Easy Tomato Egg Drop Soup

Food blogger I may be but I have these days when I cannot be bothered cooking. That happens usually when I am exhausted or am thinking deeply about something or sometimes just lazy. Although, it is hard to be lazy and sit back when you have a toddler around. I did have such a day yesterday where we had great South Indian meal at a friend’s place for lunch and I just could not bother cooking in the night. Human body does not care how much you stuffed during a meal but just begins to growl in 4-6 hours again. My husband and I were trying to get something on our plate at ten in the night. I chose the lazy route – heat up frozen paratha and my husband made himself a plate of Maggi noodles and a surprise. It was tomato egg drop soup. It was such a simple recipe and he almost did it when his magi noodles was cooking. I should mention that myhusband does notconsider himself a good cook although I thoroughly love certain dishes he makes. He does saythat as far as kitchen goes, he is like an artist who will paint at their own will once a few months and not the daily cook. Anyway, this recipe would be great when you barely have any time but have to fill your stomach with good food. Also, I would imagine it could be a nice snack when you just come back from work so you can get some energy to cook yourself a dinner. It is so simple that I do not even have step by step photos! Here is my husband’s recipe and quantities serve one…


2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 green chilly finely chopped
1 egg, you could beat with fork
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon five spice powder

Take about 1 1/2 cups water and add the tomatoes and green chillies

Once the tomatoes are well cooked (say boil them for 10 minutes), add the five spice powder and salt

Boil for 2 minutes and add the egg and stir so the egg breaks up and gets cooked. Boil until egg appears done

Serve hot with black pepper powder if chilly is not very hot.

If you fancy, you could add spring onions along with the tomatoes, we didn't as we had none then.

Spinach Balls

Green Vegetable Balls/Spinach Balls

Have you had days when you start attempting a recipe and you end up with something completely different? Often, the result is great! Well, this is one such recipe. I was hoping to make patties or cutlet like stuff but ended up with something different. I try to make healthy snacks so we do not get empty calories and awful fat etc. For this recipe I chose to use some beans (pinto), spinach, coriander and potatoes. You can use peas in addition or to replace the beans or you could use some other bean like red kidney beans etc. I found this dish has a very unique taste and was quite new to me. Here is how I did it…

3 medium sized potatoes well boiled

2-3 green chillies

Generous handful of coriander leaves

Generous handful of spinach

2-3 tablespoon of cooked beans or peas

½ cup breadcrumbs (you may need more depending on how watery your vegetables are)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon each - coriander powder, cumin powder, chilly powder

¼ teaspoon garam masala (increase or omit based on preference)

2 tablespoon crumble dressing (if not available, just keep more bread crumbs handy)

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

In a food processor blend all ingredients except oil. If you take the mixture in a spoon it should just about drop. Do not panic if it is slightly more watery, try to adjust with the breadcrumbs.

Heat the ‘kuzhipaniyara koodu’ (you can find more information on this on the post low fat vegetable balls ) and add less than a teaspoon oil in each hole or pit.

Sprinkle the top of the batter with crumble dressing (which is rusk powder) and using a spoon just lift some of the batter and drop in the ‘kuzhipaniyara koodu’ once the oil has heated.

Keep turning each ball within its hole/pit to ensure even cooking. Cook until it has browned.

Serve hot with ketchup or just by itself.

This is quite a wholesome snack as it has carbohydrates from potatoes, iron from spinach, protein from the beans andother vitamins and antioxidants from the rest of the vegetables.

Tomato Kadhi/Tomato Soup

Tomato Kadhi/Tomato Soup with a difference

God must have been in a great mood while creating tomatoes, he has given them wonderful colour and also flavour. Everytime I run low on stock of tomato, I get restless and need to go shopping. A wonderful vegetable that saves my day quite often! It was interesting to learn that tomatoes were initially considered toxic and to cause cancer and for this reason were avoided in the US until about 1800s. It is said that a traveller introduced it in his hometown of Salem by showing people that nothing happened tohim after eating a basket full of tomatoes. Recent research show that its current popularity is for good reason. The red pigment in the tomato, lycopene, is suppose to be a good anti-oxidant and key in preventing few cancers. Knowing all the benefits of tomatoes makes cooking even better because I know I am doing good for my family. It is a shame though that I cannot eat tomatoes raw because of my allergy to uncooked tomato.

My brother and sister-in-law were going to visit us and I was struggling to find time to cook. I had decided I will make corn pulav but was also thinking of a side dish. In the interest of time, I ditched that plan and wanted to make something simple, yet special. As the corn pulav did not have anything to give it a sour taste, I chose to make something with loads of tomato as a side dish for the pulav. I thought I will follow Tarla Dalal’s recipe for this but I must admit, I got lost but ended up with a very interesting dish. This dish can either be served as a soup or on the side with rice. Here is how I did it...

5 tomatoes

½ teaspoon chilly powder

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons besan (Bengal gram flour/chickpea flour)

1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

1 small cinnamon stick (optional)

Salt to taste

Asafoetida

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

Dry roast and grind:

3 cloves

3 dry red chillies

2 teaspoon coriander seeds

Wash and cook the tomatoes in half cup water. Cool and blend. If desired, pass through a strain to get rid of skin and seeds. I chose to keep them.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add a teaspoon oil, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once mustard crackles, add asafoetida, turmeric powder (and curry leaves, cinnamon if using) and the chickpea flour (besan) and fry for a couple of minutes, be careful not to burn it.

Add the tomato and dilute with about half cup water. Allow it to boil.

Add chilly powder and the ground spice powder

Simmer for few more minutes, season with salt. Add dollops of yogurt before serving.

If you do not have time to roast and grind the spices, just add coriander powder, more chilly powder. Add few cloves along with cinnamon.

Kadhi is a traditional Gujarati dish and they tend to add some sweetness to the dish. If desired, you could add some jaggery.