Canneloni Bean Soup with Veggies

Simple recipe. I used canned cannelloni beans. You can substitute for any type of beans and add any kind of vegetable you want. I usually use onions, carrots and celery(also known as Mire-poix) as base for my soups but this time I didn't have celery.

Ingredients:
Onions - finely diced 1/4 cup
Carrots - finely diced 1/2 cup
Zucchini - finely diced 1/2 cup
Green beans - cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/2 cup
Canneloni beans - 15oz can
Vegetable broth - 1 cup(I prefer Swanson brand or if you make your own, more power to you)
Water - 6 cups
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
All Purpose Flour - 2Tbsp
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:
- Drain and clean the cannelloni beans. Mash 1/4 of the beans with a potato masher.
- Mix the flour and butter and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a stock pot.
- Add onions and saute till they are translucent.
- Add carrots and zucchini and season wit salt.
- Saute the vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes on medium high heat.
- Add pepper and garlic powder and saute for few seconds.
- Add broth and water.
- Cover and bring it to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the flour and butter mixture and the mashed cannelloni beans.
- Mix and add the rest of the canneloni and green beans.
- Check for seasoning and add salt/pepper if need be.
- Simmer till the green beans are cooked.
- Serve hot with some garlic bread.

Salad Fritters

Very weird title I know. See that bean and potato salad post below. I had a little bit of it left over. Prabu was home last week and I wanted to make a new snack. What did I do? I made deep-fried fritters with it. Yummy I tell you :)

Ingredients:

Left over Bean and Potato Salad - 2 cups
Self-Rising Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Minced onions - 1/8 cup
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
- In a food processor, blend the salad and the flour to make a dough like mixture.
- Mix onions to this and make them into small patties. Deep dry them in the oil till golden brown.

Prabu says this is his favorite way of eating a "salad".

Green Bean and Potato Salad

I have started to go to farmer's market regularly and am finding myself with some good stuff. The bean and potatoes used in this recipe are from the market.

Ingredients:

Green Beans - 1/2 lb, cleaned ends trimmed and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
Potatoes - 3 medium, peeled and cubed

For dressing:
Olive oil - 1/4 cup
Lemon Juice - 1/8 cup
Ground Mustard - 2 Tbsp.
Slat and fresh pepper to taste

Procedure:
- Bring 1 quart of water to boil. Salt the water.
- Add green beans and cook for 2 to 3 minutes till the beans are cooked just enough.
- Remove from water and pat try on kitchen towels.
- Add potatoes to the hot water and cook them . DO not over cook so potatoes get all mushy.
- Mix all the ingredients for dressing and whisk them or just run it through a food processor. Adjust seasoning.
- Mix beans and potatoes in a salad bowl and add the dressing.

Rigatoni with shallots, tomatoes and red bell pepper

I wanted to make a simple pasta dish and decided to whip this up with fresh tomatoes. I am not a big fan of the canned tomatoes or the too much red sauce on my pasta. And no I don't use fresh Parsley ever. It gives a weird flavor and I do not like it. Sue me now ;).

Ingredients:
Rigatoni - 1/2lb
Roma Tomatoes - 3 chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Shallots - 1 minced
Red Bell Pepper - 1 finely diced
Milk - 1/4 cup
Fresh Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 cup.
Salt and Fresh pepper - to taste
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.
Butter - 1 tsp.
Dried Parsley - 1/4 tsp.

Procedure:
- Cook the pasta according to package directions with enough salt..
- In a medium pan, heat oil and butter.
- Add shallots and garlic and cook for few seconds making sure garlic is not burning.
- Add the red bell pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once pepper starts to get soft, add tomatoes, cover and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes start to wilt.
- Add cooked pasta to this and mix.
- Add milk and stir for 30 seconds. Check for seasonings.
- Take the pan off the stove, mix cheese and parsley and serve hot.

Tandoori Chicken, Rice-A-Roni, Mini YouChoy

I know it was a weird combo to have for dinner but it was gooood and it was so easy to make.

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken breast - 2 lbs (bonesless and skinless cut into thick strips)
Tandoori Masala - 3 Tbsp. (I bought priya brand but you can use any brand you like)
Red food color - 2 drops
Curd/yogurt - 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:
- Mix food color, masala , lemon juice and salt to the curd.
- In a ziplock bag, add the chicken and the marinade and mix well till all the chicken pieces are coated.
- Leave the ziplock in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours.
- Now, you can cook this in different ways, you can either bake them or pan fry them or do what I did.
- Pressure cook the chicken for 2 whistles (no need to add any water).
- Heat oil in a saute pan. Add the cooked chicken pieces and pan fry them till they form a thin golden crust on all sides.
- Do it in batches so you don't over crowd the pan.

Rice-A-Roni

Rice-A-Roni is nothing but rice and vermicelli cooked together. Instead of Vermicelli I used angel hair pasta.

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups uncooked
Angel hair pasta - 1/4 cup cut into small pieces
Salt - to taste
Water - 5 cups

I have a microwave rice cooker, so I just added all the ingredients and cooked them for 200 minute sin the microwave. However you can use the electric cooker or even do stove-top method too.

Mini YouChoy with garlic and soy sauce
YouChoy I think is also called Chinese broccoli. You can get this in any asian store. I became a fan of it few years ago when my then manager introduced me to this vegetable.

Ingredients:
You Choy - 2 lbs washed and ends trimmed
Garlic - 4 cloves sliced thin
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce - 2 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
vegetable stock - 1/4 cup
White pepper - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp.

Procedure:
- Heat oil in a wok.
- Add garlic and stir for 15 seconds making sure it doesn't burn.
- Add youchoy, soy sauce, stock, slat and pepper
- cover and cook till the veggie is cooked through.