Can I call this Soup ?? Maybe..

I made a Mutton(goat meat) Biryani few days back. For the Biryani, I cooked the marinated mutton pieces with onions, garlic, ginger,spices, yogurt, tomatoes and biryani masala in a pressure cooker with a little water.
When cooked, there was a lot of liquid broth/gravy that I kept aside as it was too much for the Biryani.
Right then it dawned on me that this broth has all the goodness of the meat and flavour of all the spices and masalas that went it with it. So I decided to make a soup using this.

For the soup I used about 1/2cup of the broth/gravy mixture and diluted it with about 5cups of water.

This is how I went about it. I grated 1 medium sized zucchini in a pan, added 1/2cup of corn, and boiled it with little salt and water. Once boiled, I added the broth+water mixture to the pan and adjusted the salt. You can adjust the water as more or less depending on how thick or thin you want it. Meanwhile, when this comes to a boil, take 2 eggs and whisk lightly in a small bowl. Add this egg mixture slowly at a time and while continously stirring to the boiling soup mixture. Switch off the heat. Garnish with a lot of chopped cilantro( about 1/2cup) and close the lid.



P.S: I did not add any cornstarch for thickening, you can add if you want thicker consistency.
Also, add any other vegetables of your choice. I prefer grated vegetables to be used in it. Can get kids to eat it without much fuss.
Add pepper powder to increase spice level. I tried to keep it to the minimum.

In all, a nutritious and filling soup, and it sure was tasty and fragrant....So, next time I will make sure I have extra liquid/broth from cooked stuff :)..

A Send-Off Cake..

This is a cake that I made a couple of weeks back for a send-off potluck. Friends of ours moved back to India, so I thought of making this for them. I wanted to make Deeba's Black Forest Gateau. But this is what I finally could come up with.



For the sponge, I used the Pillsbury German chocolate ready cake-mix. I used 4 cakes of 8"x8", sliced each horizonatally. I used a filling of chopped cherries and pineapple with whipped cream and confectioners sugar. The cake had 3 layers and the top and sides were iced again with whipped cream and confectioners sugar. On top of the icing, I used chocolate shavings and gratings of Dairy Milk Chocolate and Maraschino cherries for decorating. I chilled this cake in the fridge for a day.
I was satisfied with the outcome of the cake, but my husband and me both felt that a little more of the filling and icing would be better the next So next time, will keep that in mind. Only realised too late that I again didn't take pictures of the sliced pieces of cake :(.

A Birthday Cake..

This post was long due. Due to some reason or the other, I haven't been blogging for sometime now.
This is a Diego theme cake that I made for my son's birthday last month. This was my first decorated cake on a large scale.
I used the Pillsbury ready cake mix for the cake.
This was a 4-layered cake with filling at each layer made with whipped cream, sugar, chopped cherries and pineapple.
For the icing also I used whipped cream and confectioners sugar blended with different colors and chocolate ganache for the path.
Yes, my little one was pleased with it and everyone liked it too.
Too bad I couldn't get a picture of the slice.

P.S: The marks on the path are the animal footprints which I placed intentionally after my son reminded me that they were missing. He said Diego will now follow the footprints and rescue the Jaguar :)....

Kolombo/Sambar..

Kolombo is a Sambar which is very typical in Konkani homes. Now, though the name is the same, everyone prepares it differently. My mom prepares it two different ways, but this one is more regular. In this method, the coconut is not ground, and there is another variation in which you grind the coconut with other ingredients into a paste and then use it.

I have blogged about the Kolombya Pitto (Sambar Masala) earlier. Most people make the fresh masala right when needed to make the masala, coz that tastes the best. But you can make the powder in small batches and use and it stays just fine too.

Ingredients

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Fresh grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Green pepper - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup
Tendli(Tonde Kayi) - 5-6, each cut into 4 pieces
Green Beans - 1/2 cup, chopped
Drumsticks - 4-5 pieces
Tomatoes - 1 big
Green chillies - 2, slit
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp, depending on your taste.
Hing (Asafoetida) - 1 small piece
Curry leaves - 5-6
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Tamarind - small marble sized ball
Kolombya Pitto/Sambar powder - 2 - 3 tsp
Oil
Salt



Method
- Wash the dal and pressure cook till its soft and mashed.
- Take the chopped tomatoes, coconut, little salt, red chilli powder, haldi powder, sambar powder in a bowl. Mix all nicely squeezing sligtly with your fingers and keep aside.
- Boil the vegetables with little water and salt in a pan. Once they are 3/4th done, add the cooked and mashed dal to it.
- Add the mixed ingredients that you have kept aside already.
- Add little cilantro, add water to adjust consistency and adjust salt and boil till done.
- In a separate small pan, heat little oil, add mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the curry leaves and hing and take off from flame. Pour this tempering over the sambar mixture and cover immediately.
- Serve hot with rice.

Some other ways to enjoy Sambar. Back home, whenever Kolombo was prepared at home, evenings I used to have it with some mixture poured over it or some Poha soaked in it, like this picture. Try it once, it tastes just great.