Thai curry Butternut Squash Soup

It's fall already ! The year has flown by so soon. I remember last December I went home to India and now its almost December again :O. Come Fall and there are different winter squashes and pumpkins available everywhere. They are hard to avoid. I haven't experimented a lot with butternut squash, but I seem to be liking it a lot lately. When its cold and rainy, there is nothing like a hot bowl of hearty home made soup.
A few weeks back I made a thai inspired butternut squash soup, which is hearty, easy to make and fills you up. I will not be surprised if you have most of the ingredients for this recipe in your pantry. This soup is dairy free and delicious.

Thai Butternut squash soup.

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash peeled, cubed and de-seeded ( 2 cups )
2-3 cloves of Garlic cut finely
1 small onion diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red thai curry paste
4 cups Vegetable stock
14 oz can coconut milk
Salt & Pepper
Cilantro chopped
Roasted peanuts - for garnish

* In a heavy bottomed pot, add olive oil, onions and garlic. Add a dash of salt to help it cook. The onions will turn a light pink and start sweating.

* Add the red thai curry paste and cook for another 2 mins.

* Now add your butternut squash and vegetable stock. Close with lid and let it cook for 10-15 mins or until soft.

* Once it is soft, take it off the stove and blend either in a blender or use an immersion blender to puree it. The puree will be very thick. Add the coconut milk, salt and pepper. Adjust with water if its too thick.

* Put the pot back on the stove and let it simmer for a few minutes until everything has blended properly. Do not let the mixture boil.

Serve with chopped cilantro and peanuts. I also like adding a dash of lime for an authentic thai taste. To make it more spicy trying adding siracha or red chilli flakes to the soup as it cooks. We added a dash of siracha and it elevated the flavor of the soup .

I hope you all enjoy.

My Grandma's Potatoes in indian spices

I have been wanting to write every week, but since I have started my marketing internship, my days have gotten very busy and hectic. This recipe is a traditional gujrati recipe and is my grandma's. My grandma is a great cook. She brings a lot of flavor into every dish with her magical hands. She taught me how to make this dish many years ago when I was in college, its been my fav and most loved dish ever since. I hope you enjoy making it.

Potatoes sabji 

Ingredients

4-5 Medium sized Potatoes
10 Broken cashews
10 Golden raisins
2-3 Curry leaves
2-3 tbsp Oil.
1 tsp Cumin seeds
5 Sprigs of Cilantro

Spices:
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
   1 tsp Chilli powder
1/4 tsp Gharam masala
   2 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste.

   Boil the potatoes in a pot or in the microwave. The potatoes should be cooked completely.

    Once the potatoes are boiled, cool , peel and cut into cubes. Placed the cubed potatoes in a bowl.
    Add all the spices listed under spices to the potatoes.

In a thick bottomed pan, add 2-3 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, in a few mins the cumin will turn golden. Add that moment, add the cashews, raisins and curry leaves. Sautee for a few minutes until the cashews are golden and the raisins have plumped up.

Now add the already spiced potatoes into the pan. Then stir and cook until the spices have blended into each other.

Garnish with chopped coriander.

Enjoy with roti !!!

Homemade Ice Cream with no Cream !!!

A few weeks ago, I had been binging on sugar. Sugar in chocolate syrup, cake, mochas and chocolate !  I decided to put my sugar cravings at a stop by going on a sugar free diet from Monday - Friday, so apart from sugar in my coffee, I dont add any sugar any where else. Being so hard on oneself, you want to treat yourself to a sugar free dessert during the week. Here is my recipe of a homemade ice-cream made without any special equipment, dairy free, vegan and no added sugar.

Let's not waste anytime and get to the recipe, Frozen Banana & Cherry Ice Cream. I have adapted this recipe from The Simple Veganista blog. 

Ingredients:

*2  Bananas

*1 cup frozen cherries

*Chopped Chocolate

You will need to plan ahead of time to make this for dessert. If you have bananas that have browned lying on your kitchen counter, those are just perfect for this dessert. Peel the skins of, place them on a baking sheet and freeze them.

Cherry me red ;)

For frozen cherries, you can buy them frozen straight from the grocery store or freeze them by yourself. But if you will need to pit fresh cherries before freezing them.

Cherries !

Do not buy a special pitting machine for pitting just a few cherries as I think its just a waste of money. You can use a simple pastry tip or chop sticks to remove the pits. After you pit the cherries, freeze the cherries the same way as the bananas. 

The fruits need at least 3 - 4 hours to freeze.

Banans and Cherries ready to be frozen !

Once your fruits are frozen. Put them in a food processor or blender and blend, if its too hard to blend let it sit for 2-3 minutes and blend again.

Pitted cherries

The consistency should be thick and creamy just like a real ice-cream. Serve with chopped chocolate !!! You need to serve this immediately, as it is a soft serve ice-cream. And is an easy dessert to serve if you have guests.

I hope you do enjoy serving this homemade ice-cream with no cream.  

Soft serve frozen banana-cherry home made ice-cream with no cream ! 

My bowl of ice-cream