Instant pot Spicy Black Bean Soup

Black beans are rich in fiber and good for you. I am sure you know all the good stuff about including beans regularly in your diet. This black bean soup is filling and keeps you satisfied.

We had this for dinner with some corn bread, sliced avocado.

Can also be paired with a salad and sour cream on the soup.

Let us get to the recipe.

1 medium onion sliced

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 cup celery diced

1 cup bell pepper diced

1/2 cup carrots diced

1 roma tomato diced

2 cans of black beans ( without salt)

2 tbsp cumin powder

2 tsp red chili powder or to taste

2 tsp salt or to taste

water 1 cup

lots of cilantro

Juice from 1 small lime

2 tbsp oil

Method

turn the instant pot to sauté mode. Add the oil and once it’s hot sauté the onions garlic and tomatoes till the onion is soft and translucent.

add the celery carrots diced bell peppers and give them a toss.

add the cumin powder red chili powder salt and give them a toss.

add the two cans of washed and drained black beans to the instant pot and give them a toss with the veggies and onion mixture.

cancel sauté. Cover the instant pot. Sealing, with pressure cook for 3 minutes

wait for natural pressure release.

immerse your stick / immersion blender into the instant pot and give it a couple of pulses to get the soup into a creamy consistency with the black beans.

alternatively you can take a couple of ladles of the soup and use the immersion blender separately and then pour that mixture into the instant pot

check for salt and other spices and adjust as per your taste.

add lots of cilantro and squeeze the lime juice.

Enjoy your soup warm.

This soup freezes well and would be a great option to take for lunch if there are any leftovers. This recipe was adopted from cookie and Kate. The blending of the black beans gives a very creamy consistency to the soup Black beans are rich in fiber and good for you. I am sure you know all the good stuff about including beans regularly in your diet. This black bean soup is filling and keeps you satisfied.

We had this for dinner with some corn bread, sliced avocado.

Can also be paired with a salad and sour cream on the soup.

Oven baked Karela/ Oven baked Bitter Melon

I have posted couple of karela / pagakka recipes Stuffed karela, karela fry

This recipe was shared by my friend, and I have tried it couple of times and comes out very tasty. I have used 6 small karelas. There is no recipe as such, the addition of all masala powders are per your taste. Me and my husband really enjoyed this and.

Get ready:

• 5-6 karelas washed

For the marinade:

• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 -2 tsp red chili powder
• 1-2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp amchur powder (optional)
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Go

• Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Line a baking sheet with foil and brush a table spoon of oil. Set this aside.

• Scrape / peel the outer ridges of the karela. You can omit this step if you don't care for a little more bitterness. You can either discard the scrapings or use it in the marinade as well.
• Cut the karelas in half and scoop out the seeds using a spoon.

• Cut the karelas in thin circles.

• In a bowl add the circular slices of karela, all the ingredients  under marinade and toss them all well with clean hands. You want the marinade to fully coat the karelas.
• Adjust salt and spices as per taste.

• Cover this and let it marinate on the counter for 20-30 mins
• Spread the karelas on the lined baking sheet and bake them for 20-30 mins or until crisp.

• Remove from the oven and serve. If you want crispier, let the karelas sit in the oven for few more minutes after you turn the oven off.

Tastes great with rice, by itself as a munching snack and with yogurt.

Try this and tell me if you like it.

Murungai Keerai Stir Fry/ Moringa leaves Stir Fry

Recently I planted some" murungaikkai" seeds and had a small plant growing in my container. While trying to research as how to plant it in the soil, I came across a lot of information about "Moringa" which is how the western world calls our murungaikkai!

It seems Moringa is one of the health foods that has super duper healing powers to cure any ailment listed in the medical textbooks! Well, Our grandmothers and mothers knew this way before wikipedia knew! We all remember the famous Bhagyaraj movie where he uses murungakkai as an aphrodisiac. He is a genius man, I am telling you!

Many homes in south India will have a Moringa tree and we use the pods for making sambar! The aroma of well seasoned murungakkai sambar is just AMAZING. The green leaves are used to make kari, kootu, added in adai or used while making ghee!

while having a conversation with my medical assistants, I heard that one of them had this tree in their house and did not know what to do with the leaves etc. After I explained all the things we do with murungakkai, my MA brought me a whole bag of those leaves.

And, I made this stir fry with Moringa leaves. My family cooks this keerai only with moong dal, coconut ( No onion or garlic) and that is how I remember eating this. I used onions and cooked murungaikkeerai after many many years. I had some friends over and they all loved this dish. i shared this with my medical assistant who also liked the dish.  I want to share this recipe with you all.

Once you have the leaves, remove them from the stem, it is called " elai ayaradhu". The leaves are tiny and one does not need to chop them, but i gave it a rough chop! Like any other greens, once cooked the leaves reduce in quantity.

Get Ready

• 3-4 cups of moringa leaves washed and roughly chopped
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves chopped ( optional)
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1/4 cup moong dal washed and soaked in water X 20 mins
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1 red chilli broken in half
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1-1/2 tsp salt or per taste

Go:

• In a pan, add oil and do the tadka with mustard seeds, urad dal , red chilli and as asafoetida. 
• Once the mustard splutters and the urad dal is golden brown, add the onions and saute till translucent

• add the chopped moringa leaves, the soaked and drained moong dal.

• add salt to taste, reduce flame and mix all well. do not cover and cook as the greens will become dark
• Add the sugar, this helps to keep the green color and also takes away the  slight bitterness from moringa leaves.
• The leaves will wilt and cook everything till the moong dal is soft, but still retaining it's shape.
• Adjust salt as per taste.
• Add grated coconut and give everything a toss.

•  Turn the heat off. To make it more flavorful, add a tsp of coconut oil at the end.

Serve as a side for rasam, sambar or morkuzhambu!

Spaghetti with Creamy Avocado

If you are like me, who can eat avocados with anything, then you should try this recipe.

My daughter saw me cut the avocados and said' yew, green!".

 Then I  played the roll of a sneaky chef and made my 6 year old eat avocado with out any complaints! Sh.....

There is no butter or cream and is a perfect dish for all you low carb eaters!

There is no recipe, honestly and I did not take pictures as I cooked the dish! My kids finished this and I ended eating the creamy avocado on a simple bread toast for dinner.

Get Ready ( serves 2 kids)

• Avocado 1, pitted and remove the flesh.
• Bunch of cilantro, washed and picked
• salt to taste
• 1 clove of garlic peeled
• 1 small green chili / optional
• Lemon juice to tatste
• Spaghetti or any pasta cooked aldente, ( took 3 fistful of dry spaghetti)
•  1 tsp of olive oil
• 4-5 grape tomatoes halved ( optional)

Go

• In a blender/ food processor add the avocado, chili, cilantro, garlic, salt and lemon juice. blend till creamy, set aside.
• Cook the pasta aldente, drain and toss in some olive oil
• Add the avocado mixture to the pasta and toss them well in a bowl
• Add the cherry tomatoes and serve.

I added a little of store brought marinara sauce over this for my little one and she did not even know.

Other variations:

• Use basil or spinach to grind with the avocado.
• Add some streamed corn or any beans of your choice to the cooked pasta.

How easy is that for a week night dinner, folks?

Check out my Chilled Avocado Soup and

Spaghetti Squash Mezhukkupuratti / Spaghetti Squash Curry

Spaghetti Squash is a vegetable that I've known here in the US. All the google searches came up with the recipe of using it as a spaghetti with tomato  sauce. That was not too exciting for me. I wanted to make a dish out of the squash that could be eaten with rice, rasam.

Foe those, who don't know, spaghetti squash is a low cal vegetable from the squash family. The flesh inside it looks like this spaghetti or semiya.

source: here

I baked it first and then cooked it with Indian spices. However, I guess you can steam it in a pressure cooker as well. I am going to try that and update the blog.

It tasted so good with rasam, rice and curd rice! The use of little coconut oil brings out a great aroma for this bland vegetable.

The tadka with coconut oil and asafoetida will be so inviting in your kitchen!


Get Ready ( serves 2-3)

• 1 Spaghetti squash
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp olive oil or vegetable oil
• salt to taste

For tempering/ tadka

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal/ ulutham paruppu
• 1 red chilli split into 2
• 1/4 tsp black pepper corns
• few sprigs of curry leaves
• A pinch of asofoetida

Go

• Pre heat the oven to 400 F
• Wash and cut the spaghetti squash length wise. remove all the seeds and strands

• Arrange the squash with cut side facing down in a baking dish. Add a little water inside the baking dish. this will help the squash steam and cook better.

• Bake in the oven for 30 mins.

• Once cooled, take a fork and shred all the flesh. It will come out as long noodles. Set this aside.

• In a pan, add the oil and do the tadka. Once the mustard seed splutters, and urad dal turns goldern brown, add the curry leaves, asafoetida and the shredded spaghetti squash. 

• Add salt and mix all gently till combined. Cook uncovered till all the water has been absorbed for about 5- 10 mins. Check salt and adjust according to taste.
• Serve with  steaming rice as a side dish or with chapathi's

Garnish with cilantro and squeeze a little lime juice and serve ( Optional).

My picky 6 year old and ever hungry teenage son loved it!

Kale Chips

Source: Mindbodygreen

Let us imagine you are at your local grocery store/ supermarket. You are intrigued by the dark green curly leaves sitting on your grocery store shelf. You are thinking ," Hm.. is it spinach, lettuce?" By this time you walk close to the aisle and read the label " Curly Leaf or Dinosur Kale". You think," oh well, whatever! i don't know how to cook it, never tasted it". I am sure DH or my kids won't eat this any way!You just pick up our good old spinach and move on!

I don't know about you, I surely have done this many times!  kale is on a abrgain now. So I had the courage to pick up a bunch! Your mood is , Heck, it is only $ 1.99 even if I waste it, i want to try it!

BTW kale has a lot of antioxidants, you know the same good stuff seen in Broccoli, sweet potatoes :))

And that is exactly what I did!
Found everyone raving about Kale chips and I had to make it!
So, Here it goes!

Get Ready

• 1 bunch of Kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon dosai milagai podi ( can be replaced with chilli powder, chaat masala etc)
• Kosher salt to taste

Go

• Pre heat oven to 350 F. Line your cookie sheet with foil. helps with cleaning, trust me!
• Wash the bunch of kale and  rip the leaves into large bite size pieces. make sure you don't include the thick vein in the middle, as it is hard to chew!
• In a bowl add the oil and milagai podi.
• Add the kale leaves and gently toss them all so the oil and spices are well coated on the leaves.
• Arrange them separately on a baking sheet. Sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

• Bake for 15 mins or till the leaves are crispy.

Let them cool and store them in an air tight box.

Snack on them as much ( not much with 1 bunch though) you want guilt free!