Green Bell Pepper Soup

The weather is cold in Bangalore...well not that cold.....but cold enough....So one of the days when the sky looked as it would rain and the wind had that chill, what better time to have a soup for the night right?! Thus the green capsicum or the bell pepper soup came to my mind. I had the same thing when Seema Chechi (my Aunt) made it for dinner a few months back at her home.So I thought why not attempt the same thing.

Ingredients:
Green Bell Pepper - 4, finely chopped
Onion- 1 large, finely chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
Chicken Stock or Vegetables Stock - 4 cups
Cream - 1/4 cup
Lime Juice - 1tbs
Crushed Black Pepper to taste
Flour (Maida) - 1 tbs

Into a frying pan, pour in about 2tbs of oil or butter. Saute the garlic and chopped onion till transparent. Then tip in the green capsicum till it becomes soft. Add in the maida and saute it to remove the rawness. Pour in the stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Then pour the mixture into the blender and blend to a smooth consistency. Pour back this puree into a pot and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Add in the cream and lime juice and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the crushed black pepper to taste. Add salt if required and serve warm with some garlic buns.

Hot pepper drink ~ Mulligatawny

Rasam is known to cure a fever, aid in digestion and also has antioxidant  benefits. For a simple rasam you would require..

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 2 ripe roughly chopped
Garlic - 3-4 pods crushed
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tsp crushed
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp crushed
Cloves - 2 crushed
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Fennel - 1/4 tsp crushed
Black Peppercorns - 10-12 crushed
Dry Red chilly -2-3 broken into pieces
Tamarind pulp - 1tsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp for the tempering
Curry leaves - a sprig
Shallots - 7-8 finely sliced
Coriander leaves - 2tbs
Water - 3 cups
White pepper powder to sprinkle
Salt to taste

In a saucepan, bring the water to boil add all the ingredients except the mustard, curry leaves (kept aside for tempering) and coriander leaves. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Blend all the ingredients and keep aside. Temper the mustard seeds shallots and curry leaves. Put the blended mixture back into the saucepan, pour the hot tempering and lastly add chopped coriander leaves and sprinkle some white pepper powder just before serving.

Tip: Once the rasam is blended the mixture could be strained and the residue could be discarded. I prefer not straining the liquid because the goodness lies in the residue. Also if you are using tamarind pulp, about 50gms of tamarind should do. It should be soaked in warm water for 10minutes and then added to the rest of the ingredients and brought to a simmer.