Soups Archives - Travels for Taste

BBQ pulled pork and aromatic Noodle soup

February 25, 2017 by manjirichitnis 12 Comments

Enjoy summery flavours mixed with a warming aromatic bowl of spicy noodle soup with Iceland Foods new BBQ Mississippi pulled pork from the World Famous Foods range

Winter evenings in February are always unpredictable, even though some days are warm, evenings are always chilly. During transition periods the trio of cold, cough and flu makes an appearance. At such times I mostly crave a hearty filling bowl of soupy noodles with a spicy zing and yesterday I had the perfect excuse – a chilly evening -and a freezer full of frozen delights from Iceland Foods World Famous Foods range. I cannot resist juicy BBQ pulled pork and thought an aromatic warming noodle soup topped with BBQ pulled pork was an apt choice – soup to warm your cockles and BBQ flavours to welcome the new season which is just around the corner.

Isn’t it great that you can enjoy summery flavours from across the world at any time you please by just stocking up your freezer with these delightfully diverse and flavoursome foods? The sheer convenience of having the #PowerofFrozen at your fingertips allowing you to create a whole host of budget-friendly, tasty meals that not only you and your family can enjoy but are perfect crowd-pleasers.

To make their frozen range even more convenient is the Chilled Life on the products, which clearly states how long a product can stay in the fridge to ensure that its high quality and taste are not impacted. Smart way to free up precious freezer space especially in the summer!

To make the meal healthy I used zero fat, low calorie and low carb, gluten-free noodles and very less oil on high heat. You could swap the oil for a 1 cal oil spray too.

Iceland Foods has re-christened their slow-cooked range as the World famous foods range.

BBQ pulled Pork and aromatic noodle soup

Manjiri Chitnis

Easy recipe for Smoky BBQ pulled Pork in a delicious aromatic noodle soup

Print Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 2 People

Equipment

Oven
Wok

Ingredients

550 grams BBQ Mississippi Pulled Pork
350 grams Beef stock from a 450 gm shop bought jar
240 grams gm of mixed tender stem broccoli green beans, pak choi
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 pack bared naked noodles
1/2 thumb-sized Cinnamon stick
1/2 thumb-sized Ginger – peeled and sliced
1/2 Thai red chilli – thinly sliced
1/2 a stick of fresh fragrant lemongrass
1/2 a medium sized red onion sliced lengthwise
3-4 cloves of garlic deskinned and smashed roughly with the flat end of a knife
a pinch of brown castor sugar
Handful of fresh coriander roughly chopped
Some fresh chopped spring onion to garnish
1 lime sliced into wedges
2 medium boiled eggs

Instructions

Defrost the BBQ Mississippi pulled pork in the refrigerator for 24 hours before use
Place for 40 mins at 180 °C in a pre-heated oven
While the pork is heating in the oven, start with the noodle preparation
Heat a wok on medium heat
When the wok is hot add sesame oil and add the cinnamon, garlic, ginger and red onion
Cook on medium heat until the garlic and red onion turn a nice brown, then add the green beans and broccoli
Stir fry the green for about a minute on medium low heat before pouring in the beef stock
Add some water to thicken the stock if it is too thick and then added the cooked noodles. Throw in the sliced lemongrass stalk and sugar
If you are using noodles that need to be cooked beforehand, simply follow pack instructions.
I used Barenaked Noodles as they are zero fat, low in calories and extremely low carb
Add the pak choi and cook covered on a low heat for about one minute
To serve, add the noodle soup in each bowl then garnish with fresh coriander and some chopped spring onion. Place about 2 heaped tbsp of pulled pork in each bowl
Serve with a wedge of lime
Serve hot

BBQ Pulled Pork aromatic spicy noodle soup

Both hubby and I loved the thick and flavourful rich BBQ sauce and used some of the leftover sauce to drizzle over mushrooms stuffed with mature cheddar and oven cooked with just a spritz of chilli garlic oil – the result was mouth watering!

The entire range of World famous foods is available in stores at Iceland Foods from 20th Feb’17. The World famous range includes: Hoisin Duck Wings, OHSicilian Half Chicken, BBQ Mississippi Pulled Pork, BBQ Texan Down & Dirty Pulled Brisket, BBQ Memphis Baby Back Ribs, Minted Lamb Shanks, Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Leg. To find out more head to the Iceland Foods site here.

This post was commissioned by Iceland Foods. As always all opinions are always my own.

Tomato and Lentil Soup

March 8, 2014 by manjirichitnis 61 Comments

Sometimes the guilt of eating too many wrong things just gets to me and I need to balance the scales internally. This calls for a comforting and filling soupy treat with a pinch of something yum thrown in. Also, all those gorgeous cherry tomatoes and vine tomatoes sitting in my fridge were begging to used -asap or risk being dumped into my green food recycle bag. Thrifty that I am, I will not allow that to happen in my kitchen! And I always turn to my stored lentils for something comforting and homely.

This recipe is perfect for making ahead in a larger batch and freeze some for later.

Tomato and Lentil Soup

Manjiri Chitnis

Wholesome and delicious, this vegetarian and vegan friendly recipe is as easy on the tummy as it is on the pocket

5 from 7 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion Indian

Servings 2 people

Equipment

Pressure Cooker / Heavy-bottomed pan
Knife and chopping board
Kadhai or any pan
Potato masher or a large ladle
Blender / Mixer

Ingredients

3/4 cup Red Lentils/Masoor split without skin
1/4 cup Yellow Lentil/Moong – split without skin
4 – 5 medium-sized Tomatoes
1 pinch Asafoetida
2 Red Onions
5 – 6 Garlic cloves
2 tsp Coriander Powder
2 tsp Cumin Powder
½ Thum-sized Fresh Ginger – peeled
2-3 Cloves
1 tsp Pepper powder
Red chilli flakes – optional
3 large tbsp Oil for frying
1 tbsp oil for the tadka
Salt to taste

Instructions

Wash the lentil through a sieve and pressure cook – 3 whistles
Let the steam escape and then loosen cooker lid
Remove cooked lentils and allow to cool completely
If you are not a pressure cooker lover then cook the lentils in a big saucepan with exactly two times the water than the quantity of the lentils
Lentils cook quickly in a pan, cover and cook and keep an eye as water may boil over
Finely chop red onions chopped into long slivers
Chop the tomatoes into 4 pieces – just for ease of blending
In a kadhai or wok heat the 3 tbsp oil and deep fry the garlic chopped into fine strips
Add the red onions and sauté are absolutely crisp, the aroma is delicious
Puree the washed tomatoes with the deep-fried red onion and garlic (leave some for garnishing)
Use a potato masher ( or the back of a large ladle) and roughly squash the cooked and cooled lentils and mix them with the tomatoes puree
In the same kadhai/wok or pan used to fry the onions and garlic – heat about 1 to 1.5 tsp oil
Add asafoetida, whole cumin, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, cloves
Sauté the spices in the oil for under a minute
Add the cooked lentils and tomato puree
Add water if the mixture is too thick
Cover and cook on a low flame for 5 -8 minutes
Season with salt as per taste
Garnished with the remaining crispy fried onion and garlic bits
Sprinkle some freshly cracked pepper
Serve hot
Best accompanied by hot buttered toast

Keyword Lentil soup

Wholemeal bread, a crusty baguette, or a soft cheesy loaf – all make for great accompaniments with this soup. Indulge yourself by adding a blob of butter on top of the soup before serving.

Red Lentil Soup

December 11, 2013 by manjirichitnis 6 Comments

I tried to write this blog post sometime after ma came home from the hospital but things were a bit topsy turvy but here it is now!

Sometime in November in India…..

”My ma’s bff’s have been pampering her a lot and have been a bunch of real sweethearts. One of her friends who we shall call Aunty A, came over last week and got her some heartwarming veg soup among some other goodies.

All the medications have killed ma’s taste buds and her appetite to an extent so this soup was a wonderful new bouquet of mild but delicious flavours for her. AM has agreed to share some of her other recipes as well including one which helped her the first prize in a cooking contest! Whoops! How I love all of ma’s buddies – all such passionate foodies 😉

Ok so here’s how you can create this Masoor dal or Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentil dal
1/2 a red onion
1 tomato
1/2 a potato boil
Salt as per taste
Pepper to garnish
1/2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
Few whole cloves/lavang
1 cinnamon stick/dalchini
Water as required
some unsalted butter to slather an accompanying slice of toasted brown bread

Method:

In a vessel add the lentils and roughly chopped onion, tomato, and potato(peeled and roughly chopped) and add enough water to soak them.
Boil the red lentil ,onion ,tomato, and potato in a cooker. Give it 3 whistles
After the steam releases from the cooker and the lid comes off easily, allow the mixture to cool down completely.
Puree in mixer/food processor , add some more water to adjust to a soup lile consistency and garnish with salt n pepper.
In a saucepan add 1/2 a tsp of ghee /clarified butter ,on a medium heat ,add dalchini/ cinnamon stick and a few whole cloves/lavang.
Reduce the heat to a minimum and now the tadka is ready, carefully pour the puree from the food processor/mixer into the clarified butter and spice tadka as it may sputter.
Serve the soup hot with a lightly buttered slice of brown bread ideally with unsalted butter.”

I am entering this delicious and healthy Red Lentil Soup recipe into one of my favourite foodie link up’s hosted by Jacqueline Meldrum of Tinned Toms and Lisa of Lisa’s Kitchen aka Food and Spice alternatively. It’s easy peasy just go to Lisa’s blog as she is the host for May 2015 and add in your recipe post to the linky, then link to both Lisa and Jaq’s blogs as I have done and add the No Croutons logo to your post, all done! Any Salad or soup will do but only one post per blogger, also watch out for the round-up done after the 28th of each month.