Purée of Carrot Soup with Curry and Ginger

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

There are a lot of things that I love about this soup.

First of all, its vibrant color. Just mere looking at it gives me energy.

Then there are the layers of taste – from the soothing and sweet taste of carrots to the funky ones of ginger and curry. They make this soup a true pleasure to eat.

And on top of that all, this soup is in fact a remedy. The carrots have a very high beta-carotene content. They are alkaline, clean acidic blood, and are considered an anti-cancer food. Onions and leek are healing for the lungs.

All-in-all, this lovely soup might come in handy after all the feasting that we’ll be enjoying soon.

 

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

Here’s the list of ingredients.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

1. First, we need the carrots.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

Dice ’em.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

2. Then grab the onion (if you are a rebel you can use a shallot) and the leek and chop them.

 

3. Dice the potato.
puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

4. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.

 

5. Throw in the onions, leek and the potato. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

6. Then add the ginger, curry, garlic, chopped parsley and bay leaf.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

7. And cook for about two minutes.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

8. Add the carrots and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 30 minutes, until carrots are very tender.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

9. Remove the soup from heat and discard the bay leaf (don’t be like me, please).
10. Puree the soup with a vertical blender until creamy.
11. Then taste and add more salt if needed.

puree of carrot soup with curry and ginger recipe with pictures, cream of carrot soup recipe with pictures

Yum!

This soup is amazing.

Enjoy it, dear friends!

 

(This recipe was adapted from here. The recipe makes about 6 portions and takes about 1 hour to prepare.)

Lentil Soup with Indian Spices

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

Lentils are my favorite legumes.

My body loves them and craves them very often.

Well, sometimes my body cannot decide between legumes and eggnog. But all-in-all, I really love lentils.

 

I’ve made this particular soup for the first time in my life.

I make lentil soups quite often but not the Indian ones.

The thing is that I had been playing with the idea of making this kind of soup for some time and all I needed and was trying to find were the right Indian spices.

The day I saw Garam Masala and Turmeric in one magical shop my vision was finally free to turn into reality – the yummy Lentil Soup with Indian Spices.

So, here’s what I did and how I improvised…

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

These are the ingredients that I’ve used.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

And here they are again.

Mmm, this looks promising.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

1. Firstly, let’s get some chopping done – chop the onion and the chili pepper finely. Then dice up the tomato. And give the garlic cloves a nice fine chop as well.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

2. Rinse the lentils under cold running water. Place them into a pot and cover with water (3 1/2 cups – 870 ml).
3. Cook the lentils until just almost ‘fully tender’. We need them to be almost done.

I was using halved red lentils and this process took only about 4 minutes. If you use whole red lentils it might take a little longer. To check how tender the lentils are just eat a few. Easy!
lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

4. In the meantime, heat the oil in a larger pan or pot.

 

5. Add the mustard seeds and watch the magic happen – they will enjoy the warmth of the oil so much that they will start to pop with joy. As a result, they will taste sweet and nutty.

Let the seeds pop for about 20 seconds.

 

6. Then add the cumin seeds, turmeric and chopped onions.

Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

7. After that, add the garlic. Stir and cook together for about 1 minute.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

8. Add the chopped tomato and chili pepper.

Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring every now and then.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

9. Then add the lentils and their cooking water.

 

10. Add the garam masala powder and salt to taste (I used about 3/4 tsp).
lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

11. Let come to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 more minutes.

lentil soup with Indian spices recipe with step by step pictures

And that’s it!

This is an unbelievably simple, delicious and quick-to-make soup.

Enjoy, dear friends!

It’s healthy, yummy and good for you.
(This recipe makes 3-4 portions and takes about 30 minutes to make.)

Source: Saboot Masoor Masala Dal from ItsLife.in.

Chicken Parmesan

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

If you are looking for a nice comfort meal that will satisfy you and your loved ones then you need to look no longer.

Because this is the right thing for you.

I just know it.

It’s Chicken Parmesan.

A flavorful combination of chicken, tomato sauce and cheese.

The best thing ever!

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

Here are the ingredients.

1. We are going to start by preparing the tomato sauce.

First, grate one half of the onion and place it into a medium saucepan.

It sounds like a strange thing to do – to grate an onion – but doing so will create smaller onion pieces and release more of the onion’s juices.

But then, you know how it works – rules are made to be broken. So if you don’t feel like grating it, then just give it a good chop.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

2. Pour two tablespoons of olive oil into the onions and place the saucepan over medium-high heat.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

3. Heat the mixture up and let the onions saute for about 2-3 minutes.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

4. Peel the cloves of garlic, press them and add them into the saucepan.

If you don’t have a press then just mince the garlic finely.
5. Cook until fragrant – for about one minute.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

6. Then add the tomatoes.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

7. Add the oregano, salt and sugar.
8. Bring to a simmer. Then reduce the heat to maintain the simmer.
9. Cook uncovered for about 10-12 minutes.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

Meanwhile, we can prepare the chicken.

 

10. Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
11. Rinse the chicken breasts under cold running water and pat dry – this is the thing I just always do, probably because my Mom said so.
12. Working one at a time, place a chicken cutlet between two layers of plastic wrap (or wax paper).

With a meat pounder, pound the chicken pieces to flatten them to an even thickness – between 1/4 – 1/2 inch (0.6 – 1 cm).

If you don’t have a meat pounder, you can use a rubber mallet, an empty wine bottle or a heavy rolling pin.

Working in kitchen can be a lot of fun sometimes.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

13. Salt the chicken pieces generously.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

14. Now we need two bowls.

In one bowl whisk together the eggs.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

15. And in the second bowl mix together one half of the Parmesan cheese (grated) and  the breadcrumbs.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

16. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
17. Dredge the chicken pieces (one piece at a time) first in the egg mixture…

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

18. …and then in the breadcrumbs.

I like to use tongs or two forks to do this.

Or both if I feel especially mischievous.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

19. Then lay the pieces in the hot pan.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

20. Turn the heat to medium, then gently fry the cutlets until they are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

21. Spread about 3/4 of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9×13 inch (23×33 cm) casserole pan or baking dish.
22. Once the cutlets are nicely browned on both sides, arrange them on top of the tomato sauce.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

23. Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce over each of the cutlets.
24. Slice the basil leaves roughly and sprinkle them over the sauce.

Me love basil!

Me have my own plant!

Me is happy to have my own plant!

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

25. Grate (or slice) the mozzarella (or Edam cheese) thinly…

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

26. …and place the slices on top.
27. Sprinkle the whole dish with the rest (1/2 cup – 50 grams) of the Parmesan cheese.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

28. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

Oh my!

chicken Parmesan recipe with step by step pictures

Serve this scrumptious meal with spaghetti and the remaining sauce.

Or… mm… in a large roll.

And most importantly – enjoy, dear friends!
(This recipe was adapted from SimplyRecipes.com.)

Tuna Sandwich

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

I’ve been carrying an idea to prepare a tuna sandwich in my head for quite some time.

Cause I love tuna.

It’s my favorite fish of them all.

Maybe because that’s the only one I eat, actually.

 

Anyway, recently, when making this delish Potato Soup, I ended up with one unused celery root and was looking for a dish that would incorporate it somehow.

Things have come full circle when one of the first recipes that I came across was actually for a Tuna Sandwich.

There was no question about the celery root any more.

Task completed.

Case solved.

What needs to be done, has to be done.

 

When I searched some more I also found out that people have produced about a zillion Tuna Sandwich recipes throughout the history.

It looks like it’s some kind of a popular ritual that we all share and enjoy.

Okay folks, I wanna play this game too and this is my addition…

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

Please, meet the ingredients.

They are yummy.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

Let’s start with this handsome buddy, if you don’t mind.

It’s a celery root aka celeriac.

I write about its life story and why it needs your love here.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

1. Slice off the skin of the root, wash it and grate it finely.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

Like this.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

2. Grab one half of red onion and chop it.

It will add a wonderful taste and also a wonderful color to the salad.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

3. Let the onion and the celery make friends in a larger bowl.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

4. Now break the Chinese cabbage into individual leaves, wash them and drain them.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

5. Slice the leaves into thin strips, leaving out the firmer parts.

And I don’t mean fingers here.

Which you should of course leave out.
tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

6. Then chop the cabbage even more finely and add it into the bowl.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

7. Drain the tuna and throw it in too.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

8. And now the best part (for some of us) – add nice eight heaping tablespoons of mayo.

That amount might sound a little devilish, I agree.

But consider that we are making a lot of sandwiches here – about ten – so it’s kinda all right.

Right?

Are you with me?
tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

9. Season it with the Worcestershire sauce and mix until combined.

 

10. And then taste it and add some salt if you wish to.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

11. Spread the newly made salad mixture on a bread slice and top with another slice of bread.

tuna sandwich recipe with step-by-step images

Then have a bite and enter heaven instantly.

It’s beyond delicious!

Enjoy, dear friends.

(This recipe feeds one smaller army – it makes about 10 sandwiches.)

Send this to a friend