Potato soup - a 'soup'er bowl of potatoes for a hearty, healthy soup

Didn't I just talk about Summer and summer solstice in my last post? I did and showed you pictures of gorgeous summer too. And yet here I am with a soup recipe which is typically made on a cold day. Well, that is typical of where I live and one of the reasons I love this place. Summer started off bright & cheery last week but then the weekend has gone back to the old ways of gray skies and occasional showers bringing the temperature down a bit and making you crave for something warm & hearty. While pongal/huggi/khichdi is my all time favorite comfort food, a hot bowl of soup with a side of good, crusty bread brings a smile to the faces in my family and it saves a lot of time and effort in cooking, a win-win for a week day dinner. Less cooking, less cleaning and everyone is happy :-). And then it is perfect for the weekend before the travel when you are trying to finish up those last remaining pieces of vegetables and the potatoes in your pantry.

Did I say travel? Yep and now you know the reason why my spirits are high and the grin won't stop quickly even on a cold, cloudy day. I am off for a vacation in a couple of days and excited beyond expression, looking forward to seeing family, sitting down holding hands together, eat a little , talk a lot and do everything you do when you go home. So my posts will be somewhat infrequent but I will keep increasing the size of my pictures folders and draft posts until I can sit down and polish them nicely for presentation. Happy Summer everyone, keep talking, stay healthy.

I have been exploring the Seattle downtown market area on my way to & from work whenever possible and have found many hidden treasures by way of small, local businesses. There is a bakery called '3 girls bakery' in the market area which bakes and sells fresh bread. If you go towards the evening, they are almost always out of bread which kind of indicates they make bread fresh daily :-). I have got a few French baguettes, a super hearty whole wheat raisin bread which have both become our favorites. But we all love their mini sour dough breads, they are just the right size for us if we share and works as a beautiful soup holder for soup of any kind.

Soups are not common in Indian cuisine, I tasted them only after we moved here and what a variety of soups there is if you love the feeling it creates as the hot spoonful goes down the throat and lights up a tired body on a cold day. Yumm! I used to think there were not many vegetarian soups available but since the time I started making soups I have experimented with different vegetables and spices/herbs to create soups that we all love. If you love veggies and herbs, there is no limit to the number of soup variations you can create.

I have a few soups already on the blog (check out the recipe index for links) but today's is an especially creamy and delicious soup with crumbly bites of potato chunks and broccoli that will make you feel rested as you gulp down a bowlful (or a breadful :-)). I first tasted this soup in an office party, a colleague had brought this for the vegetarians in the group. I took a small serving hesitantly but went back to it eagerly for a second and third time. While you can eat it paired with any bread, sourdough makes a great combination as it lends that tangy taste to the slightly bland soup. And it is super easy to put together and can be customized to taste.

Now that the monsoons have reached most parts of India and while the weather is still mild in most parts of the USA, this soup makes a wonderful dinner with minimal work. I have used fresh oregano in this recipe as I have a plant that is really growing wild :-) but you can substitute with dry oregano. Go ahead, give it a try and let me know how you liked it. We kicked off our weekend last Friday with this yummy soup in a sourdough bowl and polished it all up nicely.

What do you need to make potato soup?
3 medium sized potatoes
1 small piece of broccoli (optional but recommended)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove of garlic (increase it if you like the flavor)
1/4 cup of chopped celery (optional, I like the flavor in my soups)
1 Tsp olive oil
1/2 cup milk
1 Tsp freshly ground black pepper powder
10-12 leaves of fresh oregano or 1/2 Tsp dried oregano
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
pinch of dry mango powder/amchur powder

How do you make potato soup?

• Wash, scrub and chop the potatoes into bite sized cubes. If using yukon gold or red potatoes (which have thin skins), I like to leave the skin on. 
• Chop broccoli into small florets.
• Chop onions and celery (if using).

• Heat a stock pot or soup pot on medium heat, add olive oil. 
• Add the chopped onion and let it sweat for a couple of minutes. 
• Add the celery and broccoli and stir fry them for another minute. 
• Add the potato pieces and continue to fry for another 2 minutes until the vegetables get coated well with oil and start to soften. 
• Add salt, 1/2 Tsp of black pepper powder. 
• If you are using dry oregano add it at this stage along with 3 cups of water. 
• Cover and let cook for 8-10 minutes until potatoes turn soft. 
• If you are using fresh oregano, add them after potatoes turn soft. 
• Simmer the stove, scoop out most of the vegetables into a blender jar, leave some potato and broccoli pieces for bite.

• Make a smooth paste of the cooked vegetables, return them to the pot. 
• Add milk, adjust salt, pepper to taste and let it come to a boil. 
• Switch off and serve hot soup with bread or crackers. 
• I had a baby, sour dough bread I had bought, we used that as the soup holder. Rich, delicious soup with equally yummy bread made up for the rainy evening dinner. 

Notes: 

• You can add chopped carrots to this recipe. 
• You can use butter instead of olive oil for more flavor and ofcourse more fat :-)
• If you want a vegan version, replace milk with almond or cashew milk. 

Minestrone soup - a deliciously hodge podge Sunday brunch

I not only love to bake bread but also enjoy eating different kinds of bread. The crustier and hardier they are, I like them better. It is no wonder I am always willing and ready to try out new places as long as there is a promise of good bread. It was on one such expeditions that I went to "Olive Garden", a popular chain of Italian food in North America and on BH's recommendation tried the unlimited soup and salad lunch there. But I mostly ended up filling myself with the soft, warm bread they serve at the beginning of every meal.

Olive Garden has been a regular joint for us as family as we can all satisfy our veg and non-veg preferences. Over time, I dug my spoon into the piping hot minestrone soup and fell in love with the various flavors in that super delicious vegetarian soup. Until I tasted minestrone soup, my view of soup was limited to the 'Tomato soup' from India which is creamy, tangy but doesn't have any floating vegetables. The minestrone knocked out all my notions about soup and opened up my eyes to the world of soupy possibilities. Minestrone has been a favorite for many years now and is part of my order whenever we go to Olive Garden along with their Eggplant Parmigiana.

I am not much of a pasta person, nor is cheese my favorite. Don't judge me :-), that is who I am. I order eggplant parmigiana, as soon as the plate comes, slide out the hot cheesy layer off the top of the eggplants and eat the crispy baked eggplants with black pepper sprinkled on top of them. Why order the dish when I don't eat half of it, you may ask and also when I take out the best part of the dish according to DD. I do not mean any disrespect to the recipe or the chef but I just don't enjoy the gooey cheese on top :-). I love the fresh salad though with the grated cheese on top that they invariably offer to every guest and that I politely decline every single time.

I had it on my list of things to do for a long time to make the minestrone soup at home. I collected a few recipes but every time I thought of making it, something wouldn't align such as it was the hot summer and not soup weather, or I didn't have something in the refrigerator/pantry that I deemed necessary for a good minestrone and etc.., so it kept getting pushed and finally today made it. DD says she doesn't mind having a lunch such as this every day for the rest of her life which I take as a compliment. So here I am with some pictures and a recipe for minestrone soup. A totally vegetarian and full of veggie goodness and flavors of fresh and dried herbs, this soup makes a very filling lunch. Pair it with some bread and you have an Italian lunch in your own kitchen.

Here is what happened to the bread, I have a wonderful pizza dough recipe (source: Peter Reinhart) that I have been using for a while now - will post the recipe sometime and I also use the same dough for making bread sticks, they turn as soft and delicious as the warm breads served in Olive Garden. I made a big batch of the pizza dough earlier this week and was planning to keep aside half of it for the bread sticks but since both BH & DD loved the texture of the pizza, they ended up making it twice in the week and the dough got over which put a small dent in my plans of an Italian brunch for the weekend. But like I said, stars were aligned perfectly this time for my minestrone soup and so when I was strolling in the food market here yesterday, I found some freshly baked French baguettes being filled into the basket, picked one up and came home. A slight change of plans, no Olive Garden style bread sticks but I made some fragrant bruschetta by slicing the baguette and it was a wonderful side for the extremely delicious minestrone soup.

Minestrone is a very versatile soup, it is almost like throw in any vegetables you have and still tastes good recipe. I used Giada's recipe from here, eliminating all non-vegetarian ingredients and making some changes to suit my personal palate. So mine is a completely vegetarian soup and tastes just like the one you get in Olive Garden. Try it out yourself and let me know how you liked it.

Here is why I call it hodge podge brunch, though it was Italian in every intent and theme, I used French baguette to make the bruschetta, made a very Indian, non-cheesy version of crispy eggplant and a fresh veggie salad that was dressed with a dressing from nowhere :-). I also had a bunch of fresh, organic fingerling potatoes that I par boiled and sauteed in olive oil and coated with chutney pudi and garnished with fresh cilantro :-).

What do you need to make Minestrone soup?
Makes 4-5 servings
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion/shallots
2-3 medium sized carrots
1 medium zucchini
2 celery sticks
2 cups (tightly packed) greens such as chard, spinach or Kale
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized potato
2 big tomatoes
1.5 cup cooked canellini beans (Italian white kidney beans)
1/2 cup cooked pasta (typically shells are used)
4-6 basil leaves
1 sprig of fresh Rosemary
A small piece (about 1/2 Oz) of good quality Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

How do you make Minestrone soup? 

• Wash, peel and chop carrots into bite sized cubes. 
• Wash, remove hard ends and chop celery into bite sized pieces. 
• Peel, crush and chop garlic. 
• Roughly chop the greens. 
• Par boil tomatoes for 3-4 minutes and once cool, remove the skin and chop into chunks. Reserve the water for use in soup. 
• Puree 1/2 cup of cooked beans with 1/4-1/2 cup of water into a smooth paste. 
• Wash and chop zucchini and potato (i use the skin) into bite sized chunks.
• Heat a sturdy pan or soup pot with olive oil. 
• Add the chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until it softens. 
• Add chopped carrots and celery, saute for 5-6 minutes until they turn just soft. 
• Add chopped garlic, zucchini, potatoes, cooked beans and tomatoes. 
• Add salt, pepper and 3-5 cups of water, piece of cheese and pureed beans. 
• Simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Slower you cook, better the soup tastes. 
• When you reach the last half hour of cooking, add the chopped greens and let it wilt. 
• Add cooked pasta about 10 minutes before you switch off along with chopped basil leaves. 
• Switch off, cover and let stand for 10-15 minutes. 
• Serve piping hot soup with a side of bread and garnished with extra grated cheese on top. 

Notes: 

• I used canned beans which are pre cooked and salted. I wash them a couple of times under running water and drain before adding to the soup. 
• Usually shell or bow pastas are used in Minestrone, you can skip this totally without affecting the taste. If using cook pasta following package instructions and add it towards the last 10 minutes or so before switching off the soup. 
• You can use any greens mentioned above but the cooking time for chard or kale might be a little longer than spinach, so use your judgement. 
• Adding Parmesan cheese is optional but gives a really authentic and rich taste to the soup. 
• I like the slightly acidic taste of celery in soups and add them to most of my soups. 

Super bowl grub - healthy & hearty vegetarian chili

Seahawks win the Super Bowl and are the World Champions for 2014. 

The game itself was by no means a nail biter as it seemed like the Broncos were not even playing and were crushed 8-43 in a match that lasted 3.5 hours including the celebrations, half times and the breaks. DD is in dampened spirits because of how it reflected on her favorite sportsman but is happy for the local team for picking their first ever Super bowl win. Well, some things in life are just like that, you are not happy even when you win..

Just like I promised last week, here I am with one of the favorite Super bowl dishes. At my previous work place, come January, the group organized a Super bowl chili cook off and all of us made pots of chili in all shapes and form and the accessories. Lunch is served for the entire corporate office on purchase and the money collected goes to charity. Lunch is so huge that day, you really can't work post lunch and become a hefty, sluggish something unable to think straight. But it also gives a much needed distraction once a year from the unending, busy work life. That is where I learnt to make my vegetarian chili. D was a dear colleague and a sworn meat eater who shared his secret to good chili with me. He would bring in his slow cooker, plug it in next to his laptop at 7am, throw in various ingredients from different boxes, close it and get back to work. By 10am, his pot would be emitting such great aroma that none of us could resist a taste of his great chili. The first year when I didn't know any better, I had signed up to bring in only the peripheral stuff such as a bag of chips and store bought salsa or dip and after eating D's chili, I was hooked.

"Next to music there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili." - Harry James

I totally agree with it in that a good bowl of Chili is a perfect comfort food, especially in the cold winters Midwest goes through during January. The ingredients themselves looked pretty easy, D used canned beans and tomatoes which eliminated all chopping and cleaning. Then he made me privy to the secret ingredient of a good chili which is the cocoa powder. Novice to the new scents and tastes of non Indian ingredients, I wouldn't have guessed it by a mile. The flavor of the cocoa powder in this dish is second only to the smoky, roasted cumin flavor. Outside of beans, everything else is pretty much by choice - you like bell peppers, throw in some, you like leeks, put them in, you prefer carrots, just add them, you get the idea. D's chili was very minimalistic in that it hardly had any vegetables. It qualified as 'vegetarian' by the mere absence of meat in it. While there were many other pots of chili with meat ranging from beef to chicken to venison, this was the only one available to vegetarians and would get over quickly. So after the dish was received well at home, I bravely signed up for a pot of chili next year and the the pot was cleaned out within 30 minutes once the lunch was served. Then, it was a regular at every January Chili cook off and I made some with an Indian ginger flavor once and roasted cumin flavor another time, every time a crowd pleaser.

When you see the beans (red and black), and peppers/chili in the dish, stereotypical thinking is to classify it as a Mexican recipe. Searching for some history on Chili, I found that no one has been able to establish any connection of Chili to Mexico and infact there is no dish resembling chili in Mexico except for places that cater to tourists. Within North America, there is a very popular Texan chili recipe and a variation of chili from Cincinnati, Ohio both heavily meat centric dishes. The popular impression is that chili is a Tex-Mex recipe, no matter what the origin is, this stoup (soup+stew - Rachel Ray vocabulary) has become a favorite of many in the nation. It is versatile in nature since you can add/subtract vegetables per taste/availability and up/down the spice level to suit your palette. No matter how you prepare it, served warm in a bowl with some chips on the side, this is a healthy and filling dish.

Here is a trivia for you, chile refers to the pepper pod, and chili to the concoction. The e and the i of it all. This is from the International Chili society, a non profit organization that sponsors yearly chili cook offs.

I made this chili in the morning today for the super bowl watching event at home. There were other things happening since morning and I didn't have anything else ready for lunch, so we ended up eating bowls of chili for lunch and the pot was polished off before even the opening ceremonies of super bowl began. I left the family to tend to themselves in the afternoon as I had to be some place else and they ended up ordering pizza to tide them through the game :-). I wanted us to eat healthy and low calorie but ended up also eating calorie dense store bought pizza, well like I said before you can't win them all..The moral of the story is, a bowl of chili is not just for watching superbowl but is a great mid day meal too.

What do you need to make Vegetarian Chili?
Makes 5 servings
3 cups cooked rajma/red kidney beans
1 cup cooked black beans
1/2 cup cubed onions
2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 Tblsp roasted cumin powder
2 cloves garlic
2 green chilies/pepper
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2-3/4 Tsp red chili powder (adjust to taste)
1 Tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tblsp tomato paste
1/4 Tsp sugar
1/4 Tsp black pepper
2 Tblsp oil

How do you make Vegetarian Chili? 

• Roast 1.5 Tblsp cumin in a dry pan until it starts to pop, switch off, let cool and grind into a powder, keep it covered until ready to use. 
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom sauce pan. 
• Once the oil is hot, add chopped onion and fry for a minute and then add minced garlic. 
• Let it roast until onion turns light pink, add the remaining vegetables and salt. 

• Mix well, cover and cook for 2 minutes until the veggies turn a little soft. 
• Add the dry powders, tomato paste, 2 cups of water, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes until the tomato break down completely (such a sad state :-(). 
• Add the cooked beans, adjust salt/spices & water as needed, reduce the heat to low, cover and let the flavors mingle together for another 30-40 minutes. 
• Add chopped cilantro to garnish before serving. 

Serving Suggestions: 

• Top it with fresh cream, guacamole or cheese. 
• Serve it with corn bread or chips. 

Notes: 

• I prefer to soak overnight and cook the beans in pressure cooker as I do not care for the added sodium in canned beans. If you are pressed for time or have forgotten to soak the beans, go ahead and use the canned ones, make sure you rinse and drain them thoroughly in a couple changes of water. 
• This recipe is a great slow cooker recipe if you own one. I love to let it simmer in the crock pot for a couple of hours so the flavors marry well. I made smaller than usual quantity today and used my sturdy, cast iron pan on stove top. 
• If you are using the slow cooker and want to cook beans directly in them, plan 6-8 hours ahead and start with soaked and washed beans in the pot. Prepare vegetables outside on stove top and once the beans are soft add the veggies in and let them continue to cook in the slow cooker. 
• If you want to make a full meal with this bowl, go ahead and add 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa or millet to the chili while it is simmering. 

Pumpkin-celery soup: Make way, here comes the vegetable of the season

A very happy Navaratri/Dasara to all my readers celebrating the festivals. We are getting ready for our traditional doll display (Bommala koluvu) and meeting and greeting some friends over the next week. Yes, I will make sure I will get atleast some of the recipes captured on the blog this time for future reference. I really suck at making festival specials ahead of time, but am hoping to build that recipe collection over time here so you & I can come back in a few years and look up all recipes related to a festival or an event :-). Big promises, with honest intentions to fulfill them. Until then, walk with me as I make those recipes during the festivals and post them afterwards. We started off Navaratri this year on Saturday with a delicious banana sajjige. I usually start the bommala Koluvu on the 7th day or Saraswathi pooje day and then the daily offerings will follow too.

Today's post is nothing about Navaratri but a quick and easy bowl of comfort to keep you company as you try and ward off those stuffy noses and scratchy throats which comes with the change of seasons. Did I tell you I have a burst of colors in the trees all around me? last week's rains dampened them a little bit but then things perked up totally with the bright and sunny weekend we have had. I see orange, I see red, I see yellow and I see green, how does your neighborhood look?

Autumn signals the end of Farmers markets here, bye bye until next Spring but there are lot of signs for pumpkin and apple picking. Stores are already flooded with Halloween and harvest goodies and before I realize they will be replaced with year end, festive sales. I do Halloween and Navaratri decorations hand in hand, get some pumpkins and candies for the former and make Indian recipes for the latter, works well every year.

So while I was picking up some jack-o-lantern pumpkins for the front yard, I also got home some edible fresh pumpkin to cook. I have a mouth watering recipe coming up later this month (part of an event) but until then, enjoy this seasonal delicacy to send warm signals all through your system. This is a soup you will not get bored of eating again and again as the spices added make it refreshing. We have been having some soup-salad dinners lately and this is one of the family favorite soups.

Pumpkin (or any of the winter squashes) are made for soups if you ask me, they cook fast, puree smooth and have a neutral flavor bordering on sweetish, so it is easy to pair them off with different spices for variety and give the soup a new look every time. I generally use regular pumpkins or butter nut squashes in soups and flavor them with an array of spices & herbs. Celery adds a very slight sharp taste like flavored water and brings in a whole sleuth of health benefits. I usually throw in carrots to most of my vegetable soups for taste and color.

You can use store bought pumpkin puree or make it at home yourself. Peel and chop pumpkin into bite sized pieces, add 1/4 cup water and bring to boil with spices of your choice. Cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves bring out the best flavors in pumpkin. Once pumpkin is cooked soft, let it cool and lend into a fine puree. You can either strain and use it or use it directly depending on the dish. There you go, no preservatives, no added salt, home made puree that can go into pies, breads, cakes and hearty soups.

What do you need to make Pumpkin-Celery soup?
2 cups chopped pumpkin (or 1 cup pureed pumpkin)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped carrots (1 large carrot)
1 inch piece of fresh ginger - julienned into thin slices
1 clove
1/2 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tblsp milk
1/4 Tsp freshly powdered nutmeg
1 Tblsp oil (use a mild oil like canola or sunflower)

How do you make Pumpkin-Celery soup?

• Heat oil in a pan, add ginger juliennes, let it roast for 30 seconds.
• Add chopped onion and let it cook for 2 minutes until it becomes soft.
• Add the chopped vegetables along with 1/2 cup water, salt, cloves and nutmeg.

• Cover and cook on medium heat for 12-14 minutes until the vegetables are soft and cooked.
• Let it cool down to room temperature.
• Take all the cooked ingredients to the blender and make a smooth puree.
• Pour the puree into a sauce pan, add fresh ground black pepper, milk and bring everything to a rolling boil.

• Serve hot with saltine crackers, bread and a salad for a hearty meal.

Notes:

• Cooking nutmeg and cloves along with vegetable infuses the spices well into the soup making it very flavorful.
• You can use butter instead of oil for sautéing the vegetables.
• The amount of water and milk given here makes a thick, creamy soup. If you want, adjust the consistency with either water or milk.

Butternut Squash soup - Fall back to cold weather recipes

Most of us in the US of A and Europe turned our clocks an hour back last night and went to the standard time until next Spring. This means brighter mornings when you get up and darker evenings before (much before) you get back home from work. It takes a few days to adjust to the new clock and I don't like to see the sky become dark by 4.30 in the evening.

Shorter days and the nip in the air remind me to also start falling back to the winter favorites, as I think of winter favorites the first thing that gets voted hands down is a hot soup with some hearty bread. Easy to put together and quick to make soups are relished at our home. Butternut squash soup is a classic made with the abundantly available seasonal gourd.

Autumn or Fall also floods the market with a variety of orange hued winter squashes and pumpkins. I used to reverently walk through the aisles with pumpkins of all sizes and shapes when I first moved here. The pumpkins we see in India are much smaller and usually of the same type, the sheer variety of the vegetable found here was breath taking for a new immigrant like me. I have grown used to it in all these years but still love the beautiful color it adds to everything.

Butternut squash is a type of pumpkin - slightly sweet, cooks very quickly. It has a hard outer shell which allows the vegetable to keep well during the winter months and the inside stays as juicy and sweet as freshly picked. These squashes are a nutritional power house with significantly less calories and overflowing with vitamins and minerals. Butternut squash is very well suited for soups, I generally add a few spices as the vegetable itself is mild in taste and flavor. I prefer thicker, pureed soups to the clearer or chunky soups.

Roasted butternut squash is extremely flavorful and makes for a good, low calorie snack. Peel and dice the squash into small cubes, toss in olive oil flavored with salt and dried herbs, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet, bake until fork tender (25-30 minutes) at 350F. You can use the baked squash in the soup for extra flavor.

What do you need to make butternut squash soup? 
Serves 4 people
4 cups of diced butternut squash
1 small onion - chopped
2 medium sized carrots - chopped
1 medium sized green apple - peeled, cored and diced or 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 Tsp dried Thyme
1X1 inch piece of peeled ginger
1/4 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 cups water
1 Tblsp oil/butter

How do you make butternut squash soup? 

• Heat oil/butter in a sauce pan. Add cumin and let sizzle. Add ginger and saute for a minute.
• Add the chopped onion, carrots and fry for a couple of minutes. 
• Add the butternut squash pieces and apple pieces (if using), dry thyme and 2 cups of water. 

• Let cook on medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until the vegetables become soft. 

• Cool the vegetables and puree it in the blender.
• Pour it back into the sauce pan, add salt and apple sauce if using, let it come to a gentle boil. 
• Serve hot soup topped with thin slices of squash strips and a side of hearty bread. 

Notes: 

• See above to oven bake butternut squash, you can use roasted squash in the soup for enhanced flavor. 
• I used ready made, unsweetened green apple sauce and added it to the soup after the vegetables are pureed. 
• The tart apple balances the flavors, if you cannot get hold of green apple add 1/4 Tsp of amchoor powder. 

• I use oil instead of butter as there is no compromise in the taste. 
• Play around with the herbs used, I have tried Oragano, Mint for different flavors.

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.