For somebody who hates soups and forever refused to do the soup route, to reduce daily calorie intake, I did accidentally invent 2 soups that work. I don't claim to be the original inventor coz I have seen something similar in one of those fast time-lapse recipe vids on FB. But I actually made it for myself, that's the big deal. Earlier, I did try out Salads after refusing cold-foods and documented the Salad Matrix.
Key ingredient for these home soups is boiled potato to make them creamy coz I love mashed potatoes.
And second is a tadka of onion caramelized in ghee. Everything tastes better after tadka. Garnish, you can call it.
So off went the stalks to boil with chopped potatoes. When soft, scooped them onto the blender and soup was ready after a few swirls. Oh I did add tadka of garlic and red chillies in the blender. Salt ofcourse.
But who can eat this goo ? So came a mandatory tadka of caramelized onion in ghee. Add some cornflakes coz I had seen someone do that to Mashed potatoes hotdish.
My second version involved adding boiled Broccolli florets, celery and grated carrots to the base of blended boiled stalks & potatoes. Plus caramelized onion again. Much better.
After they were cooked, I separated the large pieces of carrots, potatoes and tomato to the blender. And filter out the beets and put the beets water in blender. Salt & pepper ofcourse. There is something about beets & black pepper combination. Maybe a history in Rasam.
Tadka of caramelized onion in ghee again.
Since these don't have half&half or flour base, are these really soup ? Or are they Veggie Smoothies, just hot ? Hmm, I wonder now. I guess the soup formula is the same. Add spinach or mustard leaves. Or anything else from the Produce section.
Next I experimented with few other traditional recipes. Ones with flour and/or half&half.
Looks and taste wise it was very similar to Olive Garden version, so all izz well.
Recipe here on a vid by Cooking Panda.
Key ingredient for these home soups is boiled potato to make them creamy coz I love mashed potatoes.
And second is a tadka of onion caramelized in ghee. Everything tastes better after tadka. Garnish, you can call it.
Brocolli Potato soup
Main motivation for this was I was fed up of throwing Broco stalks and I had 4 of them sitting in the fridge coz I promised I would grate & bake them into tarter tots but got cold feet everytime.So off went the stalks to boil with chopped potatoes. When soft, scooped them onto the blender and soup was ready after a few swirls. Oh I did add tadka of garlic and red chillies in the blender. Salt ofcourse.
But who can eat this goo ? So came a mandatory tadka of caramelized onion in ghee. Add some cornflakes coz I had seen someone do that to Mashed potatoes hotdish.
My second version involved adding boiled Broccolli florets, celery and grated carrots to the base of blended boiled stalks & potatoes. Plus caramelized onion again. Much better.
Beets, Carrot Potato Soup
After the first soup I got bolder. I frequently make Beets poriyol and had accumulated enough guilt within me, from discarding the beets water after boiling them everytime. So this time, I added huge chucks of carrots, whole tomato and whole potato in the cooker with chopped beets, set to boil.After they were cooked, I separated the large pieces of carrots, potatoes and tomato to the blender. And filter out the beets and put the beets water in blender. Salt & pepper ofcourse. There is something about beets & black pepper combination. Maybe a history in Rasam.
Tadka of caramelized onion in ghee again.
Since these don't have half&half or flour base, are these really soup ? Or are they Veggie Smoothies, just hot ? Hmm, I wonder now. I guess the soup formula is the same. Add spinach or mustard leaves. Or anything else from the Produce section.
Next I experimented with few other traditional recipes. Ones with flour and/or half&half.
Copycast version of Olive Gardens Chicken Gnoochi Soup
Shopping was tedious coz some of the ingredients were not frequently used ones. This bunch of source materials (Gnoochi, chicken and broth) helped make a batches of nearly 10 servings.
Looks and taste wise it was very similar to Olive Garden version, so all izz well.
Recipe here on a vid by Cooking Panda.
Ciao
