Clear sweet corn chicken soup

You may not call what passes for a winter in Bombay, a winter. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't indulge in warm soups. My first attempt at a clear sweet corn chicken soup was much better than anticipated. 

1/3 cup shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup sweet corn

1/2 onion, chopped fine

1/4 cups celery chopped fine

1 tsp cornflour

1 egg

1 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp butter or olive oil

4 cups chicken stock or water or a mix of the two

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat the oil/ butter, sauté the onions till transparent. 

Add celery, sweet corn and chicken and sauté fir 2-3 minutes

Add chicken stock/ water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes

Meanwhile make a paste of cornflour and keep aside

Also beat egg white with lime juice and keep aside

When cooked, add cornflour ensuring no lumps and simmer for a minute

Gradually pour in the egg white, stirring with a fork to ensure it cooks evenly. 

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot. 

Creamy sweet corn soup

When winter is here, can soups be far behind. This was something I made while the chicken was simmering away on the other burner. The proportions are for 4 soup bowls- you need to reduce or increase quantities proportionally for different amounts.

2 packets peeled corn
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped celery
2 tbsp chopped spring onions/ onions
1 tbsp butter
4 cups water or 2 cup warm milk + 2 cup water or 4 cups veg stock
½ tbsp corn flour dissolved in 2 tbsp water
4 tbsp shredded boiled chicken, optional
Salt to taste

Method:
Steam the corn for 5 minutes. Keep aside 1/3 cup corn, and blend the rest, with water to a smooth paste.
Heat butter, add onions, and saute till transparent.
Add celery, and toss around till the aroma is released.
Add the ground corn, and the water/ water+ milk/ veg stock. Bring to a boil.
Add black pepper, salt and the reserved corn kernels. Stir and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the shredded boiled chicken, if desired.
Add cornflour paste, and simmer for 2 more minutes till the soup thickens.

Serve hot.

Spaghetti in creamy pesto sauce

Sundays are made for indulgences, and this spaghetti in creamy pesto sauce gives the maximum impact for very little work. The chicken sausages are to satiate the hubby, and the stir fried veggies makes me believe I am serving a balanced meal.

For Pesto sauce:

1/2 cup basil

2 tbsp melon seeds

2 tbsp olive oil

4 pods garlic

Salt and paprika to taste 

For white sauce:

2 cups milk

2 tbsp cornflour

3 tbsp grated cheese

Salt to taste

200 gms pasta


Method:
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, drain, and reserve some water.
Make the pesto sauce by blending all the ingredients listed under it till you get the desired consistency.
Bring 2 cups milk to boil.Make a paste with 2 tbsp cornflour, mix with the boiling milk, lower the flame and let it bubble.
Add the entire quantity of pesto sauce, 2-3 tbsp grated cheese. Mix well. Adjust for salt, if required. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to it.
Pour the sauce over the cooked spaghetti, and mix well.
You can sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese over the pasta- I didn't.

For the stir fried vegetables, heat some butter, add the vegetables, and fry on a medium- high flame by stirring consistency. When the corn starts browning, add salt and paprika powder to taste and mix well, before serving.

Fusion Vermicelli

Fed up of the same thing, but not wanting to stray too far from the tried and tested formula, this was the lunch I rustled up for my son and me on the first day when he had to fend for himself while his mother was at work. He, however, didn't seem to like it much, so one idea gone out of the window.

1/2 cup vermicelli
1 head broccoli
1/3 cup sweet corn
6 leaves basil
4 pods garlic
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp butter
Salt to taste.

Method:
Cook the vermicelli according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and keep aside
Heat the butter and when it is melted add the garlic and stir till the aroma starts getting released. Add the corn, and broccoli, and saute till the corn starts getting browned.
Add torn basil leaves, paprika powder and salt adn mix well.
Mix with the vermicelli, and serve hot.

Aubergine au gratin a.k.a. Baigan Busted

My bid to feed the kids at least one serving of "real" veggies everyday is being frustrated by the lack of veggies in the market. Instead of insipid 'baigan subji", I decided to make them "aubergine au gratin" yesterday. Kids loved the name, and took a really large bite, and then another.
"But Mamma", the Older One finally said, "this aubergine tastes exactly like baigan".
Busted

250 gms brinjal (mine were small ones), chopped into small pieces
1 packet sweet corn (will be about 1/3 cup, I guess)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
salt, chilli flakes, oregano to taste (or any other herb you like)
Cheese- lots
Butter

Method

Saute the brinjal in butter (with a bit of salt), and when almost done, add the corn, and stir a bit more.
Heat milk, stir a bit of it into the cornflour to make a paste, and when the milk comes to a boil, add the cornflour, stir well, and cook for about 2 mins. Add salt, cheese and anything else you might want to add to the sauce, before pouring it over the baigan and corn.
Sprinkle grated cheese on top, and bake at 180 degrees for about 10 mins.

Chilean 'humitas'

When I saw this recipe posted on Indian Food Freak, I just had to try. The kids and I love corn, and I have been meaning to make a corn chowder ever since I was mesmerized by the smell of corn from the thela-gadi parked outside the apartment building.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull off wrapping it in corn leaves and boiling it, but everyone was so encouraging, I had to give it a try. And I am glad I did, because despite all my misgivings, it turned out pretty good.
The recipe that was originally posted by Gabriela Avendano required you to scrape the corn off the cobs, but I cheated and used corn that was already plucked out. The recipe given here is the one that I ultimately followed.

Dehusked corn from two cobs
1 finely chopped onion
Basil
1 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of paprika- I substituted red chilli powder
salt to taste

Method:
Put the corn into a blender and grind coarsely.
Fry the onion, add to the corn purée with milk, and red chilli powder, to create a firm kind of paste, not too runny.
Season with salt.

Make the parcels using corn leaves & tie up with string.
Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes- while cooking, it should look like this.

Serve with a salad.
In Chile, some people sprinkle castor sugar on their humitas instead of salt when served, but I went with salt instead.

Roast chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables

Growing up in a former British colony, Roast Chicken was one of the few non-vegetarian dishes that I ate regularly. This recipe is by Monica Bakre, who got it handed down from the coffee planters family that she married into!

For Roast Chicken
5 chicken legs
5 tbsps soya sauce
2.5 tbsps Worcesterchire sauce
5 tbsps olive / refined oil
1 tsp chilli powder

Method
Marinate the chicken legs in the chilli powder, soya sauce,Worcestershire sauce and oil for aboutt 2 hours. TIP- Do not make slits in the legs as they have to undergo 3 processes of cooking.
Take some ghee in a thick bottomed vessel and fry each marinated leg at a time and keep it separate. Do so for all the legs individually.
Then put all the fried legs back into the vessel along with the marinade and cover to cook. You may add a little water now.
Once the chicken legs get cooked , take them out of the marinade and keep aside.
Just before serving, roast the cooked chicken legs in an oven for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees.
Pour heated marinade over the roasted chicken legs and serve with boiled carrots, beans, peas, corn, or mashed potatoes.

For Mashed potatoes :
Boil 2-3 potatoes well ,peel and mash them.
Add a little milk and beat the potato mash in a hand beater.
 
For Steamed vegetables
Carrots
Beans
Peas
 
Steam all the vegetables in a microwave for 3 minutes, till slightly cooked. Drain out excess water. Season with salt and pepper. 

For corn
Heat 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add the corn kernals, and saute till slightly brown. Season with salt and pepper.

Creamed corn

Many years ago, when I was hosting a party for my father-in-law, I made a creamy corn salad using tinned corn. It tasted amazing and was the only dish that was completely polished off by the guests. Unfortunately, however, I haven't been able to replicate that success, since most of the goodness came out of the can itself.
This dish is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, and comes close to what the original dish was like.

Take 100 gms American corn (basically, two packets sold by the subjiwala). Keep 3/4th aside, and roughly grind the rest in a mortar till it forms a rough paste.
Fry 6 spring onions (only the onion part, chopped fine) in 1 tbsp butter till soft.
When it turns transparent, add the whole corn, the ground corn, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to boil, lower heat, cover and let it simmer for 10 mins.
Add 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 cup cream and cook on low heat till the cream thickens.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sweet corn Chicken Soup, without chicken stock

When the weather turns cold, you turn to warm soups. And few soups sound more tempting than sweet-corn  chicken soup. There was only one small problem- no chicken stock at home, so one had to experiment!

Bring half a chicken chicken (about 350-400 gms) with 4 cups of water to boil, and let it cook on low heat for 45 mins till the chicken is tender. Strain out the chicken, shred it and keep aside.
Fry 6-8 pods garlic and 1 medium onion chopped fine in 1 tbsp butter till the onion starts browning. Add about 50 gms of American corn, and fry till it starts changing colour.
Pour the chicken stock into the pan, and cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
Make a smooth paste with 1 tbsp cornflour and sufficient water, add to the mixture (stirring constantly), add about 1 cup water, bring to boil, and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Throw in the shredded chicken (I chopped it fine too, but realized it was quite unnecessary), and add salt and soya sauce to taste.