Suraikai (Bottlegourd) Soup

Suraikai (Bottlegourd) is a watery vegetable. Mainly it’s used for kootu and porriyal. When I was watching a TV program I came to know it’s having lot of medical values. Form there I learnt this soup recipe, I made few changes to that. This won’t be a thick soup, my little once usually like soup but they loved this lot and asked for more.

Ingredients:

Suraikai/ bottlegourd	400 gms
Onion chopped	½ cup
Tomatoes	½ cup
Garlic	2 pods
Pepper	¼ tsp
Curry leaves	few
Oil	1 Tbsp
Green onion	¼ cup
Turmeric powder	A pinch
Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Pepper powder	1 Tbsp
Clove	2
Cinnamon	½ inch
Bay leaves	2
Salt

 

Direction: 

1. Peel the skin, remove the big seeds, chop the suraikai into cubes and boil them with 2 cups of water with a pinch of turmeric.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in pan adds cinnamon, clove, pepper, bay leaves and garlic one by one and sauté for a minute. Add onion and curry leaves fry until it turns light pink now add tomatoes and cook until it’s soft.
3. Allow this to cool, and grind to fine paste after removing the bay leaves (don’t trash that we can add in soup). Once the suraikai is cooked drain the water keep it.
4. Blend the suraikai to course paste with one cup of water, now add the ground paste to this allow it to boil once and drain all the water out of that and add this to our suraikai water.
5. Add bay leaves, green onion, cumin powder, pepper powder and enough salt boil in a sauce pan. When it starts to boil add corn starch mixture ( in 3 Tbsp of water or milk mix corn starch) cook it for 2-4 minutes until the corn starch cooks.
6. Serve it hot, if needed add some pepper.

 

 

Note:

If you need it a bit thick soup, add the tomato and onion mixture paste to the suraikai water directly. Instead of corn starch, add one tablespoon all purpose flour while frying tomatoes.


Sharing to: Nithu's kitchen

 

 

 

Quick Tomato Juice Rasam

Most of the time I use to have Tomato juice in my refrigerator, we use to take rasam everyday for lunch, some days I use to have sambar, poriyal but no rasam those days I use to prepare this and its so simple and quick.

Ingredients:

Tomato Juice	1 cup
Onion chopped	¼ cup
Garlic crushed	2 pods
Rasam powder	2 tsp
Chili powder	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Pepper powder	½ tsp
Asafetida	a pinch
Coriander	few
Water	¾ cup
Oil	1 Tbsp
Ghee (optional)	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Salt

 

 

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan and splutter mustard seeds, then add onion and sauté for 2 minutes.
2. Add crushed garlic, chili powder, rasam powder, and turmeric powder and asafetida sauté for few seconds.
3. Now add tomato juice, water and salt. Once it starts to boil add pepper powder, ghee, coriander and turn off the stove.
4. Serve with hot rice and appalm.

 

 

 

 

 

Note: If you don’t have tomato juice no problem. Put 2 tomatoes in boiling water cook for 2-3 minutes then remove the skin and blend to fine pure you can add this instead of tomato juice.

 

 

Sending this to: www.cookbookjaleela.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Kollu Kulambu and Kollu Rasam (Horse gram kulambu)

Kollu is good for health, but I won’t cook often. But when ever we get cold I use to cook this for sure, because its good remedy for cold. Even it helps to reduce weight.

Kollu Kulambu:

 

Ingredients:

Kollu paruppu	½ cup
Onion	¼ cup
Tomato pure	½ cup
Green chili	1-2
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

For Grinding:

Cumin seeds	½ tsp
Pepper	¼ tsp
Garlic pods	4-5
Onion	½ cup
Coriander powder	1 ½ tsp
Turmeric powder	½ tsp

 

 Directions:

1. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan and roast the ingredients for grinding in same order, once it cool down grind into fine paste.
2. Pressure cook Kollu drain the water keep it aside, blend kollu into course paste.
3. In the same pan add one tablespoon oil splutter some mustard seeds add green chilies, curry leaves and onion.
4. After the onion turns brown add tomato pure and grind paste allow it to cook until raw smell goes.
5. At this stage add kollu paste, salt enough water and give a boil.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with rice with a spoon of ghee.

Kollu Rasam:

 

Ingredients:

Onion	¼ cup
Tomatoes	½ cup
Thick tamarind pulp	½ cup
Garlic pods	2-3
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Rasam powder	1 ½ tsp
Asafetida	a pinch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:

1. Take the kollu water and boil it separately.
2. Heat oil or ghee in another pan splutter mustard seeds, add onion, red chili, curry leaves fry for few minutes.
3. Add tomatoes cook until soft add tamarind water.
4. When it starts to boil add turmeric powder, rasam powder, asafetida, crushed garlic.
5. After the raw smell goes add boiled kollu water and coriander leaves.
6. Serve with rice.