I am feeling that, my knowledge about non Indian cuisines is very low. I am trying my best to learn as much as possible about them . It is very difficult for a person like me, who has not tasted many different cuisines, to search for such recipes without knowing their names. So I asked a person who has a vast knowledge about Indian as well as non Indian food. Most of my food blogger buddies might have known who it is by now, yes it is indeed Pelicano , who has just started his own blog.
This is what he said, “The book this is taken from recommends whole-wheat Italian bread and a salad of endive to accompany this, but personally I never serve bread with a soup that contains a starchy ingredient as I feel this is redundant, and also excessive in simple carbs! I think this soup, paired with a nice salad and followed with a plate of fruit is quite enough for a simple meal”.
He sent me 3 recipes, an Afghani soup – vegetarian mosh awa , an Italian soup – Zuppa di Pasta e Fagioli and one more dish. I don’t know much about pastas. So I picked up wrong pasta every time I went for shopping, though Pelicano gave me the name of pasta to be used in this soup. Anyway, after trying it out with different pastas(all wrong ones), I finally decided to choose the tiniest pastas from grocery store. I searched for it and found tiny “Stars estrellas” – “Pasta alimenticia” (well, I don’t know which is the name of the pasta and which is brand name, so thought of mentioning both). It is a Mixican pasta type, at least the packet says so.
I used the beans which I had. First time I used black eyed beans and next time I used dried green peas. The final result was too good. This is one more exotic soup and tastes heavenly.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried white beans(navy beans) 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/2 tea spn finely chopped garlic Olive oil 1/4 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped carrot 1/4 cup chopped sweet bell pepper ( or poblano chile- large dark green) 1 bay leaf 1/4 tea spn oregano 1/4 tea spn crushed/powdered red chili 1/4 cup chopped tomato 2-3 cups vegetable broth 1/2 cup ditalini or other small pasta 1/2 tea spn fresh/dried basil 1 tea spn fresh/dried parsley Romano or parmesan cheese Salt
I didn’t use celery and pepper, still it turned very good.
Method: Soak the beans overnight and cook them till they are soft. Heat water and add pasta and little oil. Cook till al dente . Heat olive oil and add onion, garlic, celery, carrot, pepper, bay leaf, oregano, red chili and saute till onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and fry for few moments. Add carrots, broth and cook till carrots are soft. Add cooked beans, pasta, parsley and basil.Cook for around 10mins. While serving, serve with cheese.
Serves :2-3 Preparation time : 40mins
PS: I have changed the proportions of the original recipe to suit taste. I have simplified the procedure.
Third class of Wilton’s first course was about ‘flowers and figures’. We were asked to bring the clown heads(available in baking section). We practiced rose, though it was not even anywhere near to perfect. We practiced shell borders. I wanted to practice as much as possible since I hardly find any time for this in the entire week. So I have extensively put in whatever came to my mind. This cake might not be attractive, with the not-so-symmetric lines and dots. Everyone had put one or two clowns, and I had put 4 of them on mine. So everyone in the class thought it looked like a playground. After the class, I got this idea of putting some grass(?) on my playground :). Soon after I started decorating with green color, I realized grass is not that easy to make. So finally in my half-sleep, it was a very long and tiring day, I had decorated(!!!) it like in the picture. Because of quite a lot of practice now, I have learnt a few things which will be useful in future.
Few tips from Barbara
– Most of us might assume the cakes should rise while baking and form a dome shape on top. We feel right when the cake has risen well. But that is apparently a completely wrong notion. The perfect cakes don’t get the domes after baking. In case your cake gets it, put a flat plate on top and press slightly so that you get a flat top surface.
– When we try to ice a cake, few crumbs from the cake get into the icing and spoils the icing. To avoid this, prepare a very thin consistency icing, coat a thin layer on the cake. Let it dry for sometime. Then put the actual icing.
– Those who don’t want to use extra butter for greasing the cake pan, cut a parchment paper to exactly fit the bottom of your cake pan. Pour the cake batter in the pan and bake it. When the cake is cooled completely, turn the pan upside down to take out the cake. Slowly remove the parchment paper from bottom. Cake comes out very clean.
PS: This tip is for beginners – Always remember to put the cake upside down after baking, i.e., the top becomes the base and you actually ice the bottom.
