Healthy Recipes 360 » Soup Recipes

Fat Free Palak Moong Dal

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:31:32 +0000

This is a fat free recipe for Palak Moong Dal. Dal is a thick soup or other Indian dish made with legumes. Palak Moong Dal is normally made with clarified butter or ghee, but this fat free version uses water in place of ghee or cooking oil. Palak Moong Dal is a very healthy thick soup made with fresh vegetables and dried mung beans. It takes a couple hours to cook and you have to chop a lot of vegetables, but it is worth the trouble.

Start by obtaining all the ingredients from your grocery store. Some of the items you’ll probably have to buy from a health food store – like dried mung beans and fresh ginger root. We make it using organic vegetables we buy at our local Whole Foods Market.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole mung beans, rinsed clean
5 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
3 cups fresh spinach, cleaned, stemmed & sliced (or a 10-oz pack frozen spinach)
2 cups finely sliced onions (approx. 1 large onion)
4 cups red ripe tomatoes, sliced and chopped into chunks (approx. 3 large tomatoes)
3 cups chopped Anaheim chili peppers (approx. 3 large peppers)
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger (minced with a chef’s knife)
1 tbsp crushed or minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp whole cumin seeds

1. Cook the Dal

Measure out 1 cup of whole mung beans into a large cooking pot with lid. Rinse the beans then strain through a mesh colander 5 or 6 times until beans are clean. Add 5 cups water to the pot and then add 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp salt. Place lid on pot and heat over high flame just until the water starts to boil, then turn the flame way down and cook slowly over a low flame for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Cook very slowly over a low flame to make a nice, creamy soup. After the mung beans have cooked for 1 1/2 hours, add the sliced spinach, then cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Prepare the “Spicy Tomato Butter”

While the dal is cooking, chop all the vegetables and prepare the spicy tomato butter. It is called “spicy tomato butter” because normally, you would use light ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil, but this is a fat free version and we are using water instead of oil or ghee, so it shouldn’t really be called “spicy tomato butter.” Rather, it is more like spicy cooked vegetables. The vegetables are cooked in a large skillet, adding ingredients gradually taking care to time everything very exactly.

Start by adding about 1/2 cup of water to the skillet, then bring to a boil and then add the whole cumin seeds. Cook the cumin seeds for about a minute or two until they begin to darken and the cooking water starts to turn brownish yellow. This is the fat-free way to make this recipe so we are cooking in water, only. In the regular way to make palak moong dal, you would use about 4 or 5 tbsp of ghee or light vegetable oil at this stage instead of water. Then, when the oil is heated, you would add the cumin seeds and cook for just 12 seconds (until the seeds begin to turn dark).

Next, turn down the heat to a medium flame and add the sliced onions. Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until the onions are soft and translucent and the flavor of the cumin seeds is infused into the onions. There should also be a very nice aroma of cumin seed at this stage.

Next, add the chopped chili peppers, chopped coriander, ginger and garlic. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon and cook at this stage for 2 minutes only. Just cook long enough at this step to infuse the flavors a little bit.

Next, add the chopped tomatoes, then stir with a wooden spoon and cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally during this time, taking care not to burn the vegetables. Adjust the flame as needed.

3. Add the Cooked Vegetables to the Dal

After the vegetables are cooked and the mung beans and spinach have simmered for 15 minutes, add them to the dal. At this time, add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and perhaps another 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of salt (to taste). Stir with a wooden spoon, then cover the pot and simmer for an additional 15 minutes to marry up all the flavors. Serve hot.

Shown below is a photo of most of the ingredients. Starting from the back row and going left to right: turmeric, chopped garlic, whole cumin seeds, garam masala, 3 large tomatoes, onion, dried mung beans, ginger root, coriander (cilantro) and Anaheim chili peppers.

Shown below is the rest of the ingredients – fresh spinach.

Start by rinsing the mung beans. Rinse them about 5 or 6 times, straining through a mesh colander after each rinsing.

Add 5 cups of water to the rinsed mung beans plus 1/4 tsp. of turmeric and 1 tsp. of salt. We are using sea salt. Place the pot over a high flame then cover and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, turn the flame way way down and cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours. Cook it over a low flame to get a creamy texture. Cover it with a lid while cooking.

While the dal is cooking, chop up all the vegetables. Start with the Anaheim chili peppers.

Cut the end off the pepper, then cut the pepper in half.

Remove all the seeds and ribs.

Slice the pepper halves lengthwise into about 4 or 5 slices each.

Now chop into medium sized chunks. Repeat for all three peppers.

Gather up al the chopped peppers into a bowl and set aside for now.

Slice the onion into thin slices. Start by quartering the onion. If you are using two small onions instead of one large onion, you can cut them into halves instead of quarters.

Peel the skin off and slice each part into thin slices.

When the onions are all sliced up, set them aside.

Chop the fresh coriander (cilantro).

Peel the fresh ginger root and slice up into chunks.

Either use a chopper or chop the ginger root with a chef’s knife. Chop it up real fine – nearly minced.

I like to prepare all the chopped ingredients in bowls so they are ready to add when the time comes. Shown below left to right, back to front: ginger root, chopped garlic, coriander and whole cumin seeds. Lately I’ve been doing this a little differently. I place all the chopped peppers in a bowl, then add the coriander, ginger and garlic over the top of the peppers because they are all added to the skillet at the same time.

Finally, chop all the tomatoes and set them aside in a bowl.

Check the dal and stir it with a wooden spoon once in awhile. Keep it covered while cooking.

In a large skilet, add about 1/2 cup of water and bring it to a boil over a high flame. Then add the whole cumin seeds.

Cook the cumin seeds over a high flame for about 1 to 2 minutes. The seeds will start turning dark and the cooking water will become yellowish in color.

Add the sliced onions, then cook over a medium flame for about 10-12 minutes. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon.

After the onions have cooked for about 10-12 minutes, add the chili peppers, coriander, chopped garlic and ginger root. Cook for 2 minutes and stir with a wooden spoon.

After the chili peppers, coriander, chopped garlic and ginger root have cooked for 2 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes.

Stir all the vegetables together with a wooden spoon.

Cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the dal has cooked for 1 1/2 hours, add the fresh spinach. I like to cut the spinach into smaller pieces so they aren’t too stringy in the finished soup.

Stir the fresh spinach into the dal until it is completely covered.

Cover the pot with a lid and continue cooking over a very low flame for another 15 minutes.

When the vegetables have finished cooking 20 minutes after the tomatoes have been added, they are ready to be added to the dal.

Add the cooked vegetables to the dal.

Stir the cooked vegetables into the dal and add 1/2 tsp. of garam masala. At this time I like to add about another 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. of salt.

Simmer for about 15 minutes to marry up all the flavors, then serve hot. Serve with brown rice and some naan bread. Naan bread is really good but it can make you hungry so go easy on it.

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Fat Free Split Pea Soup

admin — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:04:47 +0000

This is a recipe for split pea soup that I accidentally came up with. It started out as a recipe for Green Dal that was printed on a package of split peas. Green Dal is an Indian soup. I was not familiar with Indian cooking at that time. One of the ingredients was Garam Masala. I never bought Garam Masala before. The store was out of Garam Masala that particular day, so I bought Tikka Masala instead. That was a fortuitous accident because the result was really good. Tikka Masala goes really well with really split peas.

This is a very easy soup to make. It takes about an hour and a half. The split peas take an hour to cook, plus another 15 minutes to blend the cooked onions plus some time to chop the onions and prepare the ingredients. This is also a very healthy recipe because it uses no oil – it is fat free. This is a perfect food for losing weight because it will give you lots of energy without making you hungry.

Fat Free Split-Pea Soup

1 cup Organic Green Split Peas (dry)
3 cups water
1 tsp. Sea Salt
2 cups chopped yellow onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. Tikka Masala Sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
Salt to taste

Rinse and sort peas, drain and place in a medium saucepan with 3 cups of water, tsp. sea salt and l/2 cup of the chopped onions.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour until the peas are tender.

While the peas are cooking, sauté the remaining onion with garlic and Tikka Masala Sauce in a skillet. Add water a little at a time to keep from burning. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until they are soft and just beginning to turn golden brown (about 10-15 minutes).

When the peas are cooked, add the sautéed onion mixture, stirring to combine. Simmer 10-15 minutes to blend flavors. Season with salt and pepper.

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients. Starting in the back row and going clockwise: onion, Tikka Masala sauce, salt, pepper and dried split peas. These are organic split peas, but you can make the recipe with conventional split peas.

Measure out the split peas and place into a pot. Rinse thoroughly. As you can see by the cloudy color of the water, you will have to rinse them about 8 to 10 times.

Pour the rinse water out through a strainer after each rinse.

Quarter the onion, then peel and chop it. Place 1/4 of the chopped onions (1/2 cup) into the pot with the split peas.

Cook the split peas and chopped onions for 1 hour. Cook them slow over a low flame. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking to the pan. If they start to stick to the pan, then lower the flame.

While the split peas are cooking, chop the cloves of garlic. Here I am using a chopper.

Add the remaining chopped onions, chopped garlic and Tikka Masala sauce to a pan. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the pan and start cooking the vegetables. Add more water if necessary to keep from burning the vegetables while they are cooking. Cook them for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Cook the vegetables until they are soft and light golden brown in color.

After the split peas have cooked for an hour, add the cooked onions plus 1/4 tsp of pepper to the soup. Add salt as needed for taste.

Cook for an additional 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend thoroughly.

Serve hot. This is a delicious, healthy soup.

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Quick and Easy Veggie Soup

admin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:07:58 +0000

This is a quick and easy recipe for veggie soup that is also inexpensive and very healthy. This recipe makes enough to feed a small army or a large family (10 to 12 hefty servings). You can serve it "as-is" or you can add 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup cooked, diced turkey or chicken to the finished bowl.

It takes an hour and 20 minutes to cook, and total preparation time is about 15 to 20 to minutes. You can set a timer and go off and do something else while it is cooking. This is a very delicious soup and is sure to be a hit with family and company.

Veggie Soup Ingredients:

1 lb carrots
1/2 lb celery
1 large onion
4 small (or 2 lg) vegetable bouillon cubes
10 cups water
1/4 tsp pepper
*1 1/2 tsp salt (if using low sodium boillon)

Directions:

Add water to a 1 gallon pot and place on stove and turn up flame to get water boiling. In the meantime, chop the carrots, celery and onion. When the water starts to boil, add the bouillon cubes. For small, square bouillon cubes the directions usually state 1 cube per cup of water. Large bouillon cube directions usually state 1 cube per 2 cups water. Use 4 small or 2 large per 10 cups of water for this recipe. In this example I am using the large variety. We want a little less than half the concentration for this recipe because the vegetables supply a lot of the flavor.

Allow water to boil until bouillon is completely dissolved. Use a wooden spoon to help break up the bouillon cubes, if necessary. Then add chopped vegetables, salt and pepper.

*Note: Be careful not to use too much salt. The amount of salt depends on whether you are using low sodium or regular bouillon cubes. Regular bouillon cubes are very salty. Taste first before adding any salt. In this example, I am using low sodium bouillon cubes. Adding 1-1/2 tsp of salt in this case will make it slightly under-salted, but not too bland.

Bring the mixture back to a boil, then reduce flame, cover and simmer for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot. Add cooked, diced chicken or turkey into the bowl to add protein and make more filling.

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients. Very basic: carrots, celery and onion, bouillon cubes, salt and pepper.

Add water to a pot, then turn on the flame to bring water to a boil. While the water is heating, chop the veggies. I usually start with the celery, then the carrots and finally I chop the onion. Below is a shot of all the chopped vegetables, ready to go. By this time the water is starting to boil…

Add the bouillon cubes to the boiling water. Use a wooden spoon if necessary to help break them up. When the bouillon is completely dissolved, add the chopped veggies, salt and pepper (see note above regarding salt).

Bring the mixture back to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. You can set a timer and go off and do something else. Stir occasionally. If some of the water is lost during cooking, you can add it back at the end of the cooking time.

Use a soup ladle and serve hot. Optionally, add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup cooked, diced chicken or turkey to the bowl for a more filling meal. Store excess in 2 qt Mason jars in the refrigerator for later.

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