Mulligatawany soup

I had this soup in a restaurant called Banana Leaf in Versova, Mumbai on my last trip to India. It was the first time ever I had it and totally loved it. Very satisfying, felt completely full and yet light. So I decided to make it at home. I browsed through a number of recipes on the internet, and finally I made it in the following way:

This recipe gives about 6 cups of soup depending on the consistency.

Ingredients

1/2 cup yellow moong dal
1/4 cup basmati rice
3/4 cup chopped carrot (1 small carrot about 6 inches long)
1 cup or 1 stick leek, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
4-5 fresh curry leaves
11/2 tsp curry powder (or you could even add 1 two curry powder and 1/2 tsp sambhar masala)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
Salt to taste
6 cups vegetable stock (you can use store-bought, I made mine the previous day using my recipe below)
1 tbsp lemon juice (juice of one lemon)

Method

First, begin with preparing the rice, dal and veggies.

1. Rinse the dal several times under running water until the water runs clear and soak it for 30 minutes to 2-3 hours.
2. Rinse the rice in the same way and soak it for 30 minutes.
3. Wash, peel, wash again, and dice the carrots.
4. Wash and remove the outer layer of the leek. Chop it roughly and soak in water to remove the dirt that may be trapped within the layers.
5. Peel, wash and chop an onion to get 1/2 cup.
6. Remove the outer layers of the cabbage that may be a bit wilted or spotted. Now, place the cabbage root side down and cut it along the middle into two halves. Since we need only 1/2 cup of cabbage, chop only a quarter section of the cabbage. Discard the hard stem bit.
7. One stick of celery will make about 1/2 cup. Cut out the ends that may be a bit brown, peel the celery as you would a carrot. This is to remove the strings. If the leaves at the top are fresh and green, then you may reserve them for garnish later. Otherwise, discard.
8. Wash the curry leaves and pat them dry.
9. Drain the water from the rice and dal and keep aside.

Now, begin cooking as follows:

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pressure cooker.
2. Add onions, carrots and leeks and stir-fry for a minute or two.
3. Add the rice and dal, and mix. Stir fry for another minute or two.
4. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock and salt to taste.
5. Cover the cooker, place the weight and cook for one whistle.
6. Turn the stove off and let the cooker cool down. If in a hurry, place the cooker under running water in the kitchen sink. Make sure the water does not go through the pressure valve.  
7. Add more vegetable stock up to 2 cups to the cooker if required. Blend the rice, dal and veggies together with a hand blender, use a blender if you don't have a hand blender. 

Now, for tempering the soup and adding any vegetables that you don't want blended into the soup:

1. Heat 2 tsps oil in a thick-bottomed soup/stew pot.
2. Add a pinch of hing, and 1 tsp mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds start crackling, add the curry leaves.
4. Add celery and cabbage, stir together for a minute or two.
5. Add 1 1/2 tsp of curry powder, and 1/2 tsp of chill powder.
6. Stir for 2-3 minutes before adding the dal-rice to the pot. Pour the dal and rice into the pot facing away from you.
7. Give it all a light mix and adjust the salt if required.
8. Garnish with chopped celery leaves and/or coriander leaves.

Mulligatawny soup

Mulligatawny soup with my harissa as garnish 

My vegetable stock:

3 carrots, washed it well and chop it roughly (no need to peel)
3 sticks celery, washed well, topped and tailed, and chopped roughly
1 brown onion (the size of a tennis ball), peeled, washed and quartered
4-5 florets of broccoli (you could even use the hard stem part)
4-5 florets of cauliflower (you could even use the hard stem part)
1/2 fennel bulb (use the fronds, leaves if fresh), chopped roughly (optional)
8-10 whole black pepper
1 bay leaf
4-5 cloves
2-inch cinnamon stick
8 cups of water
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a deep stock pot big enough to hold 2 liters of water and the veggies.
2. Add black pepper, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick to the oil and fry for a minute.
3. Add the onion, celery, fennel and carrots and fry for two minutes.
4. Add broccoli, cauliflower and fry for another minute or two.
5. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.
6. Simmer until the water is reduced to two-thirds or half the quantity.
7. Now, drain the stock through a colander. Discard the vegetables and spices.
8. Cool and transfer to a container that can go in the fridge.
9. Cool completely before storing it in the fridge.

Notes:

1. This soup is a complete meal with dal, rice and veggies.
2. Rice gives this soup a thick consistency. You could reduce the quantity of rice if you like or omit it altogether.
3. You can add any veggies you like really, and celery is optional. But I wanted to use the celery I had at home and did not want to blend it along with the dal, rice and veggies. So I decided to chop it fine and add it along with the cabbage in the end.
4. You can use plain water instead of vegetable stock. In which case, I would do either of these two things, one is to make a bouquet garni with 8-10 black pepper, 4-5 cloves, 2- inch cinnamon stick and in Step 13, instead of adding vegetable stock, you would add this bouquet garni and 4 cups of water to the pressure cooker. Discard it before blending the soup.
5. To make a bouquet garni, use a small cheesecloth bag (simple), or put these spices on a small piece of muslin cloth, fold up the corners and tie with a string to make a small bundle (simple enough..).
6. The other option is to make use of pepper water in Step 13. Add 8-10 black pepper, 4-5 cloves, 2-inch cinnamon stick and bay leaf to 8 cups of water and simmer until the water is reduced to 6 cups or 4 cups.

Quinoa, Potato Falafel wrap

I like the Mountain Oat bread wrap which is great for wrapping up a lot of stuff like salad greens, cucumber, red onions, feta cheese and grilled veggies for a quick and easy snack or meal. Mountain bread has fewer calories than the traditional lebanese bread. You could use tortillas just as easily.

There are any number of things you can fill a wrap with, in fact just about anything and everything. Salad greens, cucumbers, red onions, french fries, beetroot, broccoli, fresh fennel, tabouleh, tzatziki sauce, hummus, fresh coriander chutney, harissa, dahi wadas or dahi bhallas, tabasco, peri-peri sauce, hard-boiled eggs, hash brown, tofu, sprouts like mung beans and alfalfa, mushrooms, stir-fried asian greens like pak choi, tung choi, any leftover veggie dishes, list is endless!

Today, I am going to wrap up the following:
1) Quinoa, potato falafels
2) Zucchini with onion and tomato
3) Guacamole
4) Romain lettuce
5) Sliced red onions
6) Sliced cucumber
7) Fresh coriander chutney

1) Quinoa, Potato falafel recipe

Ingredients

400g potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
salt to taste ( I added about 1.5 tsp)

Method

Cook Quinoa
1) Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh container under running water 2-3 times.
2) Heat a tsp oil in a pan. Add the quinoa and roast it for a few minutes.
3) Add 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of salt.
4) Cover with a lid and simmer on lowest flame until all of the water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked.

5) Add a little bit of ghee/butter/olive oil to the quinoa and fluff it up with a fork.

4) Put the mashed potatoes into a big bowl, add quinoa, red chill powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, chopped coriander and salt. Mix everything together.

5) Divide the mix into 10 equal portions and shape them into flattened oval discs as shown below. These can be refrigerated at this stage for up to two days.

Quinoa & potato falafel/tikki

7) To deep fry, heat enough oil in a deep kadhai to fry about 3 falafels at a time. This is to avoid waste as I throw the remaining oil and do not re-use it for anything.
8) Slide 3 falafels one by one slowly along the edge of the kadhai and fry until crisp and golden on both sides turning them around occasionally.
9) Remove them on a kitchen-towel lined tray to soak up excess oil and keep aside.

2) Zucchini with onion and tomato recipe

Ingredients
1) 1zucchini 6-8 inches long, washed, and sliced
2)  a pinch of hing (asafetida)
3) 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4) 1/2 cup onion, sliced
5) 1/2 cup tomato, sliced
6) 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
7) 1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Method
1) Heat oil in a skillet.
2) When the oil is hot, add a pinch of heeng (asafetida powder), cumin seeds.
3) Once the cumin seeds crackle, add the onions and fry for one minute.
4) Add 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp red chill powder. Fry for one minute.
5) Now add the tomatoes and zucchini.
6) Season with salt and cook uncovered on a low flame until the zucchini softens just a bit and becomes translucent. It will only take 5 minutes or so.

Zucchini with tomato & onion

3) Guacamole

    (If you don't wish to make guacamole, use freshly cut and sliced avocado)

Ingredients
1) 1 ripe avocado
2) 1 tbsp lemon juice
3) Salt to taste

Method

1. Cut the avocado lengthwise by going around the whole avocado up to the core. You will need a big knife for this. 
2. Hold the avocado in the palm of one hand and with the other hand, twist the top-half in a clockwise direction. Bit like opening the lid of a jar. The two halves will come apart easily. One of them will have the seed, and the other one a gaping hole!
3. Hold the avocado-half with the seed, in the palm of one hand the seed facing up. You must be very careful with the next step so you don't cut your hand. There are many websites and youtube videos that will show you how to cut and pit an avocado. So, gently but firmly strike the knife's blade on the seed, as if trying to hack it, just enough that the knife's blade gets slightly stuck into the seed. Now, when you twist the knife clockwise, the seed is dislodged and comes out easily. For your safety, you could place the avocado on a piece of cloth on top of chopping board.
4. That done, scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon. I insert it at one end of a avocado half and just dig in a bit deeper and go around the entire half and it just comes out in one piece.
5. There are two ways to make guacamole. One, blend it in a chopper with lemon juice and salt. Two, just mash it up with a fork for a chunky guacamole. Add salt and lemon juice right away to prevent discoloration. Avocado discolors very quickly. 
6. You could even blend in a garlic for extra flavor. Some people would add finely chopped tomato or red pepper to it in the end for extra color and crunch. 
7. Transfer to a dish, cling-wrap it and cover it tightly with a lid and refrigerate it. This can be made up to a few hours ahead.  

Guacamole

4) Romain Lettuce

Wash, and soak in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water and shake off excess water and keep aside. A spinner work excellently. Roughly snip by hand into 2-3 pieces.

5) Red Onions

Peel the onion and slice lengthwise.

6) Sliced cucumber

Wash, and cut the cucumber into two lengthwise. And then, slice it as shown below.

Sliced lebanese cucumbers

7) Fresh Coriander chutney 

See recipe here

Now for the assembly into a wrap,

1) On a dinner plate or a chopping board, lay out one bread wrap.

Oat bread wrap

2) Arrange 2-3 pieces of lettuce leaf on the right hand side of the wrap leaving 2-3 inches at the right and the bottom. You could press the leaf in the middle to flatten it.

3) Next, arrange cucumber slices and top with guacamole and coriander chutney.

4) Next, a layer of zucchini on top followed by 2 quinoa-potato falafels that have been pressed open slightly.

5) Arrange onion slices on top.

6) Make sure to leave 2-3 inches on the right and at the bottom.

7) To fold into a wrap, first lift the bottom edge (this will close the wrap at the bottom end). Next, lift up the right side of the wrap and fold it all the way to the end neatly. This is how the wrap looks after it is folded.

Now, that's a wrap!