My voice is back and I have turned to Indian food

I feel better today than I have done in days!
My voice is back and my breathing is much better, though I don't plan on singing anything anytime soon (my voice sounds like I have smoked 60 cigaretts a day for 60 years).
It's finally a little warmer outside, so I took the dogs walking for an hour this afternoon. It was nice, and I think the fresh air did me good.



Back home, I decided to make Indian Pulao for dinner. This is a dish from west India, and is an easy but tasty dish of spiced rice with vegetables.
The spices used are cumin and garam masala, and you can find the vegetables in every store. It's a perfect dish for a Friday night when you want something easy and fast to put on the table.

Indian Pulao
(serves 4)

6 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp cashew nuts (I used unsalted nuts)
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
3 oz fresh or frozen sweet corn (I used canned)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garam masala powder
2 tbsp golden raisins, chopped
salt to taste
1 cup uncooked rice (I used basmati rice)


Heat oil in a heavy pan and fry the cashew nuts until golden.
Drain and reserve.

Add vegetables and the spices to the pan. Fry for a few minutes.
Add rice and 1 1/2 cup of water. Cook until rice is done and vegetables are soft but still crisp, about 10-15 minutes.

Add cashew nuts and golden raisons and serve hot.

I ate this dish as it is, but DH - the Meat Eater - had some butter fried white fish to go with it. I'm happy to report we both liked it.

I have bronchitis and I can't exercise.

I hate being sick. I just hate it!
As it happens, I have gotten bronchitis and it hurts to breathe in the cold air outside.
I drink a lot of water every day, but I need solid food too. Unfortunately, nothing tastes good these days. It's like my mouth has dried up and my taste buds went numb. It's a food bloggers nightmare!



I spent today at a university and we had lunch at the univerity cafeteria. First I bought pasta with a spicy tomato sauce, but then it turned out the tomato sauce had sausages in it. I was hungry so I moved the sausages to one end of the plate and tasted the pasta with just the spicy tomato sauce on top, but the sauce was so spicy it set my mouth on fire.

So I switched to a salad with falafel. The falafel tasted great, and that was fortunate because they didn't have any vinagrettes and I can't stand the creamy stuff - so I ate my salad bare.
The salad itself tasted nothing. I guess my numb palate couldn't pick up the flavors from the shredded carrots, the corn, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, but the falafel itself rocked. I guess garlic is the cold curing spice for a reason.

I can't wait to be over the bronhitis and getting back to my normal cook-and-eat mode.

French pistou soup

When I was in southern France last fall, I heard about a vegetable soup called Pistou soup. Unfortunately, I never got to try it when I was in France, but once I got home I did a search for it.
Pistou soup is originally a summer vegetable soup, but people who know me, knows that I don't have patience to wait another six months to try a new recipe when I really, really want to try it. As in right now!


This recipe is from Taste, and I must admit it's one of the best soups I have ever tasted. Why this soup isn't as famous as Minestrone soup is beyond me.
I did one small change: I didn't have a can of mixed beans so I used butterbeans instead.
Also, make sure you use goos pesto, because it works wonders for the flavour!



Pistou soup

Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tbs olive oil
1 leek, white part only, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
1 large potato, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
2 cups (500ml) good-quality chicken or vegetable stock
1 tomato, peeled, seeds removed, cut into 1cm cubes
420g can four-bean mix, drained, rinsed
50g thin French or thin green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2cm lengths
1 large zucchini, chopped
4 tbs (1/3 cup) good-quality basil pesto
Chargrilled bread or baguette, to serve

Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan, add leek and sweat over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the carrot and potato and cook, stirring, for a further minute.

Add stock and 1 cup water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 5 minutes, then add tomato, four-bean mix, French or green beans and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for a further 2 minutes, stir in half the pesto, then ladle into serving bowls.

Add a dollop of remaining pesto. Serve with bread.

Vegetarian inspiration - some would call it an addiction.

I don't just like cookbooks, I love them. Love, love, love them!
My vegetarian project gave me an excellent excuse to buy some more.
In all fairness, I did have a few already, but to be inspired for an entire year, I figured I could add some more.
And so I did.

I have heard some fantastic stories about Jack Bishops Italian Vegetarian. Some even says it's the best vegetarian cookbook out there today. I can't wait to dig into this one. I have been reading it for a couple of days and I have to admit, it looks very promising.


Arto Der Haroutunians cookbook Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East has gotten rave reviews. I have read a little in it and it looks promising. I also love Middle Eastern food, so I can't see how this can go wrong.


More Easy Beans by Irish Ross and Jacquie Trafford also got rave reviews from the readers on Amazon.com. I have been looking for some good and tasty bean recipes because I don't think I'll be comfortable spending this year eating mock meat. I don't hold anything against mock meat, but I have asked myself why someone would go vegetarian and then continue eating fake meat when there are so many wonderful legumes and vegetables out there.
I have a strong faith in this book. It has a ton of information about beans and legumes in the beinning of the book, and a great explanation on reasons for gas after eating beans. *LOL*


This cookbook, New Vegetarian by Robin Asbell, is my wild card.
To be honest, I bought this book because of the lovely picture on the cover. How could anyone who is seriously interested in cookig, walk past a picture like this?
For the record, the picture displays a Grilled Vegetable Sformato.


The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman is another cookbook in the rave review-category. I don't think I have read one negative thing about this book. I also like roasted vegetables in general. I really hope this book will turn out to be a good investment, because I need more recipes on roasted vegetables.


The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia is a beautiful cookbook. Just beautiful!
The recipes are more gourmet than the recipes from the other cookbooks, and it's definitely a cookbook for when you are going to entertain for friends or family. But boy will they be entertained! I can't wait to start cooking from this book!


Larousse Gastronomiques book on Vegetables and salads is a part of the Larousse Gastronomique, the world's most famous culinary reference book.
This book holds 600 salad and vegetable recipes, together with 80 recipes for sauces, dressings, pasrty, butter and stock. It's a great cookbook for when you need the basics - which I often do.


I have no idea why I bought this book. Delicious Jamaica by Yvonne McCalla Sobers is a small book (150 pages), but holds a lot of recipes. I have never been to Jamaica, and I have never eaten a jamaican dish. Add to that the fact that this book has no illustrations whatsoever, I think I'm in for an interesting ride with this one.


The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen looked so promising in the store, but after reading it a little closer, I'm disappointed already. Even before I have cooked as much as a single meal from it.
Why, you might ask?
Because I like cookbooks that uses ingredients that most of us can buy in the store. Many of the recipes uses cashew cream, which can be made from raw cashews. Well, I can't get raw cashews where I live.
Then there is a recipe that asks for Earth Balance. What the heck is Earth Balance??
Then there's the coffee extract, the hazelnut milk, juniper berries, agave nectar - and not to forget the mock meat.
In all fairness, this is a vegat cookbook as opposed to the others who are vegetarian cookbooks, but I don't see why I should need all these exotic ingredients and a wild kitchen science project (=mock meat) to satisfy my palate.
I have to admit, I will surprise myself if I ever cook anything out of this cookbook.

Can spinach soup cure a sore throat and an aching body?

This is not a great way to spend a Sunday. I think I'm getting a cold. My throat is sore, my body aches and I'm freezing cold.
I have buried myself under a blanket with a hot cup of tea, and I'm planning on staying under this blanket until I feel better. Or at least for another hour or so.

I made spinach soup last week and it was really good, and I'm think I might make it again today. It's so easy to make, it's hearty and tastes great. What more can you ask for in a simple soup, really?

Spinach soup

1 pound fresh spinach, rinsed and stalks removed (if you are using baby spinach, you don't have to bother about removing the stalks)
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream (or half a cup of heavy cream and half a cup of milk if you want to use less fat)
1 tbsp dried basil
juice from one lemon
salt and pepper to taste.

Hard boiled eggs if youlike them in your spinach soup.

Saute the spinach in a pot with a little oil.
After a few minutes, the spinach will collapse. Then you add the vegetable stock and basil, and bring the soup to a boil. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Add cream, and add salt and pepper to taste. Bring soup to a boil again, remove it from the plate and add the lemon juice.
NOTE: Don't bring the soup to a boil after you have added the lemon juice. The lemon juice will make the cream (or milk) separate if you bring it to a boil.

In blender or food processor, puree until smooth. Serve immediately.
I serve my soup with a hard boiled egg in the middle of the soup bowl. You could cut the egg in two to showcase the yellow wgg yolk. It would look beautiful against the green soup. But on this particular day, I was very hungry and my main priority was to get myself fed.