7 layer bean dip - perfect to scoop with your chips

Growing up in India, our idea of snacks was defined by what was cooked at home. Though there was a range of sinfully delicious deep fried goodies, most days the snacks were simple items ranging from a churmuri or avalakki vaggarane to a roasted papad. When I left India, small packets of Lays potato chips were just entering the market and bakeries used to dangle these from a thick thread infront of the store. And there was not much of celebrity endorsement either to those chips yet. When I first came to the US, I was really shocked by super size chips bags in the grocery stores. To add to that there were umpteen varieties of chips to choose from sour cream & onion to barbeque flavors, kettle roasted to reduced fat, increasing the health quotient (!) with vegetables added and on and on. There was a period (like it happens to most people) when we fell into the allure of eating chips by the bags but then I am glad we found our footing very soon to stay away from that almost mindless snacking on the chips. Now it just bothers me to see people especially kids munching on chips like they were the most nutrient and healthiest of all food.

During one of those initial days, we had an office party and everyone was signing up bring stuff and I saw an entry that said chips & dip. Intriguing, to someone that had not eaten a lot of chips, the idea of eating chips dipped in something was totally new. I sat there waiting for the chips and dip to appear on the day of the pot luck but honestly was disappointed with that store bought dip as it was not appealing at all to me. Several exposures to chips and dip and I was still craving for a perfect dip that fit my imagination when I finally ate this layered bean dip at a friend's house. It was delicious.

So does this post have anything to do with chips? Not really. Infact the dip in this post is so delicious that you end up eating more of that than the chips which is what I look forward. Made with protein packed beans and nature's own butter avocado, this is a healthy dip for all ages. Give a plateful of the dip decorated with a few chips and I promise you won't hear anyone complaining.

There is no serious recipe here, it is essentially an assembly of layers. Although it is called 7 layer dip, I have eliminated one layer as we are not great fans of olives. Go ahead and add it by all means. I made a huge tray full of this dip last weekend for our Holi celebrations and needless to say that the tray was wiped clean. The heartening part was that the kids came back asking for more dip :-). Below is my take (spiced with Indian spices) on the traditional 7 layer dip but this versatile dip will allow you to play with the ingredients and personalize.

Traditional 7 layer dip uses the refried beans from cans but since most store bought refried beans contain meat, I prepare my own bean layer as this also gives me the freedom to jazz up the bean layer to suit my family & friends palate. I have used canned black beans (which are cooked and preserved in liquid). Go ahead and try this sure party pleaser for your next get together. This is one of those attested by mom, loved by kids recipe, so totally risk free.





How do you make the (7) 6 layer bean dip?
You will need a large enough plate or a dish to build the dip.
Layer 1:
2 cups cooked black beans (if using the store bought cans, drain and rinse a couple of times)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 Tsp salt (adjust to taste, canned beans already has some salt)
1/2 Tsp roasted cumin powder
1/4 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tsp oil

Heat oil in a pan, add onions and fry until they sweat and turn light pink. Add the cooked beans and mash it in with a masher. The beans should become pulpy. Add salt, red chili powder, cumin powder and mix well. If the beans look very dry add a couple of spoons of water and mix it in.

Note: If cooked in a Southern kitchen, you will find this bean layer spiced with Taco mix but I prefer the flavor of roasted cumin and the heat from the chili powder.

Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes and spread it in your plate or dish as the first layer.

Layer 2:
1 cup sour cream (use fat free if you like) or 1 cup of thick home made yogurt

Pour the sour cream or yogurt on top of the bean layer and spread it out.

Layer 3:
1 cup guacamole, see recipe here

Spread the guacamole on top of the sour cream.

Layer 4:
1 cup finely chopped green onions

Layer 5:
1 cup chopped tomatoes.
If you want the dip to be spicy, here is your chance. Instead of layering plain chopped tomatoes on top, mix them with a few chopped green chilies, cilantro, salt and lemon juice and make a quick chunky salsa and then spread it in a layer.

Layer 6:
1/4 cup shredded cheese (increase or decrease the quantity to suit your taste)

Layer 7:
Traditionally this is where a few fresh chopped or whole olives are found but as I mentioned before, I skipped it.

Once you assemble the dip, press the top gently so the tomatoes and green onions get implanted in the layers below, cover the dish with a cling wrap so no air goes in and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour for the flavors to get together. The 7 layer dip is a Southern (US) Mexican dish and typically served with tortilla chips or corn chips. But you can eat this delicious, summery fresh dip with any kind of chips.

 

Notes:

• You can make the layers as thick or as thin as you like.
• I sometimes layer shredded lettuce or cabbage in this dip and it tastes wonderful too.
• Replacing sour cream with yogurt is a personal choice and makes it healthier.
• Add spices to the bean layer, make the guacamole spicier or salsa brighter and personalize this dip. I kept the embellishments to the basic as there were lot of kids at the party.
• While you can make this dip ahead of time, be sure to wrap it tight and refrigerate it until ready to use. Once you open it, you will want to finish it at one go as the avacados turn a dirty green spoiling the look of the dip.

 

Gobi Manchurian - a family favorite

Gobi Manchurian - the yummy appetizer available in every Indian restaurant, doesn't need any introduction, right? It is not something I make frequently at home just because I go a little low on deep fried recipes. But when craving hits, DD is having her Summer vacations and it is one of her favorite starters (she fills her stomach with it before the main course is served), I made an exception last weekend and we had some of the best home made Gobi Manchurian devoured by all.

Weather has been so gorgeous and perfect, I don't want to jinx it but I have to admit that the balmy skies bring a wonderfully peppy outlook. It is easier to plan outings, enjoy the beautiful nature and terrain and that is what we have been doing for the last 2 weekends. Get up in the morning, pack stuff for lunch and head out on a drive or a hike and I am loving it. Last weekend, we came back in the evening from one of our outngs and made some delicious Gobi Manchurian for dinner, yes it was a full dinner and we made up for eating all that deep fried goodies with some fresh fruits we had got in the morning :-)

Gobi Manchurian is easy to prepare as long as you follow a few simple tricks which will make you dish out a perfectly crispy and juicy Gobi in the sauce. We like the dry form of the Gobi Manchurian and as you can see in the pictures, the sauce is well coated on every Gobi floret but it is not floating in it.

What do you need to make Gobi Manchurian?
For Gobi Manchurian: 
1 medium head of fresh cauliflower/gobi
1 cup all purpose flour/maida
1 heaped Tblsp corn flour
3/4 Tsp rice flour
2 inch long fresh ginger root - peeled and pound in a mortar & pestle or use 1 Tsp fresh ginger paste
2 garlic cloves - mashed into a paste
2-3 green chilies - pound in mortar and pestle
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder
1 cup water
Oil to deep fry - I used Sunflower oil
For the sauce:
1/2 cup tomato ketchup (I used Heinz)
1/3 cup soy sauce - I used the less sodium, naturally brewed
1/4 Tsp black pepper powder
1/2 medium red onion - chopped roughly
1 small jalapeno pepper - deseeded and cut into 1/4 inch thick roundels or use roughly chopped bell pepper

1 Tsp salt - divide and use - adjust to taste
For garnish(Optional): 
1 Tblsp finely chopped sprig onions
1 Tblsp finely chopped cabbage

How do you make Gobi Manchurian? 
Gobi preparation: 

• Remove the stem of the cauliflower and separate the florets, chop them as small or big as you would prefer individual bites to be. 
• In a wide bowl mix 1/2 Tsp salt, turmeric powder, ginger, garlic and green chilies paste and coat them over the cut Gobi florets. Let it marinate for 30-40 minutes. 
• Mix all the flours, remaining 1/2 Tsp salt and make into a thin batter. The consistency should be flowing. 
• Heat the oil on medium heat and test readiness by dropping a small pinch of the batter into it. If the batter comes right up to the surface, the oil is ready for frying. 

• Take the marinated Gobi florets one batch at a time (sufficient to fill your oil pan but not overload it) and dip it into the batter and drop gently into the hot oil. 

• Let it cook for 2 minutes without disturbing and then turn them over and let cook on the other side for 2 minutes. Keep the oil on medium heat and let the Gobi cook well. The bubbles in the oil subsides when the Gobi is done. 
• Drain the fried Gobi and set aside on a paper tissue to absorb oil. 

Sauce Preparation: 

• Heat 1 Tsp oil in a wide pan, keep the heat on high. 
• Add the onion slices and let cook on high for just a minute, the onion should not get soft, should be crunchy. 
• Add the sliced bell pepper and fry for another minute, again make sure it doesn't become soft. 
• Add the tomato ketchup, black pepper powder and soy sauce in to the pan and stir it quickly to coat all the onion and bell pepper pieces. 

• Add the fried Gobi and mix it well to coat every fried floret well with the sauce. 

• Serve hot Gobi Manchurian immediately garnished with thinly chopped spring onions and cabbage. 

Notes: 

• Corn flour and rice flour give a crispy layer to the Gobi, so make sure you use them. 
• Marinating the florets in the ginger, garlic and green chilies paste allows them to absorb the flavors well and gives you the authentic, restaurant taste of the Gobi Manchurian.
• Make the batter thin, it should only coat the Gobi in a single layer and should not be lumpy as it will make the Gobi soggy. 
• Remember you are adding salt in 2 places and the store bought tomato ketchup and soy sauce have sodium in it, so make sure you do not over salt the end product.
• Adding turmeric powder to the batter gives a nice color to the Gobi Manchurian when fried. 
• It is a good practice to soak cauliflower florets into warm salted water before marinating it. 
• Garnish is completely optional and you can use anything you like or omit it completely, it is my way of getting some healthy vegetables in as part of the process.
• Mix fried Gobi into the sauce just before serving. 
• After taking the Gobi out of oil, if the covering feels soft to touch, refry another 2 minutes until it is crispy.

Cajun Potatoes - baked potato wedges

Days are just flying by, sometimes I feel like I started blogging just days back but looking at the posts and the other blogs I have discovered in the process, I realize it has been months. Infact Sattvaa entered its 6th month of blogging in June. I am back here with another Blog hop, an event introduced by Radhika of Tickling Palates. I love the event as I get the opportunity to visit new blogs which I may not have come across in my daily blogging and also get introduced to so many of the talented bloggers out there.

This month I am paired with Faiza who blogs at Faiza Ali's kitchen from UK. You will find recipes from Indian rice biryanis to Italian bruschetta on her blog. I haven't explored all her recipes yet but will definitely go back. I chose Spicy cajun potatoes from her blog for two reasons - one, every one at home loves potatoes in all forms and shapes, two - I jumped as soon as I saw that it was spicy. It is a very simple recipe and is a mouthful of flavors. A plateful of Cajun potatoes were gone in minutes after taking it out from the oven as I had to scurry around to get a couple of decent pictures :-).

I love Cajun flavors, if you have tasted the Cajun trail mix, you know what I am talking about. A couple of years back, one of my colleagues at work had brought a big Walmart bag of Cajun trail mix and as we were working late into the evening on a project, it was our snack. The mixture of roasted nuts in the specially blended Cajun spices makes this quite addictive. I have bought it many times since then especially to motivate (read bribe) my team. All I need is to send a group email and say there is a box of cajun mix and people come into the office and then you can talk work :-), I know it is sneaky. Candies and cajun mix are hot favorites at work.

Though I have been baking potato wedges with various combinations of spices, I had never zeroed in on this particular Cajun blend. I am glad I came across it during blog hop, thank you Faiza! for this now family favorite. Enjoy this simply delicious Cajun baked potatoes as a snack or a side dish. Faiza has used Thyme and Oregano in her preparation, I skipped Thyme as I didn't have it.

What do you need to make the Cajun potato wedges? 
3 medium sized red potatoes
1 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 Tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper corns - freshly ground
1 Tbslp fresh chopped oregano
1/2 Tsp dry thyme or 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 lemon

How do you make Cajun potato wedges? 

• Wash and cut potatoes into wedges. 
• Prepare the Cajun blend by mixing all ingredients except for potatoes and lemon juice.
• Mix in potato wedges and ensure every wedge is well coated with the mixture. 

• Let it marinate for 1/2 hour. 
• Pre heat the oven to 400F, line the marinated wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

• Check after 15 minutes and turn the potatoes over once. 
• Squeeze the lemon juice on top and serve the wedges hot.

Notes: 

• I like to use red potatoes for baking as they hold their shape well under the heat. You can use any variety of potatoes but avoid the floury types. 
• Marinating the potato wedges in the spice mix for a minimum of 20-30 minutes ensures that they absorb the flavors well. 

This plate of cajun potatoes goes to Blog Hop-18

Dahi vada or Peruggarelu

Vada or vade (as we call it in Kannada) was meant for specific occasions at home. Nammamma never deviated from this unwritten rule and never made urad dal vades on other days. So it was only when we went to restaurants which was so infrequent that we would get to taste this sinfully delicious stuff. As we grew up, she made concessions and when I started experimenting in the kitchen, I was allowed to make them but call them urad dal bondas instead and was not allowed to make the hole in the center which is so characteristic of vadas :-).

However at my in-laws place, there is no such restriction on making these vadas any time and I was completely blown over the first time amma prepared them after I got married. Her dahi vadas or peruggarilu (perugu~curd/yogurt and garelu~vadas) are to die for and she gets the same melt in the mouth consistency every single time she makes it. It is featured on birthdays, festivals and any occasion or no occasion at all :-).

When amma makes these at home, it takes center stage and she usually makes one rice item which kind of gets a typical step motherly treatment during lunch/dinner as all the attention is on the peruggarelu. And we in our family have different preferences when it comes to eating it. DD likes a sprinkle of boondi (a savory deep fried snack made with chick pea flour) for crunch while I like it with a dash of red chili powder and BH loves to top it with both :-).

As I love these peruggarelu, I have conveniently forgotten nammamma's rule and switched over to amma's practice. With both BH and DD having inherited the love for peruggarelu, we enjoy making and eating it. I made these dahi vadas 2 weeks back when we had guests home but couldn't get to posting it due to travel and work and everything else happening in life :-). When I started my post today, the pictures beckoned me and I didn't have to think about any other dish. My friends from North India like to eat it with a dollop of thick tamarind-date chutney on top.

Dahi vadas are made with Urad dal or black gram. Some people like to use a coarsely ground dough for making dahi vada while I prefer my completely smooth batter. A pre-requisite is to have good dahi or yogurt that is not sour.

What do you need to make Dahi-vada? 
For the Garelu/vadas - Makes about 20-24 vadas depending on the size:
1 cup urad dal/black gram dal
1/2 cup water for grinding
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
4-5 black pepper corns
oil to deep fry

For the Parugu/Dahi: 
2 cups of thick yogurt
1 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp sugar
1/2 cup water

For the perugu popu/Dahi seasoning:
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tsp cumin seeds
2-3 dry chilies

How do you make Dahi-vada? 
Prepare Dahi/perugu

• Mix yogurt and water and whisk it till smooth.
• Add salt and sugar and mix it well. 
• Prepare seasoning by heating oil - add mustard, cumin and red chilies. Let the seeds crackle.
• Pour it over the yougurt mixture, mix well and pour it into a wide basin that will hold your vadas when soaked. 

Prepare Vadas:

• Soak urad dal for an hour, wash it in 2 changes of water, drain the water. 
• Grind it to a smooth batter by using little amounts of water at intervals, take care to use as little water as needed to run your blender/mixer. 
• Towards the end of grinding, add the pepper corn and let it blend with the batter. 
• Take out the batter, mix salt in.
• Heat oil in a wide frying pan on medium heat. 
• Wet your fingers with water, scoop out a lemon sized batter, flatten it a little on your palms and gently ease it into the hot oil. 
• After 2 minutes, turn the vadas over and let both sides turn golden brown. 

• Drain the vadas, drop them slowly into a bowl of cold water and let it stand for 45secs to a minute. 

• Lift the vadas one by one, squeeze them gently between palms taking care not to break them and drop them into the yogurt vessel. 
• Spoon some yogurt on top of the vadas. 

• Repeat for all of the batter. 
• Let the vadas soak for atleast 20-30 minutes for them to become soft. 

• Serve plumped up dahi vadas with a scoop of the yogurt mixture and any topping of your choice. 
• Forget about deep frying, dieting and just binge on the bliss for a day, remember to hit the gym extra hard the next day :-)

Tips: 

• Do not soak urad dal for more than an hour, your vadas tend to absorb more oil if you do. 
• Use as little water as needed during grinding for a thick batter. 
• Use cold water while grinding to help your mixer/blender motor.
• Dropping the hot finished vadas into cold water helps remove the oil on top and eliminate the resulting bitterness when soaked in yogurt. 
• Do not leave the vadas in cold water for more than a minute and do not squeeze them too hard. 
• Use a wide pan for the yogurt as the vadas occupy space once they soak up the yogurt. 

Serving suggestions: 

• Spoon out dahi vadas in to a serving bowl along with a scoop of the yogurt, top it with a variety of ingredients to enhance the taste from red chili powder to tamarind-date chutney to boondhi or let your imagination take over.

Methi Muthia - snack from Gujarat

I love Gujarati food, the first time I ever tasted a Gujarati meal was at this restaurant near Edison in NJ called Jhupdi which my brother & SIL took me to. It has been years and I still remember how I fell in love with their Undhiyu, I can feel the taste of it on my tongue even now :-), well you know what I mean.. There is a small family run eatery in Fremont, CA called Krishna and they serve you a Gujarati Thali just like one you might get if you visited someone's home. The phulkas are soft, fresh and directly from the tawa. I relish everything in a Gujarati thali except for the rasam which is too sweet for my taste.

A few years back, one of my colleagues S got married, he is from Ahmadabad and his wife was a sweet, young girl who was just out of college. When we had a pot luck at work, she had made sheera (sweet sooji pudding) and doodhi/bottlegourd muthias and sent it with S. They were both gone in such a hurry that people really wanted to meet the cook behind the delicious dishes. The moment I see/taste a new dish, I go after the recipe and asked S to get the recipe and to my surprise next day when I went to work, he handed me this very meticulously typed instructions from dear E to make the yummy muthias. I still have that print out in my collection of recipes but don't need to refer to it anymore as I have made it so many times and know it by heart. Thanks E for the delicious muthias and generous sharing of a family recipe.

I have made changes to E's original recipe to suit the way we like it and I experiment with the vegetables since I am confident now of the basic recipe. I know this is a traditional recipe and here is my way of making the delicious Methi muthias as I love methi to bits :-).

What do you need to make Methi muthias?
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup basan/chick pea flour/gram flour/kadle hittu
1/2 cup fine sooji/chiroti rava
1 cup chopped fresh methi leaves/fenugreek leaves
11/2 cups grated bottle gourd
2 Tblsp fresh ginger+green chilies paste (I used about 5 green chilies and an inch of ginger root and pounded them together in mortar-pestle)
1 Tblsp salt
2 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp sugar

For Tadka/vaggarane:
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
3-4 curry leaves

How do you make Methi Muthias?

• Mix the grated bottle gourd, methi and salt in a wide bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Squeeze out the vegetables and keep the water aside, this is very nutritious and you can use it in any of your soups, gravies etc.
• Mix ginger-green chilies paste, sugar, baking soda and oil with the vegetables.
• Add the wheat flour, basan and chiroti rava into the bowl and mix it to get a soft mass. 
• Your exact amount of dry flours depend on the water content from the bottle gourd, so adjust them - I keep the wheat flour and basan equal and sooji at half the other two as we like the taste better with this proportion. 
• Squeeze out big tennis ball size of the mixed dough and roll them into thick logs. 

• Arrange them in your pressure cooker vessel and steam (no weight) for 30 minutes on medium heat. 

• Let the cooked logs cool down before cutting them into 1/2 inch thick discs.

• Heat oil in a wide pan and add mustard, sesame seeds and curry leaves into it. 
• Once the mustard and sesame seeds splutter, add the cut muthia discs into it. 

• Keep the heat on medium and stirring occasionally roast the muthias until they turn light brown. 
• Serve it with your choice of chutney/dip. 

Variations: 

• Add palak/spinach instead of or in addition to methi leaves. 
• Change the proportion of the flours - wheat flour makes muthias dense, rava turns them crisper and basan is for the taste, adjust to suit your taste.
• You can use grated carrots, finely chopped onion in muthias. 

Tips: 

• Squeeze the water content as much as you can out of the bottle gourd and keep it aside, I prefer to add the water later if needed than having to end up with an liquidy paste that will consume lot of dry flours and leave you with large portions of bland muthias :-)

Super 'Guacamole' bowl for the 2012 Giants game

Well, the biggest game of the season came to a nail biting finale yesterday and it was a good game between the Giants and the Patriots. I am not a sport fanatic, never played any serious sport during school years. Coming from India, cricket was a way of life especially sandwiched between two brothers that held transistor radio to the ears during the matches. I married into a family where I can very easily call everyone as hard core cricket fans, amma cooks a single pot dish and puts it on the table when India is playing those crucial matches so no-one needs to miss a moment of excitement. BH having played in the varsity games during college and my FIL being the consultant he is have a ton of opinion to give to the entire Indian cricket team every time they play, not that anybody is listening or there is any dearth of opinion :-). I have stayed on the border where I can relish a quick one day or 20-20 but have no patience for the test matches. The cricket fever has reduced over the years as life took over but we like to watch a good game on a diaspora of sports.

Super bowl takes you over if you live in a place with a strong local team which is what happened to us when we were in the Midwest, last few years have seen Indianapolis Colts becoming Champions in 2007 and playing strongly though they lost in 2010. It was a let down to watch the dismal season of Colts this year as they came nowhere close to the big game, however Indianapolis got itself ready for hosting the Superbowl 2012. Honestly, yesterday's game was exciting and worth watching even without the Colts, we decided to support the Giants because of Eli Manning :-).

As Sunday morning turned out busy running errands and also since we had a heavy lunch, I made the super easy, super delicious, super healthy Guacamole with the avocados :-).  

Avocado is a fruit native to Central Mexico and is a super healthy food because of its high mono saturated fat content. It is hailed as nature's butter and has more potassium than bananas and is rich in Vitamins B, E & K. Avocados finds its way into many dishes in my kitchen. This guacamole recipe is my way of recreating our favorite 'Chipotle' at home, this is a crowd pleaser and 'no-guilt' dip that can be made at home in a jiffy. I make this quite often and for no reason. 

What do you need to make Guacamole?

2 ripe avocados - pitted and the flesh scooped

1 small firm, ripe tomato - chopped fine

1/4 red onion - chopped fine to make about 1.5 Tblsp

handful of fresh cilantro - chopped fine

1/2 jalapeno pepper/any other green chili - chopped fine

Juice of 1 lemon/lime

1Tsp salt (adjust to taste)

1/2 Tsp sugar

1/2 Tsp fresh ground black pepper

How do you make Guacamole? 

Scoop out the flesh of avocado and mash it with a fork/spoon. Mix in the remaining ingredients till well blended. Cover with a wrap and set it aside for 30 mins for the flavors to work together. Serve it with your choice of crackers, chips, tortillas and the like.

Tips: 

• Choose the avocados right - they should be soft to touch with no bruises on the body
• Make an incision around the avocado (vertically or horizontally) and turn the fruit around this incision to get the 2 halves, removing the pit becomes easy and you can scoop the fruit out with a spoon.
• Once you have mixed the ingredients, if you cover it with a thin plastic wrap (cling wraps), it will retain the gorgeous green color for hours. The lemon/lime juice helps prevent the oxidization and you can definitely make this much before your party starts. 

Carrot-bell pepper soup for a rainy evening dinner

When the weather is cloudy and it is a little chilly indoors, I crave for something hot and spicy. It is also true on days when work day has been longer and busy and you realize it is dinner time but not much is ready in the name of dinner. We enjoy our bread & soup days without any of the aforementioned excuses also since we are a soup loving family :-).

I made this delicious carrot-bell pepper soup yesterday and took cue from Veggie Belly's tip for flavoring it with mint, thank you Sala. It was very flavorful and we slurped it with bread topped with grapefruit chutney.

What do you need to make Carrot-bell pepper soup?
4 large carrots - washed, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 small yellow baby bell pepper - this adds a sweetish peppery flavor, you can use red colored ones also
1 cup milk
10 mint leaves
1 tsp ground pepper + some for garnish
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp butter
1 cup water

How do you make carrot-bell pepper soup?

1. Heat the butter, fry carrots and bell pepper for a minute, add water and cook until soft, alternatively cook carrots in a pressure cooker.
2. In the mean time, heat the milk on low heat, add mint leaves and let it come to a boil.
3. Switch off the stove, take the mint leaves out and preserve the flavored milk.
4. Once cooked carrots & pepper have cooled, take them to the blender, add the flavored milk and blend it till smooth.
5. Bring the blended mixture to a rolling boil in a soup pot, season with salt & pepper, add water if the consistency is thick. I didn't need any additional water.

Variation:

1. You can add a 1/4 red onion and 1 tomato instead of the bell pepper for a different flavor. grape tomatoes give a nice red hue to the soup. 
2. Add 1/2 tsp of amchoor (dry mango) powder while boiling the soup if you like your soup to have a little punch.