Indian Chickpea soup/ Chaney ka shorba

Got this really fantastic recipe from a friend, Bhavesh Shah. Its unique in taste and interesting in composition. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

•   Chickpeas -  1/2 cup (soaked overnight or for 8hours)
•   Big onion - 1  (roughly chopped)
•   Medium sized tomatoes - 2 (roughly chopped)
•   Green chillies- 3
•   Chole/ Chana Masala- 1 teaspoon
•   Garam Masala- 1/2 teaspoon
•   1/4 cup cream or 1/2 cup milk
•   Salt as per taste
•   Ginger-Garlic Paste- 1 teaspoon
•   Light butter- 2 teaspoon
•   Water/vegetable stock- 2 cups
•   Freshly chopped coriander for garnishing- 1 tablespoon

 Method:

       • Pressure cook chickpeas, with a pinch of salt, until soft. Set aside.

       • In a heavy bottomed pan, heat butter. Splutter cumin seeds. Add 

          onions& tomatoes along with green chillies, ginger-garlic paste. 

          Sauté for a couple of minutes.

         Add Choley Masala & saute until the onions & tomatoes are soft &

         mushy. Set aside & allow it to cool.

      • Blend together chicikpeas & the onion tomato mixture until smooth.

      • Strain into a soup pot. Add 2 cups of water/vegetable stock & heat it

  

       gently. Add Garam Masala, Salt to taste & cream. Simmer for about 10

 

       minutes on low heat.

 
       • If using milk instead of cream, reduce the amount of water/

         vegetable stock.        

      • Garnish with fresh coriander & serve hot

Ripe Mango Aamras

Continuing with my obsession with mangoes, I cannot resist mentioning a very simple drink called Aamras! It is churned out with ripe pulpy mangoes, with a sprinkle of cardamom powder. Childhood summer holidays,were never complete without sumptuous paranthas for breakfast, accompanied by large glasses- filled to the brim with delicious Aamras!

Tip: You can use almost over-ripe mangoes as well as ripe mangoes for this recipe.

Ingredients: 

Ripe mangoes: 3 medium sized (washed, peeled and cut into small pieces)

Cold Milk: 500ml

Cold Water: 250 ml

Sugar: 1 cup (powdered)

Large Cardamom- 1 (powdered)

Method:

 In a blender jar, add all the mango pieces, powdered sugar, powdered cardamom and milk. Now, blend this till you have a lovely mango purée. To this, add cold water and blend some more.

Serve chilled !

Tip: You can refrigerate this for a day. If you want to keep it longer, then do not add the milk in the first instance. Prepare it only with water and add chilled milk before serving.