Sweet Corn Soup

We ate a lot of sweet corn in this season and also corn being one of Anaya’s favorites we used to get it regularly. I tried this soup long back and it turned out delicious and creamy. In the above picture I just drizzled some soya sauce over it but it’s optional. You can also add oregano and chili flakes if you like.

Soups are also my dad’s favorite so I made this when my parents visited me recently and they too relished it. So give it a try and let me know your feedback…

Ingredients –

4 cups boiled sweet corn,

2 onions roughly chopped,

1 big tomato roughly chopped,

1 green chili,

Few spring of coriander leaves,

2 liters of water,

1 tsp ghee/butter,

1 tsp cumin seeds,

2 tsp ginger garlic paste,

Pepper powder,

Salt to taste.

Method –

Combine together onion, tomatoes, green chili, coriander leaves and water in a big vessel and allow it to boil for approx. 10 to 15 minutes.  Strain the stock and keep aside.

In the same cooked onion tomato mixture, put some water and blend it. Strain the juice and mix it with the above stock and keep aside.

Blend the boiled corn to a very smooth puree. Before grinding reserve some corn kernels aside to put in the soup later.

Heat some ghee or butter in a pan and crackle cumin seeds and fry the ginger garlic paste.

Add the corn puree to this and fry for 2 minutes.

Mix in the stock, pepper powder, salt and the corn that is kept aside before grinding.

Allow the soup to boil for a while.

Adjust salt and pepper. Serve hot.

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Sweet Potato Soup With Smoked Chiles

As written by Milo… 

All my journeys to the US so far have been eventful, but my October 2011 to Hadley Massachusetts visit was the most memorable. It was October 2011 and well into Fall, but it felt late autumn. The foliage was stunningly vivid with hues of green to orange to deep maroon. It was during this time that many parts of North-Eastern America including Massachusetts experienced untimely and heavy snow fall. The leaves of most of the trees hadn’t yet withered away, as a result of this snow accumulated over the trees, which caused most of the trees to bow with many of their branches snapping. This caused unprecedented power outages. The area in which I lived was also hit by a resultant power outage (I was lucky to have the power restored within 24 hours, but far flung counties didn’t have power for several days).

 With no power and no telephone lines working I was entirely dependent on my iPod to keep myself engaged. It might have been mid morning when all of a sudden I had Carol’s (my onsite Manager) friends come over to pick me up. They insisted I join them to Carol’s house. Without power where I lived I had no choice. I readily agreed. Apparently Carol’s area although affected by the snow had uninterrupted power.

 It was very kind of Carol to invite friends affected by the untimely snow to her place. With lots of conversations and an American Football match we didn’t realise it was just about time for dinner. The motivation for this post was the soup, which Carol had prepared for all of us for dinnertime.

 The soup had this perfect smoked chilly aroma. While it was frigid cold outdoors the soup kept us warm indoors. I couldn’t resist but ask for the recipe, which Carol gladly shared along with a can of Chipotle Peppers.

 Once I returned back to India Varsha and I prepared it, as told by Carol with minor Indian customization. Here is one more addition to the menu of cookingwithmyspouse, courtesy Carol.

 

Ingredients –

2 tbsp unsalted butter (We used 2 tsp butter),

1 medium onion roughly chopped,

2 garlic cloves (We used 5 cloves),

3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and quartered,

4 cups chicken stock,

1/2 cup honey (We omitted),

1/2 cup heavy cream,

2 tbsp pureed and canned chipotles,

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish –

Crushed tortilla chips

Method –

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and sweat the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until translucent.

Raise the heat to high, add the sweet potatoes ans stock, and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the honey, cream and chipotles.

Using an immersion blender (or regular blender), puree until smooth.

Strain through fine mesh strainer (optional).

Serve warm, sprinkling each serving with a handful of crushed tortilla chips.

Mixed Vegetable and Spinach Soup

Here is another nutritious soup for the kids and even adults with a mix of all vegetables and healthy spinach. Usually kids don’t like the vegetables floating in the soup so pureeing it to a smooth paste becomes easy to feed them. You can omit cheese if your child does not like it. Also, you can add all different types of vegetables to this. Milo is particular about Anaya eating her share of vegetables. To ensure this I made this soup for her and I am going to make it often. At first she did not like the sweet-sour taste of the soup… but once her taste buds got used to the taste she wanted more… To entertain her while she enjoyed the soup I recited the “Soup Story” to her… The story was nothing more than the method to make the soup :-). She seemed to have enjoyed the story and before I could realize she had slurped the entire bowl of soup…  So here is the recipe of Mixed Vegetable and Spinach Soup.

Ingredients-

1 tbsp chopped onion,

1 tbsp chopped tomatoes,

1 tbsp carrot,

1 tbsp chopped French beans,

½ tbsp fresh green peas,

1 tbsp chopped cabbage,

1 tbsp chopped spinach,

1 tsp ghee,

1 small cube of cheese,

A pinch of ground pepper

 Method-

Heat ghee in a pan and lightly toss onion, tomatoes, carrot, French beans, green peas, cabbage and spinach for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add sufficient water and allow the vegetables to cook.

Once cooled, blend it to a smooth paste.

Mix in grated cheese, little salt and pepper and cook till cheese melts. Serve warm.

Mixed Veg Soup

Soups are my dads all time favorite. I often made soups for him when I visited him last.

At my home in Mumbai, we usually have soups for Sunday dinners since nobody wants to eat food after a heavy non vegetarian lunch.

 

Ingredients – 

2 cups of chopped mixed vegetables (I used French beans, carrots, cauliflower, green peas, mushrooms, fresh corn),

½ cup onion slit lengthwise (Use spring onion),

4 tomatoes,

½ cup chopped stalk of spring onions,

¼ cup chopped capsicum,

½ cup dried corn soaked in water for 5 hours,

2 tsp soy sauce,

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste,

2 tsp ghee/butter,

4 cups water,

Pepper powder and salt to taste

 

 Method- 

Grind the soaked corns with sufficient water and extract juice (approx 1.5 cups).

Cook tomatoes in sufficient water and grind it to a smooth puree.

Heat ghee or butter in a deep pan and fry onions and ginger garlic paste for 2 minutes.

Now add chopped mixed vegetables and stir fry for a while.

Mix in the tomato puree and corn extract and water (add more water if you feel it’s thick).

Let it boil till veggies are done.

Now add soya sauce, pepper powder, salt.

Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Lastly all capsicum and spring onion, give it a final boil. Do not overcook the capsicum.

Serve hot.

 

P.S You can use fresh corn of you do not have dry corn in hand.