Mushroom Soup

I love mushroom soup but I have never taken the trouble of making it from scratch.When the need arises to indulge in a delicious soup,I immediately go for the  ready mix packet that I keep stored in my shelf  for quick a  preparation.However I add a little bit of extra ingredients into it  to make it  scrumptious and have a home made effect.

I open a can  of mushrooms and  drain off  the liquid in it.Then heat  some butter in  pan and saute  sliced onions and garlic and ginger.Once it is cooked,a  little  pepper is added and kept aside till I prepare the broth.In another pan I stir the ready mix packet with water, the amount of water to be used is given in the packet instructions.When it is boiling,I throw the cooked mushroom mixture into it.Then I keep stirring  constantly and lastly  season it with salt.That’s my version of home made mushroom soup with the help of the ready mix packet.

The other day when we went to a restaurant for dinner I ordered mushroom soup.It was outrageously delicious.

Orange Lemon Cake

Thanks to Betty Crocker’s  cake mix which made it possible for me to   bake a cake for my daughter who turned seventeen yesterday. As I am not an expert in cake making,I find baking easy with the cake mixes that are found in shelves at the supermarket.I simply followed  the instructions in the packet but added  a twist to it.Since I was baking an orange cake,I threw in some fresh orange zest to the mixture.My daughter was not too keen  to glaze the cake with icing so I covered the cake  with lemon frosting and did a little decoration with some colourful smarties. 

Multicultural Food

Today was my second daughter’s birthday and to celebrate the  happy occasion the whole family went to Classic  restaurant to lunch.The restaurant was  located in the busy King Fahad Street.Once we stepped  inside we were amazed at the  interior  settings,it was simply awesome.We got a  table by the corner.There were a range of delectable dishes to choose from the menu card.As a matter of fact,intially it was definitely purely Indian flavours that was  going to pamper our taste buds but then we decided to go multicultural.And guess what! We had  Indian flavoured,Chinese fried rice, Hong kong chicken and  Russian salad. How about that?

Chinese Fried Rice

Russian Salad

Hong Kong Chicken

Fancy Fruit Cake Dessert

I made fruit cake using  Betty Crocker's chocolate cake mix as the base.It came out delicious as excitedly vouched by my family.I threw in a lot of dried fruits and a combination of nuts.I had made extra as I had planned to join some friends for a potluck but unfortunately had to cancel our get together due to unavoidable circumstances. Suddenly I was left with too much of cake.I was wondering what to do with the additional which was now neatly tucked away in an airtight container in the refrigerator.After  a few days wrecking my brains what to do, I decided to make use of it in a new dessert. Previously I  had made a  dessert using  crumbled cookies as the base of the pudding.This time I used the cake and topped  it with a  thick creamy custard. It was heavenly. Every bit was deliciously savored.

I used almost the same ingredients that I had used for my semolina custard pudding but instead of crumbled cookies I used  the cake.

I used the fruit cake as the base of my pudding

 

My son digging into the dessert.

Making Kothu At Home

Kothu roti ,meaning chopped roti ,is a Sri Lankan dish made from Godhamba roti  ( wheat roti). Kothu can be found in  restaurants  in  all parts of Sri Lanka and is usually eaten for dinner.It is relished among the young especially during parties. You can enjoy  a variety of kothus with ingredients like beef and chicken  added according to your taste. Even vegetarians,like my second daughter gets  to indulge in the vegetable kothu ,with vegetables like spring onions,carrots and cabbages added.  In recent times, Cheese kothu also has been introduced in the menu  by  kothu enthusiasts.

Routinely the kothu is made  on a large hot iron surface ,exclusively  used  for  mixing  the various ingredients to assemble  the  kothu .Even from a distance ,you will know that the kothu is being prepared because of the unique sound the metal blades make, when cutting and mixing all the ingredients together.

Kothu can be made from scratch ie you make the rotis at home and then make the kothu or simply buy the  parathas  from the shop and assemble the kothu with the  other ingredients.I was wondering what to do with the  left over parathas( roti) from last nights dinner.So it was a good idea when  my husband asked me to make some kothu for dinner.The rest of the ingredients I had at home so it did n’t take much time to get the dinner fixed. Next time you have some left over parathas, don't hesitate to  try out this recipe and impress everyone at home, like I just did.

Preparing Kothu at home

4  parathas ( roti)  ( shredded)

1 big onion

2-3  green chillies

1 tsp  fennel seeds

1 tbspoon ginger slices

1 tbspoon garlic crushed

1 tomato chopped

½ tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin powder

3-4  pieces of cooked chicken ( shredded)  with  gravy.( 1/2 cup)

2 eggs

A handful coriander leaves ( cilantro) chopped

Salt to taste

2 tablespoon oil.

Method

Heat oil in a tawa.Add fennel seeds .Then  add  the chopped  onion and cook until translucent. Next add ginger and  green chilies and cook for 1 minute, add the crushed garlic. Mix in  the curry powder, cumin powder  and the  tomatoe and cook  until soft. Add shredded Parathas  and cook until  the heat penetrates  all the way through. At this stage add the  shredded chicken and the gravy. Break the Eggs into the mixture and continuously  keep mixing till the eggs are completely cooked. Add salt to taste.

Toss the  Cilantro in and give it a final mix .Cover with a lid. Turn off the heat. Serve hot.( serves 3-4 persons)