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Healthy, how to, Nutrition, Pressure Cooker Recipes, Soups

How To Make Vegetable Stock in Under 30 Mins – Vegetarian Stock Recipe

February 7, 2015

A recipe on how to make a quick and easy vegetable stock in the pressure cooker in under half an hour

“But soups made at home never taste the same as what we have in a restaurant!”

I’m sure you have also pondered over this

One – we never have the heart to add as much cream or butter as a restaurant does

Two – and this is the key reason, it’s all in the STOCK. This holds true for soups with more water content such as broths, than thick creamy soups

Stock (in non-financial parlance) is a liquid with the extract of flavours from vegetables, bones, meat, seafood. When used as a base for soups, sauces, curries and cooking any grains or risottos, it adds immense flavour to your dish, leaving one wondering, what IS the secret ingredient in this dish?

Most soup recipes will say, “Add water OR stock” and we happily reach for water. Or may be a ready stock cube. Very late in my cooking life did I realise that Maggi’s Magic Cubes are in fact stock cubes. These are also called bouillon cubes or cooking base or OXO cubes

It’s okay to use them when you want to add some flavour to your dish and you have absolutely no time. But when all a veg stock needs is some roughly chopped veggies and a large pot of water, it is a sin not to make it at home yourself. While some say, a stock is a great way to use up wilted veggies, I beg to differ. If you want a stock with maximum flavour, then use the best quality ingredients. Master Stock in Chinese cooking, used for poaching meats is made using soy sauce, ginger, garlic, herbs etc

5 uses for a vegetarian stock:

As a base for soup

To cook a pulao

To cook risotto

Healthy stir frying with very little oil and some stock

To thin out dals and curries

There are 3 ways in which you can prepare a veg stock

The common method is to add the vegetables and aromatics to a large pot, bring to a boil and allow to simmer for one hour or so

I love this idea for a 10 minute vegetable stock where you start with the basic aromatics like onion, garlic, bay leaves and pepper corns and keep throwing in veggie scraps while you are prepping the vegetables on the side, for the dish you are making- soup, for example

The third and superfast method is one using a pressure cooker. Since in most Indian kitchens, the pressure cooker is always hovering around the hob, why not give it a try? You have nothing more to lose than a few scraps of veggies and ten minutes of your time

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know how often I rave about the humble pressure cooker. It cooks dal, curries, rice in minutes. I have even cooked rice for surprise guests when seated at the dining table, and served them steaming hot rice in minutes, thanks to this baby

The basic premise of a pressure cooker is that it cooks super fast and extracts maximum flavour in the shortest possible time. The same should work for a stock as well, right? Kenji from the FoodLab at Serious Eats tested out three chicken stocks, one made on the stove top, one in the pressure cooker and one in the slow cooker and the pressure cooker won the test by a small margin over the stove top method. So I’m all the more convinced!

RECIPE for Vegetable Stock / Veg Stock / Vegetarian Stock

Time taken – Under 30 minutes in all

Makes – 4+ cups / 1 Litre++

To make a basic vegetable stock in the pressure cooker, you need:

A pressure cooker (5 Litre capacity should be good, or smaller one for making smaller quantities)

1 Litre plus 1 cup of water

1 large onion

2 large cloves garlic

1 carrot

2 ribs of celery

Few pieces of dried mushrooms (optional)

2 bay leaves

handful of parsley with stems or coriander

3 cups of mixed vegetable scraps such as broccoli / cauliflower stems, salad greens, leek greens or spring onions, any gourds / squashes etc

2 tsp olive oil

Directions

No need to peel the onion if it is clean. Or else, peel and quarter it

Smash the garlic with the peel

Scrub carrot well and chop in large chunks

Slice the celery

Place the oil in the cooker. Add the bay leaves, onion, garlic, carrot, celery and any other veggies being used. On a high flame, saute them for 1-2 minutes. Add the water. Bring to a boil

Cover the cooker with its lid and the weight. Allow to come to full pressure (one whistle) and then lower the heat to minimum for 10 minutes

Switch off the flame and allow to cool before opening the cooker

Drain the stock out using a mesh and press with with the back of a ladle to extract all the stock

Use immediately or refrigerate for 3 days or freeze for 3 months. You can use this Ice-tray Kitchen Hack for saving stock cubes in ziploc bags in freezer and using in any dish you need in a jiffy

This recipe is part of the endeavor to create a collection of recipes of Indian Chinese Recipes in collaboration with a few bloggers who share the same passion of cooking. All the recipes from #thekitchendivas are pinned on this Pinterest board

Other Indo-Chinese recipes this week from #thekitchendivas

Oriental Crispy Mushrooms from WhiskAffair

American Chopsuey from Sinamon Tales

Veg Manchurian with Fried Rice from FunFoodFrolic

Chinese Noodle Soup from Archana’s Kitchen

(c) Nandita Iyer 2006-2015

by Nandita Iyer 
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  • 🌵🍃☘️@pinterest says you’re going to want a garden room in 2020. I’m already ahead of this trend 🤣☘️🍀🌵
  • Things that are making me smile this morning:
🏃‍♀️A short run in the cold breeze
🌱Rearranging some plants inside the house
❄️A new (BIG) fridge waiting to be installed
🎵Looking forward to music class
💜This soft vintage silk saree that's just perfect for the winters in Bangalore
  • ⭐️I’m going to help you eat healthy all winter using all the fabulous seasonal produce we get, so make sure you’re following my account @saffrontrail ⭐️
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🥦FULL RECIPE- SAVE THE POST🥦
Broccoli season is here and this is one recipe I plan to make every week if not more often! This literally takes five minutes, I kid you not. The garlic peeling is what takes the most time for this super easy recipe.
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WARM BROCCOLI SALAD
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2 medium heads of broccoli
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 tsp finely grated ginger
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp sesame seeds
2-3 tbsp soya sauce
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Break broccoli into florets. Wash and microwave for 3 mins or steam in steamer. Drain and keep aside.
In a pan, heat oil. Fry garlic, ginger, chili flakes, sesame for few seconds. Add soya sauce. Toss in broccoli florets and remove to a bowl immediately. Tastes best warm. Eat as a salad or with some steamed rice.
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For more such seasonal recipes, follow @saffrontrail
  • This was the show stopper kinda salad in my salad workshop on Thursday that @chandhanarao helped organize. Lentils, pumpkin, kale with a hung yogurt dressing, and all the pretty garnishes from my garden.
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If you are a brand or a corporate wanting to organise a salad workshop or a healthy cooking workshop featuring vibrant beautiful food, write to me saffrontrail@gmail.com or DM me here. I can also train restaurant chefs to create amazing salads.
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For more such recipe inspirations follow @saffrontrail
  • Another photo from a shoot I did with my neighbour for her saree draping workshop at @ahundredhands last month.
🌼
This saree belonged to my grandma and it is nearly 40 years old. The silk has been washed several several times over the years. It drapes ever so softly and falls beautifully. I don’t even dare to iron this delicate fabric. ⭐️
Draped by my neighbour Janaki in whose hands the fabrics simply flow, a  knot there, a tuck here and a fold there and what you see this - no pins, no petticoat, no nonsense. The cascading back pleats are more dramatic but the front is lovely as well. Swipe to see the front style.
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Is my salad doing justice to the pretty bowl or is the pretty bowl doing justice to my salad?
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Mostly all leftovers from yesterday's ZESTY SALAD WORKSHOP goes into a big salad for our lunch today.
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Now getting to the 'hire me' part-- Since I am back in the workshop groove, if you are a lifestyle /beauty/ health brand or a corporate that wants to conduct healthy cooking / eating / salad making workshops for a group of people, then please email me at saffrontrail@gmail.com - you can also email me from my bio. Preferred location is Bangalore but I am willing to consider traveling to other cities too.
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If you know of a brand or HR friends who would be keen on collaborating with me for talks and /or workshops, please share this post with them💕💕
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Ah, the pretty bowl is from @freedomtreehome btw. Not sponsored .
  • (FULL RECIPE IN POST- SAVE the POST for the recipe )
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Bringing more Amla goodness to you with this post!
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Blueberries are on the top of every antioxidant rich foods list. The antioxidant content of a food is measured in Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) units. Amla or Indian gooseberry has an ORAC score of 2,61,500, which is over 50 times that of blueberries. I hope that convinces you to make amla a part of your diet. Here's a simple recipe for Amla- Raita. You can mix this with rice and eat as a simple meal.
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Amla Raita

Serves 4

4-5 amla 
¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp salt

3-4 tbsp coconut

2 green chillies

¼ tsp salt

2 cups yogurt

1 tsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

Pressure cook the amla with ½ cup water along with salt and turmeric for 4-5 minutes.

Drain amla and remove seeds. (Drink up any leftover water in cooker or add to dal)  In a mixer jar, grind together cooked amla, coconut, green chillies and salt to a coarse paste.

Add this to yogurt and whisk well.

Heat oil in a small pan. Fry mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once seeds splutter transfer over the raita. 
Do try this during the current amla- season and tag me if you post it here!
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For more such recipes, follow @saffrontrail
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She was in Bangalore over the weekend and we met for coffee and then lunch. It was such a pleasure to model one of her hand painted brooches - check these out at @khaosphilos, these are one of a kind wearable art.
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