Minestrone soup

I have often stated on this blog that my all time favourite soup is the minestrone and that Olive Garden, in my opinion, makes the best minestrone. For the past several years, I have ordered minestrone at many other restaurants, hoping that it will match up to the taste of that from Olive Garden but sadly, that has not happened yet.
So, I did the next best thing - and that is to make minestrone at home, recalling ingredients from memory, and I must say that I am quite happy with the result - a filling soup that you will keep coming back for more of.

What you need:
Chickpeas/ garbanzo beans/ kabuli chana - 1/4 cup
Red kidney beans/rajma - 1/4 cup
Dried green peas - 1/4 cup
Onion - finely minced - 1/2 cup
Carrot - chopped - 1/2 cup
Celery - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Shell macaroni - 1/4 cup
Butter - 3-4 tbsp
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
Italian soup seasoning - to taste (I recommend using this generously)
Salt - to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated parmesan cheese

Soak the chickpeas, red kidney beans and green peas in plenty of water for 8-10 hours.
Heat butter in a thick, heavy bottomed pan. I used the pressure cooker to do this. Saute the chopped onion, carrot and celery on low heat until brown. Add the soaked beans, salt, soya sauce, 4 cups of water and shell macaroni. Cover and cook till one whistle. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 15 minutes.
Once the steam escapes completely, open the lid, stir well and add Italian soup seasoning. At this stage, if you feel the soup is too watery, boil for a while more to reach the required consistency and if you feel it is too thick, add some water and heat through.
Just before serving, add freshly ground black pepper and grate some parmesan cheese over the soup.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM#22.

Chana/chickpeas dosa

I had grand plans for the second day of the blogging marathon under the theme cooking with chickpeas. I had decided even before I started this marathon that each day I would post something I had not tried making before. So, today's post was supposed to be something from another cuisine for which I needed white kabula chana/garbanzo beans. However, fate had other plans. Yesterday in the afternoon  Bal Thackeray passed away. Within 30 minutes, the always busy city, came to a grinding halt. All shops were shut down, autos and taxis went off the road and the roads themselves wore a deserted look. This, to me, meant - no way of procuring kabuli chana. I had to make do with what I had on hand - black chickpeas- and thus, resorted to making something that is all too familiar in our household - the humble dosa, this time, using chickpeas.
 
What you need:
Kala chana/black chickpeas - 1 cup
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Red chillies - 3 or 4
Ginger - 1 large piece
Onion - 1
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water - for grinding

Soak chickpeas and rice in plenty of water for 6-8 hours.
In a blender, take all the other ingredients and grind coarsely. Add the soaked chicpeas, rice and enough water to grind into a batter of pourable consistency.
Heat a dosa tawa/griddle. Pour a ladleful of the batter and spread into a thin circle.
Drizzle with oil on top. When the bottom starts to brown, flip over and cook for a minute.

Serve hot with chutney/sambar.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM#22.
This goes to Kalpana who is guest hosting Priya's event - Fast & Quick Healthy dishes.