Garden Pea Soup

Garden Peas have all been harvested this year. We got about 5 cups of shelled peas in all. Not a big harvest, but then, it has been pretty cold here till a few weeks ago. Thankfully, D did the harvesting and shelling of the peas as I find it terribly monotonous, and besides, my hands are full managing an infant and a bubbly little girl :)



This pea soup is very simple, but quite hearty and open to variations. I used chives from my garden for garnish, but, scallions or any other favorite herbs can be used as well.

Just 5 ingredients: peas, onion, evaporated milk, chicken/vegetable stock, curry powder, with some water and salt to taste is all that is needed for this delicious soup. Plus, a pressure cooker - it really speeds things up.

Ingredients
3 cups fresh peas
½ onion coarsely chopped
1 chicken or vegetable bullion cube
1 can evaporated milk**
1 Tbsp Madras curry powder (or more if you like)
water as needed
salt to taste

**not condensed milk, which is sweetened usually and terribly thick

Preparation

1. place the peas, onions, bullion cube in the pressure cooker and fill with about 4 to 5 cups of water; place the weight and allow to cook through
2. when ready to take the weight off and open, use a potato masher or flat end of a ladle and mash up the peas and onions to preferred texture; alternately, purèe in a food processor till smooth
3. turn up the heat to medium high, add the curry powder and the evaporated milk and stir well; allow to simmer till it comes together to desired thickness
4. adjust salt to taste
5. serve hot with simple oat biscuits

Tri-Berry Cobbler

We had gone berry picking this berry season and I had all these fresh berries after making a big batch of jams, and freezing some. So, while we do love eating the berries as-is, I thought it would be nice to top it with some form of simple pastry and make it a delectable dessert.

We had picked raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries and I liked the combination of flavors.

Now, among the local berries, my top favorite is the incredibly sweet and juicy marionberries, next is ripe and wild, melt-in-the-mouth albeit seedy blackberries, then plump and wholesome blueberries, then the 'everybody's favorite' dark and sweet Mt.Hood strawberries and finally the many varieties of raspberries, which we grow in our home garden as well.

Local hybrids such as boysenberries, loganberries , salmonberries and, even the rare huckleberries while quite tasty are not as ubiquitous as blackberries and raspberries and blueberries and am not terribly fond of them.

Anyway, this is a very simple cobbler: rather than bake all the berries with pastry crust on top, the biscuits are made separately and the berries are cooked separately and served together. I don't add any sugar, but, feel free to add a little if you prefer. And, if preferred, make the berries into a thick sauce by adding some cornstartch or tapioca and adjust the water suitably.

The biscuits are not sweet at all and so this dish bursts with wholesome berry flavors, and the biscuit gives the contrasting mild flavor and crunch. Plus, the biscuits can be served with other foods like soups as they are neutral, light, and delicate making them quite versatile.

Ingredients
raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries (or any berries of your choice)
for the biscuit:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup quick-cooking oats
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
¼ cup buttermilk
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup butter

Preparation:

1. Biscuit:
   • heat the oven to 395°F
   • combine the biscuit ingredients, do not overmix
   • scoop little dollops of the dough into a greased muffin pan
   • bake in the 395°F oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through on the inside (toothpick inserted comes out clean)
2. Fruit: combine about 2-3 cups of berries (or as much as you'd like), add a few tablespoons of water, cover and cook till a little mushy; crush the berries if desired, but, I like them a little chunky, reserving some berries for topping
3. Serving: dish up some mushed berries, top with the hot biscuits and sprinkle some fresh berries as garnish or serve them on the side

Ribbon Pakkoda

When Thenkuzhal is here, can Ribbon Pakkoda be far behind?

My mom whipped up a batch of these melt-in-the-mouth Ribbon Pakkodas sometime back and I am so glad I had the presence of mind to take a picture right away, 'coz they were all gone the next day!

The apparatus used for Thenkuzhal works for Ribbon Pakkoda too, but, this time, my mom bought me another apparatus that we tested out - the shiny stainless steel one on the left in the picture. Instead of the ricer-like (garlic-press-like) action of the aluminum one, the new one simply involves turning the lever at the top round and round to squeeze out the batter into the hot oil. It still has the interchangeable plates at the bottom to squeeze out different shapes of batter, so, this new one would work to make Thenkuzhal, Muthsaram and such as well.

Ribbon Pakkoda is not quite the same as Pakodas, which is another fried snack - but the basic ingredients is the same: chickpea flour and rice flour.

Anyway, 4:1 is the proportion of Chickpea-flour:Rice-flour for this ribbon pakoda.

Ingredients
1 cup chickpea flour
¼ cup rice flour
1 pinch baking powder
salt and chilli powder to taste
water as needed to make a fairly thick toothpaste-like batter

canola oil for frying

Preparation

1. Make the batter to squeezable thick consistency
2. Heat oil to medium high
3. Squeeze the batter through the apparatus into the hot oil in batches
4. Fry till golden brown and cooked through
5. Drain in a papertowel-lined plate