Chicken Noodle Soup

I always thought that chicken noodle soup had to be made in the ‘Chinese’ style, as that’s what its meant to be, or rather that’s the only way I have ever had it. I was pleasantly surprised to see on the net that it’s a very popular soup amongst the Americans. So I ‘thought through’ a whole lot of recipes and finally tried my own version of it. It was so quick to make and SO delicious, and really immediately came into the category of comfort food!

1 cup cooked noodles

300 gms boneless chicken cut into small strips

8 cups stock  (I have made the stock with chicken bones, but also cubes)

1 onion sliced

2 smallish carrots cut into small strips

½ cup peas

½ cup celery minced

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

1 heaped tablespoon cornflour mixed in ½ cup water

Put stock, onions, chicken, bay leaf, salt and pepper into a pot and allow it to come to a boil and then simmer till chicken is almost tender, aprox. 10 mins. Then add the carrots and peas and allow to cook till tender. Add noodles. Bring to a boil and add the corn flour water mixture, the soup will thicken in a few minute. Now add the minced celery. Serve hot. Its always a good idea to add the celery at the end, just before shutting off the flame, as then the celery remains slightly crunchy!

Cheesecake!

This blog was supposed to be for me to upload some of my recipes, to share with the kids, but then the kids themselves are such excellent cooks now, so we have decided to expand it to include contributions form all the girls, and a way of sharing our cooking experience! This one is from Nitasha who made this amazing looking cheesecake yesterday. She used Nigella's recipe for which I give the link, and used fresh strawberries instead of cherries and Brittania cream cheese!
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cherry-cheesecake-34

Talking about cheesecake...Here's another one made by Mridula and comes out really well! Will make one in a day or so and post the picture!

For the filling

1 liter milk split into panir with 1 or 2 lemons (retain about a cup of the whey)   

¼ liter double cream

30 gms gelatine

rind of 1 lemon

juice of 3 lemons

2 eggs

4 tblsp powdered sugar

For the Base

1 ½ pkts of Krackjack biscuits

75 grams of butter (if the mixture is not holding you may need a little bit more)

3 tblsp powdered sugar

Base: Crush the biscuits into crumbs (not in liquidiser as they have to be crumbly, not powdery). Mix crumbs and sugar. Melt butter and put into it. Mix around from sides into center and press it down tightly into a pie dish. (you can use one with a false bottom if you want). Put into fridge.

Filling: Sprinkle the gelatine on top of the lemon juice and a little whey (about quarter cup) and let it stand for a while. Put on gentle flame and let it melt (it becomes translucent). Keep aside. Put panir, sugar and a little of the whey into the liquidiser and mix, it should be a thick custard consistency. Add egg yolks and liquidise again. Mix the gelatine and the lemon rind into the liquidised mixture. Beat cream till thick and fold into liquidised mixture. Beat egg whites till stiff and fold into mixture.

Pour onto base and set. You can decorate it with orange segments, or mango slices or anything else you want.