Recipe> Pumpkin and Walnut Soup

Image: Pumpin & Walnut Soup

When the hunger pangs strikes at odd hours and you don't want to spoil your apetite or are watching your weight, home made soups come handy. They're simple and easy to make and the best part, most of the ingredients are readily available at home.

Ingredients

• 750 gms approx pumpkin, cubed
• 5-10 nos. Walnuts coarely chopped
• 1 tbsp - butter
• 2-3 large garlic flakes - mashed and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• Fresh cream (optional)
• 1-2 cups of water (depending on how thick or thin you want the soup to be)

Method

1. Heat the butter in a pressure cooker, add the garlic, onion and walnuts and saute for 5 7 mins.
2. Now add the pumpkin, which has been cleaned and peeled. Make small chunks and drop them in the pressure cooker.
3. Fry till pumpkin starts to break a little and add water and salt. Give it one boil and close the lid.
4. Give one whistle on high flame and another on low flame.
5. Remove from heat, cool and liquidise it in a blender.
6. Serve hot garnished with fresh cream.

Recipe> Chicken & Onion Soup

Text by: Tanya Munshi

As a home remedy for common cold, I suggest you have a bowl of chicken and onion soup. The days you don’t feel too hungry, don’t skip a meal, have a bowl of soup and that should fill your tummy.

Normally when I buy chicken, I keep a portion of soup bones and some chicken meat away that comes handy when I make the soup. These are the type of pieces that you can skip adding in a curry. By the way, you can add the usual chicken pieces too if you want.

Ingredients
250 gms of soup bones/ small chicken pieces
1 large size onion rings
5-6 nos. garlic cleaned, but not chopped
A pinch of thyme
A pinch of dried lemon grass
½ tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of low fat butter/ olive oil
2 cups water

Method

• Heat a pressure cooker and add the butter/ oil.
• Now add the onion rings and garlic and sauté very lightly. We don’t intend browning the onions and garlic. We only want to coat them well with butter/ oil.
• Now add the chicken pieces and mix well.
• Pour 2 cups of water and add salt, black pepper, thyme, lemon grass and mix well.
  After the first boil, cover the lid and give it 2-3 whistles.
• Allow the steam to escape completely and once it cools, take out all the chicken pieces and bones.
• Pour the entire soup in a mixer-grinder and mix well.
• Heat before serving, place garlic bread/ bread sticks on the side.

Note: You must be wondering, what happened to all the chicken pieces I took out? There’s another recipe for that too! Read on.