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.

Vegetable macaroni

There are very few kids who do not like noodles or pasta. Adding veggies to the pasta makes it healthy, gives parents the satisfaction of giving their kids something good to eat and the kids are happy because they get to eat pasta. This is a very tasty, pasta treat with vegetables added to it.
What you need:
Macaroni - 1 cup
Tomato - 2, pureed
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Ginger - a fairly large piece, julienned
Garlic - 4 or 5 cloves
Carrot - 1, chopped into small pieces
Potato - 1, chopped into small pieces
Paneer - a few cubes
Salt
Kashmiri red chilli powder - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1.5 cups
Butter/ghee - 4 tsp
Corriander - chopped, for garnishing.


Heat ghee in the pressure cooker. Add ginger, garlic, onion and fry on low heat until the onions start to brown. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and tomato puree. Mix well and let it boil until the raw smell goes away. Add the chopped vegetables,paneer, salt, a little sugar and mix well. Now add 1.5 cups of water and the macaroni. Stir well. Close the pressure cooker, but do not put on the weight. When you see steam starting to come out of the vent in full force, wait for two minutes and then turn the heat to low. Let it cook for 6-8 minutes. Switch off heat, open the lid and sprinkle finely chopped corriander leaves over the pasta. Mix well and serve hot.
Do take a look at my fellow marathoners' kitchens....Srivalli,
Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Kamalika, Meena, Mina, Padma,  Pavani,PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu, Rujuta, Santosh, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Sowmya, Suma, Usha, Veena