Spicy red lentil soup in Indian style

Incredibly nutritious, awakening and spicy with oriental notes and an Indian accent. Here's how to describe this soup.
Many of my friends do not like lentils, although it is unbelievably! But in this version, lentils are a great success! Interested? Try it!

 

 
Serves 4
200 grams red lentils
250 grams onions

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cm fresh ginger root
1 tsp powdered chili pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1.5 liters mutton or chicken stock
450 grams canned skinned tomatoes (1 can)
Salt to taste
1 bunch cilantro
Chives for decoration

1) Dice the onions. Grate ginger on a fine grater. Heat the stock. Chop tomatoes. Finely chop the cilantro.

2) Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan, over medium heat and onions and ginger. Fry stirring until onions are translucent. Add spices and stir.  

Add lentils in a saucepan. Fry  stirring for 1 minute.

 
3) Add  the hot stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice and salt. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes, until lentils are soft.

 
4) Remove from heat and add cilantro. Stir and serve sprinkled with green onion rings on top.
Bon Appétit!

Roasted garlic cream soup

Enchanting flavor, divine taste hard to recognize what it is made of… it’s Real roasted garlic soup. Amazing strong aroma, but subtle delicate taste. After this garlic soup You can go to have a date straight away!
For cream-soup preparing basics look HERE.

Serves 6
4 big garlic cloves
Olive oil for seasoning
2 big potatoes
1 middle sized onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 spring thyme
150 gr grated cheese Ementaker or Gruyer
1,5 l. chicken stock

Preheat oven to 180˚C.
Cut off the upper part of garlic cloves like shown at the picture.

Place on a piece of aluminum foil, sprinkle with salt and olive oil. Wrap tightly into the foil and place in the preheat oven for 45 min.
Peel and cut onion into halves. Slice it. Preheat a 3l pot over medium heat with a tablespoon of butter. Add onions and a spring of thyme, and fry until onions are slightly carmelized. Take out the thyme spring.

Peel and dice potatoes. Rinse with cold running water.
When the garlic is done, take out of the oven, let it cool down for 10 min.

Then peel it or just squeeze it out garlic peel into a plate.  Do not lose any drop of the precious roasting oil.
Mash garlic with oil drops with a fork and add to the onions.

Pour over hot stock. Add potatoes and cook until done.
Withdraw 2 cups of cooking liquid from the pot, set aside and blend everything with a blender till the mass is smooth and well mixed. Add some of the liquid to adjust the consistency of cream soup.
Add  grated cheese and gently, over low heat bring soup to boil constantly stirring so the cheese incorporates into soup.

Turn off immediately. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper.

Serve hot with a piece of crunchy bread!

Cauliflower Cream Soup

      

Сauliflower is in season now. Not everybody loves it, but not everyone can cook it well. In this tender and creamy soup, there is no typical sulfurous aftertaste, that is so disliked by people. Delicate cheese neutralizes it completely and brings the dish on an entirely different level!  It's just a delight for Your stomach:-) Try it!

About pureed soups:

 
Pureed soups are easy and difficult to make at the same time.

 
Easy, because You cook all together, blend everything and the soup is ready.
 

Difficult because:

First, You have to find ingredients that are go well together and complement each other so that soup would not be as baby food, that nobody wants to eat. Think well what You are going to cook!

Second, consistency of the soup. Soup has to be rich and nourishing not like a tea. For this You have to remember, when vegetables are cooked, drain about 1 / 3 of the liquid into a separate bowl.  

Then, blend your soup and adjust the consistency with the same liquid.

The best way to make soup is to blend it with stand blender, it aerates  the soup, fills it with air, making it heaven like. Of course You can force it through the sieve or blend it in food processor.

Salt soup in the end of cooking, when the soup is already blended. Then you can evaluate the taste more adequately.

Reheat Your cream soup gently and slowly, over low to medium heat, stirring often, so soup does not stick to the pot walls, it spoils the taste a lot.
 

Good luck!

For 6 portions:

1 medium onion
25 gr butter
500 gr cauliflower
0.6 liters Water
0.6 liters chicken stock

400 gr paste-like processed cheese

½ tsp grated nutmeg
Salt to taste

1) Clean and slice the onion into half rings. Bring stock and water to the boil. Wash cauliflower and divide it into florets.

2) Heat the butter with a little bit of vegetable oil in a three-liter saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and fry for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. It has to be partially carmelized but not brown. You will feel pleasant aroma with mushroom-walnut notes.

3)   Pour hot water and stock over the onions. Add cauliflower florets. Cook until tender for 8-10 minutes. It  is ready when it's easy to pierce with a fork.

4)  Do not remove from heat,  take 2 cups of liquid from the soup. Set aside.

5)  Place the cheese in a soup pot and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn off  the heat and blend soup with blender  until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a little of set aside liquid from the soup.

6)   Taste, add salt if necessary (cheese usually is already quite salty). Add the grated nutmeg and mix well. Cover with a lid and set aside for 10 minutes to infuse.

Serve warm with crusty bread. Bon Appetit!

P.S. Place remaining liquid in the refrigerator. Cream soup tends to thicken during the subsequent reheating. And if You do not eat the soup at once, you can dilute it with this same liquid to the desired consistency, when You reheat it  the next day.

IDEA: You can cut the bacon into small cubes and fry until crispy. When You will be serving the soup sprinkle it with crispy bacon.

Asian Style Coconut Soup

           When it’s grey and cold outside, take few minutes, close Your eyes and imagine Yourself at an exotic country, with romantic beaches, spicy food and shining sun and Your autumn blues will eventually  brighten up.  This exotic soup will definitely help Your teleportation:-)

1,5 l of Chicken Stock

1 chicken breast skinless (app. 300 gram)

20 grams of dry lemongrass or 2 stalks of fresh or pickled

8 leaves of kaffir lime leaves

6 little dry chili peppers (bird’s eye)

200 grams of dry wood ear mushrooms

2 tablespoons of red curry paste

2 cloves of garlic

 1 onion

1 tablespoon of coconut oil (substitute with  vegetable oil)

250 ml of coconut milk

300 grams of rice noodles

1 bunch of fresh cilantro 

1)      1) Wash and clean chicken breast. Cut it into bite size pieces.

2)      2) Place chicken, lemongrass, lime leaves, peppers and chicken stock into 3 l. pot. Bring everything to boil, and turn down the heat, letting the broth simmer for 15 min.

3)      3) In the meantime, wash dry mushrooms and place them in a bowl and pour over hot water, so the mushrooms are fully covered. Set aside for 15 min.

4)      4) Drain the mushrooms, chop them finely , put into broth and simmer all together for another 15 min.

5)      5) Prepare rice noodles separately according to the package direction. 

6)      6) Peel and dice onions. Peel garlic. Chop cilantro.

7)      7) Pre-heat a shallow frying pan, add coconut oil, onions and press the garlic. When onion has soften, add curry paste. Stir till everything incorporates. Fry for 2 min. and add coconut milk, stir and simmer mixture for 2 min.

8)      8) When aromatic broth is ready, take out lime leaves, lemon grass and pepper. Add the coconut mixture. Boil everything for 2 min. Turn off the heat.

9)      9) Place some noodles in a serving bowl, add soup with chicken and mushrooms and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve hot!

P.S. You can substitute dry bird’s eye chili pepper  with any chili pepper You can find.  And if You use fresh lemon grass crush it with a knife blade first.

River fish soup

In Ukraine it’s a must to cook the river fish soup in the summer at least once in a month. All the fish soups even have their separate category name in Ukrainian language, it’s called “Uha” and there are so many recipes of them. Some knowing people say, that it’s the best when “Uha” is cooked in open fire at some riverside, with the fish that has just been caught. My recipe is the house version but still full of summer flavor!

Serves 6

600 grams of river fish (carps or trout or any other river fish)

1,5 l of cold chicken stock

3 potatoes

Vegetable oil for frying

3 average carrots

1 onion

2 tomatoes

200 ml of sour cream

A bunch of dill

Salt and white pepper to taste

1) Clean the fish, scrape it, take the guts out, wash it properly, cut off the fins and head. Cut the clean fish into the pieces (average, not too big, not too small) and put it into 3 l pot.

2) Peel potatoes and cut into 2 cm dice. Place it into the pot with fish and fill it with chicken stock and bring it to the boil and let it simmer gently. Add salt.

3) In the mean time, peel tomato skins, deseed them and chop into small pieces. Peel an onion and carrots. Dice the onion, grate the carrots using the largest holes on a pyramid grater.

4) Heat the oil into frying pan. Add onions, sweat them until soft and add carrots, sauté for about 2 min and add tomatoes and the sour cream. Steam it all together for 2 min more. Turn off the heat.

5) When the potatoes are ready add the steamed vegetables into the pot. Bring everything to the boil, try it and correct seasoning with salt and pepper.

6) Chop the dill. Put it into the soup pot and cover with the lid. Leave it for 10 min.

7) Serve!

Ukrainian Borsch

Keeping Promise to my international friends I’m publishing this recipe of rich and comforting Ukrainian soup, called borshch. Though many Ukrainians would never call it soup. Borshch is Borshch, not soup. That’s what they would say:-). It requires some work as most of compound soups. But it’s worth it. Traditionally borshch is made on weekend in big pots and eaten for several days. Borshch lovers will tell You that it gets better with every other day of eating. So don’t feel confused, make some borshch in big pot to last You longer. Just bring it to the boil every day of reheating.And I should mention that there are so many recipes of Borshch as Ukrainian women cooking, and each one is the right one:-).

Mine is following:For 3 l soup pot

500 grams of pork bones with meet on them
250 grams of common dry beans (soaked in the water for 8-12 hours)
1 middle-sized beetroot (around 250 grams)3-4 potatoes (about 250 grams)
½ of small cabbage head (about 200 grams)
1 big carrot (about 120-150 grams)1 middle-sized onion
70 grams of tomato concentrate200 ml of sour cream, the best and the most dense you can get1 table spoon of sugar
1 table spoon of vinegarMaking of Borshch consists of several stages or steps.
Vegetable oil for frying1 Step. Making meat and bones broth. Put the bones into the pot, add 4 l of water and simmer gently for about 3 hours. Do not cover with a lid! Do not let it boil, just simmer. Skim and degrease as necessary.
2 Step. Peel and grate the beetroot. Grate the beetroot using the largest holes on a pyramid grater. Heat the dash of oil into a tall pot, add beetroots and sweat them over low heat until soft.3 Step. Strain the beans, put them in the pot, cover with fresh cold water, bring to boil, and cook over low heat until soft.

4 Step. Dice the onions, grate the carrots using the largest holes on a pyramid grater. Heat the oil into frying pan. Add onions, sweat them until soft and add carrots, sauté for about 2 min and add tomato concentrate and half of the sour cream. Mix all together, let it simmer for 2 min more and turn off the heat.

Step 5. Bringing everything together.
Dice potatoes into about 2 cm dice. Slice the cabbage into thin strips. Leave out the rough part of cabbage root.Take the bones out of the broth. Separate bones from meat. Put the meat back to the broth. Place strained cooked beans, beetroots, potatoes and cabbage into the boiling broth.When potatoes are soft, add sugar and vinegar. Add fried onion-carrot mixture and the rest of sour cream. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat off. Cover with lid and let it stay for 15 min before serving.
Serve it with dollop of sour cream (You may use lean sour cream) and chopped parsley and dill. Traditionally borshch is served with garlic buns called pampushky. But nowadays it’s mostly served without them. Enjoy!!

Ramson soup

Ramsons or ‘wild garlic’, sometimes called ‘bear’ garlic’, one of the first wild plants we can enjoy in early spring. Full of vitamins and micro elements, it is said to be the first food the bear eats after waking up in spring to refill body with vitamins after long winter sleeping.

1 onion

1 leek

3 average potatoes

A dash of vegetable oil

1 tbsp of butter

1 l of chicken stock

1 bay leaf

150 ml cream

50 ml white wine

100 -150 g of ramson leaves

Salt and white pepper

Serves 6

1) Slice onion, leek and dice potatoes. The size doesn’t matter because it will be blended in the end. Chop the ramson leaves.

2) Sweat onion and leek in oil and butter mixture in the pot. Add potatoes, bay leaf and hot stock. Keep cooking at moderate heat.

3) When potatoes are cooked and soft, add cream, wine and ramson. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to gentle boil, turn down the heat and blend everything in blender.

4) Serve hot with toasted white bread or baguette.