Creamy Carrot Soup

Creamy Carrot soup is a perfect starter for a cold rainy day meal. This soup is one of the easiest and tastes delicious.

I always keep a pack of carrots in my refrigerator as back up. They stay fresh for long time, longer than most of the other vegetables. Carrots are also the most versatile vegetable since you can make both sweet and savory dishes out of it. My mum once made carrot kheer and the thought of it makes me drool even to this day.  =P~

Needless to say, Carrots are one of the healthiest of vegetables. They improve our eyesight and cleanse our body. Chew a raw carrot everyday and you will see your teeth and gums getting stronger and healthy. They also prevent heart diseases, give beautiful glowing skin and also is a powerful anti-septic. A carrot a day also slows down the ageing of skin. All these benefits by munching a carrot and it is all in that crunch! ;;) If you see the nutritional value of this soup, you can find it is high in Vitamins and minerals. It is a lot less in calories too. 

I should have published this post a long time ago, but postponed it thinking it was way too simple for a dish. But then, I saw a post in FB that said "Sometimes, Simple ingredients make great food". So, here I am , posting a recipe for simple yet lip smacking soup. By the way, I had absolutely no intention of preparing a carrot soup before I started preparing it. I had prepared Spicy Flat buns and had no idea what to prepare to go with it. When I rummaged for the Vegetables, I found a neglected pack of carrots, but they were still fresh. I modified my own recipe for Pumpkin/Squash soup and made this yummy carrot soup.

We are a family of spicy food lovers and so I had to add few green chillies while blending. I have not included it in the recipe simply because I felt that you might find it strange. Please feel free to modify the recipe as per your taste. Serve and enjoy the soup hot.

Nutritional Information  (Approx) (per serving)
Energy	67		Calories
Fat	1		%
Carbohydrates	4		%
Dietary Fiber	11		%
Sodium	25		%
Vitamin A	19		%
Vitamin C	10		%
Calcium	4		%
Iron	3		%
Protein	4.3		Grams
Sugar	4.4		Grams

Ingredients
[makes 2 servings]
Carrots	3 large
Butter/Olive oil	2 teaspoons
Onion chopped	1 small
Milk	2 cups
Salt	to taste
Pepper powder	1 teaspoon
Water (Optional)	1/2 cup

* Chop carrots into bite size pieces. Heat butter in a frying pan, add chopped carrots and mix well to coat butter on every piece. 

*Fry for 5-6 minutes and then add onion. fry for another minute in high flame.

* Add milk and bring the mixture to boil. Simmer the flame and cook it covered for 5 minutes.

* If the raw smell of onion is gone after cooking for 5 minutes, remove it from flame and let it cool.

* Add salt and pepper and blend it to a smooth soup. Add water if you want to reduce the thickness of soup. Bring it to boil for a minute and take off the heat.

* Serve hot with Bread or toast. 

Spaghetti with Veggie balls

Spaghetti with Veggie balls is the best ever Vegetarian spaghetti dish you will ever taste. The tomato sauce and spaghetti are match made in heaven and when they team up with spicy veggie balls, they are heavenly.

This dish is an obvious vegetarian version of "Spaghetti with Meat balls" but no less tasty than the meat version. I had a thought for this dish from a long time but could finally make this last weekend. Making Spaghetti dish is very easy and this is one of the simplest recipes for spaghetti. Naveen and I both love pasta dishes so most of our brunches are pastas.

This dish is a lot healthier than the meat balls version not only because of calories but because of the other health benefits you get from veggies, mainly from tomato sauce. Tomatoes are one of the world's healthiest foods and rich in vitamins and minerals. They are good for skin and bone health. They are also known to prevent cancer. It is an excellent source of Vitamin C, beta-carotene, manganese and Vitamin E. Now, we do have to consider the calories at some point of time right? They are only 18 calories in 100 grams of tomatoes. How good is that? /:)

I got the Veggie balls idea from the Indian dish "Malai kofta" , a curry with veggie balls which are made of potatoes, paneer and few other vegetables. The tomato sauce I have made is a simple Italian spaghetti sauce (with some green chillies) and it is the most delicious sauce you will ever taste. You will need both tomato puree and chopped tomatoes but you can skip any one of them. I have baked the balls to make it a "less-fat" dish but you can deep fry them if you like it that way.

Nutritional Information  (Approx) (per serving)
Energy	250		Calories
Fat	4		%
Carbohydrates	18		%
Dietary Fiber	21		%
Sodium	20		%
Vitamin A	16		%
Vitamin C	52		%
Calcium	2		%
Iron	5		%
Protein	9.9		Grams
Sugar	2.8		Grams

Ingredients: For veggie balls
Potato	1 large
Peas	1/4 cup
Gram flour	1/2 cup
Corn flour	1 teaspoon
Salt	to taste
Chilli powder	1/2 teaspoon
Coriander leaves chopped	1/4 cup
Oil	2 teaspoons

Ingredients for sauce
Oil	2 teaspoons
Onion finely chopped	1 small
Bell pepper finely chopped	1 small
Green chillies finely chopped	2
Tomato finely chopped	1
Tomato Puree	2 tablespoons
Water	1 cup
Salt	to taste
Dried Oregano and basil (optional)	1/2 teaspoon

Ingredients for Spaghetti
A pot of water	to boil spaghetti
Salt	3 teaspoons
Oil	1 teaspoon

* Cook, peel and mash the potato. Also cook peas in a small pot of water and drain it.

* Mix Gram flour, corn flour, Mashed potato, salt, chilli powder, coriander leaves and cooked peas.

* Roll the dough into small balls and place them on a baking place lined with aluminium foil. Preheat oven to 320 F. Drizzle oil on the balls and bake them at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes until they are crispy.

* In a pot, heat oil and add finely chopped onion, bell pepper and Green chillies. Fry till the raw smell of Onion and bell pepper stops.
* Add chopped Tomatoes and salt. Cook on a low flame until tomato chunks turn soft and mushy.
* Add tomato puree and water. mix and boil for 8-10 minutes under low flame.

* Add oregano and basil and give it a mix. Check for taste and remove tomato sauce from the flame.
* Also check if the Veggie balls are baked enough. If yes, take them out from oven and let them cool. You can even serve them with a dip. They taste delicious.

* Boil a pot of water and add 3 teaspoons of salt. Place the spaghetti carefully in boiling water (Make sure the spaghetti is covered with water)
* Cook for 5-7 minutes or as per the package directions. When it is cooked enough, drain water and drizzle some olive oil/vegetable oil.
* To serve, Place pasta on serving plate and then put the crispy Veg balls. Pour the hot sauce over Veggie balls and serve.

* You can drizzle butter on cooked spaghetti for extra creaminess.
* You can replace Basil and oregano with a handful of chopped coriander leaves.
* You can also add Carrots and other veggies to the sauce.
* Make sure the sauce is hot since spaghetti and balls are served warm.