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Sunday, July 9, 2017

Horse Gram and Spring onion Soup ( Comforting Monsoon Broths Collaboration )

Monsoon and romance. Well, these two have always seemed synonymous to me. Thankfully I am not the only one prone to their magical madness. The bewitching monsoons have fueled the imagination of many a creative souls resulting in those rain drenched Bollywood sequences that are symbolic of the heavens melting into the embrace of a scorched earth.

From watching those dark clouds traverse the canopy of the blue skies to catching those first rain drops with my hands, I find myself soaking in the beauty of this spellbinding season. And even if it scares the shit out of me at times, I am still fascinated by it. My childhood memories are littered with instances where I hid behind a thick curtain to take a peek at those almost mysterious lightning displays while closing the ears tightly every time the thunder rolled. In fact there are a dozen of those monsoon memories clearly imprinted in my memory.

Once the storm blew over, I would rush out to find the whole garden/terrace littered with Gulmohar blossoms from a huge tree that dominated the entrance of our locality. The lawns resembled something like a piece of modern art with splotches of red and yellow on a verdant canvas. And I would compete with my brother in gathering the most number of intact blossoms. Even if it meant venturing out in the muck and all. Replete with slithering earthworms and creepy crawlies. But somehow in those days, even though we were young, we had the values of 'peaceful co-existence' inculcated in us. So one was never bothered about these creatures.

While growing up has taken the fun out of the rains, it has certainly fired up the romantic in me. A dozen hopeless poems and passages in my short stories bear testimony to this. But speaking practically and sticking to realistic goals, every time it rains, I just want to cozy up with a book, a cup of warm liquid and a blanket. Good enough for most people, don't you agree ?

Now that I have already mentioned it, a warm broth aka soup seems to have become the mainstay of my monsoon diet. From the typical indigenous fare like Kanji, rasam and shorba, to chinese brews and healthy vegetable based nourishment, everything gets a chance to be on the menu. On a rotation basis of course. And the last entrant on this bandwagon is the 'Horsegram soup', a hearty decoction inspired by the 'Kolotho dali' which is an important past of Odia cuisine.

Check out the recipe -

[ and more !! Collab Post Alert *** ]























Preparation Time - 25 mins

Ingredients -
  • 1 cup roasted and split Horsegram
  • 2-3 spring onion bulbs
  • 4-5 tsp chopped spring onions (including the greens)
  • 2 medium sized tomato
  • 10-12 peppercorns
  • 4-5 garlic cloves
  • 1-2 dry red chilis
  • 1 tsp oil
  • pinch of turmeric
  • salt to taste
  • additional spring onion bulb for garnishing

Preparation - Wash and soak the horsegram for 2-3 hours. 

Cooking - Cook it for 5-6 whistles in a pressure cooker along with 2-3 spring onion bulbs, tomatoes, salt, turmeric, peppercorn and 3 cups water. 

Once the steam escapes, open the lid and use a hand blender to puree the cooked lentils and tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the crushed garlic and whole dry red chilis. Once it is fragrant, remove the chilis.

Add the chopped spring onions and saute for 2-3 mins. Pour everything over the pureed ingredients.

Put the pressure cooker back on the flame and let it simmer for 5-6 mins (without lid) . Adjust the consistency by adding hot water and check for the salt.

Pour into serving bowls. Serve.




Dont forget to dunk in some sliced spring onions for extra flavour.
























Check this striking soup recipe by my amazing friend Parinaaz  who is a part of the ongoing Comforting Monsoon Broths Collaboration !! Don't forget to visit her blog - A Dollop Of That for some mouthwatering Parsi fare :).






















Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup



1 comment:

  1. What a lovely description of the rains, I was imagining some sequence from 1942 a love story hehe!! Broth sounds deelish :-)

    ReplyDelete

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