Lemon Coriander Soup

Ever came across a soup named 'Lemon Coriander'?

We didnt know a soup with this name existed until we bumped into our friend one fine day and decided to hog food outside. The soup section had this soup. After a lot of contemplating as to who would dare to try the soup, my husband tried this one. Both of us loved it to the core. The tangy flavor of lemon, the fresh tatse of coriander leaves, its out of the world. I know I know its too much of an exaggeration but we love it.

Whenever we eat out, our eyes start looking for this particular one. Though we havent come across a lot of restaurants offering this soup on their menu.

Its very simple to make and the taste is quite simple too.

To make this soup, you would need a lot of lemon grass (it looks like green flat sticks).
Veggies of your choice (ranging from mushroom, carrots, cauliflower, beans, cabbage).
Chopped corainder leaves and lemon too- thats about it. The rest of the ingredients you would easily find in your pantry!

Boil a lot of lemon grass with slit green chillies in water.
Fry the chopped veggies in oil with a little pepper and salt. Strain the boiled water and add it to the sauted veggies. Squeeze one medium sized lemon.
Add coriander leaves - a lot. Let the soup boil for sometime.

Garnish with sliced lemon and coriander leaves.

You cannot go wrong with this one.

Twist To Daliya

What do you call something which is fun as well as nutritious! Well, I would just call it Fun Food.

Now yesterday was a long evening for me. I reached home early after work. Mr. B (Better Half) had to take a call from office so he called me up to tell me he would be late. So I decided to churn something out for the dinner!

Being the almost-last-day of the week, I had no vegetables at my disposal and I had no will to step out. I had bought a lot of fruits though while coming back from work.

Coming straight to the recipe, cant wait much longer without revealing!

Boil 3 cups of water. Add 1 cup daliya with a pinch of salt. Let it cook for sometime. Remember not to put the lid on. It would definetly spill (which it did in my case!!). Turn off the flame after say 5-10 minutes or when you think the Daliya is all cooked.

Make custard. Just follow the instructions on the pack.

Add daliya to the custard. Cool it. Add chopped fruits (banana, grapes, pineapple, apple - you name it!).

Comes out yummy. Very healthy. No oil. No fuss recipe.

I dont intend to start a food blog but still would be posting some quick-to-make recipes and fun food once in a while.

Happy Cooking!

Bored to Death

Forget something interesting happening at work place, there is nothing happening at all. Many people would quite agree with me that there comes a day, a week, when there is literally no work, no work at all. I am going through such a phase. For the last 1 week, I am being paid for browsing!!



My first day of no-work-day started on the new year. I dont like taking too much pressure on myself at work place. I like working at my own pace keeping in mind my deadlines. But the 1st was no-work-day in the true sense. I was quite happy to be browsing all day long, catching up with my old friends, sending everyone happy-new-year-email!



But it continued for the second day too. Lost a little interest in browsing. Still continuing.

Pongal is off for us. Hoping work starts pouring in (I am not asking for loads of work though!) and I keep myself busy after a really really low phase at work place!

Today is a friday and I am looking forward to the coming weekend.

Daliya - The Indian Porridge

Came across Daliya over lunch at my workplace.

The taste was very bland, more or like the sooji upma (the oh-so-common upma) without any tadka; if cooked with salt and boiled with water.

I am now going to lay my hands on Daliya and try some of the recipes that I came across.

Daliya needs a little spicing up. The spicing need not be done with the spices easily available in the indian kitchens. A little sugar, a little salt would do the magic.

A sweetdish made of daliya is very simple. Boil daliya with some sugar, pinch of salt and water. Milk can be added too. Pressure cook for a while.

Upma made with daliya is very healthy too. Roast the daliya. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies in hot oil. Add as many chopped vegetables as you want, fry it for sometime. Add daliya. Add thrice as much as water and let it boil. Add salt as per taste.

Well I am going to try out these recipes at the earliest to give my Mr B a healthy meal time snack which I am sure he is going to love.

Bangalore to Cochin

Last week was pretty good. Were in Kerala during the Chritsmas week.

We started not-so-early at around 6 am (blame it on the weather)on a satuday. Had a quick shower and off we went. Weather was lovely, started the music as soon as my Better-Half (will address him as Mr B) started the engine.

I always think why do we feel so hungry when we are on a vacation? Its the same with Mr B too. We end up eating close to almost double the food we eat on an average week day. I guess it is the vacation effect! Drove for just an hour, started feeling very hungry. Stopped by at Reliance and had a good breakfast. Drove for another 2 hours or so, started feeling hungry again.

After pacifying our tummies throughout the journey, finally reached Palakkad at around 5pm. The place is a crowded one. Had a tough time finding our way to the hotel considering the fact that people speak only and only in Malyalam there! Checked into a hotel called Indraprastha. Decent one. Started feeling the pangs again. Felt a little ashamed for feeling hungry so often but cajoled ourselves saying the drive was hectic, roads bumpy, weather humid.

Settled ourselves in a not-so-cosy restaurant (totally vegetarian, though Mr B insisted I try the Kerala fish). Had a heavy dinner and headed back to our room.

Planned to start early the next day to Cochin. So we hit the sacks pretty soon (were fast asleep by 10).

Mr B as he always does when we are on a vacation, got up very early and bombed the news that we forgot to get a tooth paste! Called up the house-keeping department only to find out it was too early for them! Somehow managed to keep the brush inside our mouth - weird feeling though. Had a quick fight as to who was actually responsible for not putting the paste inside the bag. Peace after sometime.

Breakfast at the not-so-cosy restaurant. Had 'Puttu' - the very famous kerala breakfast. Was quite heavy than the breakfasts we usually take. Headed south-west towards Cochin.

Roads were pretty decent. Coconut and banana trees everywhere. Finally reached our destination after making a bunch of calls to the hotel, the Star Lagoon. The hotel was a 13- storeyed apartment converted into a hotel.
Hunger pangs start again. Headed straight to the restaurant!

When I stop by and read what I have written - I realize I have missed on the road condition, the drive as a whole, best time to start but only about our hunger pangs troubling us off and on. Well, a happy tummy is a happy soul! And if Mr B is kind enough he would share the actual drive to Cochin!

My First Blog

My first blog.

I cannot believe I am finally writing a blog all by myself. Great feeling to let your thoughts take shape of words.