Palak Soup | Spinach Soup | Healthy Palak Soup | How to make quick easy to Make Soup Recipe

Who does not like a bowl full of nutrition at the meal table? When hunger crosses all limits and you need to put together something really quick for meal, the delicious and healthy Spinach Soup (Palak Soup) is the answer. Check out my take on this popular soup recipe as below and on YouTube channel the ink is as below

To learn how to make Spinach (Palak) puree the steps are as below: -Clean and wash the spinach leaves -In a bowl add water and boil the leaves in boiling water for 10 minutes.-Drain and wash under running cold water to maintain green color of spinach. -Squeeze this blanch leaves. Keep aside to cool. -Blend boiled spinach into blender for smooth puree consistency and add water to make it in running consistency. -Spinach puree is ready to use.  Ingredients:

1 bunch of spinach, blanched & pureed

1 small onion
1 tbsp wheat flour
1/2 tbsp butter
crushed black pepper
salt to taste
water as required

Method:
- Heat butter in a pan.
- Once the butter melts, add onion and cook till the onions are brown

-Once the onion s are cooked , cool it down and blend and again add in pan

- Add wheat flour and mix well to avoid lumps.
- Let the flour turn brown and cook well.
- Add the spinach puree to the saucepan and mix well.
- Add water if required since you have already added water in spinach puree.
- Add salt, crushed black pepper and mix well and and bring the soup to a boil.
- The delicious and healthy spinach soup is ready to be served. Garnish with fresh cream.

For making a full course meal click on link below for wheat base pizza

Wheat base pizza with pizza sauce - healthy pizza

and for healthy dessert to go with click on link below for wheat crust apple pie

Wheat crust apple pie dessert with classic filling - Healthy dessert

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Healthy Apple pie with wheat pie crust |Easy and out of the world dessert | Classic Dessert

Apple is all season available fruit and what best if you combine apple with a healthy wheat pie crust to make an amazing apple pie unmatched dessert pie you ever had !!!

Do watch video on YouTube by clicking on the link as below (and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel)

https://youtu.be/tMXTJ13F6vs

Here are the ingredients

For the pie crust

 Ingredients:
- 280 gm (2 cups) plain flour
- pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp fine sugar
- 150 gm (3/4 cup) cold butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup cold yogurt
- milk for the glaze
- sugar for sprinkling

 Method:
- In a bowl, put in the flour, salt if using, baking powder, soda and sugar and mix well with a whisk. -Mix in the cold butter and using your hands, cut the cold butter into the flour by rubbing the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. You could also use a food processor to do the same. Here using cold butter is very important and also ensure you do not rub the butter for too long. It should be able to maintain the temperature. If required you can keep the mixture in refrigerator for 2 minutes to maintain the temperature.

- Mix in the yogurt and knead gently until the mixture comes together to form a ball. Use a few drops of cold water if the pie dough feels a little dry. Don’t knead the dough for more than a few seconds. Cover the pie dough with cling film or foil and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

For the filling:
 Ingredients:
- 6 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 55 gm (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 55 gm (1/2 cup) regular sugar
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 cup water, divided
- 2 tbsp cornflour or cornstarch

- In a medium sized saucepan place the apples I have sliced the apples thinly alongiwth the skin and kept it in cold water , sugars, lime juice, cinnamon powder and the water, and cook on medium heat until the apples are cooked through.

- Once the apples are cooked, mix the cornflour with the water to form a paste and add this paste into the apple mixture. Cook on low heat until the liquids thicken and form a smooth mixture. allow to cool.

For preparing pie cake:

- Pre heat the oven to 200C/430F.

- Bring out the pie dough from the refrigerator and roll out two-thirds  to line an 8” (20 cm) regular pie dish. Make sure that the dough is quite cool when you roll or else it would tear. Prick with a fork all over and place in the refrigerator for ten minutes.

- Place the pie dish in the preheated oven and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the pie base is lightly golden brown in colour.

- Remove the pie dish from the oven, cool for a about five minutes and place the prepared pie filling over it.

- Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie. Seal the edges over the already browned pre-baked pie dough by making a fluted pattern with your fingertips or with the help of a fork. Make some slits in the centre of the pie for air to circulate while the pie bakes. This also prevents the filling from turning into a soggy mess.

- Give the pie a milk wash, by brushing the top of the pie with milk, sprinkle some sugar all over and bake again for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the pie is golden brown.

- Cool completely before cutting and serving a slice of this gorgeous pie!

About me and my journey :)

Hello and welcome to Foodandfun ! I’m Soumya Kulkarni and I live in Mumbai, India. I am a chartered Accountant by profession and a very passionate self acclaimed chef by heart.

As a young girl, whenever I tasted something good I became inquisitive about how to cook it and the process which goes into it.Food and aspects relating to it, have always fascinated me and I firmly believe cooking is an art.

During my CA study days cooking was the only thing I found solace in and a get away from a stressful schedule. Cooking made me feel good and motivated. I was not aware of my passion for cooking until one day when my  father realized this and got me enrolled in a one day workshop of cake bake. Since then there was no looking back. I went on trying everything that I felt i could never get to taste , be it international cuisine or desi traditional cuisine. This  interest and curiosity coupled with a great passion for food made me even more conscious and I started inventing ways to cook in a healthier way. My journey so far of creating recipe has been awesome and I made a decision to share it with world. Hence in 2015 I opened my YouTube and the link is as below , do subscribe -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxl-7-WhdQ6rL_OS1mFKKQ and started shooting my recipe. Further I felt the need of detailing out the recipe and reaching out to more people wherever YouTube was not accessible hence this blog to help you all enjoy the pleasures of cooking with my simple , creative and innovative ways.

Along the way I participated in "Amul fresh cream contest 2016" held by Masterchef India and where my dish was selected as winning recipe. Here is the link below of the recipe I made at Masterchef kitchen: (starting from 30.07 minutes to 43 minutes)

http://www.hotstar.com/tv/masterchef-india-masterclass/11124/the-taste-of-india/1000161598

I am available for recipe development,  food writing, conducting workshops, hosting shows (videos) or brand your products . You can also contact me if you are interested to use my pictures (I can send you high resolution files) or my writing for commercial purposes. For advertising and site sponsorship opportunities, contact me on foodandfunutube@gmail.com

Through my website foodandfunwithsoumya.wordpress.com  and my YouTube channel Foodandfun I aim to reach thousands of people from across the world.

Below, you can find the links to my all my social media site:

To subscribe YouTube channel:

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To like Facebook page:

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Magic Chocolate Flower Dessert- Valentines day Special

Hey friends Valentine ’s Day is around the corner and how about surprising your love of life with this magic chocolate flower dessert, you will need only 3 ingredients chocolate cream and a cupcake. To watch the video here is the link to my YouTube channel.. Do SUBSCRIBE for weekly videos :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_WhMr2gRUM

First of all lets learn what is tempering of chocolate

What is tempering?

Tempering chocolate is an essential step for making smooth, glossy, evenly colored coating for your dipped chocolates. The tempering process takes chocolate through a temperature curve, a process which aligns the chocolate's crystals to make it smooth, silky, and glossy.

HOW to TEMPER?

Firstly cut chocolates in small pieces

Place a bowl on flame with water for double boiler

Then place glass bowl dry on the bowl of water

Add half of chocolates in double boiler

and once it starts meting add another batch of chocolate to bring down the temperature and mix it well

so that you get a running consistency melted chocolate.

Now to make petals take parchment paper and draw straight lines keeping equal distance and then draw curved lines on both sides , this will help us get the petal shape .

Now spread the chocolate thinly, spreading it thinly is very important. And shape it using a toothpick. Tempered chocolate solidifies quickly as it cools, so it is important to maintain its temperature and to keep it moving while you are dipping hence working around quickly is very important.

Use something cylindrical to hold it in place (I am used bangles ) to support the petals and curve it up into a half circle. Once semi set refrigerate for 5 minutes. The petals are ready keep it aside in fridge to maintain the shape while we proceed to make another round shaped chocolate to hold the petals.

Buttercream

Now let’s make butter cream..Add butter and icing sugar in bowl and whip it add vanilla essence and red food colour and mix it will. Then put a rose nozzle and fill in the cream for piping.

Take a cupcake of your choice; you can purchase it from the store too. First cover the cupcake with cream and then pipe in the roses.

.To assemble the flower, remove the petals from fridge and cut the round in half and use melted chocolate to hold it in place do the same with another half. Now take the half flower and carefully place the cupcake inside it and close it with another half flower

To make the petals open take dark chocolate in a glass and add hot cream into it and mix well. Before serving reheat the chocolate mixture and immediately pour the hot sauce.

The hot sauce melts the base of the petals making them fall open beautifully. Do subscribe to my channel and keep cooking.

Eggless |Chocolate cake with Nutella frosting| From Scratch

Nothing will satisfy a chocolate craving better than a delicious chocolate cake recipe and chocolate cake or a cupcake topped with Nutella frosting and you just can't go wrong! Its a perfect combination of delight in every bite and i am here to show you how to cook it at home from scratch. To see the video demonstration here is the link to my YouTube channel: (Don't forget to click that red button - SUBSCRIBE !!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jqoCZ6lVBc

For the Eggless Chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients:

200 gm (1 1/2 cup) plain flour
50 gm (1/3 cup) good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
200 gm (1/2  tin) sweetened condensed milk
75 gm (1/2 cup) butter, melted
200 ml cream (3/4 cup)
3 tbsp sugar or you can adjust as per sweetness required
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp hot water

Method:

Grease the cupcake tin or the cake tin with meted butter and then dust it with all purpose flour. Tap out the excess flour .

Preheat the oven at 180C

In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and pinch of salt , and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. This step is very important to ensure baking soda and baking powder is spread evenly in mixture.

In another bowl, assemble all the liquid ingredients, the melted butter and condensed milk and beat until well mixed using a hand mixer on medium low speed then add fresh cream and again beat the mixture and mix well. Add vanilla essence and mix well.

Now Stir in the sugar and put in half the flour mixture and beat using hand mixer until mixed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour and sugar beat until smooth and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Put in the 2 tbsp hot water and mix again for a minute more.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake tin and round cake tin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes if making cupcakes or 1 hour if making the cake in the 9 inch round tin.

* If you prefer your cakes sweet and if you are making it without the icing then I suggest that you make this cake with the additional sugar.

For Nutella Frosting

Ingredients:
50 gm (5 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
170 gm (1/2 cup) nutella
1 tsp vanilla
375 gm (2 1/2 cup) icing or confectioners sugar
100 gm (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
2 to 4 tbsp milk

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, put in the butter (at room temperature) and beat well with a hand mixer. Then add icing sugar , cocoa powder and vanilla essence and beat it for 2-3 minutes. Then add nutella and beat it using as much milk to get a smooth icing.

Finish the cakes and cupcakes

Cupcake decoration - Subscribe to my YouTube channel

After the cakes completely cool down, spread the icing on the cake with the help of a piping bag and the desired nozzle.

* It is always better to measure flour in a weighing scale for accuracy in baking

STRAWBERRY CAKE !!!

Hey finally the season of strawberries is here and let us take full advantage of this delicious fruit! Well let’s make it more special by making a strawberry lookalike cake simply divine, moist, tender strawberry cake. Sounds tempting isn’t it!! So lets start. 

The link for Youtube channel video is https://youtu.be/w_XogBqBW-Q

Ingredients:
For the Base-Plain Vanilla Cake preferably round

Liquid syrup -1 cup of water and 2 Tbsp of powdered sugar

Strawberry Jam

- 1 cup of chopped strawberries
- ¼ cup of powdered sugar

For covering the cake- 3 cups of whipped cream

For decoration-Green food colour and lots of strawberries !!!

Method
For the base
- Demould cake from tin
- Cut it in half
- Give a heart shape and smooth out the corners
-Spread over liquid syrup to make the cake moist and tender

Strawberry Jam
- Add the chopped strawberries in a sauce pan to which add powdered sugar and cook it until the sugar is melted, after that keep the jam aside until it cools down

Whipped cream
- Whisk the whipping cream till it forms a stiff peak

- Take ½ the whipped cream and add the Strawberry jam to the cream and mix well using cut and fold method. This we will use in between the cake and coat the cake

-Rake ¼ the whipped cream and add green food colour and put it in piping bag , this we will use for piping leaves

-Take ¼ whipped cream and put it in piping bag , this we will use for piping seeds

Assembling the Cake:
- Spread the strawberry cream over the wet sponge and top it up with the other sponge
and apply the cream all over
- Refrigerate it for half hour

-Place the thinly sliced strawberries all over the cake and then pipe strawberry seeds with white cream and pipe leaves using green whipped cream and your delicious cake is ready to be served!

Here is the Youtube link for visual idea of how to make strawberry lookalike cake

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INTRO

Hi friends .. Hope you all are doing well. I have started with the blog as a extension to my 
Youtube channel 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxl-7-WhdQ6rL_OS1mFKKQ/feed

so that we have better interaction and a detailed discussion on all the recipe. So lets get started with the blog and an exciting journey of cooking. Thank you!

Wheat Pizza | Pizza Tomato Sauce| From Scratch| Margherita classic| Healthy and Easy

Wheat Pizza | Pizza Tomato Sauce| From Scratch| Margherita classic| Healthy and Easy

Whole Wheat Pizza Base is a healthy alternate to the basic all purpose flour pizza and when you know you can eat your favorite dish with no guilt it just doubles your happiness’ tried wheat flour pizza using the available ingredients in market and it came out so good that i just couldn’t wait to share with you guys. Learn how to make Healthy Margherita Pizza at Home only on Food and Fun. Here is the link to my YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/RtmSILs7S7k

Ingredients
For soft pizza dough
1 kg refined flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
30 gms fresh yeast or 10 gms dry yeast
50 ml vegetable oil
280- 300 ml water

For the pizza sauce
500 gms tomatoes 
10 -12 basil leaves
2 - 3 garlic pods
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the topping 
Italian mozzarella cheese
Basil leaves

Method: 
Step 1 ( Dough )

-To make the dough take some lukewarm water and add sugar miz sugar well then add yeast. Mix it well and keep is aside for a minute. Then take the wheat flour , add salt and mix well. Then add the yeast mixture into it and add  1 cup of water mix it well.  

-Take your dough and keep adding the flour till you get a non sticky drought and keep kneading. 

-Then apply little bit of olive oil and keep it aside for 30 minutes by covering it with a wet cloth.

-Make sure you keep the dough in warm and dark place to let the yeast activate.
 

While the dough is resting lets prepare pizza sauce

Step 2 (Pizza sauce) 

-Take the boiled tomatoes and once it cools down peel them off
- In the blender add tomatoes cloves of garlic , salt, sugar and tomato sauce and run it into a smooth paste(add red chilli powder its optional)
- Add fresh basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil and let it marinate for 10-15 minutes

Step 3 ( Rolling Into Thin Crust )
- Take a handful of dough and cover the surface with flour and then roll the dough into thin crust. Rolling it thinly is very important and then keep it over baking tray fold the sides. Then pork the base with fork
- Top it up with tomato sauce
- Add some cheese i am adding here processed cheese since mozzarella cheese was not avavible but i would suggest you to add mozzarella cheese to add the fovor and make more like one you get at dominoes or pizza hut
- Bake it in pre heated oven at 200 degrees for 15- 20 minutes

If required once you bake you can add extra cheese on top for extra flavor
- Garnish it with extra virgin olive oil & fresh basil leaves.

The wheat Pizza is ready to eat without any guilt!