Beetroot Soup

Beetroot, the root vegetable is dark purple in colour. The leaf with stem as well as the root are fit to eat. Can be eaten raw, parboiled or cooked. Goes in salads, sandwich, Soup, Juice, Cutlet / Tikki, Dry side dish, Gravy (sambar), Variety Rice.

Beetroot is rich in anti-oxidants, Iron, Sodium, Potassium, Vitamin B, Calcium etc. Very good to improve anaemic conditions. Helps reduce high BP when consumed with less salt. The iron content in beetroot will not create constipation.

Beetroot takes more time to digest compared to normal vegetable so those who have poor digestion, don't take it at night times. You can drink a soup, juice made of beetroot to get its health benefits. 

To suit children and old people, I advise, after cleaning and peeling, pressure cook the whole beetroot till 4 to 5 whistles. Then grate or chop and use. This way it will be easy for them to digest.

How to Select :- Should be blemish free, smooth skin, good shape. The tip of the beetroot (when the stem is cut) will show you how much fresh the beetroot is.

How to store : If you buy it as a whole plant, then cut leaving a stem of 5" above the root and store for 4 to 5 days in refrigerator or at room temperature. With leaves, if you wrap in a cloth cover can be stored fresh for two days in the refrigerator.

Now let us get on making the wonderful health soup

Ingridients :- (serves 2)

1. Beetroot - 1 big
2. Shallots - 5 nos (small onions/baby onions) - optional
3. Salt to taste
4. Water - 2 and half cups

Procedure :

• Wash the beetroot and peel the skin.

• Dice it into cubes, pour two & half cups of water, boil it. [Pressure cook it (whole beetroot - don't cut) till 4 to 5 whistles if preparing for young children and old people. ]

• Allow it to cool. in the mean time, clean the shallot (small onion) chop.

• In a small pan, add few drops of oil (only few drops - just enough to lightly grease the onions) and fry till they become transparent. [I use coconut oil as we prefer that flavour]

• Now take out the beetroot cubes (preserve the water), in a blender or mixer grind the fried onions and boiled beetroot cubes together to a smooth paste.

• Transfer the ground contents to a vessel. Add the preserved water (in which beetroot is boiled) and salt to taste. 

• If you want to dilute it further, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water little by little.

• Bring to boil, remove from fire.

• Healthy, Yummy beetroot soup is ready.

Note :

Adding onion will give a nice flavour to the soup. If you don't like onions avoid it and go ahead & enjoy your soup. Small onions have medicinal values hence I prefer to use small onion in the recipe.

Milk Kheer / Paal Paayasam/ Paalada Pradhaman

A simple sweet dish which suits any occasions using milk, sugar, white rice / rice ada.

The speciality of the dish is the aroma, colour and taste which arises during the process of caramelising the milk  in a pressure cooker / stove top. Stove top demands continuous stirring. You can save your labour and time yet get the same tasty payasam using pressure cooking method.

To avoid spillage inside the cooker, put a heavy bowl inside the payasam.

It takes some time to make this dish to perfection but the taste and appreciation is worth all the sweat you have put in with love and dedication.

Rice ada (you get in all kerala stores), boil water, put off flame, wash ada and put it into the hot water, keep it covered for 10 minutes. Drain, wash in cold water, leave it to drain.

Ingridients : 

1. Milk - 1 litre
2. Rice Ada - 1 cup (or white rice)
3. Sugar - 3 tea cups sugar or more as per your preference
4. Water

Procedure :-

•  Prepare the rice or rice ada as mentioned above.

• In a pressure cooker,  keep the vessel of milk, put a heavy katori / bowl / spoon (should be heavy) inside to prevent spilling. put the weight. When pressure builds up, lower the flame and cook for 25 minutes.

• this slow cooking process will help the milk caramelise. This saves your labour of stirring continuously which is must when cooked on a stove top.

• When the pressure comes down, open the cooker, take out the vessel. Now the milk would have turned into pink colour.

• To that Add the prepared rice or ada, cook on stove top stirring frequently (to prevent getting burnt) on low flame for 15 more minutes as the ada or rice added should become transparent and be seen through the pink coloured milk. [don't think it is labourious. you are spending only 15 min]

• then put off the flame. sit comfortably under a fan, and keep stirring for another 10 minutes [this work you can give it to your children or your husband ;-) ] At this time, you can even adjust the sugar level if you prefer more sweet.

• Then to prevent malai (paaledu) forming on top, take a big kadai, pour normal water in it, keep the vessel with kheer inside (partially immersed) for another 10 minutes which will reduce the heat further thus prevent the malai formation and also brings it to the temeperature fit to consume.

• Your yummy paal paayasam / milk kheer is ready. 

Note :

• This kind of kheer don't require tempering of nuts & raisins in ghee
• It will not get spoilt easily
• If served chilled - makes a very very yummy dessert

Variety of payasams that we can make using this caramelising method is Rice, Semiya (seviyan) and Sabudana.

If you are using semiya, cook the milk separately in the pressure cooker as per the method mentioned below and cook semiya separately. finally remove from stove, add milk, semiya, sugar, cardamom powder together and mix.

If you use rice, cook white rice separately (grains should be separate). I use draining method.

Now to the economy part. How you can utilise the less quantity of milk wisely when you have more fans?

Follow the same process. After you pressure cook it slowly, before adding the rice or ada, dilute it by adding water (not too much), say 3 tea cups of water for 1 litre milk, then dissolve some corn starch (this you have to measure as per the consistency required. I advise 1 tbsp for 2 cups of water). boil well then add the cooked rice or ada and boil till the ada or the rice becomes transparent.

Cornflour (corn starch) will not spoil the taste but give you right consistency (thickness) to the kheer thus balance the water you added into the reduced milk preserving its taste and aroma.

Beetroot Cutlet / Beetroot Tikki

Indian Coffee House @ Kozhikode is very famous for its yummy cutlets. The speciality is that they use beetroot as one of the ingridient for the cutlet which is accompanied by Beetroot based sauce. The waiters in their traditional uniform with a fanned turban on head moves swiftly catering to the needs. You cannot expect a good ambience but decent & cozy place which serves you food at nominal rates.

This unique recipe with its combination of spices, colour, delicious taste leave you drool and crave for more. I tried to make the cutlet many a times at home and finally got somewhat similar to that yet delicious in its own way.

Sharing with you an interesting recipe for this yummy cutlet. I used brown bread as an healthy option.

Ingridients :- (makes 7 nos)

1. Beetroot - 1 No. (small)
2. Potato - 2 Nos. (medium)
3. Onion - 1 No. (big)
4. Ginger - 1" Piece
5. Garlic - 4 pods (medium)
6. Brown Bread - 5 slices
7. Chopped mint leaves - 1 tsp
8. Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tsp
9. Green Chillies - 3 nos. or as per preference
10. Cinnamon - 1" stick
11. Cardamom - 1 No.
12. Cloves - 3 Nos
13. Bay leaf - 1 No. (small)
14. Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
15. Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
16. Salt to taste
17. Oil for sauteing and tempering

 Procedure :-

• Pressure cook Potato and beetroot till 3 whistles
• Dry roast, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf and cloves, powder it & keep ready
• Finely chop ginger, garlic, onion, green chillies, mint leaves and coriander leaves
• Sprinkle water over the brown bread, leave it for a minute, then nicely knead it like you do with chapathi dough, keep ready.
• Heat a tsp of oil in a wok, add chopped onion, fry till it becomes transparent, then add ginger, garlic and saute well for two minutes, cool down and grind it to a paste
• Peel the potatoes. Dice the beetroot and one & half potato
• Grate the remaining half of potato and few diced cubes of beetroot
• To that add salt, mix well
• Heat 3 tsp oil, add the ground paste, powdered masala, Coriander powder and Cumin Powder and fry for a minute
• Add the potato beetroot mixture and fry for a minute
• Add chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves, mix well
• Keep it covered and cook for 5 minutes (by removing and stirring it occasionally to prevent burning)
• Allow the mixture to cool

• Make equal sized balls
• now take a portion of the bread dough, like paratha stuffing, make a bowl shape, place a portion of beetroot stuffing, close, roll and slightly flatten
• Grease a non-stick pan or tava,  place the prepared cutlets or tikkis over it, pour a tbsp of oil around it, cook over medium flame.
• When one side is done, flip it and cook the other side too till the crust turns golden brown in colour.

 

Method - II

• If you don't have ready stock of brown bread, then prepare the beetroot stuffing as mentioned above.
• In a plate spread some cornflour (corn starch)
• lightly coat the shaped cutlets with the corn starch and roast it on tava as mentioned above.

Beating the Heat - Naturally

Summer is ON. We are in the peak period of the season known as 'Agninatchatram' or 'Kathiri veyyil'. Let us see how we can beat this summer.

1. Lemon Juice + ground mint leaves + blacksalt + sugar = excellent summer cooler
2. Panagam is also good (jaggery water + elachi powder + Dry ginger powder + lemon juice)
3. Buttermilk
4. Pazhayadhu
5. Tender Coconut is the nature's best energy drink
6. Soak methi seeds overnight and have it along with curd in the morning
7. Milkshakes, smoothies using fruits
8. Cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon are good
9. Fresh juices
10. Gulkand (made using good quality edible roses)
11. Root herbs like nannari in sherbet form is available in the market
12. Onion is very good so can include that in raita form (raw onions)
13. Ice apple (eng) / nungu (tamizh) / Tari (hindi) / Tadgola (marathi) and the Juice called Nira (marathi) or Padhaneer (tamizh) is also very good to beat the heat. The juice is pungent hence you can dilute it adding water, add in some sugar and drink. (check wikipedie for more info Borassus flabellifer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

• Bathe twice a day the bath before you hit bed will give you a nice sleep.

• If you like short haircuts, go for it as this is the best season. Easy to clean & maintain.
• use cotton dresses. Try to avoid wearing tight wears. 

 

• Keep a towel always handy to dry your hair if you sweat excess. this will also prevent from catching cold during a hot summer day.

• Ladies, Minimise your time in  the kitchen by bringing in raw salads, easy to cook receipes, fruit shakes, sandwiches,  Raita etc into your menu which will save you as well as healthy for your family.

• Always carry water bottle with you so that you will not get dehydrated and this practice will also prevent you from waterborne infection that may be caused as the outside water source is not known.

•  Use good sunscreen lotion to protect your skin and also you can give it some luxury treatment by rubbing cucumber / tomato / curd to the skin

•  You can add some rosewater to your bath tub

•  Carry an umbrella with you (preferably cool shades like blue & green colours)  

 

• Spray your favourite deo in your hankie, lighly moist it. While walking in hot sun, use it which will cool the skin on your face.

• If you can tolerate, dip a towel in water, squeeze, put in on head on afternoon hours for sometime, which will also leave you cool

• Apply coconut oil to hair before taking hair bath, few drops of castor oil on the centre of your head daily, will cool you.

• If you don't have air conditioner then dip an old saree in water, dry it inside the room. You can even tie it around your bed like musquito net, let the fan on and sleep cozily inside it on a hot summer afternoon.

•  Use a good quality goggles      as they also filter bad rays and will make your eyes comfortable while walking under hot sun. 

• In an earthen pot pour good drinking water, two whole lemon. This will give you nice flavour to the drinking water which not only quenches your thirst but also the flavour will leave you feel fresh

•  Select some cool colours  & shades for your upholstery and Bedcovers. 

• Bring in some nice potted plants that suits an indoor living to brighten up the scene with some living greenery.

• Try to spend evening hours in an open ventilated area like park or a garden which will be refreshing for you as well as save some electricity with the natural breeze.

Don'ts

1. Avoid going in hot sun wherever possible
2. Never drink cold water after roaming in hot sun. Water at room temperature or Hot water though may not be liked by many quenches thirst on a hot summer day. (ushnam ushnena shanthi is a saying
3. Avoid carbonated drinks

geared up?!!