Carrot Soup

Diposting oleh adiba
Kamis, 02 April 2015
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Its been a long time since i made a recipe post. Life goes on as usual, but not my mind. I had and i still have severe mood swings, which made me stay away from online for a while. i always feel breaking the ice is one crucial point to go ahead with challenges. Today, this moment i decided to break the ice with my blog!! here i dusted down this carrot soup post from draft and presenting here.
Hope to Cook and Blog More in this Summer Holidays! Wish me Lots of Strength and Hope Your Wishes Pushes me furthur!!!


Summer is here. Chennai is super hot now.  I made this carrot soup in winter, but posting it now in hot summer. When i saw these carrots with its leaves on, i couldn't resist to pick one bunch. two years back, when we were in Ooty, we traveled to avalanche. on route there were so many carrot fields, we stopped in between and got fresh carrots right from the fields. we even spotted two carrot cleaning machines which cleaned the mud and cleaned the carrots thoroughly.

In Chennai, we can rarely find these root vegetables with its leaves. when i spotted, i got a bunch a tried this soup recipe from BBC Good Food book.


Ingredients:

Carrots - 3 or 4 (small sized ones or few baby carrots)
Onion - 1
Thai Red chilly - 1/2 ( remove the seeds)
Potato - 1
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1' inch
Vegetable stock - 200 ml
Spices - cinnamon, star anise and lemon grass
Butter - 1 tsp
Madras curry powder / sambhar powder - 1/2 tsp


To Garnish:

Coconut cream - 2 tsp's

Method:

Heat a pan, add butter, spices, ginger, garlic, red chilly and saute the onions, carrots and potato.
Add the vegetable stock to the pan also add madras curry powder 1/2 tsp. cover the pan and cook the vegetables in medium flame for about 12 minutes. then remove the whole spices cinnamon, star anise. Let the vegetables get cooled down. Then grind them smoothly. Again heat the soup. Add salt to taste and serve the soup warm with coconut cream on top.


Notes:

I used Maggie veg stock cube to prepare vegetable stock.

Half of a Thai Red Chilly will add lots of spice to the soup. make sure to remove the seeds of the chilly.

Serve either with coconut milk  or fresh cream.




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Gajar ki kheer ~ Carrot kheer

Diposting oleh adiba
Jumat, 11 Januari 2013
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To start the New year with a sweet post, here is the gajar ki kheer. me and hubby love Gajar ka halwa the most. it is always our valentine's day dessert!


Gajar ki kheer

This is the first time, iam trying kheer with these delhi carrots and i should say, kheer tasted quite good. there is a real good difference in making kheer with normal orange carrots and with these delhi red carrots. do try, if you have not tried.

gajar ki kheer


serves - 2 to 3
preparation time - less than 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Delhi Carrot - 2 {finely grated and should measure about 1 and half cup (350 gms approx)}
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Milk - 2 cup's
Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

Heat a pan, add ghee, and saute the grated carrot in the ghee for about 3-4 minutes, till they shrink and come together.

ck1

Add a cup of milk or till the carrot immerses and put the flame to  medium and keep stirring the carrots till they are well cooked. this may take about 5 minutes.

ck2

Once the carrots turn soft and cooked, remove from flame and cool it down. on cooling grind them into a thick puree, without adding any milk or water.

ck3

Now add grinded carrots to the pan, add the rest of the milk about 1 cup and sugar. mix well, till the sugar dissolves.

ck4

When the kheer comes to boil, switch off the flame. if you wish garnish with nut's and raisins.

I served my kheer plain and chilled.

carrot kheer

 I reserved 2 spoons of carrot before grinding and mixed it finally when the kheer is done. strands of carrots gave a good texture to the kheer.

The kheer consistency should be thick, so add thick milk after grinding.

You may add cardamom powder and nuts towards the end.

 

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Carrot rice

Diposting oleh adiba
Jumat, 25 Mei 2012
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Summer is at its peak here. Nothing seams to be interesting in this climate than the curd rice for me and my son. this carrot rice is my son's favorite.




Ingredients:

  • 2 cup's of Basmati Rice (soaked in water for about 20 minutes)
  • 2 carrot 
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 1/2 tsp of mustard 
  • 1 tsp of split urad dal 
  • 1 sprig Curry leaves 

Ingredients for Masala powder:

  • 1/2 cup channa dal
  • 1/2 cup dry red chillies
  • 1/4 cup urad dal
  • 1/4 cup dhania / corriander seeds
  • 1/4 cup dessicated dry coconut / kopparai thengaai
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek
  • 1 inch cinnamon
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 tbsp khasa-khasa / poppy seeds
  • 2 sprigs of curry leaves
  • 1/2 tsp hing


Summer Lunch with Carrot rice and chilled cut fruits Mango and Pappaya

Method:

  1. Dry roast the ingredients in medium flame one by one. start with chana dal, urad dal, dhania. then dry roast cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon and cloves, khasa-khasa. following roast the dry coconut in slow flame. then roast the dry red chillies, curry leaves and hing separately.

  2. Cool the roasted ingredients. using your mixie, make them into a fine powder.

  3. Store the masala powder in an air tight jar. use it within a month, as it has dry coconut or store in your fridge.

  4. Soak the basmati rice for about 20 minutes in sufficient water, drain the water and cook basmati rice with 1 and half cup's of water. i used my microwave and cooked in 1 and half cup's of water for about 12 minutes at 900w. rice and water ratio is 1 : 1 and 1/2. you can cook the rice on stove top with the same ratio. cool the cooked basmati rice in a wide bowl. mix 1 tsp of sesame oil to the rice and give a soft stir with a fork, so that the grains separate.

  5. Peel the skin of the carrot. wash them and soak in hot water for about 10 -15 minutes. this is to help grating the carrot smoothly. after 15 minutes of soaking, grate the carrot's and set aside.

  6. Heat a pan, add oil, when its heated, add mustard and let it splutter. then add urad dal and curry leaves. now add the masala powder and salt to the oil and roast the masala powder for just a few seconds in slow flame. then add salt and mix well along with the masala.

  7. Add the cooked basmati rice and mix with the masala's. then add the grated carrot and mix slowly, so that you do not break the rice grains. remove from flame and transfer to the serving bowl.





Notes:

1. The masala powder can also be used to prepare capsicum rice and cabbage rice.

2. Use a pinch of turmeric powder, that makes the difference in color of the rice.




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Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Diposting oleh adiba
Senin, 20 Februari 2012
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Carrot cake, i love this cake, as each piece is full with goodness of carrot. i tried this cake with wheat flour long back and loved it. this time i tried it with all purpose flour(maida). this time the cake was soft and turned out moist and good. but i recommend you to try with wheat flour, which makes the cake super healthy cake.



and i have to ramble about cream cheese frosting. finding cream cheese in India is so difficult. 


when i searched on net, i just happened to find tarla dalal's low fat cream cheese. actually her Cream cheese should be called as cottage cream cheese frosting according to me. last time when i tried her recipe and made the frosting, the frosting was runny and it did not impress me. this time i made few changes and got the frosting perfect. 

carrot cake made long back with runny cream cheese frosting and wheat flour

My son and hubby loved this carrot cake, i was serving this cake to them without any guilt, as its full of goodness with carrot, wheat flour and olive oil.  so go ahead and try for your family.




Carrot Cake

Yields - 16 pieces
shelf life : 1 week refrigerated
Recipe source: cakes and bakes book
preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 45 - 50 minutes
Tried and tested:  twice

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 brown sugar
  • 1 cup sunflower oil / olive oil
  • 2 cups of whole wheat flour / all purpose flour
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of grated carrot
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp of grated nutmeg

Topping / Cream cheese frosting:

  • 1/2 cup cream cheese
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tsp grated orange rind

Method:
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375F.  I greased my 6*4 inch rectangular cake pan with little butter and lined with parchment paper.

  2. Now coming to dry ingredients, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder and nutmeg.  sift them all at least twice.

  3. For wet ingredients, in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until well blended. then add brown sugar and sunflower oil. beat them all together. now add the grated carrot and mix with a spatula.

  4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until well incorporated.

  5. Spread the mixed mixture into the greased cake pan and place in the center wrack of the pre-heated oven.

  6. Bake the cake for about 45-50 minutes until the cake is nicely risen, firm to touch and has begun to shrink away slightly from the edge of the pan. or insert a toothpick to the center of the cake and check whether it comes out clean.

  7. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 15-20 mins, then turn to a wire wrack.

  8. Slice the top bulged part of the cake, if you are planning to frost the cake.

  9. To make the frosting, put all the ingredients mentioned under topping in a mixing bowl and beat together for about 2 minutes until they become super smooth.

  10. When the cake is completely cold, spread the the cream cheese frosting. smooth over with a knife. sprinkle some orange rind over the top and leave up the cake to firm for few minutes till the frosting is set before you cut into pieces.

  11. Store the cake in an air tight container in fridge. it will make up to a week.




Home made Cream cheese frosting / Cottage cream cheese:

So no more hunting for cream cheese. though even i spotted philadelphia cream cheese, it was so costly for me. now with easy home made cream cheese i can try out cheese cake soon.


                                 Home made Cream cheese / Cottage cream cheese




yields - little less than 1/2 cup 
preparation time: less than 15 minutes
refrigeration : overnight

Ingredients:

  • Milk - 1/2 litre / 500 ml
  • Vinegar - 3 tbsp  (or)  lemon juice - 2 tsp
  • Curd - 2 tbsp

Method:

  1. Boil the milk and remove from flame. add vinegar or lemon juice to the hot milk and give a stir. you would see the the whey separating from the milk.

  2. In a muslin cloth, drain the cottage cheese and squeeze away the whey.

  3. Now in a mixer-grinder, add the cottage cheese, curd and grind into a smooth one.

  4. Take a muslin cloth and pass the smoothly grounded cottage cheese and bring all the corners of the muslin cloth together and tie with a rubber band.

  5. Put the tied muslin cloth in fridge for overnight, till it firms up.

  6. Next day, bring the cottage cream cheese to room temperature before you start to prepare for frosting.
 Do try out this cake with frosting. this is one different cake out of just plain cakes. no one could guess the frosting, which has a hint of orange rind. i loved the frosting much! even the cake tasted so good with frosting.





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Gajar Ka Halwa

Diposting oleh adiba
Senin, 10 Januari 2011
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Kajar ka halwa

One of our Friend Anitha used to tell about Delhi Carrot and the halwa she makes with it. When i found some Delhi Carrots from street vendors in Tnagar, i could'nt stop me buying 1/2 kg. i repeatedly questioned the selling lady, whether this is carrot or radish. only after her confirmation i bought it. those carrots were in the colour of pinkish red. they are so lengthy too. i reserved the carrots for the weekend dessert.

Delhi Carrot

Unfortunately, i did'nt have ghee on hand, but thats for good. This halwa came out beautifully and tasted Great without Ghee. if you dont believe me, do try it without ghee and find out. Even i did'nt add milk to this halwa. indeed it tasted Good. enough of me raving about my own creation.

Delhi Carrot Grated

This is such a simple recipe with just three ingredients. 1/2 Kg of carrots could make only for two / three servings of carrot halwa.

Ingredients:
(Recipe for two dessert lovers)

Delhi Carrots                                                                                          1/2 kg.
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Sugar                                                                                                      1/4 cup
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Roasted Cashews                                                                                          5
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Delhi Carrot Halwa

Method:

Grate the Carrots finely.

Heat a Skillet or Pan, roast the cashews and keep aside.

In the same pan, add the grated carrots and roast them for a minute.

Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the pan and give a stir.  the sugar melts and the carrot has to be cooked in it.

Keep stirring in between for 8 - 10 minutes, till the water content is fully absorbed and the halwa comes together to the centre of the pan without sticking to the sides of the pan. Add roasted cashews and serve warm.


Gajar ka Halwa

Note: Use Delhi carrots for this vibrant colour. i did not use any food colour for this halwa. nor i did'nt do any photoshop works, to show this halwa bright!

Low fat Gajar ka halwa

Serve the Halwa warm with a scoop of ice-cream.

* You can reduce sugar and add sweetened Khoa towards the end to make it rich.
* You can add Ghee, to make the halwa Fat-rich.
* You can add cashews, pista's at the end to make the halwa cholestrol-rich.

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