When the weather is stormy, winds blowing and leaves are strewn all over the place., the only type of food that beckons me is soup and mind you, it should be spicy and hot. Soup has the tendency to warm your heart and soul. I am trying to empty my refrigerator before I buy the next round of veggies. I had four cobs of corn, one bell pepper, one green tomato and a couple sticks of celery. So here is the recipe. You don’t have to worry about the size and shape when you chop them, coz they are going to blended anyway Olive oil- 1 T Garlic- 1 tsp, chopped Corn- 4, scraped from the cob Red Bell Pepper – 1 Green Tomato- 1 Celery- 1 cup, chopped Thai Red Chilly- 2, chopped Pickled jalapenos- 1 tsp Stock or water- 4 cups Basil- 1 tsp, finely chopped Salt & Pepper- to taste

• Roast bell pepper or use the bottled kind, if you are in a particularly lazy mood ( I roasted mine directly over the gas stove flame and then let in rest in a brown bag, before I removed the skin off)
  
• Heat a saute pan and add oil. When the oil is hot, saute garlic for 30 seconds.
• Stir in the corn, green tomato, celery and red chilly and stir well.
• Allow it cook for about 5 minutes.
• In the meanwhile, peel the skin off the bell pepper and roughly chop it.
• Add the pickled jalapenos, roasted bell pepper , salt and pepper.
• Add the stock and bring it a boil.
  
• you can either use a hand blender or transfer the contents to a blend and blend until it is smooth in texture.
• Transfer back to the saute pan and let the soup simmer for another 5 minutes, check for seasoning and garnish with basil.
• Serve with warm garlic bread.

The first time I had this kind of a salad was when my friend, Cyndi made this for July 4th block party. R & I both loved it and as always, I asked for her the recipe. She gave it to me, I made it a couple of times and then lost the recipe. This is what I came up with . And yes, I know this recipe calls for curry powder, but who claimed this recipe was Indian??:) wink wink

Curried Chicken Salad

Oil – 1 T

Onion – 1 cup, Sliced

1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat chopped or shredded & chilled

Celery- 1 cup, chopped

Grapes – 1 cup (mix green and purple)

Mango- 1 cut in small cubes

Ginger- 1 tsp, grated

Dressing

1 1/2 cups plain Greek Yogurt

Mango Chutney- 1 tsp

Curry paste/powder- 2 tsp (add more or less per your taste)

Salt & pepper – to taste

Garnish

Slivered Almonds- ½ cup

Roasted Sunflower seeds- ¼ cup

• Heat a sauté pan with oil and cook the onions until they turn golden brown.
• Set it aside in a bowl and let it cool.
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk well.
• Add the onions and the rest of the ingredients and stir gently.
• Garnish with almonds and sunflower seeds and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yeah I have been infected by the baking fairy. Needs no recipe since this is all over the blog world . R & I enjoyed the bread. This is one bread that does not need a “baker”. It is fun and tastes great.

The only thing I would do different next time, is add a pod of garlic and a tbsp of rosemary!