Lazy Chef's Soup Stocks

Lazy Chef's Soup Stocks

This is long overdue and I have to work towards regular uploads on this site. Life and lethargy keep getting in the way of my best intentions as far as this blog goes! As I had mentioned, the easiest and quickest way to add stock to a soup is to throw in a soup cube or add a cube to some warm water.  What I failed to mention is the fact that no soup cube that I have ever come across comes close to the real thing; the recipes are all short cuts and will by no means produce a clear stock but, that doesn’t count for much in most soups.  The authentic technique for clear stock will be listed later. It requires patience and takes time to make clear stock.

So, here are a few basic stocks (and I hope to have the determination to add some more in the near future!) for all of us in a hurry:

5a) Brown Stock

Ingredients:

750 gms chopped beef  or mutton bones

1 chopped onion

3 – 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 sprig each of parsley and thyme

10 – 12 peppercorns

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the beef bones, stir until browned; an alternate method is to rub all but 1 tsp of the oil onto the meat and then put into the pan in which you have heated the remaining 1 tsp of the oil – this helps the bones and the bits off meat on the bones from sticking stubbornly onto the pan.

Throw in the rest of the ingredients and add enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer (or not if you like as the difference is marginal) and put the lid onto the pressure cooker. Put the weight on and cook for 30 mins on low heat or until all the ingredients look like they have been cooked to their death.

Strain the liquid and use, I squeeze the garlic and the celery stocks to extract whatever little flavour may be remaining in them and to get a stronger tasting stock.

You can even reduce the liquid, cool and then freeze it to use later. Some people freeze their stock in ice cube trays for convenience, my take on that: only do so if you have a separate tray for it – your regular ice cubes will never be the same once you have frozen soup cubes in them – the celery and garlic linger till forever!

Variations:

White Stock: Follow exactly the same procedure as above, with exactly the same ingredients – just leave out the oil and don' t brown the bones.

White Poultry Stock: Follow the same procedure as for White Stock, just substitute chicken carcass, odds and ends from a whole chicken, pieces of chicken or even a whole chicken for the beef or mutton bones.

Bacon Bones: Proceed as above but substitute 400 – 500 gms of bacon bones for the beef, mutton or chicken.

5b) Chicken Stock for Oriental Soups

Ingredients:

250 gms (or more) Chicken carcass, odds and ends like wings, neck pieces 
2 inches piece ginger, thinly sliced
6 -  8 cloves of garlic, pealed
Salt to taste

Method:
Put all ingredients into a pressure cooker along with enough water to cover the ingredients and cook for 6 to 7 whistles. You may want to stop in between to check if the water is still adequate and top it up if you see fit.

Tip: You can use bones, odds and ends etc from any other protein, including sea food, just as long as you don't go over board with the quantity in case the protein has a strong flavour or aroma of its own.

5c) Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

15  gms of butter

250 gms roughly diced carrots

1 chopped onion

5 – 6 cloves of unpeeled garlic

3 sticks of celery, roughly diced

3 sprigs of parsley

Bunch of thyme leaves

5 cups of water

6 peppercorns

½  tsp wild celery seeds - known as ajmud or chandni in Hindi and radhuni in Bengali (Optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the butter in a pressure cooker, and sauté the vegetables  for 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients and the water.

Cook in the pressure cooker for about 4 to 5 whistles.

Strain and use, please read the last two paragraphs of  recipe for Basic Brown Stock to know how to store the stock.

Another Soupy Meal

Menu # 4

Years ago, I had visited Delhi many winters ago, and my kind hostess made this soup. It was really, really cold and making this soup always reminds me of the crisp coldness of North Indian winters – call me peculiar, but I love them!  In addition to being delicious, this is an extremely quick soup to make and the hardest and longest part is the cleaning of the mushrooms!  

4a) Mushroom and Spring Onion Soup (Main/Starter)

Ingredients per Serving:

¾ cup sliced Mushrooms

¾ cup sliced spring onions

1 cup stock*

1 tbsp butter

Method:

Heat pan till warm (not hot), add butter and the sliced mushrooms and onions immediately. Sauté the mushrooms and spring onions for 3 to 5 minutes, stir constantly.

Add stock, bring to boil and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.

Tip: Easiest way to make stock is to add a soup cube to warm/hot water. As requested offline, I will post the recipes to some basic stocks very soon.

I suppose the really health conscious could use oil instead of the butter – it won’t taste quite the same though. 

This soup is best served with cheese sandwich or cheese toast. One could also serve this with a beetroot and peanut salad – I love it so much that I could make a meal of this particular salad. There’s no rule that says one can’t serve cheese sandwiches and the salad!

4b) Beetroot and Peanut Salad (Side/Support)

Ingredients:

 2 – 3 Beetroots boiled and cooled (whole in the pressure cooker with salt, till firm but, cooked*)

5 tbsp of thick curds

Pinch each of black salt and table salt

 Half cup of roughly crushed roasted peanuts

* It’s best to soak the whole beetroots in heavily salted water for at least 30 minutes to get all the soil off, wash thoroughly after  that and then pressure cook. Make sure the water covers the beetroots well and add a generous dash of salt – for this particular recipe, about 6 to 8 whistles ought to be enough. Only remove the skin of the beetroot just before making the salad.

Method:

Add the two kinds of salt to the curds and beat till smooth and shiny. Adjust seasoning according to your taste.

Peel the beetroots and slice into discs. Place the discs on a serving plate.

Spoon the beaten curds on top each disc. Chill in the refrigerator for a bit if you like your salads cold like I do.

Sprinkle roughly crushed peanuts on top of each disc and serve.

To continue along the same low labour theme, I would recommend a dessert that comes out of packets and cans for the most part.  Needless to mention, it is tasty as hell, it has to be made in advance:

4c) Fluffy Orange Cream (Dessert)

Ingredients:

1 packet orange jelly

285 ml (1 cup or ½ pint) hot water

1 can condensed milk

Garnish options: orange slices, chocolate sprinkles or gratings, dollop of cream, angelica

Method:

Dissolve the jelly crystals in the hot water and cool.

As the jelly begins to thicken, beat in the condensed milk – using a whisk or electric beater.

Pour into serving bowl and leave in refrigerator till set.

Garnish using any of the options mentioned or whatever your imagination and palate finds fit and voila!  You’ve made a failsafe mousse like dessert!

A Soup and Salad Meal

Menu # 3

At times, we like to keep our meals really light (or I feel really really lazy) and if I really want to take an extreme shortcut, I resort to serving boiled corn, porridge or some such rubbish.

From time to time, I actually make a teensy weensy bit of an effort and make soup, salad meals and end them with a light dessert.  Here’s the first combination (a few more will follow soon):

3a) Onion Soup (Main/Starter)

Ingredients Per serving:

1 Cup sliced Onion rings (roughly ½ cm wide)

1 Soup cube

2 tsp flour (maida)

1 cup water

2 tbsp milk/cream (optional)

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp butter

Heat the oil, lower the heat to keep the oil from smoking and then add the sliced onions, toss around to ensure each ring of onion is coated in oil. Cook over slow fire, stirring once in a while, till all the onion is completely soft and wilted.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and add the butter, stir till flour is evenly distributed. Add water and soup cube and bring to boil on high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least another 10 minutes. Add milk or cream if using.

Add salt if need be; serve with freshly ground pepper to taste.

Variations: A combination of leek and onion can be used instead of just onions – ½ and ½

A combination of spring onions and regular onions (1/4 spring onions)

A combination of white and red onions.

Tip: if cutting rings is too tough, slice the onion into half lengthways and then cut into slices widthways - to form semi circular slices.

 Sometimes, I add a well mashed potato or dried potato flakes (the type you get to make mashed potatoes with) instead of the flour.

The salad that I would go with is Oriental Salad, it is as delicious as it is easy to make and is most certainly a bit different from the usual dressings we use. Furthermore, it appeals to the Indian palat.

3b) Oriental Salad (Side/Support)

Ingredients for dressing:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, grated

½ inch piece ginger, grated

½ tsp red chilli flakes

Juice of half a lemon

Salt to taste (you can substitute this with a splash of Soy Sauce)

A small sized empty bottle or container with a tight lid

Ingredients for Salad (All or some can be used):

Any sort of crisp vegetables such as:

Cucumber

Lettuce

Cabbage

Carrots

Tomato

Rice Noodles

Cooked Prawns

Shredded Chicken (cooked)

Any sort of Cold cuts

Method:

 Pour the olive oil into the bottle or container, add all the remaining ingredients.

Put the lid on and ensure its shut tightly. Shake it vigorously and it’s ready.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

This dressing keeps for about 15 days in the fridge – I would substitute light vinegar for the lemon juice if I were planning to store it. One can reduce or increase the quantity of garlic and ginger, based on personal preference.

Since the preparation of the main and supporting dish are so easy, I would recommend keeping it that way and serving a fuss free dessert with store bought vanilla ice cream and serving it with a homemade caramel sauce:

3c) Caramel Sauce for Ice Cream (Dessert)

Ingredients:

1 ½ tbsp sugar

1 tbsp butter

½ cup warm milk

Take a heavy based pan, place and spread the sugar as evenly as you can on the base of the pan.

Watch the sugar, DO NOT stir the sugar, and wait for it to melt and reach a golden brown.  Lower the heat.

Add the butter at once to prevent further caramalisation.  Stir as you pour in the warm milk.

Add to vanilla ice cream and yummmm!

I usually add some chopped walnut and how I arrange it is:

I take a whiskey glass, put a scoop of ice cream, pour some of the warm sauce over and sprinkle some chopped walnuts, add another very generous scoop of ice cream, top with sauce and walnuts.

A Light Indian Menu with Mutton Curry and Rice

It's time to get serious about this blog and I intend to post 2 sets of recipes each week. I will add pictures as and when possible.
Here's this week's first set:

Menu # 2

The other day, a friend of ours was coming over for lunch and he prefers Indian food, it’s not summer right now but it is kind of warm so I wanted to make a substantial meal that did not sit too heavy in the stomach. I was not at all interested in making any of the usual curries and dal and things,  I did not feel that an elaborate dessert was called for either; but I cannot imagine a meal without a dessert!

So here is the menu I came up with:

 

2a) Easy Mutton Curry (Main Course)

Ingredients:

½ Kilo Mutton (any cut will do)

1 Large bunch of Coriander

1 Large Tomato

1 or 2 green chillies

2 inch pc cinnamon

3 green cardamoms

1 to 2 tsp cooking oil (preferably, mustard as that is what’s best for most Indian mutton curries. In its absence, any cooking oil will do)

Salt to taste

Method:

Try and ensure that all the pieces of mutton are of similar size, (this is best done when selecting it from the butcher or store), trim the fat off the pieces and keep aside. Clean and chop the Coriander leaves, tomatoes and green chillies and grind all three together in a liquidizer; add a little water if required.

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the whole spices, add the mutton as soon as the spices’ aroma is released. Stir the mutton for a few minutes, until each piece is sealed. Add the coriander, tomato and chilli paste and enough water to cover the mutton. 

Pressure cook for about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the mutton. It is prudent to take the mutton off the fire after about 20 minutes and then cook further if required.

Tip: When cooking mutton in a pressure cooker, I often cook on high flame for till the 1^st whistle and then. Lower the flame for three more – works for me each tie.

Variation (If you have a ‘non mutton eating’ person, like my husband to cook for): Cook for about 15 minutes or a total of three whistles; add pieces of reasonably small pieces of chicken and cook till done. If it is just one person, who is going to have the chicken, about 200 to 250 grams of chicken is enough. The picture of the cooked curry has chicken in it.
Please note that this curry will turn out to be quite like hospital food, should you make it with only chicken. The flavour of the curry comes from the blending of the coriander and tomato paste with the juices of the mutton.

Serve with steamed rice.

Suggested accompaniments:

Finger Chips

Cucumber salad

Crisp potato discs

Masala Masoor

2b) Masala Masoor (Supporting Dish)

Ingredients:

½ cup masoor dal

1 onion chopped

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 flat tsp garlic paste

1 flat tsp ginger paste

1 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp kastoori methi

1 soup cube

1 – 2 tsp ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

Pinch of kashmiri chilli powder

Finely chopped coriander and mint leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash and soak the masoor daal for at least 30 minutes. 

 Place the ginger paste, garlic paste, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric and chilli powder in a bowl and add enough water to make a runny paste; this allows the powders to soften really well and makes it easy to add everything with ease during actual cooking.

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and sauté chopped onions till soft, add 2 tablespoons of water and reduce the heat to prevent further cooking of the onions. Add soaked spices, kasturi methi and soup cube. Add a little more water if required and cook over low heat till the smell of raw spices disappears.

Drain the daal and add it to the spices, stir for a minute or so till all the grains are coated with the spices. Add 2 cups of water and cook till the daal is cooked to an almost mushy consistency.

Tip: I often wait for three whistles of the pressure cooker – allow the steam to reduce and then check the daal for water and softness before proceeding to cook it further (if required).

Once the daal is cooked, check for salt and add to taste; the soup cube is usually salty enough for the daal to need no further seasoning.

Heat the ghee to smoking, turn off the heat and then add the cumin seeds. As soon as the seeds have popped open (which they should) add the kashmiri chilli powder and add to the cooked daal. Garnish with a generous amount of freshly chopped coriander and mint leaves.

2c) Crisp Potato Discs (Side Dish)

Ingredients:

6 medium sized potatoes

2 tbsp rice flour

½ tsp red chilli powder

1 flat tsp coriander powder

1 rounded tsp cumin powder

1 flat spoon amchur or chat masala

Salt to taste (a little less if using chaat masala)

Oil for frying

Method:

Boil the potatoes in salt water (with skin on is always better), keep aside to cool. It’s a good idea to do this ahead as cooling takes a fair amount of time. Peel and cut width ways into 1 cm discs.

Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly and coat each disc in this powder. Heat oil and fry the potato discs to a golden brown. Serve hot.

Tip: It’s always a good idea to begin by frying a single disc and tasting it to check for any adjustments in salt or spice that may be required and then proceed with the rest.

Variation: Skip the amchur or chaat masala in the rice flour and sprinkle it on top of the fried discs before serving.

The dessert added to this menu is not at all in harmony with the rest of the meal; but then, I am Chapati and Pink Floyd and have therefore given myself the license to ‘unharmonise’ to some degree! It’s just that the following dessert is easy to make, not too rich and a wonderful and light ending to any meal: 

 2d) Minty Lemon Solid (Dessert)

Ingredients:

600 ml milk

5 – 6 sprigs of fresh mint (More, if you love a minty essence as much as I do)

2 large lemons (or 2 ½ of medium lemons)

175 gms of castor sugar

15 gms gelatine

Fresh mint leaves

Method:

Wash the sprigs of mint thoroughly and let it dry while you bring the milk to a boil, put the sprigs into the milk and cover to infuse them and let it cool completely. You can even do this part ahead and leave the ‘minty’ milk in the fridge.

Wash the lemons and grate the rind, or use a rinder if you have one, then squeeze the juice.  Add the lemon rind to the sugar and half the milk. Heat the remaining 300 ml of milk with the gelatine, stirring till the gelatine dissolves, ensure that the milk does not come to boil. Add the hot milk and gelatine mixture to the cold milk mixture and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Add the lemon juice immediately – the milk will curdle a bit and this is the desired outcome.

Pour into 4 individual bowls/glasses or a serving dish (preferably, a clear bowl) and let it set for a minimum of 5 hrs in the refrigerator. Garnish with the mint leaves before serving.

You can also set this dessert in a jelly mould and turn it onto a flat dish before serving. You ought to have two distinct layers in the dessert – one ‘clearish’ and jelly like and the other almost like a curd. I just set it in a corning or Pyrex dish.