Curried Pumpkin Soup

 I have a huge harvest of pumpkins!!!! So here is one of our favourite pumpkin soups right in time for the cold autumn nights. 

Rasa Vadai - Lentil Fritters in Tomato Soup

 The person who introduced me to this dish is my beautiful grandmother Ella. She must have been a great foodie in her days.  All I know is that she was a fabulous cook!  Every time she made rasam, she would make these lentil fritters and they would be dunked into the rasam and served with rice.

Rasam is a thin vegetarian soup that is more like a broth, tangy and hot and perfect for having as an appetizing drink or with some rice as a meal.  You might be familiar with mulligatawny soup which translates to pepper water or, in other words, rasam. The British gave it that fancy name and it is now popular all over the world.

Anyway, back to my grandmother Ella. She would fry up these crisp lentil fritters and leave them in the rasam to soak and it made a healthy and delicious meal.  It is much later that I came to know that this dish is a speciality of the little town where my parents are from.  Therefore, I have to include it in my list of recipes!  

Aunty Taj's Aattu Kaal Paya - Goat Trotter Curry from Aunty Taj

 It was 2018 and I was in Chennai, visiting my friend Munavar and her family.  Aunty Taj, Munavar's mother is a fantastic cook and I have tasted her food from the time we were in University.  Aunty is  well read and well travelled and always ready to explore more.  She came with us in the hot Chennai sun to visit the spectacular Mahabalipuram temples built in the 7th and 8th century AD just because I wanted to go there.  She also made sure I tasted some unique delicacies while I was in Chennai since she knew that I probably would not get these things back home in Melbourne.

On the last day of my stay with them, I was down - I always feel down when I have to leave India - and aunty dished out this spectacular curry with dosas.  When I asked her about it, she gave me the recipe but told me that if someone was not going to clean the trotters for me, don't bother making this dish.  Just have it when you come here the next time, she said. 

I have never seen goat trotters in all my time in Melbourne. The only trotters I have seen are pork trotters and I have never bought them. Well, all that changed last week when I spied these beauties in my favourite butcher shop, cleaned and cut, and they almost looked anaemic.  I was so excited that I rushed home and hunted high and low for the recipe - but I couldn't find it.

Thanks to Watsapp, my friend Munavar messaged the the recipe and here it is, the yummy goat trotter curry from aunty Taj. This curry is full of flavour and nutrition without the fat - it has the sweet bone marrow, gelatinous cartilage, a flavoursome broth that is best mopped up with a spongy bread of your choice.

Bone broth is specially nutritious and good for bone and joint health, has amino acids, produces anti aging molecules, may help you to sleep better and is good for digestion and good health. (Source: BBC Good Food https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/the-health-benefits-of-bone-broth)

I also support the idea of eating all the parts of the animal that you slaughter.

Minestrone Soup

 Today's beautiful Minestrone Soup recipe is from Adelina Kitchen, Dromana.  Dromana is a beautiful seaside town near Melbourne and we love driving up there for the beaches, the scenery, the food and the wineries.  I follow a lot of food sites, always on the look out for a good recipe.  When I saw this recipe I realised that Adelina had packed as many veggies as she could in the soup.  Perfect for the cold Melbourne evenings!  So I rushed to the shops and got us some stone baked sour dough bread and all the vegetables needed for the soup.  Thanks to Adelina, I also learnt a new word, Mirepoix - and how to do it!

Sambar - Mixed Vegetable Soup

Should I call it Chowder or Soup - was the main concern here.  But chowder is supposedly cream based and this is not, so soup it is!

Sambar is a mix of lentils, vegetables spices and a touch of tamarind and jaggery to counter act the tanginess of the tamarind.  It is very easy to make and has your vegetables for the day covered.  There are several recipes for this dish and I am using one that has been handed down from my mother.

You can use ready made sambar powder that is available in the Indian grocery store or make your own and keep it in an air tight bottle for future use.  Home made sambar powder is incredibly fragrant and once you smell the real thing, you will not go back to packet powder.

Vegetable Stew

I made appams with vegetable stew yesterday.  Here is the recipe for the stew.  If you prefer a meat stew, please follow the recipe in this link: https://kitchenanugraha.blogspot.com/2018/12/appam-and-stew.html

Nagercoil Fish Curry

My newly migrated cousin Vinju was visiting me for the first time in Melbourne.  So I asked him what shall I cook for you - and without hesitation he replied, "Fish Curry like home, akka,"...  Home being Nagercoil, of course.

So I made Nagercoil fish curry for him - it is a curry that is traditionally made in a clay pot with coconut and green mangoes. I was lucky enough to find it in the market so I made the curry with it.

Tomato Rasam

This recipe is for my daughter.  Every time she has the flu, has a cold or a throat ache, she will tell me, "amma, can you please make me some rasam?"