Lentil & zucchini soup

Ingredients:
2 red capsicums
1 zucchini
1 leek
250 gr lentils
1 l water
mix of spices for soups
salt
pepper
thyme
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tblsp vinegar

Wash the vegetables and cut them in thin slices. Wash the lentils and cook them in the water with the spices for 30 minutes (or 15 in pressure cooker). When the lentils are cooked, add the rest of the vegetables and cook 10 more minutes on low flame. Add salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar before serving and decorate with some thyme.

Easy winter soup

I've always said, I'm not a good blogger, spring has already come and I still have pictures of my winter dishes I didn't put on the blog. 

Ingredients:
3 patatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
160 gr pearl barley
water
olive oil
salt
pepper
chili powder

Soak the pearl barley in the water for at least 12 hours.
Cut the onion in small pieces and fry it until golden on a little bit of olive oil. Cut the potatoes in cubes and the carrot in very small pieces. Add the vegetables to the onion and add the pearl barley (without the water in wich it was soaked). Add some water (approximately 1 liter, but it depends on your taste), salt, peper and a little bit of chili powder (still depends on your taste). Cook stiring for approximately 1 hour (if you've soaked tha barney for 24 hous, in 40 minutes it should be cooked).

Serve hot with a slice of bread or just like that and enjoy your meal. :)

Cauliflower indian soup

I found this recipe in the book Le migliori ricette dall'India, I tried it and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 big potato

1 small cauliflower

1 onion

1 teaspoon of oil

1 clove of garlic

1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger

2 teaspoons of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of mustard

2 teaspoons of coriander powder

1 l of vegetable soup

300 ml of yoghurt

salt

pepper

Cut the potato in cubes, the cauliflower and onion and put it in a big pan with oil and 3 spoons of water. Cook it on low heat for 10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and the rest of the spices. Mix well and cook it for a few minutes. Add soup, salt and pepper. When it boils cook it for 20 minutes on low heat, then blend it and at the end add yoghurt. You can garnish with some chopped fresh coriander (but you'll never eat this in my home) or parsley. 

Carrots and ginger soup

Yes, I'm still alive and yes, I still cook. :) I haven't posted here for ages, I guess I had other priorities. I just came back from my last trip, this time from the Bavarian capital Munich and I can't wait to try to cook their tasty potatoes.

While I'm waiting for the first experiments in the new year, I'll post some recipes I've done ages ago, but I didn't have time to write them down. I've done so many cookies before Christmas, but I didn't bother to take pictures, so I can't post them here without a picture. Maybe I should do all of them one more time. :)

That's a recipe I tried after my visit in Berlin last october. I'm not sure it's a typical german dish, but since I tried it in Berlin first for me it's gonna be from Berlin. It became an extremly popular recipe in my house and my boyfriend asks me offen to do it. Today I'm sharing it with you, my few fellows.

Ingredients (4 persons):

carrots (500 gr)
potato (2)
onion (1 small)
ginger (2 cm)
curry (1/2 teaspoon)
curcuma (1/2 teaspoon)
knorr cube (1)
water (1,5 l)
olive oil (1 spoon)
salt
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds

Chop the onion, cut the potatoes and carrots in small cubes and the ginger in slim slices. In a pan fry the onion on olive oil, then add potatoes and carrots. Continue to stir and add the ginger. After a minute add the salt, curry and curcuma. Cover it with the water and a knorr cube. (That's the lazy version of the recipe, you could actually add a clear vegetable soup you did before.) Cook for 30 minutes in a coveres pan. Then blend it. Now you should have a creamy soup. Serve with sunflower and pumpkin seeds on the top. You can also serve with roasted bread cubes.
I hope you enjoy this meal.

Rocket soup with parmesan cheese

I found this really nice recipe in a book I have bought a few years ago in Ljubljana: Juhe (Kuhinja izbranih okusov). I have tried it (and modified the recipe just a bit, as usually) and it was very nice.


Ingredients:
potato (1 big)
rocket (250 gr)
onion (1 small)
garlic (1 piece)
olive oil (1 spoon)
water (0,5 l)
knorr cube
cream ( 0,2 l)
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese (40 gr)


Cook the potato for about 25 minutes, then drain the water, peel the potato and cut it in small cubes. Clean the rocket and leave some leafs on the side for decoration. Cut the rest of the rocket in small pieces. Peel the onion and garlic and chop in small pieces. Fry them in a pan with a spoon of olive oil. Just before it becomes brown, add the water and the knorr cube, leave it on low heat until the cube melts. Add the cream and mix. Then add the potato cubes and the chopped rocket. Pass the soup through the strainer. Add salt and pepper. Put the soup in a plate, add some rocket leafs on the top and some grated parmesan cheese (it doesn't have to be really thin) and serve.

Lentils soup with amaranth

Some time ago I discovered amaranth, a cereal original from central America. I had some difficulties to find it here, where I live, but at the end I found it and I've tried a recipe that I found here. I've modified it a bit, as usually.

Ingredients:
lentils (1 cup)
amaranth (2 cups)
water
onion (1)
carrot (1)
salt
black pepper
chilli powder





Cook the amaranth in the water for 20 minutes. Cook the lentils in another pan for 10 minutes, cover them with water and put some salt, but at the end put away all the restant water. Put the lentils and the other vegetables (chopped onion and chopped carrot) in another pan and add the lentils. Add the knorr cube, some water, salt, pepper and hot chilli powder. Cook for 10-15 minutes and then add the amaranth. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, but check when it's ready. Then serve. You can serve with small pieces of garlic bread (but I haven't, I didn't have time to prepare them). 

Creamy asparagus soup

It's spring time and the nature is giving us a lot of vegetables and fruits. It's good to eat seasonal food, it's healthier and cheaper (and we help the environment as well). I've tried asparagus creamy soop. I found the recipe here, but I've modified a few things.

Ingredients:
fresh asparagus (600 gr)
potato (1)
cream (100 gr)
water
knorr cube
olive oil
onion (1)
lemon juice
salt
black pepper

Chop the asparagus in small peaces, but keep the top. Chop the onion and the potato. Put some olive oil in a pan, add the chopped vegetables and mix. Cover the pan and mix from time to time. After 10 minutes add 0,5 l of water and knorr cube. Boil it for 20 minutes, then pass everything through the strainer. Add some salt and pepper and just a little bit of lemon juice. Then put the asparagus tops in a frypan with some olive oil and cook them for some time on medium heat. Add the cream in the soup and at the end add the fried tops and serve. 

Green soup with millet

Millet is called proso in slovenian and it's an old traditional dish. It can be used as a side dish or as a sweet dish (with apples ad example). It is very healthy as well as it has a lot of fibers. Well, I tried to use it in a soup and it worked well. A healthy and light dinner. :)

Ingredients (4 persons or maybe more):

leek (1)
zucchini (1)
onion (1)
garlic (2)
chinese cabbage (3 leafs)
water
millet (125 gr)
salt
knorr cube (1)
various spices (white pepper, chili powder, curry powder, curcumin powder, ginger, nutmeg)

The preparation of this soup was very easy. I haven't used any oil or butter. I chopped the vegetables (onion, garlic, leek, zucchini and chinese cabbage) and put in a pot. I added the spices (just a bit of each one), salt and the knorr cube. I covered everything with water so that all the vegetables were under water. Then I put the pot on the heat and left it to boil. I left it 5 minutes boiling, then I added the millet and left to cook around 15 minutes. I served it hot in deep plates.