Hope you all had a fun-filled Diwali. I have been reading about the great food many of my friends made. I was lucky enough to get a small Diwali Faral package from a friend, who got it from India. I finished it without giving a morsel to anybody :).
Now after all that eating, do you want to start eating something healthy again? Many of you asked me to post the recipes of soups. I have been making a lot of soups these days. I try my best to make one every day for V’s lunchbox. This is one such soup which we liked very much. When I got fresh beets last week, I wanted to use up the gorgeous leaves and stems. So I prepared this. I wrote it down immediately because I did not want to forget about it.
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped beetroot leaves and stems 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1/2 cup lentils (I used 16 bean mix with barley) soaked 1 cup chopped potatoes 1/2 tea spn cumin powder 4 cups vegetable broth 1/2 tea spn lemon pepper seasoning (or use lemon juice and pepper) Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and add onion, garlic, a little salt. Fry till onions are soft. Add the beetroot leaves and stems and let them cook down a bit. Add potatoes, lentils, cumin powder, broth. Cook till lentils are soft (I cook in either rice cooker or pressure cooker). When done, add lemon pepper seasoning (or lemon juice and pepper). Serve hot with some grated cheese (optional).
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30 mins
‘Narnga’ or ‘kanchi kaayi’ or ‘heraLe kaayi’ is a kind of bitter orange available in some(or all) parts of India. These are slightly bitter in taste, we have not seen anyone eating the ripened fruit. We always get the green ones which are used for sundried items or pickle. This is the season on Narnga here, so I prepared a big batch of narnga batte this year. Every year we get few of fresh narnga from our neighbors.
Narnga/Naranga batto/batti is one thing that almost all Konkanis like. These are usually given to the people who are suffering from fever and lost their taste. These are spicy, saltly and sour. They taste heavenly when consumed with rice congee(Pej/ganji). These are a must in most of the Konkani houses throughout the year. My kids and all the other kids who visited us loved these with congee.
We also make a tasty chutney with it. Thanks to Pelicano , we think it is called bitter oranges.
Ingredients: 5-6 narnga Salt 1/2 cup chilli powder 1/2 tea spn asafoetida powder or a big piece of asafoetida stone
Method: Cut narnga into thin pieces. Remove the white pit and seeds, discard them. In a ceramic jar, put the pieces and salt enough to cover pieces. Close the lid tightly and leave it in a dry place for about 15 days to one month till the skin becomes slightly soft. Every day open the lid and mix the pieces to make sure salt gets to all pieces. Take out the pieces. Add chilli powder, asafoetida to the pieces, mix very well. Sundry the pieces till they are completely dry. Store in dry air tight container. They get darker and darker in color as time passes, after almost a year, they get black but they still can be used.
