Winter Squash Soup

Four months ago, when dahlias and asters were crowning the summer season, I inserted a mesh on the windows to bar insects from entering, and to hear the swish of an oak tree that quivers on the backyard like a parasol. Under the canopy you’ll find clusters of acorn – little nuts that look like heads wearing a cap or, as I like to imagine, bells that jingle in the evenings when the man-made world – far away – quiets down. Although woodland creatures – deer, squirrels and birds – gobble them like a starving tribe, I’m sure it is the humming of these wind-chimes that lulls us to sleep every night.

Like adulthood, summer induces the best of many. It stands for potential, and ushers us to wander and explore. Time expands to ripen everything that started earlier as a seed: red currants, wheat, families, and our hopes and needs. With more ease and comfort than in youth, our self-acceptance matures like a corncob in the field.

But, usually sooner than we’d like, shadows grow taller and the breeze hints at the change of mood. Blooms retreat and greens fade. Then, one morning, chirping becomes but a heavy sigh. That’s when you have to pull down the screens and install the windows back. Hey mosquitoes, bees and flies! Where are you now? Have you escaped to a warmer sphere because the autumn is here?

Leaves fall from a tree when they lose their grasp. They hover down and transform. Such falling has indicated autumn (in English) since the early 1600s. Before that, the season was called a harvest.

‘Harvest’ sounds so much more abundant than ‘fall’, doesn’t it?

Although labor-intensive, it reminds of togetherness, woolen socks, hot chocolate, and thanks-giving. It’s the time to reap our quota, gather crops, preserve energy, extract from the culture, wind down, retire to an inner space, and stack for the winter (or the old age). Falling, which is an urban term, signals that something or someone is becoming less, diminishing and sinking inward, failing to keep up or meet expectations, and descending or collapsing by a force, such as gravity. Many have fallen from grace. Which of us hasn’t fallen apart at times?

Autumn is one the scenes nature lays out to teach. As a constant, it walks us through a series of changes, year after year, to show decomposition and the end of all, and then, a renewal. Past the prime, at fifty, I can relate to this better than ever. The seasonal cycle offers a program for a slow-learner like me to reflect on the wheel of samsara, repeated birth and death, and the duties that come along with participating in such a pastime.

To undergo a change is rarely easy – especially when it defies my identity, relationships, abilities or means. When a challenge becomes too overbearing, I take shelter of routines or my personal invariables that anchor me to the favorable side of the situation. Sanguinity works as an inherent antidepressant and enables discernment that clears doubts. Such keenness of insight is an essential element of meditative outlook. It activates the brain’s reward center in a sustainable manner. A conscious effort to recognize positive and negative emotions by describing them in words boosts serotonin and dopamine, the feel good hormones that reduce stress. A constructive disposition of the mind – acquiring knowledge, and feeling grateful and humble – produces good impressions which, in turn, develop into a good habit that will gradually expand awareness. To solve problems by employing guilt, shame, anger and anxiety, on the other hand, gives a quick release, but will propel to destructive impulses again in the future.

Pumpkin soup is one on my autumnal balance points. This must be the third pumpkin soup recipe on the blog; not because I’m addicted to the gourd family fruits or consider them more noteworthy than other vegetables, but I jump at them on the market because they represent the bright face of autumn. Under their skin beats a soft, generous heart – the kind I’d like to cultivate, too.

In what ways is the autumn tutoring and empowering you?

WINTER SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients for the soup:

2 Tbsp ghee (or butter, or oil)

¼ tsp pure hing powder

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp grated fresh turmeric

2 medium size potatoes, diced

4 cups (1 liter) diced winter squash

¼ - ½ tsp cayenne powder

4 cups (1 liter) water

2 tsp dry roasted panch phoron powder

2 cups (500 ml) whey

2-3 tsp Himalayan salt

½ - 1 tsp garam masala powder

Ingredients for the garnish:

1 Tbsp ghee (or butter, or oil)

2 cups (500 ml) diced Hokkaido squash (red kuri)

2 pinches of Himalayan salt

1 pinch of cayenne powder

Roasted pumpkin seeds

1 -2 cups (250-500 ml) shalloew-fried paneer cubes

Cooking method:

Heat up the ghee (or butter, or oil) in a large pot. When it’s hot but not smoking; sprinkle in the hing powder, and grated ginger and turmeric. After about a minute, add the potato dices. Fry the potatoes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Then toss in the winter squash dices and continue frying for another 5 minutes before pouring in the water. Cook (covered) until the vegetables are soft. Use a food processor, a stand blender or a hand blender to break the vegetables into a velvety soup. Whisk in the panch phoron powder, whey and salt. Bring the soup to a boil again, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Finally add the garam masala powder before serving.

While the soup is cooking, heat up a tablespoon of ghee (or butter, or oil) in a wok or a pan. Add the Hokkaido squash dices and sprinkle them with salt and cayenne. Fry them until they are cooked, stirring occasionally. Add the roasted seeds and fried paneer cubes. Combine the garnish with the soup.

A tip:

For panch phoron powder, take equal amount of each: mustard, fennel, jeera, kalonji and fenugreek seeds. Dry roast them on a pan over a moderately low heat until the seeds are a few shades darker and aromatic, for about 5 minutes. Let the spices cool down and grind them into powder.

The simplest garam masala powder consists of toasted cinnamon stick, cardamom seeds and cloves. You may add black peppercorns, jeera, fennel, coriander, tejpatta, nutmeg and other spices to make it more complex.

Thank you.

Pumpkin & Rosemary Soup

When we moved to Finland with my husband, it was May 2000. Patches of snow still lined a few shadow corners of Helsinki but winter was well underway towards the south of equator. However, a country of which one third rests above the Arctic Circle never really wakes up from the polar night. Even in the summer the northern wind is just snoozing, as if recharging. The presence of the Arctic Ocean is coded in every breeze. At any time, it may descend as an avalanche of icicles piercing the layers of clothes, skin, fat and bones. Nothing escapes from such coldness. The day we moved here it showed the last breath of power in the face of summer and around October, every year, it claims back the authority. Today it arrived with a message of winter. It won’t be long there is snow.

Soup is a weapon against chill and darkness. There isn’t a better ammunition than pumpkin, the offspring of autumnal colours, combined with rosemary that has an aroma of burning wood.

The appetite will be satisfied by paneer that extracts the humour of each ingredient in the soup causing the goodness of milk to burst in the mouth like a soft fountain of flavours. To add texture, garnish with a handful of oven roasted parsnip chips.

Thank you.

Pakora & Chutney

Deep-frying is my least favourite method of cooking. I appreciate vegetables, paneer, patties, bread or sweets cooked in ghee, but prefer honouring them in quantity only on special occasions. The quality suffers from substituting ghee with oil. In fact, I got heartburn just by heating up oil the other day! The fumes repel me. A stale smell lingers in the kitchen for days. It is associated with a bistro culture and the values fast food represents. But, for a quick, effortless snack deep-frying is the way to go! Within a couple of minutes it provides volumes of finger-food everyone loves.

Batter coated vegetables, pakoras, are one of the popular bites in India. What a great combination when served piping hot with tasty chutney! However, the best way of eating them, in my opinion, is to dip them in chaat masala!

Recently my husband surprised me by transferring a file of recipes to my hard disk he used to cook as a young man. He travelled many years with his bhakti-yoga master in Europe and India. Once they visited an Indian family in Antwerp (Belgium) and were served a wonderful meal including tomato chutney which my husband inquired a recipe for. I wondered a couple of decades later, if he had been too intoxicated by the taste of it while scribbling down his chicken scratch, because the recipe didn’t make sense to me! I took inspiration from what I could understand and came up with chutney – on the third trial – that was good, although not as good as the original one, according to my flavour pampered husband! Hah, as "a revenge", I tarnished his dhoti (white garment) on the right picture above! Oops.

Even if the recipe requires still adjusting, you won’t be disappointed with it. It may not make your socks roll around in excitement, but it works fine with pakoras. It is rich, mild and soft. Yet, it has enough edge to compliment any basic fritter.

I used pumpkin (and not some other vegetable) just because we had it at home. It cooks fast. It has a subtle taste that could be enhanced by stronger spicing but I opted to pair it with kalonji for a light and fresh impression.

Thank you.

Carrot & Squash Cupcakes

Are we going to have one of those sugar-free days today, my husband asked this morning. Don’t let the innocent tone deceive you. It translates to: you better make something sweet!

It turned out to be a good idea. Because I had leftover squash and carrots, I made cupcakes. In addition to cake-flour, I used potato-starch and wholegrain spelt in the batter. Potato-starch is excellent in cakes. It makes them light. Because I added more wet ingredients than usually, I thought wholegrain flour would bind and give structure to the batter. It did. The cupcakes were perfect: airy, buttery and moist. The recipe would make a beautiful cake, too. Because there are vegetable jam and spices – cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger – it would be tasty even without a filling or frosting.

While the cupcakes were baking, I cooked down the rest of the grated carrots and squash into a thick paste with butter, milk, raw sugar and vanilla. It took about an hour and by the time the fudge was ready, the cupcakes had cooled down. I cut a circular cone out of the top of the cupcakes, filled them with the paste and placed the cones upside down back on the top. The cupcakes were so tasty by themselves that you can omit this step. As plain, they are good enough.

I forgot to write down the measurements for the frosting. Sorry! Once you know the ingredients, you’ll be able to improvise. If you want to make more representative cupcakes with a decent piping, make the frosting less wet than I did! For some reason, I like things to drip and drop, and look a bit messy. Aren’t we always attracted by the opposites?

The cupcakes don’t preserve well. They dry up quickly. It is better to eat them as soon as they are ready. It’s not a problem, is it?

A tip: You can make cupcake liners by cutting decorative paper cups into a proper size.

Thank you.

Harvest Lunch

The ground is hidden under a golden quilt of fallen leaves and the landscape is painted with colours. Admiring the beauty of the withdrawal season, autumn, makes me count the blessings. There is so much wealth in life, in and around us.

Money and fame are what most people are driven by. In these days, success is measured by ownership to assets and riches. However, life is but a cycle of seasons and by the time we reach autumn and winter, designations we have clung to will be stripped away. Why to complicate things when living? Why not be grateful for whatever comes on our way, without urge to control and lord it over. What is the point of becoming visible in the eyes of the world, if we lose the sight of truth while racing it?

There is so much opulence available for free: knowledge, wisdom, simplicity, peacefulness, honesty, cleanliness, tolerance, forgiveness, satisfaction, gentleness... Wealth is a state of mind, an attitude of acceptance and gratitude. There is plenty of beauty and magnificence to experience. We don’t have to own the sunrise or its twilight dance on the frosty fingertips of twigs and trees in order to be content. It is enough that we live and breathe. Being is more important than becoming or having been.

I am a thankful cook with the colourful gems of harvest goods under my care: Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, pumpkins, chestnuts, herbs, purple cauliflowers, mangold, kale and freshly milled spelt. All of them are earthly tasting ingredients that tribute to the generosity of nature. I will offer them back by cooking with devotion, uttering a prayer and enjoying the remnants. The wealth of heart – faith, values and qualities – are the only ones we take along when the winter ends. They will sprout again in the spring.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE SOUP

6 big potatoes, in small cubes

½ kg Jerusalem artichokes, in small cubes

½ kg mangold or Swiss chard, chopped

1 coconut, grated (a spice mill does the job well)

Ghee/oil

Grated ginger

Bay leaf (tejpata)

Hing

Black pepper

Dry-roasted fennel, coarsely powdered

Ground coriander

Whey/water/vegetable stock

Salt

Fresh herbs

Heat up the ghee, sauté the ginger and bay. (Remember to squeeze out and save the ginger juice for a later use).

Add the hing and black pepper, sauté for a moment.

Add the potatoes and artichokes; let them get a bit colour.

Add the chopped mangold and coconut.

Add enough whey that the vegetables are well covered.

Add fennel, coriander and salt.

Bring to boil and let simmer until the vegetables are soft.

Take out the bay leaf.

Make it smooth with a hand blender.

Add whey if necessary to reach the consistency you want.

Add the ginger juice and fresh herbs.

FRIED CAULIFLOWER

A purple cauliflower
Ghee/oil
Hing
Cayenne
Curry-powder
Salt

Cut the cauliflower into thin slices.
Heat up the ghee on a frying pan.
Sprinkle the spices and add cauliflowers in a single layer.
Flip them over when nicely browned.

Place the spicy cauliflowers on the top of the soup.

PARATHA WITH THREE FILLINGS

Of the bread, the yeastless ones are the best. Freshly made parathas guarantee the happiness of palate and heart. They are fragrant and tasty.

Parathas can be made with or without a filling. There are many ways to roll them out. When layered with ghee, they become flaky pastries.

PARATHA (10 breads)

1 litre wholegrain spelt (you can substitute part of it with white flour if you want a lighter and more pliable dough)
½ tablespoon salt
100 ml melted butter/ghee
About 3 – 350 ml warm water
Extra flour for dusting
Ghee for frying

Mix the flour and salt.
Add thebutter and rub it in well.
Add the water and knead until you get a smooth, medium-stiff dough in a shape of a ball.
Cover and let stand at least 15 minutes.
Divide into 10 parts.
Roll them into balls and cover with a damp cloth.
Take one ball at the time, flatten it a little with your hands and form a shape of a cup.
Place a spoonful of filling in the purse.
Collect the edges and seal the filling in.
Flatten a bit with your hands.
Roll out carefully with the help of flour into a flat disc.
Brush a hot griddle with ghee.
Place the paratha on the griddle and fry for about a minute or two.
Drizzle little ghee on the edges and on the top.
When it has cooked for about 2-3 minutes and there are dark spots on the bottom, flip the paratha over.
Drizzle with little ghee again.
Cook for about 2 minutes.
When the paratha is puffed and crisp, remove it from the griddle (you can encourage puffing by pressing it gently with a spatula).
Repeat (if you make a larger amount, you can use simultaneously 2-3 griddles to fry them).

POTATO FILLING

Ghee

Finely grated ginger

Indian bay leaf

Fresh chilli (finely chopped)

Hing

Boiled potatoes, mashed

Coarsely ground dry-roasted jeera (cumin)

Ground coriander

Turmeric

Salt

Brown sugar

Lemon juice

Fresh coriander

Heat up the ghee.

Add grated the ginger (squeeze the juice out before adding it. Save the juice and add it to the ready filling) and bay leaf.

Fry until the ginger turns light golden colour (mix with the spatula all the time).

Add fresh chilli.

Add hing.

Add the potatoes, jeera, coariander, turmeric, salt and sugar.

Fry for a moment until the potatoes and spices are nicely mixed.

Remove from the stove.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice, the collected ginger juice and fresh herbs.

Let the filling cool before stuffing the parathas.

Take out the bay leaf.

A tip: In a filling I like to use as little whole spices as possible. It should not be crunchy or the spices detectable. By coarsely grinding jeera, you can make it less prominent. Some structure may remain there, it doesn’t have to be pulverized.

KALE & PANEER FILLING

Ghee

Finely grated ginger

Hing

Black pepper

Finely chopped kale

Ground coriander

Turmeric

Dry-roasted, ground fenugreek

A little bit water or whey

Paneer (fresh cheese)

Salt

Blacksalt

Fresh coriander

Heat up the ghee.

Add grated the ginger (squeeze the juice out before adding it. Save the juice and add it to the ready filling).

Fry until the ginger turns light golden colour (mix with the spatula all the time).

Add hing and black pepper.

Add kale, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek powder and mix well.

Add a bit water and let it simmer until the kale is cooked (5-10 minutes).

Add fresh paneer, salt, black salt and mix well.

Remove from the stove and fresh herbs.

A tip: You can make paneer by boiling 3 litres of milk and adding 1 litre kefir, sour milk or yoghurt. When the curd separates, sieve and drain it. Save the whey for cooking.

PUMPKIN FILLING

Ghee

Finely grated ginger

Hing

Black pepper

Grated pumpkin

Grated coconut

Coarsely ground dry-roasted jeera (cumin)

Ground coriander

Cinnamon, clove and cardamom powder

Turmeric

Cayenne

Salt

A little bit water

Fresh coriander

Heat up the ghee.

Add the grated ginger (squeeze the juice out before adding it. Save the juice and add it to the ready filling.)

Fry until the ginger turns light golden colour (mix with the spatula all the time).

Add hing and black pepper.

Add the pumpkin and grated coconut, let it fry for a moment mixing well.

Add the rest of the spices and a bit of water.

Mix well, let simmer until the pumpkin is soft (about 5-10 minutes).

Remove and let it cool.

Add the fresh herbs.

 SANDESH WITH CHESTNUT CREAM

In sandesh the qualities of goodness manifest in a perfect proportion. It is rich, juicy and sweet, but not too sweet. The silky, smooth and freshly made cheese that melts in the mouth is the essence. Many delicious confections are made with cheese: rasgulla, rasmalai, malai chum chum... but the humble sandesh is the best of all. It is unpretentious and pure.

In the unorthodox kitchen of spontaneity, I’ve taken the liberty to simplify the uncomplicated recipe even more. Sandesh, or part of it, is usually slowly and carefully cooked on a frying pan to incorporate sugar and to make it glossy. I skip the step. I find it unnecessary if powder sugar is used. If done inattentively, it can cause more harm than good. If you have tasted grainy and dry sandesh, you know what I’m talking about.

Sandesh is wonderful even without added flavours. Popping it into the mouth feels probably like a baby-calf feels when reaching the mother’s udder for the first time. Joyous! To make it more sophisticated vanilla, cacao or carob, cardamom, lemon zest, rose-water and other complimenting tastes can be added. I like to use saffron myself.

Because I had fresh chestnuts at hand, I cooked them into a puree and made chestnut-cream to fill some of the sandesh with. Ooh, they were excellent! My husband called them “malai yum yum” (malai meaning cream)!

For the decoration I mixed nuts and raisins with a spoonful of honey in the blender and rolled them into balls. It is a healthy snack. However, I don’t recommend combining it with sandesh. It has a strong, overpowering taste that covers the subtlety of sandesh. If you have several sweets to serve at the same meal, always start with sandesh. It is so sublime that any other sweet taste will diminish the experience.

SANDESH

1 part fresh cheese (paneer)

1/3 to ½ part powder sugar

A pinch of saffron dissolved in a drop of hot milk

(Cardamom powder – optional)

Let the paneer drain in a sieve for an hour. It should be fairly dry, but not too dry. Knead the cheese as well as you can on a clean counter. You can use a blender to do the job, it does it very well! The smoother the cheese, the better the sandesh will be. It is cruisal to get it as grainless as possible.

Knead in the sugar. The volume varies from the half of the amount of cheese to the third of it, depending how sweet you want it to be.

Add the flavourings if you use some.

A tip: You can make paneer by boiling 3 litres of milk and adding 1 litre kefir, sour milk or yoghurt. When the curd separates, sieve and drain it. Save the whey for cooking.

CHESTNUT PUREE

½ kg chestnuts

400 ml milk

120 ml (about) raw sugar

1 tablespoon carob

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons paneer

CHESTNUT CREAM

1 dl chestnut puree

1 dl cream and a bit of sugar and vanilla to go with it

Cut a cross on the round side of the chestnuts.

Boil them in water for 20 minutes.

Peel them.

Boil them with the milk and sugar for another 20 minutes or until they are soft.

Throw the nuts and milk/sugar in a blender.

Add carob, butter and paneer.

Mix until it is completely smooth.

Let it cool.

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla.

Mix part of the puree with the cream.

Roll the sandesh into the smooth logs.

Make a slit lengthwise half way through each log.

Pipe the filling in.

A tip: Sometimes sandesh is a little bit too wet and difficult to handle. Sweep your hands and utensils with tasteless oil (sunflower for example) or ghee. It helps in rolling them into shapes.

Mild Pumpkin Soup

Pardon my prolonged absence from the blogsphere. The season changed and I got carried away with new adventures in the fresh air and torrents of rain. I have never welcomed autumn as wholeheartedly as this year. I’m pushed to take long morning walks when it is still dark. There is a cool but soft breeze and a strong aroma of decomposing soil. It is comforting and surprisingly energizing.

There is a promise I cannot keep this time. I will introduce Kurma Dasa in the next post. The text is already written but I didn’t photograph for seven weeks, thus there are no pictures yet. Hopefully you aren’t too disappointed. He is worth waiting for, trust me. The recipes will be sweet and exciting.

Since it is a harvest time, I would like to share a pumpkin soup recipe with you. It is made with warm spices: cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

PUMPKIN SOUP

Half of a large pumpkin (about 2 liters in cubes)

Ghee/oil

Grated ginger (about 2 tbs, juice squeezed out)

Indian bay leaf

A good pinch of hing

A good pinch of black pepper or cayenne

1 short stick of cinnamon

3 cloves

3 whole green cardamoms

A pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

Water (as much as it takes to barely cover the veggies)

Coconut milk (about 500 ml)

Ginger juice

Herbs for garnish if you like

Heat up ghee, sauté ginger and bay. (Remember to squeeze out and save the ginger juice for a later use).

Add hing, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and sauté for a short moment.

Add the pumpkin cubes, turmeric, salt and water.

Let it simmer until the pumpkin is soft.

Pick out the whole spices (bay, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom).

Mash the pumpkin with a mixer until smooth and silky.

Add coconut milk and bring it quickly to boil.

Remove from the stove and add the left over ginger juice.

Garnish with fresh herbs.