sprinkle - Travels for Taste

Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

March 14, 2015 by manjirichitnis 12 Comments

As spring begins to unfold and the weather changes to beautiful sunny days and chilly evenings, I like that we can still enjoy warming and wholesome soups. Butternut squash is so versatile and there are various ways to use it in soups, curries, salads, etc.

Soup and stews are a great meal option for so many reasons, here are my top 5 reasons why I enjoy cooking both:

Delicious, hearty and wholesome
Easy, fuss-free one-pot style cooking, saves time
Great for batch-cooking
Ideal for busy mid-week meals
Easy to please fussy eaters!
Just combine with bread, various toppings and add an extra dash of something special
Add lentils to bulk out soups and stews

This recipe is created by Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living who make sure that all of their recipes are nutritious and tasty, making them great for everyone, not just the elderly. Of the many recipe options, they sent me I choose to make this one because I simply adored red lentils as those who read my blog will know. The buttery aroma of onions sauteing which filled my kitchen was simply amazing and very satisfying. Needless to say, the soup went down and treat and even normally fussy hubster greedily licked his bowl clean – no better compliment than that folks isn’t it? I must admit I couldn’t resist adding a bit of my own personal finishing touches as my palate is so used to all the spicy and tangy little add-on’s that I normally use 😉

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living

Hearty and delicious Butternut squash soup with added protien and taste with quick cooking red lentils

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Course Soup

Cuisine Fusion

Servings 4 people

Equipment

Saucepan

Ingredients

400 ml vegetable stock
150 gms Butternut Squash – peeled and diced into bite-sized bits
60 gms Dried red lentil i.e. masoor dal – split without skin
3 Carrots – peeled and diced into small bits
2 Red onion – peeled and chopped fine
12 gms Unsalted butter
Sea salt with a hint of garlic
Freshly cracked black pepper
A small quantity of fresh coriander to garnish

Instructions

In a large saucepan or stockpot melt the butter on a medium flame
Sauté’ the finely chopped onions in the butter for just under 4- 5 minutes till they turn a beautiful golden-brown colour and reduce
Then add in the chopped carrots, squash, and sauté’ for a further 2- 3 minutes.
Now stir in the vegetable stock and the red lentils
Reduce to a low flame and let the soup simmer gently
Cook until the vegetables and lentils are tender
Allow the soup to cool down to room temperature, then using a hand blender puree’ until smooth, or as I did, give it a whizz in your food processor
Season with sea salt with garlic or plain sea salt and add a generous sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper
Garnish with just a small amount of finely chopped fresh coriander
Serve hot ideally with a slice of warm crusty bread with a dollop of butter. If your conscience allows it stir in a small amount of fresh cream into the soup or smother your crusty bread with some freshly made garlic butter

Keyword Butternut Squash Soup

Looking for easy to make, delicious Soup and Stew* recipes? Why not browse through some of my easy to follow recipes:*

*With thanks to Sunrise Senior Living and the PR team for reimbursing the expense for ingredients. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Greek Easter Feast with Tonia Buxton and Total Greek Yoghurt

May 1, 2014 by manjirichitnis 10 Comments

One of the things I enjoy most about being a food and travel writer is that I am able to experience various traditions from various cultures. Also, I think it is a privilege and also an incredible opportunity to to celebrate various festivals from across the world. As an added benefit I have had the good fortune of meeting the wonderful people on my journey into exploring various beautiful cuisines and destinations.

I have cooked alongside some very talented trained Michelin-starred Chefs, home cooks, and cookbook authors too.

I am so glad that I had a chance to cook with someone as passionate as Tonia Buxton who taught us how to make a 3-course Greek feast and took us through a journey of how Easter is celebrated back in Greece, relating in a very animated manner the rituals, prayer, and festivity surrounding the occasion. Total Yogurt the makers of the deliciously thick and creamy yogurt put together this cooking fest at a Cookery School called La Cucina Caldesi located in the heart of Central London.

Tonia Buxton a Greek Cypriot is the Total Greek Yogurt Brand Ambassador and a presenter of the award-winning T.V series on Discovery Channel called ‘My Greek Kitchen’ and has also authored a book titled ‘Tonia’s Greek Kitchen’. Soon to star in a new T.V series called ‘Pauls Family Feast’ a TV show by well, Paul Hollywood 🙂

After a quick ice breaker session, we got into groups and started preparing the main dish of the meal – Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake. I love cooking lamb and am delighted with the similarities in Greek and Indian cuisines. We too love our spices and cumin does add a very deep flavour to lamb. If I was to make it at home though I would tweak it and amp up the spices especially the cumin and just because I love heat crushed or paper-thin slices of green chillies with seeds ummm!

Here is the recipe:

Greek Lamb Pattie Tray Bake

Serves: 4

Ingredients

100g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
100g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
400g lamb mince
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp ground cumin
4 red onions (2 finely chopped, 2 cut into wedges)
Large handful mint, chopped
4 waxy new potatoes, i.e. the Charlottes cut into wedges
4 courgettes, halved & quartered lengthways
250g pack juicy cherry tomatoes on the vine
2 unwaxed lemons cut into 6 wedges each
4 tbsp olive oil
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 6.
Put the breadcrumbs, the lamb mince, egg, plenty of seasoning, and cumin in a bowl.
Add the chopped onion and sprinkle in half the chopped mint. Give everything a good mix and shape into 8 patties.
Lightly oil a large, shallow roasting tray and add the patties.
Place the onion wedges on the tray around the lamb patties with the potatoes, courgettes, and tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Bake for around 40 minutes, turning & basting everything once halfway until the lamb is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the feta and remaining mint. (We used up most of the mint and our minty lamb patties were very juicy and yum)
Serve with a large dollop of Total Greek yoghurt and tahini sauce.

While our lamb patties were cooking we played a fun Greek easter egg game with eggs painted a cheerful bright red. We had to go about smashing our egg onto everyone else and in the end, I was up against Tonia- of course, she won! Years of experience laster she has mastered the technique 🙂

We then made a Greek dessert called Anarocrema using Anari Cheese, which I flavoured with orange blossom extract, fresh fruits, and generous bits of freshly made filo pastry crispy bits. This creamy dessert is made using goats cheese and marries well with fruits, pistachios, almonds, and honey too is very filling and moreish dessert.

While our desserts were sent for chilling we got cracking on with the starter a light and superbly flavoured starter – Greek Sea Bream fillets with olives, capers, lemon, and yoghurt Tahini Sauce.

Thanks to @satureyes for the brilliant photos.

It was a very well organised event and I got an opportunity to meet so many more bloggers.Cooking up in a team with Fiona (London Unattached) and Heidi was good fun and it great to be working with familiar faces. Many thanks to @TotalGreek yogurt for the lovely event & @ToniaBuxton for her lively, warm, and friendly way of conducting the cookery workshop and sharing so many beautiful experiences.

I hope all of you had a brilliant Easter Weekend and are looking forward to another long weekend coming up!

Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total Uk and Tonia Buxton.I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Zingy Turkish Poached Eggs

April 2, 2014 by manjirichitnis 30 Comments

I am a fan of eggs in any form and when I chanced upon this delightful Turkish recipe for combining eggs with thick and fulfilling greek yoghurt I just had to go ahead and experiment! Total Greek Yogurt 0% is fat-free, gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and pregnant women – all good, no nasties! Besides these virtues its consistency is great and I have in the past few days consumed one of the smaller pots per day part in smoothies and just a dollop with my rice and curry dinner. There are so many versatile combinations that are possible with this yoghurt. From smoothies and shakes to use in cooking as a marinade or cooling dip with chopped goodies like fresh chives, garlic, chilli flakes etc.The thick and creamy consistency is a bonus if you’re trying to watch your weight too!

I made these poached eggs for brunch and served them with wholemeal pitta toasted in the same pan where I made my chilli butter – fabulous!

Traditionally this dish is called Cilbir (pronounced as chillburrr, roll the r’s!) is a Turkish dish of poached eggs with yoghurt (often with garlic mixed in). There are records of Cilbir being eaten by Ottoman sultans as far back as the 15th century. It is now common to serve the dish topped with melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper, for which paprika can be substituted. (Source: Wiki)

Serves :2

Ingredients:

4 large eggs – 2 per person
a handful of fresh mint roughly chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped fine
500gm Total Greek Yogurt 0%
Butter 50gm
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Plenty of freshly cracked black pepper
Sea Salt as per taste
a pinch of chilli powder – as per your tolerance levels

Method:

Boil water in a large saucepan (my time-saving trick -boil water in the kettle and add to the saucepan), then cover with the lid and allow to simmer on a medium flame for a while
When the water is absolutely boiling hot, take off the lid and reduce the flame to a very low simmer. Then, carefully crack the eggs into the water one by one. They seem to sort of go ‘freeze frame’ once dropped into the boiling water. Give them about 30 seconds and when it seems like they have been poached carefully remove them one by one using a slotted spoon. If you suspect that the yolk will just burst open it means it needs some more time inside. Don’t worry if this process isn’t perfect the first time around , its a learning curve and you will get it right in a few tries – in case of disaster scoop out as much of the egg as you can and after you are done with all the eggs use a sieve to save the remaining egg 🙂
Use two bowls or plates to serve. First, scoop some yogurt into each of the serving bowls. Season with sea salt, a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a pinch of chilli powder. Mix well
Create a bit of shallow space in the middle of the yoghurt mix and place the poached eggs on top
Heat a non-stick pan on a medium flame, reduce flame to a simmer. Melt the butter and before it starts to brown add the finely chopped garlic and smoked paprika. Then add some sea salt
Quickly pour this delicious golden spiced butter over the eggs and yoghurt
Garnish by sprinkling some fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped for a burst of fresh flavour
Toast the mini wholemeal pitta bread portions in the same pan that was used to melt and spice the butter and it will give your pitta that extra kick of flavour!
Scoop the flavoured poached egg and the cooling yogurt with the pitta bread. It’s a beautiful sensation on your palate as the cold yogurt and smoked paprika work their magic on your taste buds.

Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total UK. I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Egg-citing egg recipes to inspire you!

Sweetcorn and Paneer Bhaji/Sabzi

November 15, 2013 by manjirichitnis 2 Comments

In March I had rushed to be by my mothers side when her recovery post a double knee replacement surgery which was supposed to give her a new lease on life went badly wrong.

She was put on a very strict diet and asked to avoid more food stuff than she could eat, besides the heat in Pune was killing and the numerous medicines made her terribly hungry and moody. Not to mention the times when she was in so much pain I regularly went in the room next door and sobbed my guts out into a pillow…

On one of the better days when she really wanted to eat something tasty and refused all the options I gave her my maushi (that’s we call mum’s sister in Marathi language – my mother tongue) saved the day by making her this simple yet delicious vegetable which was packed with flavour in-spite of having on onion,no garlic and no tomatoes which mum was not allowed at all…If you have someone at home who is being given blood thinner medicines to avoid blood clots you may be asked to avoid foods that contain Vitamin K which is a natural blood coagulant.

Since this was only for one person we took a handful of each ingredient and used spices as we thought appropriate to suit her taste buds dead with all those medicines. Please feel free to amp up the spice if you wish.

Serves 2 as a side or 1 as a main

Preparation of veggies and Cooking Time:45 minutes

Ingredients:

Cauliflower florets 150 gm
sweet corn 50 gm
carrots chopped into tiny cubes 50 gm
green peas 50 gm
Paneer cubes/Cottage Cheese 50 gm
2 bay leaves
salt as per taste
a pinch of red chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cumin and coriander powder mix
a small pinch of ground clove powder
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
Finely chopped fresh green coriander leaves -just enough to garnish.

Method:

In a pan take 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and sautee the bay leaves, clove powder and cumin and coriander powder for about 30 seconds.
Add the sweet corn and cook for about 3 minutes with spritz of water on a very low flame with lid to allow the corn to cook well.
Add the chopped carrot cubes and add water and cover an allow to steam for 2 -3 minutes on a low flame.
Reason for cooking the sweetcorn first and then the carrots is that they will take longer to cook than the cauliflower and peas which will become mush in the vegetable if all these are added at once. To save time you could used boiled sweetcorn and carrot. Avoid canned and ready to eat variety.
When carrots are almost cooked add the cauliflower florets ,green peas and season with the turmeric and red chilli powder and salt.Mix Well.
Add very little water just enough to allow the veggies to cook well.

When they are almost cooked after not more than 5- 8 minutes , add the soft paneer cubes and mix well and serve hot with a chapati fresh off the pan.
Garnish with a tiny bit of fresh coriander leaves finely chopped.Ensure they are washed thoroughly to ensure no muddy bits are hiding between the delicate leaves.

Needless to say aai loved the bhaji and after almost 15 days of bland food she was really upbeat. Soon after she really began to recover at a desirable pace and was coming up with many of her own ideas to make delicious food with less oil, minimal spices and without any tomato. Cheers to you aai , you are a very brave person to have come out of such a bad health situation only a few months ago, to a point where you are 100% independent and cheerful as ever.God bless all those that stood by us and the few special people who came to help me in the hour of need, no questions asked, you know I love you people tons right ?:)

Disclaimer: Please note this is a true account of what my mum had to eat with her many food restrictions and is not meant to be treated as a medical advice for anyone following a diet where they have been asked to stay off Vit K .Please always consult your doctor before eating anything that is out of the ordinary for your condition.

Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup