Tomato-Potato Soup: A Very Easy and Tasty Soup I'd Wished I'd Tried Earlier

Tired of having plain tomato soup almost every day, it's time to try something else or add a different vegetable to it to at least vary the taste. I've tried a few soup recipes using a different kind of vegetable. This time, it's tomato-potato soup.

What are needed?

1. Bay leaf, 1 -2 leaves
2. Garlic, 1-2 heads, crushed
3. Ginger, 1 inch, chopped into small pieces
4. Onion, 3 pieces, chopped (2 chopped into medium sizes, for grinding; 1 chopped into small pieces, for garnishing)
5. Green chili, chopped into fine pieces (optional)
6. Ripe tomatoes, 5-6 pieces, chopped into medium sizes
7.Potatoes, 2 medium-size, washed, chopped into small cubes (with skin on)
8. Black pepper powder, 1 tsp.
9. Salt to taste
10. Oil, 2 tbsp. or as required

How to do it?

1. Heat oil, about 2 tbsp. in a deep pan. Add bay leaf, saute' for 4 to 5 seconds. Then add onions. Saute' till translucent.

2. Add ginger and garlic. Saute' till cooked or when garlic and ginger turn slightly brown. (Tip: after crushing or chopping garlic into pieces, leave them as they are for 20 minutes before cooking. Cooking them immediately destroys the enzyme that makes garlic a cancer-fighting-food a.k.a. "superfood").

3. Throw in tomatoes. Saute' till oil starts to separate or when tomatoes get mashed.

4. Add cubed potatoes, stir and mix. Let it cook for a few minutes without getting the bottom get scorched.

5. Add a cup of water (you can add more later if preferred).

6. Let this mixture get cooked until potatoes are soft and tender. Turn off the stove. Keep aside to cool.

7. Once cooled, remove the bay leaf. Using a blender or mixer, churn the entire mixture into a smooth puree. Add water to the jar to remove whatever is left.

8. In the meantime, saute' chopped onions in another small kadai or pan. Saute'until slightly brown. Keep aside when done.

9. Using the same deep pot which was used for the first 7 steps, pour back this puree including the bay leaf then heat again. Add salt and black pepper powder. Try to taste. 

10. After a few minutes of boiling, add in sauteed onions. Mix and serve!

Notes: 

~I only used half of the green chili (about 4 chopped pieces) because we are not fond of a very spicy dish.

~Pumpkin, Zucchini, Carrot, and Beetroot (they are the ones I have tried) can be made this way, too.

~I can stop until procedure 6 and just add black pepper powder and salt. It's already a tasty viand to be served with rice or eaten alone. 

Inbox your query or clarification, if there's any. Enjoy!

Alo Bonda & Coconut-Mint Chutney: A Potato Snack For All Occasions

We are not very fond of fried stuff but we indulge in such items once in a while. So yesterday, my husband suggested to make Alo Bonda and since I have never made it before, we turned for help via the Internet. The results? Not bad....at all!

Alo bonda and coconut-mint chutney

Here's how:

What you need:

For Bonda....read "making the bonda" below!

1.    Potatoes (2 medium-size, boiled and mashed)
2.   Mustard seeds (1 tbsp.)
3.   Asoefetida (a pinch)
4.   Onions (2 medium-size, chopped into small pieces)
5.   Green chili (1, chopped into small pieces)
6.  Turmeric powder (2 tbsp.)
7.  Coriander powder (1 tbsp.)
8.  Mango powder (1 tsp. -optional)
9.  Coriander leaves -chopped
10. Salt to taste
11.  Oil for frying

For Chutney....wash all these ingredients and churn them using a mixer to make a paste. Add a little water, but make sure it isn't watery. Check the sourness and saltiness. You'll know if it has the chutney taste. Otherwise, add more lemon juice or salt.

1.  Black pepper powder
2  Green chili (2 pieces, chopped into small pieces)
3. Lemon juice (2-3 pieces)
4. Mint leaves -ample amount
5. Coconut -half, sliced into small, thin pieces
6. Onions - 2, chopped into quarter size
7. Coriander leaves -optional
8.  Salt to taste

For Batter.... (mix all these ingredients and make a smooth batter where your bonda balls are dipped and coated before frying).

1. Gram flour (1 small cup)
2. Rice flour (2 tbsp. -can be made using rice and blended in a mixer)d chili powder
3. Red chili powder (1 tsp. or less)
4. Little water
5. A little salt to taste

Making the Bonda
1.  Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and asoefetida to crackle for a few seconds.
2. Add chopped onions and chopped green chili. Sautee' till slightly brown.
3. Add spices: turmeric, coriander powder, mango powder, salt. Mix and sautee' for a few seconds.
4. Add mashed potatoes and salt. Mix thoroughly.
5. Add chopped coriander leaves before turning off the stove. Let this mixture cool down.
6. Once cool, take a spoon of it and form small balls.
7. Dip each ball into the batter, coating all areas.
8. In another deep pan, heat oil for frying. Fry these coated bonda balls in a medium flame. Careful not to roast them.
9. Remove from pan and place them in a plate or bowl with tissue paper on it.

Serve with chutney. Enjoy!

Note:
~Making this is quite a long process, yet worth it. But if you have company to help prepare the ingredients, it will make the procedure easier.
~This was the second time I made coconut-mint chutney and I really like how I make it. Yum!
~There are various ways to make Alo Bonda.
~For any clarification, just leave a comment.

My Life With Animals

I tell you my story. It's nothing admirable but I need you to listen to it.

I ate meat! Variety of meats, actually. Pig, cow, carabao/buffalo, goat, chicken, turkey, ducks and other birds, frogs, fishes, crabs, shrimps, squid, and dog meat.

Yes, you read it right. Eating dog meat is not only in China and its neighboring countries. It's there too in some parts of the Philippines. So even dogs were not spared!

It's gross, I know, but to someone who just wants to have meat without a second thought, it's not!

And that's not it! I fed chickens, I helped to weave chicken nests out of coconut leaves, I watched mother hens laid eggs, I watched these eggs hatched, and, yes, I cooked a few of them, for sure, boiled, scrambled, sunny-side-up! I even helped to trap chickens so we can sell them for food or money to pay for school fees, or just simply for dinner.  

On top of this, I was so proud purchasing a kilo or two from the market or being in a queue for a lechon manok (grilled/roasted chicken). Chicken taste was unbeatable, for me!

I cleaned, cooked, and have eaten chicken meat for as long as I can remember.

~freedom~

And here's another. I fed and bathe a pig or two or more. I even went to the woods to find wild taro leaves -as food for pigs. Yes, I fed pigs. Plenty of times! I watched them grow, weighed and sold. I watched their throats slit open, blood spurting many times for weddings, fiestas, anniversaries or birthdays.  

I heard their cries. Shrill cries! I just didn't think it was a cry...a cry for help, a cry of no escape!

Oh, we had cats! We didn't murder and eat them though. I just carried two or three kittens and left them in the forest. Did I do the right thing? I was not even thinking about doing the right thing then. I didn't even take notice whether they were old enough to survive on their own. We just wanted them out of our house! Why? They were a nuisance. Their mother kept stealing food from our pantry.

~Limpei died of wound infection~

Another atrocious act I did a few times. How I learned it must be from observation. How the elders treat animals. Well, snakes were always thought to be vicious, always aim to attack and bite you. Oh, the ignorance of it all! I mashed snake heads to their death, carried to the middle of the road for a truck or two to do the final blow. That was always the case. No visible snakes were spared.

The list could go on and on.

Horrible, shameful, disgusting, and utterly atrocious! Looking back of who I just made me shook my head in amazement at how disconnected I was to the real world.

I have exploited animals for 34 years! Seven of those years were of exploiting hens and depriving calves of their rights for milk.

Why? Why did I grow up to be such a heartless, selectively compassionate person?

Well, I can blame culture. I can blame my mother for teaching us selective compassion. I can blame my older siblings for not growing to be critical thinkers. I could blame my neighbors for none of them refused to eat meat. I can blame my teachers and peers. Geez, I could blame everyone!

I could blame myself for being stupid and heartless. I didn't develop critical thinking myself although we were encouraged in school.

Does it matter who's to blame? The people in my life made wrong choices. They made mistakes. I, too. Many times.

What's important now? Learning from mistakes and devoting time to righting the wrongs.

I am aware now. I want you to be aware, too.

These animals feel pain and sorrow. They show affection, happiness, embarrassment, and guilt among other emotions we humans know of. They have families and friends. They are social. They play a lot.

Just like us!

Yet we murder them for food. Just to get a 10-minute pleasure of taste that is mainly due to the spices and condiments that we add to a meat dish.

We murder them for a thing called celebration when people enjoy and commemorate happiness. But when we really think about celebration, it is not the food that makes us happy. It is the presence of people- family, friends, neighbors, relatives, etc. talking and chatting, sharing life itself with each other, listening to the chatters and laughter of everyone!

Celebrating happiness need not be at the expense of somebody else's life. How can we be happy if by acquiring it an innocent life was taken? A life that would have attended the celebration, not as a meal, but as an individual who would express joy and belongingness had it given the opportunity to be part of it.

My life with animals then was an unquestioned one, a life of conformity of which my values were of limited scope.

Not anymore!

It is different now! What changed?

~a friend calf~

I changed!

I realized that my life cannot be called life if I continue taking another's life. It just doesn't make sense! Somehow that line between the life of animals and my own life had a gap, which wasn't visible before. But because I chose to look, really look, the gap became clear, much clearer, and I knew then that only I can fill that gap. I reconnected the line. It is holding strong. And it is not going to get torn again.

How about you? What kind of connection do you have with non-human animals?

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Human Beings

This picture was taken on 14th March 2015 on our way towards Gauchar market.  I was already documenting the horror of the area while passing this bridge. Then this woman, coming from the other side of the road, carrying a plastic of mixed garbage, appeared.
I walked past ahead, stood and waited for her to cross the road because I know she will be dumping what she's carrying into the river and I wanted to photograph it. 

The result? The picture above!

The plastic bag didn't land on to the river itself. It was caught by those Lantana plants down below. 

But in no time, the image would be like this...

...and even worse!

What she did was stupid, unacceptable, and disgusting!
She, among others, is responsible for deliberately polluting this seasonal river, killing and poisoning ALL lives that depend on it.

She, based on her body size-short and stout, is obese and, therefore, sick...very sick,
 physically and mentally!

Would you sympathize with her?

Would you treat her, if you are a doctor?

Would you help her, in any way, if you happen to be her neighbor?

Would you care to educate her? 

To me, she is a walking dead and because she's dead, giving her education is like administering a dose of medicine to a zombie -no point! I don't sympathize with people like her. I am not a misanthrope, I just deplore people who have no shame left of themselves because this woman and the likes of her are not only killing themselves, they are also dragging innocents with them -the victims who are almost always not in the picture, the animals!

And that is merciless!

I would have not minded if her action only affects her. She can do whatever she wants even if it leads to her own peril or death. But that is not the case!

The animals who don't contribute to any of these suffer the most.
And who else? The few people who try to make a difference and don't participate in polluting the earth suffer, too!

Ironic huh! The criminals are not the only ones paying for their crimes. And in most cases, it's the victims who pay the most-their health and their life!

How To Make Raja Special

Raja Special...a name that sounds special not because it's a king's favorite but because it's a recipe that is very simple yet very healthy! It's quick and very easy, too!

Ingredients:

~Peanuts/Groundnuts (a cup)
~Tomatoes (medium, 2 pieces)
~Onions (medium, 2)
~Green chili (1 or 2 pieces)
~Lemon juice (1, small) or vinegar (a few drops)
~Mango powder or chat masala (a tsp.)
~Black pepper powder (a tsp.)
~Salt (to taste)
~Olive oil (a tsp.)
~Coriander leaves (finely chopped)

What to do?

1. In an oilless pan, stir fry peanuts till they make a crackling sound -a sound of splitting. Don't roast.
2. Wash all vegetables. Slice onions and tomatoes into long and thin pieces.
3. Chopped green chili into very small pieces. Add to onions and tomatoes.
4. Add lemon juice, mango powder, black pepper powder, salt, olive oil, coriander leaves and mix.
5. Add the roasted peanuts and sprinkle a few drops of vinegar.
6. Mix well and serve.

Enjoy a healthy meal (We generally have this as a meal rather than a snack, which mostly is the case)!