Full of flavor homemade tomato basil soup recipe made with roasted fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and onions. It uses no canned stuff, and is perfect for a vegan, gluten free meal.
I have shared the recipe for this tomato basil soup before on the blog as a part of my roasted tomato pasta sauce. That recipe is a a great base for so many different dishes. Its great as a tomato sauce for pizzas. Add a little pasta water/ veg or chicken stock and it makes a great base for pasta. You can also use the base recipe like I do to make this roasted tomato basil soup.
Every time I make this soup (and I have made it plenty times) and post pictures on social media, I just direct people to the sauce blog post and thought its high time that I have a dedicated post for the soup. With August here, soon its going to be daily soup weather, and this tomato and basil soup should definitely feature in the must-know soup list.
SLOW ROASTING THE TOMATOES
This recipe benefits from the oven doing most of the work here in developing the flavors. Slow roasting the tomatoes releases the sweet juices in them and imparts a lovely flavor. Roasting a red bell pepper along with the tomatoes gives the final sauce that lovely red color you see in store bought sauces, without adding any canned tomatoes to the sauce. And to it, if you add roasted garlic, the sauce becomes absolute perfection in terms of flavor.
You can cook the onions separately in the pan and then add the roasted tomatoes, and occasionally I have done that too for my sauce, but these days I just roast the onions along with the tomatoes and then blitz everything in the blender. So much more convenient, and I do not have to pay attention to the stove in the kitchen heat.
Mixed berries coconut popsicles made from frozen berries blended with a bit of honey, and then layered with creamy homemade coconut milk
Recipes that are quick and easy to make are always welcome in my kitchen, especially in summers. When such recipes are dessert recipes, I never let go of them. Enter mixed berry coconut popsicles.
Popsicles as a dessert option are whimsical enough to impress your guests, and easy enough for you to whip them up without breaking a sweat. They are loved by kids and adults both and when made with healthy ingredients they can be perfect for breakfast too ;). These mixed berries coconut popsicles are just that- you can enjoy them as a dessert or eat them for breakfast too.
I love coconut milk. I love coconut in my savory dishes- like the pumpkin soup, khao suey from the blog but also use coconut milk generously in my desserts. Coconut milk has a hint of natural sweetness, it’s super creamy, and it goes well with most fruits, making it perfect for desserts. The chia seed pudding is a delectable dessert/breakfast made even better when using coconut milk. Today’s recipe is also a coconut milk recipe.
MAKING COCONUT MILK AT HOME VS STORE BOUGHT
Up until recently, I have mostly been using coconut milk from a can. Read: store bought coconut milk. Only because I thought it was more convenient than making it at home. But did you know you can easily make your own coconut milk at home with only two ingredients. Plus, when you make it at home, you end up with pure coconut milk without any preservatives, weird ingredients or any additional added flavors.
While quite a lot of recipes online use shredded coconut, I recommend using a fresh coconut as the flavor is more coconuty and creamy. If you have a good powerful blender, you can get creamy coconut milk by using very little water and fresh coconut. I use the Hamilton Beach JMG– and although expensive it has been worth it (disclaimer: this post is not sponsored, but if you click on the link to buy, I might make some affiliate money- its not much just enough to pay for an ingredient or two 🙂 )
HOW TO MAKE COCONUT MILK AT HOME
For me, the hardest step when making coconut milk at home is breaking the coconut. I am not a pro, and always ask Anubhav to do it. Once you have carefully broken the coconut (reserving the liquid), take a butter knife or spatula and remove the coconut meat from the outer shell.
You can use a peeler to peel the thin brown skin from the coconut pieces but since it doesnt affect the taste or consistency of the coconut milk, I let the skin be.
Cut your coconut meat into 1-2 inch pieces and add it to your blender. Again, I recommend a good high speed blender that can easily cut through the coconut pieces. Add hot water to the blender and blend for 1-3 minutes until you end up with a smooth consistency paste. You could also use the coconut water that you extracted to make the milk.
Remove the paste from the blender and pour into a cheescloth/kitchen towel, or strainer and squeeze out the coconut milk. And there you have it creamy coconut milk.
TIPS AND TRICKS
While easy to make, there are certain things I like to keep in mind when making coconut milk at home.
I do not like adding too much water to the coconut milk, especially if using for desserts as the result is more rich and creamy. You can always dilute the milk later if required.
In case you are making coconut milk specifically for this recipe, you could add in a date or two to sweeten your milk while blending the coconut meat. Minimalist baker does that.
When making these popsicles, I prefer to let the milk sit for a few hours in the refrigerator, so that the coconut cream can separate from the rest of the milk- resulting an even more rich and creamy popsicle. You could avoid this step, but I get better results when I do so.
You can check the video I made in collaboration with Hamilton Beach for these popsicles on my instagram:
Rajma Burger patty- a meatless burger patty made from red kidney beans that is a hearty vegetarian alternative to regular meat burgers.
When I was in the US we used to get these frozen meatless burger patties- specifically black bean burger patties. It was a quick breakfast option and we loved it as a meatless burger option. While the frozen patties were convenient, of course homemade is better and you know the ingredients that go in the burger. I learnt how to make the black bean burgers at home, and did a recipe post also about it too.
While you get canned black beans in India, they are not so easily available everywhere. Rajma or red kidney beans, on the other hand, are almost in every Indian’s pantry. So I thought to adapt the black bean burger recipe from the blog to make rajma burgers or red kidney bean burger patties.
I had tried making rajma burgers when I was working on a video for Better Butter. The video had a meatless burger made from leftover rajma. While the rajma patty from that recipe was really good, it was dependent on the fact that you had leftover rajma. And I wanted a recipe that made a hearty yet delicious Rajma burger from scratch.
Cooking Rajma/ Red Kidney Beans
Make sure you buy freshly packed beans. The older the beans the tougher they get to cook, and you may not achieve the right texture with them no matter how long you cook.
Rajma should be cooked properly. Undercooking or not cooking them at the right temperature can lead to food poisoning. Read this article for more information.
The following are the steps to ensure while cooking rajma:
Rinse and soak the rajma or kidney beans in enough water overnight or for 8-9 hours.
Next day, discard the water and rinse the beans again in fresh water.
In a pressure cooker, take rajma, salt and 4 cups water, or enough to cover beans by up to 2 inches.
Pressure cook on high flame until 5 whistles.
Then lower the flame to minimum, let it cook for another 15 minutes and shut the flame off after that. Check for doneness once the pressure drops. If not done, pressure cook for another whistle or two.
If cooking in a sauce pan or pot, you will need to cook the kidney beans covered for 45minutes to 1 hour. It might take longer.
How to Shape & Cook the Rajma Burgers
While you can go as big or as small as you want with these burgers, the ideal size I have learnt comes by using 1/3 cup of mixture per patty. This size makes them perfect to evenly cook, and since these rajma burgers are quite wholesome any bigger makes the burgers quite a massive meal.
A great tip for before shaping any burgers, tikkis, or filling is to cook a small test portion first to check whether the seasoning and flavors are right. You can then adjust the spices before shaping the rest of the mixture and get perfectly seasoned burger patties every time.
While shaping put a little oil on your hands to help with the shaping.
You can bake, grill or cook the burgers in a pan with a little oil.
To bake: After shaping the patties, place the rajma burgers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Preheat oven at 375°F (190°C). Brush the top with a little oil, if you want. Bake for 10 minutes on each side, 20 minutes in total.
To grill: Place the patties on a greased aluminum foil and grill 8 minutes on each side on medium-high heat.
To make ahead: You can make the burgers ahead of time and freeze. Stack them between parchment paper in a freezer container or zip lock bag. When ready to cook, thaw the patties in the refrigerator and cook according to instructions. You can skip thawing and cook from frozen for an extra couple minutes too. You could also freeze the patties cooked in a similar fashion and reheat them after thawing, or straight from the freezer.
Eggless, Vegan and Gluten Free option
The recipe for these rajma burgers is adapted from the black bean burgers recipe on the blog. I made them eggless this time, and also made the rajma/red kidney beans from scratch instead of using canned ones.
Use gluten free bread for a gluten free patty option.
Omit the cheese for a vegan burger option
Variations
You can get as creative as you want with these patties. Anything you could think of with meat burgers, you can do with bean burgers too. These meatless burgers would work well with a mexican variation. Add some corn, and some chipotle peppers. Use cheddar cheese or pepper jack instead of the parmesan or goat cheese. This meatless burger recipe is a base for other creative variations, and I would love for you to explore other options too.
Instead of the bread crumbs, you can use cheese crackers as well.
You could make these rajma burger patties as is, and the flavor variations can come from the toppings and the sauces you use too.
Building your Meatless Burger
For the bun, while you can use store bought buns (brioche buns would be lovely for making your burger), if you plan a few hours ahead, you can make your own burger buns at home. It will take about 2-3 hours for the dough to knead and rise, and about 15-20 minutes for them to bake in the oven. I use this whole wheat bun recipe. These pav buns too make soft burger buns. I like to have slightly toasted buns. Butter the cut buns slightly and grill or cook them for a minute or so.
Sauce both top and bottom bun for more flavor and juiciness. For the base, blend ketchup mayo and mustard so that you get a bit in every bite but feel free to experiment with the sauces. BBQ sauce will go well, so will a chipotle mayo made from mayo, ranch dressing and chipotle peppers.
For the veggies, get creative: avocado, caramelized onions, gherkins, roasted peppers, sautéed mushrooms, jalapenos or just plain onion and tomatoes with lettuce. While not a veggie, you could also add bacon for non vegetarians.
For the cheese slice you could use pepper jack, mozzarella, cheddar cheese or even herbed goat cheese. To get a nice melted cheese on your burger, as soon as you cook your burgers and get them off the pan, place your cheese on top of your rajma burger patty. The residual heat should melt the cheese.
Lettuce– position of lettuce can be right at the bottom before the patty or just below the top bun where the mayo can help it to stay in place. While lettuce on top is better since veggies like tomato and onion can keep it from wilting from the patty heat I personally prefer in the bottom since it makes it easier to bite into.
If you have vegetarians or vegans you would like to serve burgers to, these rajma burger patties are a pretty good option. These meatless burgers can be made smaller and you could serve these as an appetizer rajma tikkis. Avoid the bread coating after shaping the patties for the tikkis. For the tikkis, do add the boiled potato for better binding, and use less of the bread crumbs.
