REAL Tale from My Kitchen

My life seemed to be all about soups yesterday until the chance took over. Oh well, I’ll better put a particular order in my narration. *smiles*

So, there was a ‘Pumpkin Soup’ in my earphones (shocked? *wink, wink, wink* Why? It’s just a song! *giggles*), two different types of soup (both equally delicious, but upon this later*) simmering on my stovetop (blimey, it’s working all right now), and an ever-expanding girl’s dilemma which soup to choose for my lunch. Oh, it’s such an ordeal to have to be making a choice between things you want both. I guess you might be saying it’s not a big deal to have two soups for lunch (I indeed could turn it into a soup tasting party, couldn’t I *smiles*), but I also had sweet and honest intentions for a desert afterwards. *a glow in my eyes and a very broad smile* You fee where I’m going, don’t you? *wink, wink, wink* Yes, I had to make a decision. And not the easiest one, I would say.

Probably I’d be staying in my kitchen for AGES** psyching myself up to make a judicious choice if I didn’t get injured (!!!) eventually. A can of chickpeas fell off out of a kitchen cupboard right on my feet (I assume I opened that cupboard for some reason, though I don’t seem to remember that namely reason now *a very sheepish expression of my face*). So the can of chickpeas and my aching feet was enough for me to decide on the spot what I was going to cook. Chickpeas with potatoes, I’m proud to say! (I’ve been wondering how I could have passed an exam in logic in my university so successfully. Hm.).

*****Chick Peas and Potatoes Masala*****

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 whole glove
2-3 small dried red chillies, crashed
1 small onion, chopped
1 glove garlic, crushed
1 Tsp tamarind paste
400 ml canned tomatoes, trimmed and pureed
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander
½ tsp each ground cinnamon and ground cloves
2 small potatoes, diced
400 g can chick peas, thoroughly rinsed and drained
½ tsp organic smoke extract
Fresh herbs, to garnish

Method:

1. Heat oil in large non-stick pan. Add fennel seeds, whole clove and dried red chilli and sauté until lightly browned.

2. Add onion and garlic and sauté until softened.

3. Add tamarind paste to pureed tomatoes and stir/mix very well to avoid any lumps of tamarind paste (it dawned upon me to use an egg whisk for this purpose). You should undertake this before starting to cook, for dissolving a tamarind paste is a time-consuming procedure.

4. Add tomatoes with tamarind paste and all ground spices to onion and garlic and cook until oily specks are on the surface of the mixture. At this point add potatoes and chi peas and mix well.

5. Bring to boil, cover with a lid, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25-35 mins, or until potatoes are cooked and tender (not mushy).

6. Stir in ½ tsp organic smoke extract, chopped parsley/coriander and serve with your favourite bread.

The salt isn’t featured in this dish at all, ‘cause the tamarind paste plays the entire trick of enriching the dish with a sourish/slightly salty taste. All the spices compliment each other so well that tomato base of the dish is given a rich and incredibly flavourful texture. As to the smoke extract it adds up a subtle smoky undertone that by a twist of your imagination brings you to a mysterious Asian land…



In the light of aforementioned circumstances I couldn’t help but maintaining an Asian theme of my Sunday lunch*** and opted for an Indian tomato soup the recipe of which you can find on Nicky's fantastic blog.

Ah, and now I’d like to brag just a little bit, can I? *smiles* I’ve got a new pet and its name is Dark Belgian Chocolate with Cinnamon. HEAVENS! (Tiina, are you reading this? *wink, wink, wink*) So, my desert was as humble as my intentions…A square of the treasure that crowned up my royal feast. Truth be told I even didn’t care I’d got a small mishap in my kitchen earlier. I might as well call it happiness, mightn’t I? *smiles*

*Not to be talking in riddles for now I’ll just mention it’s an Indian- and French-style soups, either of which featuring red lentils. Yum!
** A note: an indecisive girl can easily starve herself to death. Huh.
*** For such an occasion I even dressed up in an Indian style (i believe it was more of if-you-say-A-say-B kind of a thing rather than me getting totally nuts *smiles*). Thank you, L., for giving me that lovely dress I simply adore!