Geetha's Kitchen

Pumpkin Pie Soup is a hearty and flavorful soup that is guilt free! It is a light soup which has all the lovely aromas of a pumpkin pie! It is a warming soup especially for an autumn  or winter day or night.  Although the soup is wonderful just on its own, croutons and/or roasted pumpkin seeds make really tasty garnishes. Pumpkin Pie Soup Ingredients: 1 small Pumpkin, Kabocha, or Butternut squash 1 tsp Oil 1 red onion, chopped 1 small clove fresh Garlic (Optional) 1 large Sweet Potato (Yam), peeled and diced 1/2 tsp Turmeric 1 Tbsp Indian Jaggery or Brown Sugar 1 tsp Sea Salt 1 one inch piece Fresh Ginger, sliced 5 whole Cloves 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/4 tsp freshly grated Nutmeg 1/4 cup Coconut Milk 1/4 cup Chilled Coconut Milk for serving Method: Peel the pumpkin or squash and cut into chunks; the size/shape does not matter since the soup will be pureed. Heat a soup pot with the oil and add the onions with a pinch of salt; co...

A Puzhukku is simply a fragrant stew flavored with coconut, chiles, cumin seeds and fresh curry leaves; karamani (dried cow peas/red chori beans), are often added to vegetable puzhukkus to make them hearty. Puzhukku is a traditional home-style thick Kerala stew to accompany plain rice or kanji (gruel typically made with a grain like rice, wheat, etc). This one is made with Kabocha squash, a sweet pumpkin-like winter squash with green skin and usually the traditional karamani beans. Black-eyed peas make a great substitute when karamani/cow peas are not available as they are in the same family and very close in taste. Black-eyed peas are eaten on New Year's Day for good luck according to the Southern tradition in the United States - a very tasty and nutritious tradition that I am very happy to observe :). They are a great addtition to Mathan Puzhukku.  The chiles, cumin, and coconut flavor the stew beautifully; the protein-rich black-eyed peas balance the sweetness of the s...

Quinoa Soup is a treasure I found on a recent trip to Peru to add to my collection of fantastic soups. An Andean lady from Maras demonstrated how to prepare this simple but soulful soup; it is so easy and yet sustaining with all the essential ingredients for good health. Apparently on the cold highlands of the Andes, the day may start as well as end with a warming soup like this. Our hostess chopped and diced the veggies in the order she needed as the soup was bubbling along. She recommended eating quinoa soup twice a week for not only good health but great complexion :) - ladies take note! The first thing I cooked upon returning from the trip was ... any guesses? Absolutely Delicious! I have given the recipe here as I witnessed to the best of my recall; for best results, add the vegetable ingredients in the order given. The soup we had in restaurants had local zucchini, red bell peppers, cilantro, and once, even finely diced tomatoes in addition to the other basic ingredients; s...