Tomato & Red Lentil Soup

I kinda make my own recipes from other ones....so play with the soup and taste it lots and add extra water or vegie stock as needed

1 Brown Onion - halved and finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves - crushed
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of tomato soup (plus 2 cans of water)
3/4 cup of split red lentils

Spray a big soup pot with olive oil.  Add onion and garlic and sautee until onion softens.  Add soup, water and tomatoes (juice and all).  Bring to boil.  Add lentils.  Reduce to low and cook for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender and the soup is yummy and thick.  Stir it occasionally while its cooking.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Serve it with crusty bread.  The little round 'cook in the oven' rolls are perfect with this.

You can freeze this soup.

You could also add crumbled or chopped up proscutio to the soup for a smokey flavour.

Sweet Potato & Tumeric Soup

This is my favourite soup in the world.  I sort of made it up through trial and error.  It's a bit time consuming if you allow the mixture to cool so you can blend it...but well worth it.

Tablespoon Olive Oil
A large golden sweet potato - chopped into small cubes
1 medium brown onion - chopped
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 cm piece of fresh ginger - grated
1 birds eye chilli - deseeded and chopped (be careful doing this - watch rubbing your eyes!)
1 heaped tablespoon of tumeric
1 litre of water (4 cups)
2 Massel Vegie Stock Cubes
1 can (400ml) Coconut milk

Warm a big pot and place in oil.  Wait about a minute for oil to heat through and throw in the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger.  Stir fry until onion is transparent.  Try not to burn the spices.

Chuck in the sweet potato and tumeric.  Fry this a little until aromatic.

Add litre of warm water with stock cubes.  Bring to boil.  Then lower to simmer for about 30 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft.

Take this off the stove and allow to cool.  Blend the mixture in a blender until smooth.  If you blend it while its hot it tends to steam up and pop the top off your blender! you do not want tumeric on anything as it will stain or hot soup on your face!  You can always use a hand blender while its hot - but it doesn't make it as fine and creamy.

Place blended mixture back in the pot on the stove.  Heat through until hot, then stir through the can of coconut milk.  Remove from heat and serve with crusty bread.

YUM. YUM. YUM.

Asparagus salad with lime dressing

1 bunch of asparagus

250g of frozen baby peas

½ red capsicum

½ red onion (or white doesn’t really matter)

½ cup of fresh lime juice

½ cup of fresh mint leaves

2 tsp brown sugar

Cut off the woody ends of the asparagus and cut into 2.5cm pieces.  Lightly oil a pan (spray it with olive oil) and stir fry the asparagus until tender

Transfer to a salad bowl

Cook peas as per instructions on pack (boil for 2-4 minutes) and drain in a colander and rinse them with cold water. Add to the salad bowl.

Finely chop the capsicum and onion.  Combine lime juice, mint and sugar in a bowl. Add in capsicum and onion.

Add mixture all together in salad bowl. Stir and Serve.

A yummy fresh spring salad:)  This one was taken from September AGT but I have modified it a little.

Two Potato Salad

I'm in love with this salad at the moment:) 

This serves six to eight people, often I halve the ingredients for home use.
750g boiling potatoes
750g sweet potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
4 spring onions
1/3 cup of parsley
1/4 cup mint leaves
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice or to taste

Chop herbs finely and combine with all other ingredients except potatoes. Peel and cut potatoes into 2cm cubes. Place in separate bowls of cold water. Steam sweet potato for 8-10 minutes until just tender. Transfer to large serving bowl. Cover but don’t refrigerate. Steam other potatoes for similar period. Transfer to bowl. Toss with dressing and serve warm.

Taken from: Prahran Market

Dhal Tadka

I was inspired by Kirstin, who fb'd about a Red Lentil Dhal recipe. So much so, I had to rush off and look in my cupboard and see if I could make Dhal.  I actually found a box of 'Maharaja's Choice' Dhal Tadka that I forgot I had purchased and quickly nuked it and ate it.  It was yummy-yummy-yummy.  I have always been put off by dhal but Kirstin's recipe looked so simple.

So I googled away...found this Dal Tadka and made my own version.

Dhal Tadka (Idiot proof!, Spicy, Winter Warmer, Makes 2 big bowls - double as needed)
Vegan Friendly


Ingredients

Quarter pack of yellow split peas (roughly 125g) known as tor dal
2 cups of water
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tablespoon of garlic garden gourmet squeezy or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of ginger paste or 1cm piece ginger, crushed

2 tbsp vegetable oil
Half a tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 to 3 dry chillies
5 to 8 curry leaves (I bought the fresh from Farmer's Market and froze them)
Chilli powder (I used a teaspoon of Sambal Olek - as I have run out of chilli!)
Pinch of asafoetida powder
200g chopped tomatoes - (about 2 big over ripe tomatoes chopped)
Coriander leaves or a small squeeze of garden gourmet coriander

Method:
1. Wash and drain the split peas in a colander.

2. Put into a heavy based pan with water. Add turmeric and boil for 45 to 60 minutes until the dal is soft when pressed between the thumb and index finger.

3. In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic and ginger with a good pinch of salt to a paste. Alternatively you can use ready Ginger Garlic Paste

4. Heat oil in a small pan over low heat. Add mustard seeds and allow to pop. Add cumin seeds, dried chillies, curry leaves, chilli powder, asafoetida, ginger and garlic paste and fry. Pour the hot flavoured oil into the dal and stir well.

5. Add chopped tomatoes and simmer for another 10 minutes.

6. Season with salt and garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rotis or rice.  I had garlic chapati which you can buy from coles/woolies. I gave it a quick grill.  I also added a squeeze of lemon juice. Yummy.