Soup with the Bite

Variety in food – that’s what – makes all the difference to a person’s taste and appetite. And then, comes, the dish from one’s own kitchen to be laid on the table for people at home. Everyday cooking is like passing an exam on a daily basis. Little more salt and faces come up and speak out frankly, “aajke aee tarkari-ta-te noon besi hoyeche. Or – dal-ta aeeto jaljale aar mach khoob kora bhaja… (this curry has too much salt, the dal is so watery, the fish has been fried too much).

Hah! Says the lady, but not unhappy with what she has heard. “It happens, it happens”, she says with a wide smile, taking it sportingly. Silently she vows to serve them a different dish, not the regular ones for dinner. That’s how this soup comes up. The fridge is opened and all the stuff comes out from the Big Thanda Box – the refrigerator – understood…

Jokes apart let me serious. J

The vegetables for this dish:

Carrots: 2

Radish: 2 along with the stems of the greens cut into 2 inch length

Brinjal/Eggplant: 1

Cauliflower florets: 6-7

Green bananas: 2

Tomatoes: 3 nice ripe red ones

Green chilli’s 3: slit in the middle

Other ingredients:

Oil: tsp.

Haldi powder: ½ tsp.

Black pepper or chilli powder (as you prefer) ½ tsp.

Salt: to taste

Panch phoron: 2 tsps. (for all the aromas of jeera, sauf, methi, kalonji and mustard)

Sugar (optional): 1 tsp.

To start off with the cooking, first wash and cut the vegetables into small pieces.  Put all the vegetables in the pressure cooker, add enough water and wait for the first whistle to come. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool.

Once it has cooled down, open the lid. In the meantime take a kadhai/wok and put it on the burning stove. Now add oil and once the oil starts to release the heat add the panch phoron. Let the whole spices crackle, but don’t let it burn. Once the aroma of the spices start to come up, pour the vegetables along with the vegetable stock from the pressure pan into it. Now add the haldi powder, chilli or pepper powder, salt and sugar and let it boil for 4-5 minutes. By now the flavour of all the vegetables has mixed together with a slight sour taste from the tomatoes. Soup is ready to be served…hot of course…

Enjoy the soup with the bite of the veggies. You can also eat it with hot rotis or with the dip of bread slices.

© gouriguha