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.

Ingredients:

BBQ Mississippi Pulled Pork 550 gm
Beef stock 350 gm (from a 450 gm shop bought jar)
240 gm of mixed tender stem broccoli, green beans, pak choi
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 pack bared naked noodles
Cinnamon stick – thumb sized
Ginger – thumb sized – 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

Method:

Defrost the BBQ Mississippi pulled pork in the refrigerator for 24 hours before use. Heat for 40 mins at 180 deg cel 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 very 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. Seve with a wedge of lime.
Serve hot.

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 Soupy Broth

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.

Preparation Time:15 minutes

Cooking Time:40 minutes

Serves: 2 (2 generous portions each)

Ingredients:

3/4th cup Red Lentils/Masoor split and without skin
1/4th cup Yellow Lentil/Moong – split and without skin
A pinch of asafoetida
2 red onions
5-6 garlic cloves
2 tsp Coriander Powder
2 tsp Cumin Powder
Knob of ginger -about as tall as half your thumb
2-3 Cloves
1 tsp pepper powder
Red chilli flakes -optional
4-5 juicy medium sized tomatoes – actually use up any type of tomatoes lying around like I did!
3 large tbsp Oil for frying
1 tbsp oil for the tadka
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the lentil through a sieve and pressure cook – 3 whistles, lets the steam escape and loosen cooker lid, remove 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.
In a kadhai or wok heat the 3 tbsp oil and deep fry the garlic chopped into fine strips and red onions finely chopped lengthwise till they are absolutely crisp and smell delicious.
Spritz the washed tomatoes with the deep fried red onion and garlic (leave some for garnishing) in the food processor after chopping them in half.
Use a potato masher and roughly squash the cooked and cooled lentils and mix them with the tomatoes and red onions and garlic which have been spritzed.
In another saucepan heat about 1 to 1.5 tsp oil , add the asafoetida,a pinch of cumin, coriander powder, cumin powder,red chilli powder,cloves, slightly fry all these the spices in the oil and now add the cooked lentils and tomato puree.
Add water if the mixture is too thick, http://bestacnedrug.com cook with lid on a low flame for 5 -8 minutes.When almost ready add salt to taste.
Serve hot garnished with the fried onion and garlic bits,pepper powder.
A hot buttered toast of wholemeal bread, a crusty baguette or a soft cheesy loaf – all marry excellently with this soupy morish broth ummm

I was looking for a different take on all the cute free images for International Womens Day and then I stumbled on this beauty below. It is 2 years old but it is such a powerful image and I really identify with it as Goddess Kali is a Hindu Goddess and symbol of empowerment and strength.She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). I love how Wiki has a beautiful explanation about the symbolism of the Goddess Kali.

Found this brilliant, colourful and powerful poster as a free download on the Seeking Kali Blog, I love it!

Incidentally the theme for the event ‘‘In my Veg Box” event hosted by Nayna for March’14 is Tomatoes 🙂 so linking up for her event and the following – ”No Croutons Required” hosted this month by Lisas Kitchen on her blog Food and Spice .Jac from Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa have been hosting this challenge together for a long time.

Also as ginger and lentil go really well together and ”Cooking with Ginger” is the theme of the month for Vanesther’s event called ‘‘The Spice Trail” ,she blogs at Bangers and Mash and there is a very pretty gift for the this month’s winner inspired by the Dotcomgiftshop too – whoopie and fingers crossed only on my right hand for now, left hand is still healing from the surgery boooo.

As usual I have been thrifty and saved those gorgeous tomatoes from the food waste bin so this post definitely qualifies for the No Food Waste Challenge hosted for this month by Chris from Cooking around the world and started by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary and last but certainly not the least to the ”Vegetarian Recipe Challenge” a monthly challenge hosted by The Bouncing Tigger blog where a feminine theme is required – what could be more apt than the symbol of empowerment – Goddess Kali and a post written on International Womens Day!

Red Lentil Soup

December 11, 2013 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

I tried to write this blog post some time after ma came home from 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. Last week AM 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 ! Whoopies! 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 our for the round -up done after the 28th of each month.