Category: Starter

Aug 13

Lentil Soup with Lemon

SERVES: 4

 

 

  • Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion has turned golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, kosher salt, black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of chili powder. Cook and stir 2 minutes more until the spices are fragrant.

  • Stir in the chicken broth, lentils, and carrot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 30 minutes.

  • Pour half of the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot. Do not puree all of the soup, leave it a little chunky.

  • Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro, then season to taste with salt. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of chili powder to serve.

     

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/160051/lentil-soup-with-lemon/

 

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Aug 13

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup

SERVES: 6

 

  • Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion in the pot. Stir and cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

  • Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and vegetable broth into the pot with the apple and vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.

  • Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.

  • Return the pureed soup to the cooking pot. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. Add water as needed to thin the soup to your preferred consistency. Serve with yogurt for garnish.

     

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/186378/sweet-potato-carrot-apple-and-red-lentil-soup/

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Aug 13

Cream of Mushroom Soup

SERVES: 6

 

  • In a large heavy saucepan, cook mushrooms in the broth with onion and thyme until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.

  • In blender or food processor, puree the mixture , leaving some chunks of vegetable in it. Set aside.

  • In the saucepan, melt the butter, whisk in the flour until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, half and half and vegetable puree. Stirring constantly, bring soup to a boil and cook until thickened. Adjust seasonings to taste, and add sherry.

     

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13096/cream-of-mushroom-soup-i/

 

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Aug 13

Mulligatawny Soup

SERVES: 6

  • Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour.

  • Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

  • When serving, add hot cream.

     

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13087/mulligatawny-soup-i/

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Aug 13

Chicken Tortilla Soup

SERVES: 4

 

  • In a large pot over medium heat, cook and stir chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice, and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.

  • Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the Monterey Jack cheese and a little sour cream.

 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15840/chicken-tortilla-soup-v/

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Aug 13

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

SERVES: 8

 

  • In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken. Bring just to boiling, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet. Cover and remove from heat.

  • Step 2

    In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.

  • Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.

     

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23852/creamy-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/

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Aug 13

Ham and Potato Soup

SERVES: 8

Ingredients

 

Directions

  1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
  2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
  3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/56927/delicious-ham-and-potato-soup/

 

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Aug 13

Roasted sweet potato & carrot soup

SERVES: 4

 

Ingredients

  • 500g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 300g carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • onions, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1l vegetable stock
  • 100ml crème fraîche, plus extra to serve

Method

  1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/ gas 7 and put 500g chunked sweet potatoes and 300g chunked carrots into a large roasting tin, drizzled with 2 tbsp olive oil and plenty of seasoning.
  2. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 25-30 mins or until caramelised and tender.
  3. Meanwhile, put the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large deep saucepan and fry 2 finely chopped onions over a medium-low heat for about 10 mins until softened.
  4. Add 2 crushed garlic cloves and stir for 1 min before adding 1l vegetable stock. Simmer for 5-10 mins until the onions are very soft, then set aside.
  5. Once the roasted vegetables are done, leave to cool a little, then transfer to the saucepan and use a hand blender to process until smooth. Stir in 100ml crème fraîche, a little more seasoning and reheat until hot.
  6. Serve in bowls topped with a swirl of crème fraîche and a good grinding of black pepper.

 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/roasted-sweet-potato-carrot-soup

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Jun 24

Chicken Satay

SERVES: 4

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CHICKEN
stalk lemongrass, ends and outer layer removed, smashed and chopped into 1″ pieces
80 ml coconut milk
225 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1″ pieces
1 tsp. ground turmeric
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. lime juice
cloves garlic, chopped
shallot, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp. chilli paste
FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE
125 g smooth peanut butter
60 ml reserved marinade
1 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. lime zest
clove garlic, grated
1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
60 ml boiling water
Chopped peanuts, for garnish
Freshly chopped coriander, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
  1. Soak bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 15 minutes. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine lemongrass and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Strain and reserve lemongrass pieces for marinade.
  2. In a medium bowl, toss turmeric and chicken together to coat.
  3. In a food processor, combine coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, garlic, shallot, ginger, and chilli paste and blend until smooth, scraping down sides if necessary. Set aside 60ml marinade for peanut sauce.
  4. Pour remaining marinade and reserved lemongrass into the chicken bowl and toss to coat. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
  5. Meanwhile, make peanut sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk all sauce ingredients until smooth and well combined.
  6. Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade and spear 3 pieces onto each skewer. Grill, flipping once, until chicken is cooked through and slightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes each side.
  7. Sprinkle satay with chopped peanuts and coriander and serve with peanut sauce.
https://www.delish.com/uk/cooking/recipes/a30279311/chicken-satay-recipe/

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Jun 24

Pork and shrimp siu mai

MAKES: 30 large/45 small

20 grams dried Chinese mushrooms (two to four, depending on size)
150 grams peeled fresh shrimp
350 grams slightly fatty minced pork
15ml light soy sauce
10ml rice wine
5ml sesame oil
¾ tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp finely ground white pepper
¾ tsp cornstarch
Wheat wrappers, as necessary
Flying fish roe (optional)
Spring onions (optional)

To serve:
Light soy sauce
Sesame oil
Chilli oil or chilli sauce

1 Briefly rinse the dried mushrooms, then put them in a bowl and add cool water to cover. Let them soak for two to three hours or until completely hydrated.

2 When the mushrooms are soft, squeeze out the excess water then cut off and discard the stems. Very finely mince the mushroom caps and the shrimp and put them in a bowl.

3 Add the pork, soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, salt, sugar, pepper and cornstarch to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

4 Drizzle in 50ml of iced water and, with your hand, stir the mixture in one direction, until you see long white protein threads forming. This doesn’t take long (about 15-30 seconds, depending on how vigorously you stir) and makes the filling more cohesive.

5 Check the seasonings by shaping a teaspoonful of the filling into a ball and pan-frying it in a skillet. Taste and correct the seasonings of the rest of the filling, if necessary.

6 If making smaller siu mai from larger wrappers, stack about 10 of them at a time, then use a sharp round metal cutter to cut them into 5cm-6cm circles.

7 Put the wrapper in the palm of your left hand (if you’re right-handed) and spoon some filling into the centre. Bring up the sides of the wrapper to form an open-topped dumpling, with pleated sides. The filling should come all the way to the top of the wrapper.

Smooth the surface and press the sides of the wrapper so they adhere to the filling, then flatten the bottom of the dumpling by pressing it onto a work surface so it stands upright. Line a bamboo steamer with a circle of parchment paper and place the dumplings into it, leaving a little space between each one.

8 Pour water to a depth of about 3cm in a wok. Place a round rack with low feet in the wok, cover with the lid and boil the water over a high flame. Place the bamboo steamer onto the rack in the wok and place the lid on top. Steam over a high flame for eight to 10 minutes, or until the siu mai are cooked. Occasionally check the water in the bottom of the wok, and add more boiling water if necessary.

9 When the siu mai are cooked, put a dab of flying fish roe (if using) on each one, or scatter with minced spring onion.

10 Serve immediately, letting each guest make their own dipping sauce with soy sauce, sesame oil and chilli oil or chilli sauce.

 

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3086082/how-make-pork-and-shrimp-siu-mai-easy-dim-sum

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