Mushroom Soup / Soup Series

Homemade soups are always tastier, healthier and easy to prepare. Most importantly soups are the best meal to consume during this winter season. So, myself and my lovely friend Sujitha Ruban who is an excellent blogger from http://www.sujithaeasycooking.com joined hands together to post a theme based recipes on alternative days to motivate ourself and bring back the energy and lagging spirit. Truly excited and happy to be part of this series along with my friend. Soup is chosen as our November month theme considering weight loss and climate, so stay tuned for more interesting and healthy soups from our page.

Click HERE to view sujitha's healthy and yummy - Spinach clear soup.

Coming to my today's soup series, posting a healthy and nutritious filled soup prepared using mushroom, carrot and cabbage. Soya sauce and chilli sauce is added to enhance the taste of soup. In this recipe, I have used chicken bouillon powder which can also be substituted with veg stock powder or fresh veg or non veg stock. This can served as a breakfast along with toasted bread or garlic bread and also an evening drink.

Ingredients :

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Carrots
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Cabbage
1 Cup Mushroom, chopped
3 Cups Water
1 Tsp Chicken bouillon powder
Salt to taste
1/4 Tsp Pepper powder
1 Tsp Soya sauce
1 Tsp Red chilli sauce
1 Tsp Corn flour
Spring onion leaves, finely chopped

Method :

Heat oil in a pan and add finely chopped garlic.

Fry and add finely chopped carrots and cabbage.

Saute it for a minute and add chopped mushrooms.

Add chicken bouillon powder along with 3 cups of water and salt.

Cook till the veggies gets cooked and add soya sauce followed by red chilli sauce.

Boil it for couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, mix cornflour and 3 tbsp water in a small bowl.

Add it to the soup and boil it for some more time until the soup thickens.

Add pepper powder to the soup and garnish with chopped spring onion leaves.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with toasted bread or garlic bread.

Chicken & Spinach Soup

I love soups! It makes me very energetic and whenever I step in to Restaurants, I make sure that soup is also ordered. I love tasting variety of soups but being a solo soup lover its very difficult to try at home. Luckily this month theme for "5 Ingredient Fix Challenge" by Lakshmi vimala was Soup. Every month, 5 Ingredients will be declared by her and its our challenge to try out something Innovative. And coming to March month, we got 5 Lovely ingredients " Olive Oil", "Homemade Stock", "Chicken or Veg", "Green leafy veggie" and "any kind of pulses". And keeping all my challenge ingredients, tried this delicious soup for our Sunday lunch menu which turned out a huge hit :)

Adding pureed dal gives a creamy and thick consistency so adding of corn flour is not necessary. This can be served as warm soup with fresh cream on top along with croutons or can also be served with hot rice. My son loved it with hot rice and ghee. 

And here is my march month challenge.....

Ingredients:

For Stock:

• 250 gms Boned Chicken
• 1 Big Onion, chopped or sliced
• 1 Tbsp Pepper corns
• 1 Carrot, chopped
• 5 Garlic, crushed
• Water, as needed

For Soup :

• 3 Tbsp Masoor dal
• 15 Spinach leaves, washed and chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tsp Pepper
• Water, as needed
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• ¼ Boiled Chicken, cut into small strips
• Basil leaves for Garnishing

Method :

• Add all the ingredients given for preparing stock in a large vessel and add required amount of water.

• Simmer and cook it for 45 minutes.

• Meanwhile, Pressure cook the dal and spinach leaves for 4-5 whistles.

• Once cooker cools down, blend the dal and spinach to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

• Heat olive oil in a pan and add the chicken strips.

• Saute for a minute and add the pureed spinach-dal mixture.

• Remove boned chicken from the stock and blend the remaining ingredients using blender.

• Strain and extract the stock.

• Now add stock to the boiling dal-spinach mixture followed by salt and pepper and boil it for 10 minutes or till the soup consistency occurs.

• Once done, remove from the flame, garnish with basil leaves and serve hot with croutons.

Note : 

Fresh cream can also be added for extra richness.

Linking this recipe with  Lakshmi's "5 Ingredients Fix Challenge"

Chicken Millet Soup

 

Chicken millet soup is nutritious, healthy, easy to make, and the most satisfying soup to enjoy the cold weather. 

Well, if you ask me what kind of person I am when it comes to food. I am a soup person! I love including soups in my regular menu. In other words, I can define that soup is my comfort meal. There are many varieties of soup available around but personally, I prefer my soup loaded with vegetables, proteins, and carbs to make it a complete meal. My today's soup post is a simple variation of my regular chicken soup in which I have included Kudo millet and also, used the technique which I recently learned from my culinary class. I have prepared this soup with the basic ingredients which are readily available at home. 

So far I have posted many interesting soups on my page like Betel leaves chicken soup, carrot, and Beetroot soup, Veggies, and dal soup, Chayote soup, Sausage coconut milk soup, etc. but including millets in my soup was on my to-do list for a quite long time. Apart from chicken and millet, I have included vegetables and spices to the soup which indeed makes the soup a complete balanced meal. We know that a balanced meal consists of proteins, grains, and vegetables. Likewise, this soup consists of all the elements required for a balanced meal. And for all vegetarians, who are looking out for an option for chicken. Don't worry! Just skip the chicken and make a lovely vegetable stock using onion, celery, and leek. And, include chickpeas to get the protein in the soup. 

I chose to include millet in chicken soup is to make my little one learn about the benefits of millets. Being a picky eater, he doesn't prefer to include millet in his menu but as a mother, isn't my responsibility to feed him a nutritious meal? So, I decided to include millet in his favorite chicken soup and he loved the soup especially the addition of millet excited him and asked me whether I included tiny ball pasta in this soup :) What else do I need to be happier :) 

The ingredients used in this recipe to make a delicious soup: 

Millet - Millets which is considered a poor man's food in olden days is a trend food ingredient now because of the awareness of its nutritional values. Millet is a whole grain and used in meals, in the substitution of regular rice. There are different varieties of millets available in the market. Little millet, Kudo millet, Pearl millet, Foxtail millet, etc, are some of the varieties of millets. Incorporating millets in our diet helps in weight loss, improves immunity, controls blood sugar, helps in digestion, acts as antioxidants, etc. Apart from serving millets as rice, these can also be included in the baking. Many interesting recipes like Burnt garlic fried rice using foxtail millet, Kudo millet - Poha idly, Millet maple syrup Pongal, Millet chicken pulao, etc. can be prepared using millets. In this recipe, I have included Kudo millet which can also be substituted with any varieties of millet. Kudo millet resembles the rice compared to the other varieties. The cooking method is also similar to regular rice. The millet is soaked for a few minutes before adding to the soup which fastens the cooking process.  

Chicken - Boneless chicken is used in this recipe for convenience but adding chicken with bones gives a lovely flavor to the soup. But, make sure to separate the flesh after preparing the broth. The cooked chicken is shredded and added back to the soup. 

Vegetables - I have included only the basic vegetables like onions, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic in this recipe. Variations can be made by including carrots, pumpkin, etc. The ginger and garlic are included in the soup to aid the digestion. 

Spice bag - The spice bag consists of bay leaf, crushed peppercorns, and fresh thyme. I have included 4 varieties of peppercorns to enhance the flavor of the soup. All the ingredients are tied in a muslin cloth and dropped in the stockpot. The spices can also be included directly in the soup but this method helps to discard the spices easily. 

Butter - Butter is used as fat in this recipe which also helps to enhance the flavor. If you are health conscious, feel free to use olive oil. 

Water - I have included water in this recipe but to make it more flavorful, include chicken stock or vegetable stock. 

Here come the recipe and procedure for the Chicken Millet Soup... 

Ingredients:

70 gm Kudo Millet 

15 gm Butter 

180 gm Onion, Medium dice 

60 gm Tomato, Medium dice 

330 gm Chicken, boneless 

6 gm Ginger, chopped 

10 gm Garlic, peeled and chopped 

750ml water + 240 ml water 

Salt to taste 

Finely chopped Spring onions for garnishing ( alternatively, coriander leaves can be used ) 

Spice bag / Sachet: 

1 Bay leaf 

2 Sprig of Fresh Thyme 

3 gm Peppercorns (I have used 4 varieties of peppercorns in this recipe) 

Method: 

Keep the mise en place ready. 

Heat butter in a stockpot and add onions. 

 

 

Sweat the onions and add chopped garlic followed by ginger. 

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it turns soft. 

Add chicken pieces and saute. 

Now add 750ml water along with the spice bag. 

Tie the spice bag at the handle which helps to remove the spice bag easily. 

Skim regularly to remove dirt and oil from the surface. 

Let it simmer for 30 - 40 minutes. Once done, remove the spice bag and discard it. 

Remove the cooked chicken pieces, shred, and keep aside.  

Transfer the remaining ingredients to the blender and grind it to a smooth puree. 

Strain the ground puree and keep aside. 

Soak the millets for half an hour. Wash and drain the water. 

Heat the strained puree and add the washed millets followed by the remaining water and salt. 

Let it cook until the millets get cooked. 

Add seasoning and the shredded chicken to the soup. 

Boil for a couple of minutes and remove from the flame. 

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves. Serve hot. 

As I mentioned above, though it requires an extra step to prepare the broth, it is quite easy to make the recipe. Grinding the cooked vegetables into smooth puree gives a lovely body to the soup. The texture will be smooth and creamy. The starch from the millet also increases the thickness of the soup. The soup tastes delicious with the dominant flavor of the chicken. The perfect blend of millet, soup, and shredded chicken in each spoon will satisfy the palate for sure. The addition of seasoning is always one's preference so adjust according to the taste bud. 

I have involved a few techniques like skimming, preparing a broth, and preparing spice bag/sachet in this recipe. Skimming is nothing but removing the dirt and oil from the surface of the broth. It is always recommended to simmer the flame which helps the dirt and oil to float on the surface of the stock/broth. I felt really great to involve a few skills in this recipe from my culinary learning. The majority of my soup post (which I had posted earlier) had spices but I never tried them making a sachet. And also, after implementing the skimming technique in stock/broth, I noticed a major difference in the texture of the soup. I would love to try more soup recipes in the future which includes the other techniques too. In fact, I am planning to prepare this soup again but with the addition of diced vegetables and cream to make it healthier and rich. And also, planning to try seafood soup with the addition of millet. 

Variations: 

 If you want to add more vegetables to this recipe, follow the below procedure. 

Cut the vegetables like carrot, celery, etc. into small dice.

Before boiling the strained puree, heat 5gms of butter and saute the diced vegetables. Then, add the strained puree and follow the process as mentioned in the recipe. 

Substitute water with vegetable stock or chicken stock to enhance the flavor of the soup.  

I have garnished the soup with finely chopped spring onions but can also use coriander leaves which gives a lovely and fresh taste. 

I hope you all loved this interesting soup and if you try this recipe, please feel free to share your feedback to priyasmenu@gmail.com or tag me at @priyas.menu on Instagram. 

References:

Lang, A. (2020, March 19). What Is Millet? Nutrition, Benefits, and More. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-millet 

Marakani, P. (2019, November 22). Millets: Types, Benefits and Recipes: Millets & Weight Loss. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.healthifyme.com/blog/millets-types-benefits-recipes-weight-loss/

Veggies & Dal Soup / Soup Series

In our Soup Series Event, me and my friend Sujitha had so far completed 5 different varieties of soups. And in that array, sharing my today's healthy and nutritious soup which is prepared using 4 varieties of vegetables and 3 varieties of protein rich dal. This yummy soup is a perfect healthy breakfast option when served with a Toasted bread. In this recipe, I have strained the soup after blending according to my family member's taste. But serving as such without straining the soup also increases the nutritious fact.

Check out the below links for more healthy and interesting soups.

My Soup Series : Click HERE

Sujitha Ruban's Soup Series : Click HERE

Ingredients :

1 Tbsp Moong dal 
1 Tbsp Toor dal 
1 Tbsp Horsegram / Kollu 
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Spring Onions ( Bulb part ) 
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Carrots
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Bottle gourd
1/4 Cup Beans, chopped 
1/4 Cup Finely chopped Capsicum / Bell pepper 
1 Bay leaf
Salt to taste 
2 Cups Water 
1/4 Tsp Pepper powder 

Method :

Wash and soak Moong dal along with Toor dal and Horsegram for an hour.

Drain the water and add it to a pressure cooker.

Add all the chopped veggies along with bay leaf to the pressure cooker.

Add the measured water and pressure cook it for 6 - 7 whistles.

Once done, switch off the flame and wait till the pressure of cooker gets released.

Remove the bay leaf from the soup and blend the remaining cooked dal - veggies using blender.

Strain the soup using strainer and boil it again for 5 minutes by adding salt and pepper powder.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with Toasted bread.

Note :

Straining the soup is optional.

Carrot & Beetroot Soup / Soup Series

The credit of including healthy soups in our daily menu goes to our Soup series event which is happening in my space and co-blogger Sujitha Ruban's page. We started our event on 21st November and so far completed 7 different varieties of interesting tasty soups.  Click the below links to view all our soup recipes.

My Soup Series - Click HERE

Sujitha Ruban's Soup Series - Click HERE

And coming to my today's soup recipe,  posting a healthy and tasty soup prepared using carrot, tomato and beetroot. The addition of beetroot gives a lovely colour to the soup. Easy to prepare yet very nutritious and yummy.

Ingredients :

1 Onion, Finely chopped 

3 Carrots, Chopped 

1 Beetroot, chopped 

2 Tomatoes, chopped

2 Cups of Water 

1 Bay leaf 

Salt to taste 

1/4 Tsp Pepper powder 

Method :

Add onion along with carrots, beetroot, tomatoes and bay leaf to a pressure cooker.

Pour in the measured amount of water and pressure cook it for 6 - 7 whistles. 

Once done, switch off the flame and wait till the pressure gets released. 

Discard the bay leaf from the soup and strain the stock. Keep aside. 

Blend the remaining ingredients and strain it using stainer. 

Now combine the stock and strained soup together in a pressure cooker. 

Add the required amount of salt and pepper powder.

Boil it again for another couple of minutes and serve hot. 

Serving Options :

Serve hot with soup sticks or toast. 

Egg Rice Noodles Using 5 Spice Powder

Rice Noodles is a quick noodles which can be prepared in a jiffy. The noodles has to be soaked in a boiling water for couple of minutes and drained is further rinsed with a cold water to use in delicious soups and stir fried recipes. In my today's recipe, I have used simple egg noodles using rice noodles and 5 spice powder. The five spice powder is a mixture of five spices like star anise, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and fennel seeds which is also a very popular seasoning in Chinese cooking. Addition of this powder, enhances the taste of dish and also gives a delicious authentic taste. I have also added generous amount of spring onion leaves to give a yummy taste and flavor to the noodles.

Ingredients :

200 gms Rice Noodles / Rice Vermicelli ( I have used MAMA brand )
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Onion, sliced
1 Tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
4 Eggs ( 3 for preparing Noodles and 1 for Omelette )
2 Tbsp Spring onion bulb, finely chopped
1/4 Cup Spring Onion leaves, finely chopped
1 Tsp 5 Spice powder
1 Tsp Lemon grass powder
1 Tsp Red chilli paste
1 Tsp Soya sauce
Salt to taste

Method :

Cook rice noodles according to the packet instructions and keep aside or soak the noodles in a boiling water for 2 minutes and drain the water. Rinse and use the noodles.

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped garlic followed by onion slices and chopped spring onion bulb.

Saute till the onion turns translucent and add the eggs.

Scramble the eggs and add the rice noodles followed by five spice powder, lemon grass powder, red chilli paste, soya sauce and spring onion leaves.

Gently mix well, add salt and cook it for another 3 - 4 minutes.

Once the spices get blends well with the noodles, remove from the flame and transfer it to a bowl.

Break the egg to a pan and add little soya sauce, chilli paste and spring onion leaves on top of the egg.

Cook it for 3 minutes in a low flame and transfer it to a rice noodles bowl.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve with any Manchurian or Tomato sauce.

Lemon grass & Galangal Tea

I had few leftover fresh Galangal and Lemongrass after preparing Thai curry paste, so thought of using in our regular tea as the both ingredients gives a refreshing aroma. The tea tasted flavorful and very refreshing as my expectation. Lemon grass and Galangal is widely used in Thai cuisine and apart from culinary uses, both has  has lots of medicinal values. Lemongrass, also called as fever grass is a herb is widely used in soups, curries and tea. This has a subtle citrus flavor and also available in both dried and fresh form. Lemongrass helps in digestion, controls cholesterol levels, cleanse and detoxify the body, heals cold and flu, fights cancer and reduces arthritis pain. Galangal is from ginger family and also known as Siamese ginger. Like lemongrass, this also has lots of health benefits like relives stomach discomfort, improves blood circulation and acts as anti-inflammatory. While surfing about the medicinal values, also got an amazing information that chewing few slices of galangal gives an immediate relief from diarrhea.

So, here comes the recipe for refreshing and healthy tea...

Ingredients :

2 Tbsp Lemon grass, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Galangal, finely chopped
2 1/2 Tsp Tea powder ( I have used Red label brand )
3 - 4 Tsp Brown sugar
1/4 Cup Water 
1 1/2 Cups Milk 

Method :

Boil milk and keep aside.

Boil water along with the chopped lemon grass and galangal in a low flame for couple of minutes.

Add tea powder along with the boiled milk and brown sugar.

Let it boil in a low flame until the color of tea changes.

Once done, strain it using tea filter and serve hot. 

  
Serving Options :

Serve hot with biscuits.