Moroccan Harira

Spring definitely is here ; we had very cold winter - not much of snow coming as I don't remember that my kid not going school due to the weather, we were lucky compare to the other states, but the freezing cold was almost everyday . Layer of layer of clothes is MUST when you decide to go out , even just to drop kid to school near by.

 

And since I go work everyday after drop kid to school , my very helpful kitchen appliance that I love so much is slow cooker pot .  Just toss everything into the pot before go work, set the timer and everything is ready when every one back home in the afternoon.  One of recipe I love too is Moroccan Harira - easy to cook yet so healthy ..

 

 

MOROCCAN HARIRA

 

100g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained

100g dry lentils

450g ready-diced lamb, cut into 1cm cubes

1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp each ground ginger, saffron strands and paprika

50g butter

100g long grain rice

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

4 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

4 large ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped

lemon quarters, to serve

 

Method

Tip the chickpeas and lentils into a large saucepan or flameproof casserole. Add the lamb, onion, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, saffron strands and paprika, then pour in 1.5 litres/21⁄2 pints water. Season.

 

Bring to the boil, skimming all the froth from the surface as the water begins to bubble, then stir in half the butter. Turn down the heat and simmer the soup, covered, for 11⁄2 -2 hours until the chickpeas are tender, adding a little more water from time to time as necessary.

 

Towards the end of the cooking time, prepare the rice. Bring 850ml/ 11⁄2 pints water to the boil in a saucepan, shower in the rice, the rest of the butter and salt to taste. Cook until the rice is very tender. Drain, reserving 3tbsp of the liquid.

Sneaky mommy .. Hidden Veggie Dish

 

Ok, here it goes. When I grew up , it was so rare to see broccoli or cauliflower on our dinning table. Well, my mom used to cooked a lot of different kind of veggetables, which is so easy to find in the market such a waterspinach (kangkung) , bean sprout (toge), Chinese mustard green (sawi) etc. And since I moved to different county those vegetables that I used to eat become a luxury veggie for me,  – if I want to get those I need to drive long way to Asian Store near by my house about 12miles.

Back to broccoli and cauliflower story, I’m not ‘crazy’ about eating those 2 green veggies – booo !! Anyway, I try my best to give , to introduce any kind of vegetable to my daughter. So far, she is doing good : her favorites are spinach, carrot and beansprout. But with broccoli or cauliflower, I need to use my trick. “Hidden Veggie Dish”. so far its work well.

Like this recipe, she has no idea I put veggies that she refuse to eat into the dish. *grin*

Cauliflower Soup:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ribs celery, chopped to yield 3/4 cup
1 large or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 head cauliflower (1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
Hand full of broccoli

Garnish : croutons and turkey bacon *we didn’t eat bacon, so we used turkey but you guys can substitute with bacon too.

 

Directions
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the celery, shallots, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chicken broth, thyme, cauliflower, broccoli. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

In batches, puree the soup in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the croutons and turkey bacon

Tomato Chicken Shorba

Oatmeal may be is the last choice breakfast option in our family. We are not fans of oatmeal .. i know this is bad, but I was surpraise when first time made this dish. 1 big pot of shorba, is gone pretty fast.

Now I know how to make them eat oat including me offcourse ^_^ A very healty dish, simple yet delicious.  I made this for last day lunch, eeeh.. what happen next ? everybody ask some more for dinner

Tomato Chicken Shorba Recipe from : Bunda Estherlita

Ingredients : 1 whole chicken ( i used Cornis Hen +/- 623gr)
1 slice of ginger or 2 tsp ginger powder
4 medium carrot, shreded
2 cans of asparagus, slice tinny (skip if you don't like) or 6 fresh asparagus
2 cans of mushroom, chopped or 1 handful of fresh mushroom
3 medium potatos, shredded
2 medium tomatoes , chopped or 1 can of tomato
3 red onion, chopped - yellow onion is work too
4 garlic, chopped
2 tsp cummin powder (i used 3 tsp, to get more excotic aroma)
200 gr of regular oatmeal (or more to make your soup more thicked)
salt, pepper for taste
pinch of sugar

chopped coriander leaves, for garnish

Directions : in medium pot, bring 1 ltr of water to boil, add whole chicken and ginger, let it cook until chicken is tender. Take the chicken out, shredded.

saute onion with 1 tbsp of butter, until translucen, add into chicken stock. Add oatmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, cummin cooked until oatmeal become soft .

Add all the vegetables and chicken. Cooked about 5 minute, adjust the taste. add chopped coriander leaves, serve warm.

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Finally the fall season is here, oh .. I missed my summer time. Well, actually the weather still pleasant reached 70 F everyday, but we need a jacket to walk around off course. And this is a good time for soup :) to make you feel warm and healthy in the same time. So I chose Persian Noodle Soup, this soup is not look appetizing , but I tell you .. this soup is sooooo delicious and healthy. My daughter loves persian noodle soup, ahaa.. the easy way to feed her with vegetable. And don't forget spinach is a great choice to stay healthy.

According to my husband, Iranian loves to eat noodle soup for snacking ! oh.. not me or my daughter, this soup is a heavy soup, can fill you up for the rest of the day. If you decide to do some a little diet, just eat soup ... you wont be hungry anymore

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Ingredients :

2 large onions, sliced thinly length wise

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup chickpeas / garbanzo beans

1/3 cup navy beans

1/3 cup red beans

1/2 cup lentils

2 tsp turmeric

3 cups fresh parsley

2 cups fresh cilantro
1 cups fresh mint

20 springs of fresh chives or scallions ( green portion of scallions only)

1 1/2 lb baby spinach

2 oz reshteh - Persian noodle or substitute with linguine

1 tsp flour

salt & pepper for the taste

Garnish

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp dried mint

kashk, whey ( sour cream can be substituted for kashk)

Directions :

Soak beans for a few hours in water.

Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add chickpeas / garbanzo beans, red beans, and turmeric, salt, pepper. Sauté for a few minutes together.

Add 8 cups of water or stock . Season with salt, cover and cook for one hour.In the mean time rough chop all the herbs

Add lentils and herbs to pot. Cover and cook for another 1/2 hour on low. Stir the pot every so often during the cooking process

Break off noodle into three sections and add to the pot.

Add spinach.  Cook covered for another 1/2 hour. Make sure to stir the pot every so often.

Place flour in a small bowl. Take 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the soup and add to the flour

Mix well until there are no lumps. When adding flour to soups it is always a good idea to use this technique to ensure that there are no lumps in the soup.

Add water and flour to the soup. Adjust seasoning by adding salt. Cook for 1/2 hour longer on low. At this point your soup is ready as the beans should be cooked. You can further cook the soup to deepen the flavors, however, it must be on very low temperature, since this soup is very thick, chances are the bottom will stick.

For the garnish fry onions in oil. I have found that vegetable oil works best and the chances of burning the onions is much less. Once the onion turns translucent, lower the heat and allow for the onions to slowly caramelize

Once they have tuned into a golden color add dry mint and allow for the onions to crisp up. This takes about an hour from start to finish. It is best to prepare the garnish while cooking the soup .

Place soup in a bowl, add a pinch of fried onion to the center along with a dollop of sour cream if you like (or just skip like me :D )

Tips :

1. Since I have no patient with chopping vegetables especially cilantro and parsley, most the time I just put everything into the food processor, and voilaa... just a second, all the veggie chopped very nicely. 

2. Waiting for beans become tender is spend a lot of time, when I'm in rush i use can bean instead but add the beans near the end of the process so that they don't overcook

Keep yourself warm !

After spoiled by sunny warm weather last week... *yeaaa.. we even reached 75 F temperature during winter, hey.. soon is gonna be Spring :D* Again, windy, rainy, cold weather coming .. hik.. I don't like cold weather.. But, one of Indonesian dish I love and some Indonesian love to eat during cold weather is a bowl of chicken porridge.

Now its time to share the recipe with you :D

Chicken Soup Porridge

Ingredients Rice Porridge

200 g short grain rice (i used jasmine rice)

2000 ml water
2 Indonesian bay leaves

1 tsp salt

Direction : wash and drain the rice. In pot, mix water and rice. Bring to a boil and cook until soft. Add salt and bay leaves, reduce the heat and continue simmering until porridge is ready which is no separation between liquid and rice.

Ingredients Soup :

A half part of chicken +/- 250 gram - i used : chicken leg and tight

1.000 ml water

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp white pepper powder

1 tbsp soybean sauce / Kecap Bango

Grind spices into a paste:

6 shallots

4 cloves garlic

2 cm length turmeric, roasted and peeled - or you can use 1 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tbsp ground coriander seed - or 2 tbsp powder

3 candle nuts

Directions : In pot boil water, add chicken and cook until chicken is soft . Take the chicken out of the pot, fry with 2 tbs vegetable oil until golden brown , and shredded the chicken. Set aside.

Meanwhile fry the spice paste, with 1 tsp vegetable oil until fragrance. And the rest of ingredients . Add into the soup, boil for about 5 minute.

Don't STEAL the Images

How to serve :

Put the porridge into the bowl, add 2 - 3 tbsp of soup, sprinkle with fry soy bean, slice of green onions, and sambal / hot chili. Well, Indonesian people can't live without chili , when comes to eat food, they always like to be sweating * if you know what I mean ^grin^ *

How to fry soybeans :

Grind 3 garlic and 2 tsp salt, put into medium bowl with 250 gr soy bean and 3 cup of water - soak for at least 3 hours or 24 hours.

Drain the water. Fry until golden brown. Drain and store in an air tight container.

Chili Soup

Whuaaah.. winter time almost come, it's mean .. I must to take care of my skin very carefully, hik .. since I came from tropical country .. I am not really enjoy winter time like the first time I came to country with 4 seasons. Winter means is get a dry skin, bleeding nose every morning .. and bundle up.. !!

Well.. it's ok with snow, it's ok with cold but not too much.. ^_^ but the good thing about winter time, it's all about making warm soup for dinner, and no one complaint about that.

My husband love soup especially chili soup, he can eat 2 big bowl of soup for dinner hihihi.. and this time I would like to share my recipes for you all , enjoy.. !!

Chili Soup

500 gram extra lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 cans (15 oz each) chili beans
500 gram fresh tomatoes, chopped or 1 can tomatoes, un-drained
100 gram frozen corn
1 paprika, seedless, diced
1 can (8 oz ) tomato sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 ½ cups water

Brown beef with onion in large sauce pan, drain. Add all remaining ingredients, stir, bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat for 5 minute, stirring occasionally.

Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese and bread.

And this time would like to say thank you to Sefa- from DAPUR NEGERI DONGENG - who gave me award *GOSH .. !! almost forget about that* hihihi.. thank you dear,