I would second what Judith says, don't you think so? Such a versatile dish any time of the day or any time of the year!  I love it hot or cold so refreshing and so relishing.  whenever I go to a restaurant I always order soup and I don't mind skipping the starters.  For me, masala papad and soup is a delight, my kind of comfort food which I immensely enjoy.

This soup was inspired by a Punjabi restaurant which I had visited back when I was in India.  This soup is so versatile that I make it often not just on cold gloomy days but when my family are down the weather and do not want to eat anything, as it's so soothing to the tummy.   I make this often when I do not want to cook anything and just love a very plain hearty meal serve this some crusty bread.  I would call this a meal in itself!!

This is very good during summers as well, as Moong dal/ Yellow split lentil/ Mung beans is known for its cooling properties.  In India, people adopt Ayurveda in everyday life.  According to  Ayurveda Medicine,  people have three Doshas, Each person has one of the three doshas in that way his body works they are Vata, Pitta and Kapha.  Moong / Mung beans are used as split as I have used in this recipe or as a whole with the skin intact or you get them with the skin half attached with and are called chilka.  You also get Mung flour which can be used in versatile ways.

According to Ayurveda, it is Tridoshic ( Vata, pitta and Kapha) it has all the three dosha qualities and is considered as Sattvic diet. Moong dal is said to be considered to have a cooling effect in your body when your body feels heated up. It is very easy to cook and can be eaten raw by soaking them for 2 hours and also can be used in salads.  It's easy to cook and easy to digest.  According to western perspective, it is said to be an alkaline food, it is high in protein content as well as dietary fiber is said to have low GI index and is considered to be good for diabetic patients.

In just one line what I can say is,  it simply tastes good!!

Print

Dal Soup

This soup is very simple and easy to make, use it as a weeknight dinner! Light and refreshing.  The mild spicy and tangy taste makes you want for more.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp Moong dal
• 1 tbsp Red lentil (Masoor Dal)
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 green chilli
• 1/2 tsp salt (or as required)
• 1/4 tsp Jeera powder
• 1/2 tsp Ghee or OIl
• 2 tbsp Onion
• 1/4 tsp Garam Masala powder (optional)
• 3 cups water
• 1 Lemon

Serving

• 1/2 cup cooked Basmati Rice
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander to garnish (optional)

Instructions

• 1. Wash and soak dal for few minutes. 2. Heat Ghee in a pan add chopped onions, garlic, ginger and slit green chillie. 3. Saute for few minutes, 4. Add the above said sauteed ingredients into a pressure cooker with the soaked Dal, jeera powder and Garam masala powder. 5. Add 2 cups of water and required amount of salt and pinch of hing.
  
• 6. In a low flame cook the Dal up to 3 to 4 whistles. switch off the stove. 7. Once the Pressure releases remove the slit green chilli, Blend the dal into a smooth puree. 8. pass it through a sieve so you get a very smooth consistency of the dal. 9. Add another cup of remaining water thin it down with the extra water you have, taste the soup and adjust the consistency and taste. 10. Boil the soup, switch off the stove. Slice the Lemon into thin round slices. Place a slice of lemon, add a tbsp of cooked rice. Pour the soup into the soup bowls.
  

Notes

 

Or you can just squeeze a tsp of lemon juice into each bowl add a tbsp of rice and pour the hot soup on top of it garnish with few coriander leaves, crushed black pepper and jeera then serve!! Serve it warm with papad or some crusty Garlic Bread.

The post Dal Soup appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi everybody, Hope you are all doing well, I know I have disappeared from few days, it's a long gap between my posts, well, I have been so busy as Mom is here :))., Oh! I know its so wonderful to be with her here and enjoying her cooking completely. My kids have declared that their Mom is a super cook but their Paati ( Grandmother/Nan) is the world's best cook.  I will have to write about it more in my authentic recipes, which I am planning to post soon enough.  The reason for this little intro for my absence was because I took Mom few places here and still I need to show her some more, fingers crossed hope I will be able to cover as much as possible and I really don't want to miss this opportunity as she won't be coming back here again :(.
Today, I had to come to post this as you all know today is SRC Reveal Day. I thought of writing to my Hostess I might not be able to do it, but I just couldn't do it and really don't want to miss it, for two reasons going through Heather's blog when ever I had time, as her blog was in my phone permanently which I always do when I am assigned a blog!! and  I really wanted to bake and of course team spirit for SRC.
I feel  guilty and I never want to miss out, as this is such a big team and the stress and strain to manage this large group is not a easy joke. Hats of to the SRC team for that and thank them that I always come back to blogging just to post from SRC even sometimes I don't want to!!.

Suzanne my hostess had assigned me Heather's blog. She blogs at Fit Mama Real Food. A wonderful blogger with versatile things she blogs about. I had bookmarked a few like the Moist Banana bread, Zucchini Bread, Energy Balls, Nutella Balls and this Lemon and poppy seed bread. I have been going through her blog quite a few times when ever I got time to browse.  She is a fitness freak!!, Mom to a cutest kid, a good cook and loves to bake and cook good food no processed food and loves to eat what nature provides which turn into meals to please the little crowd!!, DIY and Organizer too.., and of course she is a food blogger, click on to her website you will know what I am talking about, I enjoyed going through her blog and do you want to know why I settled on to this recipe.., Just because of those words she wrote in this post made me feel that is what I always keep thinking when I get free time..
As Heather says:
Baking is total relaxation time for me.  When I need to get my mind off things, I head to the kitchen. When I’m bored I will bake.  If I want to procrastinate, I will bake.
I love to bake particularly Breads.., that's my favourite.
Coming to this recipe I had no poppy seed in hand and just got carried away with the recipe., I loved the texture of her bread as she has used Eggs (2) if you plan to make this Bread check out the original recipe. You will know what I mean. Looks really Gorgeous.  I had some Tutti fruity at home as I had baked a Bread out of it for them to take to school, the Left over filling I used it in this bread.  The bread isn't too sweet, it has the Lemony taste to it.

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT AND OAT MEAL LEMON, POPPY SEED, COCONUT AND FRUIT  BREAD
Adapted from Fit Mama Real Food with minimal changes

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup ( 145 grms) Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup (95 grms) Oat Meal Flour
100 grms Dried Fruits ( Dessicated sweet Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Raisins, Cashews, Almonds )
3/4th Cup Natural Cane Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Cup Yogurt
1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
Zest for 1 Lemon
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp white Poppy seeds ( Indian variety)

METHOD:
Preheat Oven to Gas Mark 1
In 2 tbsp of hot water soak Poppy seeds until you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Take both the Flours and sieve together and keep aside.
In a Large bowl take the Lemon zest, Yogurt, Lemon Juice and sugar and mix them well together.
Grind poppy seeds with water into a paste ( It won't become too smooth ), add this to the above mixture to this add Baking powder, Baking soda you will start seeing bubbles forming.
Add melted butter to it and mix well.
Add Dried fruits to it.
Add the prepared flour little by little and mix well together don't over mix it.
Pour this on to the prepared Loaf tin and Bake at Gas Mark 3 for about 45 minutes and bake for an other 5 more minutes reducing the temperature to Gas Mark 2.
Totally bake it around 50 minutes I changed temperatures because of my oven.
Insert a toothpick to find out if it comes out clean then it is baked.

Take it out and cool it on a wiring rack leave it for a few minutes then slice it and Enjoy..,

This is perfect Tea Bread can also be enjoyed as a Breakfast bread.

Here are my dear friends who have posted recipes for you to devour and enjoy a visual view of their creations from their kitchen through their Lenses...., take your time and enjoy the recipes... before I sign off I need to do a little thing.., My apologies for posting it a bit late Please do forgive me April, Suzanne and my dear Heather... Hope you like it..
Heather this Bread is so delicious.., I just couldn't resist I usually don't eat too much of what I bake just for tasting & texture to find out how it has turned out, but when I was slicing it Mom & me devoured it. Thank you for this recipe it is a keeper.

I am also sending this Recipe to
Nupur's  ''Cooking with Spice - Poppy Seeds'' started by Anu's ''SYF and HWS - Cook with Spices
Sowmya's ''Taste of Tropics - Coconut'' started by Chef Mireille's event
Srivalli's Celebrating 4 years - Kid's Delight potluck Party
Swathi's Favourite Recipes Event - Breakfast Recipes
Archana's Bake Fest # 11 - started by Vardhini

The post Eggless Whole Wheat and Oats, Lemon, Poppy seed, coconut and Dried fruit Bread appeared first on My Veg Fare.

EGGLESS LEMON AND HONEY POUND MUFFINS

Recipe source: minimally adapted from Taste of Home

Makes 6 Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Golden Brown Soft sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice* (see notes)
1/4 cup Yogurt/Hung curds
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/4 + 2tbsp Ground Oats* (see notes)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 to 3 tbsp of Sweetened Coconut

To Glaze*:
1/2 cup Confectioner's sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp of Lemon Juice.

METHOD:
Keep all the ingredients ready and measured.
Line your Muffin tins ( 6 Muffin cases)
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190 degree Celsius ( Just 6 to 7 minutes before baking)
Sift all the Dry ingredients together (flours, BP, BS, salt) and keep aside.
In a large bowl take melted butter, sugar and honey, cream them together to this add vanilla extract then Fresh lemon juice and Hung Curds/Yogurt give a swift mix.
Immediately start incorporating the well sieved flour in parts so it is well combined.
Do not Over Mix the batter, as it is Eggless baking mix it swiftly in an even circular and cut motion quickly
Scoop in the batter into the Muffin cases and top them with sweetened coconut, give them a little press and bake them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

FOR GLAZING*: You can glaze the muffins by mixing the ingredients in the glaze until smooth and nice and pipe them over the muffins and serve them ...

MY VERDICT:
* Actually I added 2 tbsp of Lemon Juice thinking that I will more lemony taste in it, was my little mistake I think, the muffins did not rise very well, as I always get my muffins well raised!, that was a bit of disappointment, but still it tasted great with that lemony taste in it, and I felt it was more sweeter..., If you have a sweet tooth you will love this...
*As I am using my new oven (GAS), I am a bit confused about the tempratures, the temperatures indicated in a recipe seems to be too much for my Gas oven, The actual recipe asks for you to bake at Gas Mark 6, I did not bake it at that temperature as all my baked turn golden brown quickly so I have little concern, so please do check your oven temperature while baking....
*The Oats which I have used in this recipe is porridge oats, I just simply Grind them to powder and use it in my baking.
* I did not glaze my muffins, I just skipped it as the Muffin itself was quite lemony, you can use some cream cheese frosting or butter cream or what ever you like to eat it with....
* The cake was delicious, there was this sweetness and tanginess in it, it wasn't too moist, when it was baking my daughter called out to me and said Mum it seems to go like a cookie, it is spreading out than going on top, that was when I thought I have used more Lemon Juice, so next time I will try it with just One tbsp if you try this please write to me and tell me how it turned out.
* As it was not too moist I thought you could increase the fat content a bit more, or I thought next time I will use 1 tbsp of Flax seed powder with 3 tbsp of hot water which will compensate on the fat content for the muffins.

LEMON AND HONEY MUFFINS WITH EGG and HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE

Wow that looks Gorgeous isn't it ?
Once I made the Eggless once, I had to make these again, As I always cook or bake only in the night and I had only made 6 of them, I had a bit of a situation.., My friend who stayed with me over the weekend, who never likes eating anything sweet at all gave me a big surprise, I just gave a teneey weeney bit of my Eggless muffins to taste, ate the whole muffin instead and a few minutes later asked me If she can have an other one!, I was totally taken aback (she is pregnant, I thought may be that is the reason), as she doesn't like to eat eggs was very happy with my Eggless ones so the four left was eaten by my family. That's it all gone so I decided on baking more muffins this time with Eggs though, so here is my Muffins with Eggs, this time I shared with my neighbours..

Makes 6 Muffins:
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Sugar (soft Golden brown sugar)
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Medium Egg
1/4 cup warm Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4th Cup  + 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour/Maida
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2 to 3 tbsp of Hershey's Chocolate broken into little pieces

METHOD:
Same as above method, Added one Egg with the liquid Ingredients gave a brisk whisk then added the Lemon Juice and Milk. Just added broken bits of Hershey's chocolate pieces and then Incorporated the flour into the wet mixture, poured them into the cups and baked them at the same oven temperature for 15 - 20 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

The Muffins were soft and delicious.., My kids loved it, waiting for my neighbours verdict will update when received..., till then... take care....

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
Check out her blog for Many more variations and mouthwatering Muffins from my fellow blogger friends....

The post Egg and Eggless Lemon and Honey Pound Muffins appeared first on My Veg Fare.