Soup
If ever I were to plan whole week's menu, I always add making soup to the list. But by the time I am done making the dinner, making soup feels too much work and there is no time left to execute the multiple steps required. Mummy had broken down the steps and simplified the process so in winter months, we could have soup every day. She prepared a big batch of concentrated concoction for the soup, boiled vegetables blended and strained, ready to be served by just adding water and spices. One batch lasted her couple of days and next batch was prepared when the previous one got over.
The soup was almost always tomato based and was referred to as simply "Soup". Mummy added vegetables like Lauki, carrots, spinach, depending on what was available. She took delight in secretly feeding these vegetables in soup, especially to kids. Sometimes she served fried bread croutons along with the soup.
In the evening, an hour or so before dinner, the soup was served in small tea cups or small glasses. The heat and mild spices in the soup provided great flavor, warmth and got us more hungry for dinner. If we had my aunts, uncles or other company before the dinner, she would ask one of us to prepare the soup. We knew the drill to add the water and spices to the concoction, heat the soup and equally divide the soup in equal portion for every person. If we had guests who did not know the practice of serving soup in the evening, they will protest at the sight of one of us coming in with a tray lined with tea cups. But once they realized that tea cups contained soup and not chai, all the fussing would stop.
Why use tea cups to serve? Mummy thought of soup as an appetizer that kept one going in the evening before dinner. You did not need a lot because it was not a replacement for the meal. As a matter of fact, she did not want to use the nice big soup bowls my brother had bought for her recently. Her main complaint was that whole batch of concotion gets over in one day!
Recipe
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1. Prepare vegetables
- 2 lbs ripe tomatoes (cut in half), 2" ginger (peeled and crushed)
2. You can add any of these vegetables to the soup. I did not.
1-2 carrots chopped or 1 cup Lauki (opo squash) pieces or 1 cup chopped spinach
3. Add 1 cup water and boil everything in a pressure cooker.
4. Blend the vegetables to a smooth paste in a mixer/grinder.
5. Strain the concoction using a sieve. Add little water to get all the juice out.
6. At this time you can refrigerate the concoction.
7. Take 1-2 cups of concotion. Add water, salt, kala namak (black salt), roasted cumin powder, black pepper and 1-2 tsp of butter and heat.
The soup was almost always tomato based and was referred to as simply "Soup". Mummy added vegetables like Lauki, carrots, spinach, depending on what was available. She took delight in secretly feeding these vegetables in soup, especially to kids. Sometimes she served fried bread croutons along with the soup.
In the evening, an hour or so before dinner, the soup was served in small tea cups or small glasses. The heat and mild spices in the soup provided great flavor, warmth and got us more hungry for dinner. If we had my aunts, uncles or other company before the dinner, she would ask one of us to prepare the soup. We knew the drill to add the water and spices to the concoction, heat the soup and equally divide the soup in equal portion for every person. If we had guests who did not know the practice of serving soup in the evening, they will protest at the sight of one of us coming in with a tray lined with tea cups. But once they realized that tea cups contained soup and not chai, all the fussing would stop.
Why use tea cups to serve? Mummy thought of soup as an appetizer that kept one going in the evening before dinner. You did not need a lot because it was not a replacement for the meal. As a matter of fact, she did not want to use the nice big soup bowls my brother had bought for her recently. Her main complaint was that whole batch of concotion gets over in one day!Recipe
---------
1. Prepare vegetables
- 2 lbs ripe tomatoes (cut in half), 2" ginger (peeled and crushed)
2. You can add any of these vegetables to the soup. I did not.
1-2 carrots chopped or 1 cup Lauki (opo squash) pieces or 1 cup chopped spinach
3. Add 1 cup water and boil everything in a pressure cooker.
4. Blend the vegetables to a smooth paste in a mixer/grinder.
5. Strain the concoction using a sieve. Add little water to get all the juice out.
6. At this time you can refrigerate the concoction.
7. Take 1-2 cups of concotion. Add water, salt, kala namak (black salt), roasted cumin powder, black pepper and 1-2 tsp of butter and heat.
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