CHICKEN HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the long gap of almost an year. I was engaged in all sorts of work including preparing for the MBA entrace exams. However during this period I reinvented my love for Bengali Cuisine and also started making chocolates and got a few orders as well. I will be creating an official FB page for the chocolates .  I do promise I have some delicious recipes coming up for Christmas as well as for parties, luncheons and dinners :)

So after almost an year here is my new post ..... a delicious chinese soup recipe which you will love to have during the winters. Chicken Hot and Sour Soup is something which we Kolkatans are quite familiar with. I personally love this soup it has different veggies, its slightly hot and its bit sour at the same time. This soup can be customised in different ways you can add different veggies and make it vegetarian or add different kinds of proteins to make it non-veg as per your choice. I have kept this recipe very simple and its extremely easy to make.

INGREDIENTS :-

• Onion Sliced 
• Ginger Chopped
• Garlic Chopped 
• Carrot Sliced
• French Beans Sliced
• Cabbage Sliced
• Green Bell Pepper Sliced
• Chicken Boiled and Sliced 
• 1 Egg Beaten
• 1 Tsp Cornflour
• 2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Vinegar
• 2 Chillis Finely Chopped 
• 1 Tbsp Oil (I used Sunflower Oil)
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock
• Pinch of Ajinomoto (Monosodium Glutamate)
• Salt to taste 

PROCEDURE:-

• Chop the vegetables as finely as possible. The chopping is the key to chinese food. I didnot mention any quantities because you can use as much or as little as you want. Again you can you different veggies as well like chinese cabbage, sprouts, red / yellow bell peppers etc.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the ginger and garlic. fry them for a bit and add the onions and add the ajinomoto and fry them well. You can omit the ajinomoto is you want.

• When the onions become translucent add the vegetables and fry them. In a small bowl mix the soy sauce, vinegar and chopped chillis together. Then add the mix to the veggies.

• Then add the boiled chicken and stir well.

• Now add the chicken stock and let it simmer for a while. Add salt according to your taste. I used fresh chicken stock however you can use stock cubes as well.

• Mix the cornflour with water and slowly pour this mixture into the soup. This will thicken the soup so you can adjust it as per your need. I personally like light broths so I use it in small quantities. 
• Now as the soup thickens, beat the egg and add it into the soup. You can skip the egg if you want but it gives a good flavour to the soup.

• That's it this delicious soup is ready. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!! Do give me your feedback.

TOMATO AND LENTIL SOUP

I love making soups at home from scratch instead of cooking soups using soup packets. When we soups from fresh ingredients it is much more healthier (without preservatives and MSG), tastier and quite easy to make :) Earlier I used to make simple tomato soups (since tomato is my favourite vegetable) but this time I decided to add lentils (Dal) to the soup for a different taste :) It turned out to be delicious and super tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

• 7-8 large ripe tomatoes
• 1 medium carrot (optional)
• 5-6 cloves of garlic(optional)
• 1 large onion
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp butter  (optional)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 bay leafs
• 1 cup masoor dal
• 2 green chillis
• 3 cups water
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

• Roughly chop the tomatoes. carrot, onion, garlic cloves and keep aside. Wash the masoor dal very well. As i didnot have carrots at home this time I did not use them :)

• I use a pressure cooker to make this soup, however if you want you can use a large pan. Put butter and olive oil in the pressure cooker and add the chopped onions and garlic and bay leaves. Cook till the onions are translucent. If you want you can skip the butter or instead of oil use only butter the taste remains same, I use olive oil to make it healthy :D

• Now add the carrot and the lentils and stir well. You can use any lentils you want, personally masoor dal is my favourite :)

• Then add the tomatoes, the basil, the oregano, salt, pepper,chillis and mix well. You can use any other seasoning you want, I am a big fan of basil and oregano. However I would advice to add less amount of salt here and you can adjust later on. Then add the water.

• I usually let it cook for 3-4 whistles and then cool it for a whlie.
• I do not have a hand blender so I cool the soup before I blend it, however if you have a hand blender you should blend it while it is hot.

• Strain the soup well in order to get a smooth soup. I do not add any flour or cornflour as I always get a very good consistency, but if you wish you can if your soup is too runny.
• Once the soup is blended then adjust the seasonings. 

This recipe can be modified as you wish by adding other vegetables or you can make it non-veg by adding chicken etc. I hope you will try it out and please do tell me how it went.

GAZPACHO

I have been studying Spanish for the last one and a half years and it is from there that the inspiration for my blog’s name came from. 

Gazpacho is a tomato-based, vegetable soup which is traditionally served cold. It originates from, Andalucia, a region in southern Spain. Gazpacho is a favourite in Spanish cuisine. It is a refreshing, healthy cold soup which is usually consumed during the summer months. I hope you try this one out and do tell me how it goes :) :)

Ingredients:

For  Soup:

• 4 medium ripe tomatoes

• 1/2 large green bell pepper (you can use red or yellow if you want)

• 1 onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/2 large cucumber

• 2 slices of bread

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil

• Salt to taste

• Black Pepper to taste

• 1 Tsp vinegar

For Garnish:

• Cucumber finely diced
• Onion finely diced
• Tomato finely diced
• Green Bell Pepper finely diced

Procedure:

• Cut the vegetables roughly. Since we are going to blend the soup there is no need to chop the vegetables finely.
• Put the tomatoes in a blender and blend for 2mins.

• Now add the garlic, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, bread, oil and vineger to the tomato mixture. Blend for 3-4 mins. (It is preferable if the bread is a day or two old)

• Than add salt and pepper as per your taste.
• Pour the soup in a container (i used a microwave friendly container) and chill for at least 2 hours. (if you have time you can refrigerate it longer.)

• Before serving garnish with the diced vegetables. You can also garnish with croutons.