This past Sunday, we were eating dinner when Indira said, “can you tell me how you made this soup because I’d like to make it when I am a big girl”.
Well that is what this blog is supposed to be for, I thought so here’s the recipe for this soup, which actually looks quite pretty sitting in it’s bowl since it is a gorgeous red-orange color.
Ingredients: (to serve 4)
1 red bell pepper
3-4 medium sized carrots, or 2 small sweet potatoes, or a about 200 gms of pumpkin
2 small (or 1 large) leeks
2 pods of garlic
3 large tomatoes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Discard the hard part of the leeks, and chop the rest, after washing it carefully. Chop the garlic too.
In a large casserole/pressure-cooker, warm the oil and then add the leeks and garlic. Sweat these down gently, making sure not to let them brown or burn.
Next, add the red pepper and sweet potato or carrots (all chopped in to fairly small pieces) to the leeks and garlic mixture, and cook together for 10-12 minutes, turning frequently, till the vegetables start to really glisten and look soft. Then add the tomatoes (chopped), salt, and cook till the tomatoes start to break down.
Now add about half a liter of water, and then pressure-cook the vegetables so that they cook down thoroughly.
Blend the vegetables after waiting for them to cool down a bit, and then strain the mixture through a sieve to discard the seeds/skin etc.
Voila, le soup !
You could add a little bit of milk to the soup before serving it, to give it a nice creamy taste.
Do add some black pepper too; this aids with digestion (this is one of my mom’s fundas; may or may not be true but I play safe and grind some in to each bowl).
This is a real hearty filler; all you need to make it a complete meal is a loaf of some wholesome bread, and scrambled eggs or grilled fish on the side if you like. Our preferred accompaniment is a loaf of corn bread; I will post that recipe as well, one of these days, should Indira want to make her own bread too !!
An Indian Kitchen in France 