Vegan Minestrone - The Big Soup

The host Harini of Tongueticklers decided on Soups for this month's Monthly Mingle, started by Meeta. I must say a perfect theme for the cold of December. Right from my growing years, I have been a big fan of different types of soups. And still I cannot imagine even a week without one or two bowls of soup.
Soups can be as simple as possible. Yet they can be as complex as you want them to be, by mixing more or less ingredients. But they have a thing common and that is the great comforting factor along with oodles of warmth.  Packed with goodness and great flavour, Minestrone is one such soup from Italy. Best eaten in fall or winter months, minestrone makes a perfect light and healthy meal for lunch or dinner. Although there is a huge variety of minestrone recipes as many are the minestrone cooks. But almost all minestrone recipes have three basic vegetables to start with - onion, carrot and celery. One important feature of this soup is that vegetables are to be chopped very fine so that each remains its identity and doesn't blend.

The aroma is fabulous. When you will start making it, I can bet that your family members will start peeping into the kitchen to check what's special is going on. You can experiment with the flavors according to the taste of your family and the vegetables available at hand. This is a vegan version. But vegetable broth can be replaced with chicken stock another minestrone will be ready.


Ingredients
1 cup macroni boiled
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
½ cup onion chopped
1 or 2 cup chopped carrots, potato, celery with leaves, cabbage
½ cup garbanzo beans or green beans, or any beans of your choice
1 cup tomato puree
4 cups of vegetable broth or water
2 tbsp herbs (optional)
salt and pepper for taste
grated cheese for garnishing (optional)

Method

* Heat olive oil in a large pan or pot and saute chopped onions.
* When golden brown, add ginger garlic pastes followed by chopped carrots, celery, cabbage and salt accordint to taste.
* Saute the mixture till all the vegetables are tender.
* Add herbs, beans and tomato puree.
* Pour in the vegetable stock and macaroni after five minutes.
* Sprinkle black pepper powder according to your taste.
* Cover and cook for about half an hour .
* Season with grated cheese and serve hot in bowls.

Chocolate Plum Cake - A Simple One For Christmas

Weekends are a joy for everyone. Whole week everyone plans for weekend getaways and I plan for what I will make or bake. Lately baking is a new passion in my life, for which I get time on weekends only. In the last one, I had few of my friends. Just a bunch of women, no men. That makes me think, do we really need men in our life. No!! not at all. But yes men and women compliment eachother. And this will remain a fact as always. After all whatever we cook or we wear, if we don't have an admirer then from where will come the appreciations. We women love to be appreciated!!

For the lunch I had planned well in advance. There were grilled vegetables with tahini in the starters followed by fried rice and then my lovely chocolate cake with vanilla icecream for dessert. We chatted, we ate, watched a movie. All together you can call it a super fun time. Each part of my body freshened up.

Since when I have bought a can of chocolate, I am going totally crazy. Whatever dessert I am making, there is chocolate in it. Thats why I made chocolate cake. Its an easy recipe. I am gonna make one again and gift it to my darling neighbour on Christmas. So this one is for her. Rest of the menu, I will post in coming days. Enjoy this simple cake with your family this Christmas !



Ingredients

1 cup chocolate
1 cup butter
2-3 tbsp sugar free, powdered
2 eggs
2 tbsp honey
1 cup flour
handfull of chopped nuts

Method 

* Melt the chocolate in microwave or a pan of low heat.
* In the meantime whip butter and sugar together in a bowl until light & fluffy.
* Add melted chocolate and beat in the eggs.
* Fold in the flour. Whip the whole mixture in a blender as well for having a perfectly soft cake.
* If required add a little milk
* After blending, stir in the chopped nuts.
* Take a pan, grease it with butter and pour the mixture in it.
* Bake the cake at 170 degree C for about half an hour or more. Check using a toothpick.
* Serve with freshly whipped cream or a scoop of icecream.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding - Weekend Special

Sunday was special for me. After contemplating for about a month, finally I had bought a laptop. So there was a reason for my happiness. And any reason of happiness needs a celebration. Now we foodies when we are happy, what we do? Obviously cook or bake or eat out. Whatever we decide on, food is definitely there playing an important role. The menu consisted of chicken in red wine sauce with mushroom pilaf, followed by the yummy dessert.

The star of the menu was the dessert,  a lovely Chocolate pudding and that too steamed making my weekend treat special, . Easy to make in home, even if you don't have an oven. Morever you dont have to have a steamer too. What you can do is take a large pot anf fill it one third with water. Put a strainer in it and over it put your mould, covering it with a foil. Then close the lid of the pot. Its a quick home method. But if you have oven, you can always bake the chocolate pudding.

The chocolate pudding I made was wonderful. I served it warm with scoops of vanilla icecream. And I also saved some spoons of melted chocolate. While serving I poured it on the pudding. It was such a lovely treat. I still have that warm gooey taste in my mouth. So here goes my recipe -



Ingredients

1 cup grated dark chocolate
2/3 cup all purpose flour, sieved
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon coffee powder
Milk as required

Method

* In a pan on low heat add grated chocolate and melt it.
* Then whisk the chocolate till it smoothens.
* Mix flour, baking powder, cocoa and coffee powder.
* Then using a strainer sieve through into a large bowl.
* Add eggs, vanilla essence, melted chocolate and sugar.
* In a blender, blend the mixture adding little milk if it is thick.
* Take a mould and grease it with butter and pour the mixture in it.
* In a steamer, add the mould and cover it.
* Steam it for around half an hour or so. Check using a knife by piercing it in the pudding. If nothing sticks to the knife then the pudding is ready.
* Let it cool for few minutes then remove from the mould.
* Serve it warm.
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