Tuesday, July 12, 2011

My amateur Reciepe for - Pumpkin Soup

Hi guys,

Few days back I was so bored and was nothing much to do. Was seating in room and chatting online with one of friend from India. After hours of chatting with my friend I was hungry and wanted to go out to get something. I ask my housemate whether she wants something to eat from supermarket. But she said she had some vegetables and I can use them. She was having pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes. She told me I can use them to cook something for us. She was having exams and don't have time to cook.

So after thinking for sometime I thought to make pumpkin soup. I never cooked pumpkin soup before it was my first time and was excited to see how it will come out. Most of the time my first time cooking are turned into disasters. But now things are going to change... !!!yeahhh....

The pumpkin soup which I made was turned up so perfect that I can't resists my self from sharing that recipe with you all.. it's quit a simple recipe, nothing complicated at all..

Ingredient:

Pumpkin - 1 kg
Olive Oil/ Vegetable oil- 2 to 3 tea spoon
Butter- 10 gms
Onion- 1 large, sliced
Potatoes- 2 chopped into cubes
Carrots- 2 to 3 cut
Leek or spinach- 1 finely chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander Powder- 1 tea spoon
Ginger and Garlic paste- 2 tea spoon
Black pepper seeds- 8-10 crushed
Cloves- 4-5 crushed
cardamom- 3-4 crushed
Chicken/ Vegetable stock- 4 cubes dissolved in 1 L water
OR just plain water should be fine.
Plain flour - as required to thicken the soup.
Salt- as required

Method:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan, add onion and leek/ spinach and saute for 1 min.
2. Turn down the heat to low and continue to saute onion and leek for further 2-3 min until softens.
3. Add butter
4. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 min.
5. Add turmeric powder and coriander powder.
5. Add crushed Black pepper seeds, cloves, and cardamom.
6. Add, pumpkin, potatoes, carrots (or any vegetables u prefer), saute for one minute and add 500 ml of water and bring it to boil.
7. Once started to boil, add 800 ml of chicken/ vegetable stock or plain water, cover the sauce pan and continue on simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Keep on stirring in between and add remaining stock or water as required.
9. To thicken the soup add 2 tsp of plain flour and mixed immediately to avoid clumps. Keep adding plain four on how much thickener you wanted your soup. Continue on simmer for 5-10 minutes.
10. Alternatively you can you thickened cream to thicken your soup. (If you are using cream do not heat for long time now and turn off heat after 2-3 minute).
11. Taste the soup and add salt as required. Turn off heat.
12. Serve hot with garlic bread or toasted wholemeal bread.

Tan.. tan naaa... and delicious pumpkin soup Is ready. After this I have made pumpkin soup couple of time following same recipe and always it turned out be excellent.. and I hope it will be same for you as well..

Enjoy cooking..

Remember quote: " ANYONE CAN COOK" from movie RARATOUILLE..

as always .. have a good day..

Sunday, June 12, 2011

PLASTIC AND UNDERSTANDING THEIR RESPECTIVE NUMBER CLASSIFICATION (SPI CODES)

Types of Plastics and their Number Classification:

We are not just living in high tech world, but according to me in a PLASTIC WORLD. We are surrounded allover by plastic. Almost the daily things we used are made up of plastic. Sometime it makes me wonder that is it possible for us to live without plastic? I was not aware of fact of the number classification for different types of plastics until one of my professor pointed it in our class. Most of people don’t recycle there plastic water and softdrink bottles. Which directly decreases the recycling of plastic. In this blog I am just going to write about different types of plastics and about theri respective number classification. The numbers are printed in recycle symbol at bottom of product (see fig 1). The American Chemical Council has resign classification/ identification number (SPI CODES) to respective type of plastic. This numbers are used to determine how to use and recycle that particular type of plastic.

Fig 1.

Number Classification OR SPI codes:

No 1: Plastics marked with code 1 are made up of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE). Commonly used in softdrink and water bottles. It is advisable that plastic product under this classification should be used one time and not to store food, drinks in it again and again. Reusing bottles made of PET can in fact be dangerous. PET was found to break down over time and leach into the beverage when the bottles were reused. May cause liver problems, other possible reproductive difficulties, and is suspected to cause cancer in humans. Therefore, it's best to recycle these bottles without reusing them.

No. 2: Plastics marked with code 2 are made up of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Commonly used in milk containers,Food storage containers, sampoo/ soap bottles, buckets, recycling bins. This plastic is suitable for packing products. If you carry you water bottle with you, make sure you carry in those made of HDPE ie marked with code 2. It is safe to reuse this plastic but within certain range.

No. 3: Plastics marked with code 3 are made up of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC, vinyl). Commonly used in PVC pipes, windows frames, fencing. It can be toxic if ingested.

No. 4: Plastics marked with code 4 are made up of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE). It is a very healthy plastic that tends to be both durable and flexible. Plastic cling wrap, sandwich bags, squeezable bottles, toys and plastic grocery bags are all made from LDPE. Recycled LDPE is used to make garbage cans, lumber, furniture, and more.

No. 5: Plastics marked with code 5 are made up of Polypropylene (PP). This type of plastic is strong and can usually withstand higher temperatures. Among many other products, it is used to make plastic diapers, Tupperware, margarine containers, yogurt boxes, syrup bottles, prescription bottles, and some stadium cups. Recycled PP is used to make ice scrapers, rakes, battery cables, and more.

No. 6: : Plastics marked with code 6 are made up of Polystyrene (PS). It is very complicated to recycle this plastic but still often recycled. It is most commonly used for protective packaging (for example, foam packaging for furniture, electronics, and other delicate items), food serving packaging (for example, cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, meat and poultry trays, and rigid food containers), bottles, and food containers. As you can see from the examples in which it commonly used and difficult to recycle this type of plastic, we should try to avoid any of products made of this plastic.

No. 7: Other: is used to designate miscellaneous types of plastic that are not defined by the other six codes. These types of plastics are difficult to recycle. Commonly used in Compact Disc, cell phones, computers, automobile parts, and so on.

Consumers can make better plastic-purchasing decisions if they understand SPI codes and potential health hazards of each plastic, and recyclers can more effectively separate plastics into categories. Always check a product’s classification code prior to recycling it or re-using it. It’s important to stay educated about plastic classification numbers and plastic types; remember, informed consumers can demand that plastics manufacturers provide better products.

JUST REMEBER: RECYCLE, DO NOT REUSE PLASTIC.

It is stringly advsed to readers that please recycle the plastic and use only for purpose that product intended to.

I STRONGLY SUGGESTS TO STOP REUSEING WATER BOTTLE AND SOFTDRINK BOTTLE. AS WE ALL REUSE THEM. AND NOW YOU ARE AWARE OF THAT ITS NOT SAFE TO DO REUSE THEM.

CARRY YOUR DRINKING WATER IN PLASTIC BOTTLES MARKED WITH SPI CODE 2.