Carrot Coriander Soup

So here’s a simple recipe that I tried out in just 15 minutes (one of Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipes). Most soups can be made with the same base – garlic, peppercons, bay leaf and any vegetable of your choice. Go on!! Try it!! 

Carrot Coriander Soup

You would need a teaspoon of peppercorns and a bay leaf.

Some garlic cloves, 5-6 would suffice.

 Around 400 gms of carrots and a medium sized onion.

Chop up the onion and the carrots.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pressure cooker. A heavy bottomed pot would do.

Add the peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaf and onions. 

Fry till the onions are golden brown. They should be soft by now.
Add the carrots to the pot.

Add a fresh bunch of coriander leaves along with the stems.

Add some water and allow to pressure cook for 10 min.

Allow to cool and then puree everything.

Transfer back to pot, add salt and pepper to taste. Add water to correct the consistency. Allow to boil.

And that’s it! Add a few drops of lemon. Serve hot. Some garlic bread would be nice.
And don’t forget to say Bismillah :D

Carrot Coriander Soup

Quick reference:

1 tbsp butter or ghee
5-6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
5-6 garlic cloves
500 gms carrots
Coriander leaves with stems
Salt to taste
White pepper
Lemon

Method:
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pressure cooker. Add the peppercorns, garlic cloves and bay leaf. Chop up the onion and add it to the pot. Fry till the onions are golden brown. Roughly chop the carrots and add them to the pot. Add a fresh bunch of coriander leaves along with the stems. Add some water and allow to pressure cook for 10 min. Allow to cool and puree everything.

The Essential 'Masalas'

These three items you see here - constitute the very heart of our hyderabadi cuisine. These three are required in almost every curry dish we make. Passed on to me by my mother in law, who happens to be one of THE BEST cooks EVER, MashAllah!!!!! Therefore, I hold the compositions of these masalas very dear to me. Even my mom uses these very masalas to make some special curries. We prepare them in advance and store them for about a month.

These are Red Chilli Masala (the red stuff obviously), Ginger-Garlic paste (the yellow stuff) and Coriander-garam masala (the brown stuff).

As we progress and I show you scrumptious meals in the future, I will be referring to these very masalas in my recipes. As of now, what you need to know is what these are:

Khas-khas (poppy seeds)

Methi, Zeera, Rai
(fenugreek, cummin, mustard seeds)

Here's the coriander powder with khas khas freshly grounded, looks more like martian land though. :) Would't it be nice to have a mini buggy ride here for fun? Yeah, we have to be the size of a pea for that. Crazy!

Anyway, it's not as complex as it seems. When we come down to making meals, I'll guide you as to how to make them as tasty as the way my mother in law makes it. (who happens to be, yes, one of the BEST cooks ever!) . We use a combination of these ingredients and some other stuff to grind up the masalas. However, there is no way to beat freshly ground masalas and add them to the dishes as and when you are cooking, and THAT is the method I will, InshAllah, incorporate into the cooking procedures that I will share with you in the future. So look forward to some seriously finger-licking recipes coming your way.