Tomato Soup and a new addition in Chefling's World

Tomato Soup and a new addition in Chefling’s World

February 4, 2015

I have been absent from Chefling’s world for quiet a while now . The reason was the addition of Baby Z in my world. Motherhood turned all my prior priorities upside down- including and not limited to shifting to a part time work schedule, starting freelancing, and living a stay-at-home mom routine. My focus in life changed altogether, I spent time online looking for baby schedules, teething issues and much more. As to my passion for cooking -it was more focused towards making pureed food. I made a variety of baby food- pureed peas with chicken stock, pureed carrots with rice, boiled kadu! (you can ask for those recipes too!)

To my luck – Baby Z soon wanted to have what we were eating-yes the magical ‘Table food’. I think his taste buds just didn’t approve of my healthy, nutrition conscious recipes. To be honest that food was pretty bland and boring! His Dadi came to rescue and Baby Z was more than happy eating Kashmiri cuisine and whatever was brought to the table every day. Probably the few things that he enjoyed cooked by me are Banana bread, tomato sauce based pasta and the latest addition in soup category-the tomato soup. It was a joy seeing him dip toasted bread in tomato soup and munching it away (he is 15 months old now and wants to do everything himself!). The joy of seeing your child enjoy what you cook is what made me return to my cooking passion and sharing it.

This is one of the most famous recipes for Tomatoe soup. (Jamie Oliver being my go-to person for authentic recipes!) I added some tips from how my mom makes yummy Tomato soup in winters.

Recipe: Tomato Soup

Ingredients

6-7 Ripe Red Tomatoes
2 medium sized carrots
1 onion -chopped finely
2 tbsp Tomato Paste (optional- if not using the paste add more fresh tomatoes)
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 Garlic -chopped finely
1.5 litre Chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1/2 tsp Oregano
7-8 Basil Leaves (torn in pieces)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tbsp Cream/ butter for added richness

On the side:

Brown Bread
Butter
Minced Garlic

Instructions

In a deep pan add olive oil and heat it to medium level.
Add garlic, carrots and onions. Cook till carrots are soft and onions are light brown in color. (about 10 minutes)
Now add the chicken stock. You can use the stock cubes as well. (Boil water separately and add stock cubes till they are mix well)
Add tomatoes and the tomato paste.
Let it simmer for half an hour.
Then add the basil leaves and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Now with a hand blender or food processor- blend all the above ingredients into a smooth puree.
Add cream or butter in the puree and cook for 5 more minutes.
Your soup is ready to be served.On the side: You have to serve tomato soup with bread. For this you can use normal brown bread, coat it with butter and apply bit of garlic on one side. You can either toast it in a toaster or grill it in oven till the bread is crispy. You can also make croutons by toasting bread and cutting it in small pieces.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 4