Masala Broccoli Potato and Lentil Soup

Soup, I love thee - let me count the ways:

• You're warm and comforting
• You're ridiculously easy to make
• You take me (and my ingredients) as we are, and don't require fancy things
• You usually are very considerate of my waistline

Today's soup was born out of a splendid buy at the Chinese supermarket, which offers quick sales. That is, certain items are discounted due to being overripe, bruised, etc, for cheap and fast consumption. Usually that means I get a lot of one thing that needs to be cooked ASAP but will last me a week, like my garlic eggplant. This time it was 5 crowns of broccoli!

This soup is vegetarian and can easily be made vegan. It has a great savory undertone from the spices, but they're not overwhelming - its just enough to give the soup a je ne sais quoi.

Masala Broccoli Potato and Lentil Soup
6 servings, about 1 hour for all prep

1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp curry
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp black pepper
4 crowns broccoli (you can use stems too, just peel off the tough outer
layer at the bottom)
4 medium potatoes
3 ribs celery
2 carrots
6 leaves napa cabbage (I had it on hand and it had to go!)
1 tbsp salt
1 1/2 cup milk (again, had to go)

1. Prep all ingredients by chopping them all into rough 1 inch cubes. Garlic should be minced.
2. In a smaller pot, fill with 4-6 cups water and set to boil.
3. Heat a large pot on the stove. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Since there is next to no fat in the ingredients, you can be liberal with the olive oil.
4. Saute the onions until translucent. Lower heat to medium low, then add the garlic, curry, masala, and tomato paste. Roast until fragrant.
5. Add potatoes and celery to the onions and garlic, tossing them to incorporate with the spiced olive oil. If the pan becomes too dry, add 1/2 cup of the hot water you have set to boil.
6. Add remaining vegetables and 1/2 cup hot water. Cover and steam/simmer for 10 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
7. Add the milk and remaining hot water to just barely cover the vegetables. 
8. Add salt to taste.
9. Serve as is with chunks or use an immersion blender to puree. Serve with crusty bread.

Baked Sweet Potato with Banana

Nothing says autumn like the smel of warm cinnamon wafting out of the kitchen after coming in from a nippy day. I love whipping up this easy side dish to get the oven going. Also makes a great breakfast!

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Banana
Serves 4 as sides

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
1 ripe banana cut in one inch pieces (feel free to substitute for apples or pears)
1/4 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/4 inch grated ginger
1.5 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 generous squirt of honey
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup slivered almonds to top

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Prep the sweet potatoes, banana, and cranberries. Toss into a glass baking dish, preferably one with a cover. I used a 9 inch round glass dish with 2 inch sides.
3. Top with the brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and honey. Stir to incorporate.
4. Add 1/4 cup water
5. Cover with aluminum foil or the cover.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Stir contents to re-incorporate the sugars. Covering the baking dish should have made the sweet potatoes cook mostly through.
8. Top with the almonds and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes.
9. Cool for 5 minutes prior to serving.

Sweet Potato and Apple Mash

This recipe takes some pretty homey ingredients and makes a filling and sweet side dish! It goes great for Thanksgiving, as a side for pork chops, or for me, a hot breakfast when I'm sick of oatmeal. Because the ingredients are already sweet as is, you shouldn't need to add a ton of sugar to make the dish sing. And once you figure out how easy it is, you'll be making apple sauce and mashed sweet potatoes all the time!

Sweet Potato and Apple Mash
makes 4 side portions

2 small-medium sweet potatoes
1 golden delicious apple
1/4 inch ginger, grated
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
1/3 stick of butter (Optional, apologies in advance for your arteries)
generous squeeze honey

1. Wash and peel sweet potatoes and apple. You don't have to be perfect - leaving a bit of skin on is okay for fiber and nutrition, but try to get like 90% of it. (I like leaving a bit of apple skin especially for texture, but if you do so, it has to be chopped fine.) Cut sweet potatoes into 1.5 inch chunks. Core apple and cut into 6-8 slices.
2. Heat a nonstick pot (stainless steel for me) and add sweet potatoes. Add 1/4 cup water or apple juice and the coin of ginger. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 
3. Stir the sweet potatoes and add more water if you notice the bottom of the pot is dry. Add the apple slices on top and cover again. Come back in another 10 minutes.
4. Hopefully by now you're starting to see the sweet potato soften. Go ahead and add the brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, and honey. If you'd like the mix to be spicier, add ground ginger. Mix well and continue to simmer with the pot lid off. 
5. As the sweet potato softens, mash it with a fork. The apple should have cooked down the apple sauce already. Mash the two together. As more sweet potato cooks and the mixture becomes thick and difficult to work with, add the butter a tea spoon at a time. The mixture will become much smoother.
6. Season and add butter to the consistency you like. I like mine mostly smooth, but its totally your preference.
7. To make it more fancy, sprinkle some toasted nuts over the top, or mini marshmallows.

Pumpkin Chicken Curry

'Tis the season for autumn vegetables - namely squash! I wanted something light, a little sweet, yet savory. I wanted fall in a bowl - and TADA!

Pumpkin Chicken Curry
Serves 4, about 1 hour

5 cloves garlic

1 red onion roughly chopped

1 tomato roughly chopped

1/2 of an inch of ginger, peeled

3/4 lb chicken diced. (I had 3 chicken thighs, meat cut off the bone)

1.5 lbs of diced pumpkin (fresh plz, not canned) or butternut squash. Should be peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 large carrots, cut into slices or half moons

1 red pepper, chopped into 1 inch squares

1/4 cup cream, half and half, or coconut milk

1. Toss the first four ingredients into a food processor, and pulse until you have a salsa consistency - small chunks, mostly broken down into a puree.
2. On medium high heat, add a teaspoon of vegetable or olive oil to a medium sized pot.  Sear the chicken bones, then the chicken meat. When almost cooked through, remove from the pot. Set chicken aside.
3. Pour in the puree from the food processor. Cook on medium heat until you have reduced the water content by half and have a thin paste.
4. Add the pumpkin or squash and the carrots. Cover and simmer for about 5-10 minutes until almost fork tender.
5. Add the red pepper, cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Add 1/4 cup half and half, cream, or coconut milk.
7. Serve over rice, topped with cilantro.

Mango Pudding with Basil Lime Whipped Cream

Mango pudding is one of my nostalgia foods. It reminds me of church picnics and Dixie cups. It recalls memories of Hong Kong and dims sum over Victoria Harbor. Its cheerful color and tropical flavor never fails to put a smile on my face or impress friends. The smooth silky consistency and rich mango burst of flavor make this one of my favorite desserts.

And it is deceptively easy to make! And if the mango wasn't good enough, I also have a special whipped cream that will put you right over the edge. This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever made.

Mango Pudding
Serves 8, 20 minutes active cooking

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup room temperature water
1 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups mango puree (I buy a can from the Indian grocery for about $2 for about 25 oz)
1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 tablespoon lime juice

1. Set up a baking tray with 8 ramekins/molds/cups. Each should have capacity for about 6 oz. Clear a shelf in the refrigerator.
2. Heat the 1 cup of water.
3. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, preferably with a spout for pouring, add sugar, salt, and gelatin. Add 1/2 cup room temperature water and whisk to incorporate for a minute.
4. Add the hot water to melt the sugar and gelatin. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and gelatin is a little frothy. 
5. Add mango, heavy cream, and lime juice and stir to combine.
6. Pour into the ramekins in equal servings
7. Refrigerate for approximately 2 hours. Serve cold.

Basil Lime Whipped Cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
4 basil leaves, minced

1. Zest the lime into a small sturdy mixing bowl. 
2. Add the minced basil leaves and sugar. With a fork or spoon, grind sugar into the zest and basil to release the essential oils and blend the flavors. You should have green sugar!
3. Add the whipping cream. With a hand mixer, slowly beat the sugar and cream mixture. You can slowly increase the speed as long as you're not going to splash yourself!
4. Whip the mix for about 5 minutes until you have soft peaks. The cream will actually increase in volume because of the air, so don't worry if you don't think you have enough!
5. Serve 1 tablespoon on top of mango pudding.

Japanese Dinner Party

The art of the dinner party is beginning to be lost due to convenience, but its one art that I'm hoping to revive little by little. Nothing beats home made food served with love and care and good conversation. I recently entertained a coworker and his wife for dinner. They're on secondment from the Tokyo office for a few years and I was looking for the right pan-Asian menu to complement the homemade Japanese food that they would be bringing. (Homemade Japanese food! Exciting!!) Although I didn't know until that evening what they would bring, I knew I had a general theme for Perry and I to work around.

The Menu (links to recipes):

• Sesame Shrimp
• Tofu Soup with Chinese Mushrooms
• Short Ribs (Perry's contribution)
• Okonomiyaki (Hiroko)
• Potato Ham Croquettes (Hiroko)
• Tamagoyaki Egg Omelet (Hiroko) make sure you turn on closed cations in English!
• Mango Pudding with Basil Lime Cream

The photos:

Okonomiyaki

Short Ribs

Settlers!

   

As I get time on my hands I'll try to add additional recipes and such. The party was so much fun and I really enjoyed trying a little bit of homemade Japanese food!