Honey1 tablespoon
Pepperto taste
Coriander leavesto garnish
Sour cream / hung curdto garnish

Method

  1. Apply olive oil over the cut pumpkin , onion and garlic flakes .
  2. In a greased baking tray , place the pumpkin , onion and garlic . Sprinkle salt to taste over and bake in a pre heated oven at 220 degree Celsius for one hour .
  3. The pumpkin , onion and garlic should be caramelised nicely . Scoop out the flesh of the pumpkins . Peel the onion and garlic flakes and set aside to cool .
  4. Blend the pumpkin flesh , onion , garlic with one cup of chicken stock to a smooth gooey textured purée .
  5. Pour the purée into a non – stick sauce pan and add the remaining chicken stock , cream and honey . Mix well and bring to boil .
  6. Keep stirring . Season with salt and pepper to taste .
  7. Serve hot with a garnish of coriander leaves and sour cream .

Soup Bowl Buns
  1. Cut the top of a burger bum horizontally to get a thin lid .
  2. Scoop out the inner flesh of the buns lower part creating a hollow well but with a thick base and sides .
  3. Butter the lid on both aides and the hollow bowl of the bun inside , out , all around , bottom and the base .
  4. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius and bake the buttered buns and lid for 10 – 15 minutes until the lid and hollow base gets crisp and a bit brown .
  5. Remove and keep covered in a foil paper until required to serve .
  6. Pour the hot soup and garnish , serve and enjoy .

 

Note

Can grease the Bun with olive oil as well .

kumbliappam

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Photo: Kumbliappam . An authentic kerela sweet recipe that I first got  to know about through the face book page notes from a Mallu kitchen where a picture was posted with out a recipe . This authentic sweet did excite me a lot as it was the first time I got to see such a dish that I have never heard of before . Once on my visit to Cochin to bid bye to my brother Darvesh and family who were returning back to London after their 2 weeks holiday in India , my uncle jaffer chacha got a huge parcel from a local small tea stall  ( thattu kada / potti kadai ) full of kumbliappam made with ripe bananas .  All of us just gobbled it up in minutes . Even then none of us knew what the name of the dish was . I did take note of the recipe from not sure where in one of my hand written recipe book and did try it out at home when we had a huge jack fruit at home from our farm . Not having the vazhana leaves which is used authentically , I substituted the poo arasa maram Leaf ( don't know the english name , sorry ) instead which I got from my neighbours house . Made this  for breakfast when my daughter anisha was here . The clarity and perfection of the jackfruit speaking for itself in the dish was a dose of freshness .Fussy   Anisha didn't fancy it much , but it was devoured by the rest of us . I just could not control myself to stop eating it and forcefully had to parcel the rest to my in - laws place :-)) .  I made up my mind to post this recipe last night but not knowing the name of this dish , how is it possible to post . Well I had to re - check by logging into notes from a Mallu kitchen to get the name . Thanks to notes from a Mallu kitchen to have introduced  me to yet another authentic Kerala dish .  Although trends come and go , these sort of authentic treats never fail to impress and we all finally get back to our roots .

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Serving : 6 members

Description

Kumbliappam . An authentic kerela sweet recipe that I first got to know about through the face book page notes from a Mallu kitchen where a picture was posted with out a recipe . This authentic sweet did excite me a lot as it was the first… time I got to see such a dish that I have never heard of before . Once on my visit to Cochin to bid bye to my brother Darvesh and family who were returning back to London after their 2 weeks holiday in India , my uncle jaffer chacha got a huge parcel from a local small tea stall ( thattu kada / potti kadai ) full of kumbliappam made with ripe bananas . All of us just gobbled it up in minutes . Even then none of us knew what the name of the dish was . I did take note of the recipe from not sure where in one of my hand written recipe book and did try it out at home when we had a huge jack fruit at home from our farm . Not having the vazhana leaves which is used authentically , I substituted the poo arasa maram Leaf ( don’t know the english name , sorry ) instead which I got from my neighbours house . Made this for breakfast when my daughter anisha was here . The clarity and perfection of the jackfruit speaking for itself in the dish was a dose of freshness .Fussy Anisha didn’t fancy it much , but it was devoured by the rest of us . I just could not control myself to stop eating it and forcefully had to parcel the rest to my in – laws place  ) . I made up my mind to post this recipe last night but not knowing the name of this dish , how is it possible to post . Well I had to re – check by logging into notes from a Mallu kitchen to get the name . Thanks to notes from a Mallu kitchen to have introduced me to yet another authentic Kerala dish . Although trends come and go , these sort of authentic treats never fail to impress and we all finally get back to our roots .

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Ripe Jackfruit Bulbs(chopped finely) 2cups
Jaggery(scraped)1 cup or to taste
Freshly grated coconut1cup
Rice flour (iddiappam rice flour )2cups
Cardamom powder1/2tsp
Vazhana Ela or Banana leavesas required


Method

  1. Melt jaggery in 1/2 cup of water.Remove the impurities.
  2. Make a smooth paste of jackfruit pieces without adding any water in a food processor .
  3. In a big bowl add jackfruit paste,jaggery syrup and coconut.Mix well with your hands.
  4. Add rice flour little by little and make a smooth dough.It should not be too thick or too loose.
  5. Now take the leaf(Vazhana leaf or banana leaf) and make cones with it and fill the dough inside.
  6. Bend the top of the leaves and press inside to cover the top or Use toothpicks to keep the leaves closed.
  7. Steam it around 30 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean .


Notes

* You can prepare this appam with Chakka varatti /jackfruit jam as well ( available in all super markets , i recommend double horse brand ) add some rice flour and grated coconut to the chakka varatti and follow the above recipe .

If jackfruit is not available ,try this recipe with ripe bananas.*