Vegetarian crock pot tofu chili soup

Vegetarian crock pot chili soup by Ria Jain

Makes 3-4 servings

1/4 cup water

1 can kidney beans

1/4 cup frozen corn

1 canned diced tomato and green chili. ( crush them with hand blender)

1/2 slab of drained firm tofu crumbled to tiny pieces.

1 chopped onion

3-4 cloves of chopped garlic

1/2  chopped green chili or jalapeño

1 tsp Oregano 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp coriander powder

Salt and pepper to taste.

( optional vegetables: mushroom, celery, capsicum)

Method: 

In a crock pot dump kidney beans and crushed tomato green chile purée. Add 1/4 cup water to it and turn crock pot on. 

Sauté  cumin seeds, onion, garlic, green chili, add crumbled tofu and sauté till light brown. Add frozen corn, dry coriander powder, Oregano, salt and pepper. 

Dump all the seasoning into the crock pot. Let it cook for one hour in the crock pot until piping hot. 

Serve hot with parmesan cheese or feta cheese garnish or eat as is.

You can make this recipe on stove top in 15-20 minutes. 

Caesar Salad Dressing

Caesar Salad dressing

Makes 3-4 servings

Dressing:

3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped.

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp vegetarian hoisin sauce

1 tbsp crushed pepper ( add more if you like it spicy)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper 

Pour all the ingredients in a jar with tight lid. Shake the jar to mix the dressing. Pour over fresh cold crispy salad and top with fresh Parmesan.

For Salad:

Fresh chopped Romaine lettuce 

Grape tomato

Cucumber

Onion (optional).

Olives (optional)

Toppings: croutons and fresh Parmesan cheese.

Wheat Germ (Fada) Halva dessert

Wheat germ (fada) halva with cinnamon and apple pie spice.

Similar to Indian desert Lapsi.

1 cup fine fada or wheat germ

1/3 cup butter or ghee

3 1/2 cup water 

6-8 strands of saffron 

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/3 tsp apple pie spice or pumpkin spice

1 cup and 2 tbsp of Brown sugar 

10-12 Elaichi seeds

Heat a large skillet, add butter and wheat germ and stir. On the side boil water with saffron. Once the water comes to boil add all the sugar to the water and let it melt. Meanwhile stir the wheat germ every couple minutes till you smell the sweet flavor of roasting wheat germ. Don't burn it. Cook it on medium flame. Once the wheat germ turns light red, add cinnamon, cardamom seeds, apple pie spice ( or pumpkin spice) and stir for few seconds. Gently pour all the boiled sweet water on to the wheat germ. Be carful as it splutters a lot. Stir slowly and continue stir until all the water is soaked by the wheat germ and you reach the halwa consistency. 

Serve hot or cold with choice of nuts. You can serve it hot with a dollop of vanilla or butter scotch ice cream with drizzled chocolate.