Saturday, December 26, 2009

12 Cloves of Garlic

Today, the marathon cooks are getting serious about eating their vegetables, and their fruits and their grains too.

Some of the recipes use well-known and well-loved vegetables like corn in corn bhajia, peas in matar curry, okra in stuffed bhindi, mushrooms in mushroom methi, peppers in stuffed bell peppers and eggplants in vangi pohe.

Some of the vegetables are rather unusual and exotic ones and may not be familiar to all of us, like the jalapeno peppers in mirchi ka salan, lotus root in not-a-banana-stem curry (read the post to know why the curry gets that name), bitter gourd in bitter gourd juice and bitter gourd chips, snake gourd in snake gourd and egg curry, butternut squash in a butternut squash sambar, pumpkin leaves(!) in a spicy tarkari and arbi in arbi hamman.

Vegetables all mingle together in vegetable biryani and vegetable kung pao.

Today, fruits and vegetables find their way into desserts too, in a carrot raisin cake, pumpkin bread pudding, lime meltaways, blueberry sheera and blood orange cake.

Next come the legumes, featuring in kara kuzhambu with canary beans, quick kali dal, split pea dal, dal makhani with pilaf and moong ka chilla.

Flour power is prominent in these recipes for mixed flour dhiradi, jolada rotti and cheese bread.

Milk and "Milk": We have a helpful how-to post on making vegan "milks" at home from nuts, seeds and grains. And we'll end on a sweet note with some cold milk chocolate fudge.

Click on the links above to visit the marathon cooks and read their beautiful posts, look at drool-worthy pictures and see the innovative recipes for yourself.

Following the trend, I went with a vegetable recipe too, and this is the vegetable/condiment that is a pantry staple for most of us: garlic. The best part about reading food blogs, for me, is that the posts are made of more than ingredient lists and directions for cooking. It is the tangle of emotions and memories with the taste and aroma of food. I bookmarked this recipe because of the sweet essay that preceded it, of student life and roommates and tasty meals that are cobbled together almost from thin air.

So that's Recipe #7: Garlic Soup. I used a full dozen cloves of garlic and followed the recipe quite closely. I cut down on the flour and added a chunk of stale bread to thicken the soup (the new trick that this old food blogger learned a few weeks ago). I added rosemary instead of parsley- fresh rosemary is very potent and I needed only a tiny sprig. And I finished with a bit of lemon juice.




For something made with a few basic ingredients, the garlic soup was so rich and flavorful. This soup brings out the best side of garlic. We enjoyed the soup with some freshly baked pizza that was overloaded with mushrooms.



The marathon is going so well, and I can't wait to see what fabulous recipes emerge on day 3. See you tomorrow!

18 comments:

  1. That pizza looks so crunchy ... I could bite right into it! I love, love, love my garlic and loved the original recipe by Tea, as well as the changes you've made .. I think Im going to have to try it both ways!

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  2. Like the way you have complied all the recipes.
    Garlic soup.. very aromatic.C u tomorrow.

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  3. thnks lovely post,..;-)garlic soup looks yum,...waiting for the third day,..;-)

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  4. Nupur - I love the way u do a roundup of all 25 recipes.. every single day. I am enjoying the marathon to the fullest..:D...love the soup too..

    Siri

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  5. This reminds me of CY Gopinath. http://cygopi.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/lessons-from-lasoon/

    I haven't gathered the courage for a garlic soup yet. I do have a garlic love post up my sleeve though.

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  6. I never had garlic soup. thats very new to me. we love oven roasted garlic pods with potatoes. thisone is a must try.

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  7. Garlic Soup seems new , must be very comforting during this winter ! Pizza looks yummy as usual !

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  8. Garlic soup is new to me, thought garlic rasam had enough garlic to offer protection from vampires..

    soup and pizza and snow..right choices..

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  9. That garlic soup is delicious. The pizza is making me want to rush and bake one right away.

    As for the marathon it is turning out to be so much fun. Thank you.

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  10. You have always been outstanding in your way of presenting and organizing info.

    All the best for the new year!

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  11. Garlic soup looks delicious! I am thinking of making this with roasted garlic.. I am just a crazy fan of roasted garlic :) All the recipes from the marathon looks so delicious, you all are doing really good!

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  12. I'm with the others Nupur - you have a special gift for compiling as well as cooking! Garlic soup sounds fabulous :)

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  13. ypu are such a tease, with that pizza at the end.

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  14. Liked the way you have presented the recipes Nupur, simply awesome! I liked the 12 cloves of Garlic concept.

    ~ Ashwini.

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  15. Sheetal Kiran- The pizza crust was more puffy and light than crunchy but very tasty anyway!

    Madhu and notyet100- Thanks

    Siri- And I love the updates of the marathon cooks on your blog :) Thanks so much for participating!

    Anjali- Raw garlic can be really overwhelming but cooked garlic is really mellow- trust me :)

    Sayantani- Ooh, I love roasted garlic with potatoes too!

    Kanchan- Yes, the soup hit the soup, we have lots of snow here.

    sowjanya- Now I want to make garlic rasam ASAP!

    indosungod- Thanks, I am so glad you are enjoying the marathon too!

    Cynthia- Thank you, I really enjoy playing around and finding common themes for the recipes :) Happy New Year to you too!

    PJ- The garlic cooks in butter for this soup, so it gets that wonderful cooked flavor, you may not need to roast it beforehand.

    Linda- Luckily, the recipes seem to be lending themselves to themes! Let's see what happens in the next 4 days.

    bee- LOL

    Ashwini- Thanks!

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  16. Love the idea of garlic soup. Best for these cold winters. Earlier garlic rasam was a staple for these days, now we have a choice.Love your blog and all its variety.

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  17. The soup looks so creamy !
    I recently got a pizza stone ( a gift) and loved sing it, for my first (successful) pizza! I do have a query,when i made the pizza, I could not quite slide it on the stone and as a result some cheese fell on the stone and now it has dark splotches, I cannot get rid of them.. any tips??

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  18. mumbaikaratheart- Thanks!

    Manasi- From what I know, you should not worry about the dark splotches at all, that is normal wear and it is just your pizza stone being seasoned. Don't ever wash the stone, just scrape off the particles with a rough cloth or dry scrubber and keep reusing it. Just ignore the splotches.

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