Hearty, wholesome soups
By Harkiran Sodhi

TODAY the soups we are giving you are the hearty variety of soups. These soups almost constitute a meal in themselves. Ideally, it is best to keep these soups for family dinners or those meals when you are cold and not too hungry. These soups are perfect when accompanied by some sort of bread, whether it is simple bread, garlic bread or even toasted bread with something on it like cheese, etc.

Hearty soups should not be included in any menu where you are going to have an elaborate menu or for parties where there will be many dishes served. Being such a filling dish a soup like this would be a mistake as it would fill up your guests at the first course leaving them with little or no appetite for the rest of what you have planned for them.

Potato onion soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons or 30 gm butter

2 onions finely chopped (spring onions taste good here if available)

2 medium-sized potatoes peeled and chopped fine

3 cups or 750 ml vegetable stock (plain water can also be used if there is no stock at hand)

1 cup or 250 ml hot milk

Salt and fresh ground white pepper if possible. Otherwise substitute with black pepper croutons

Method:

Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onions in it for a few minutes but do not let them get brown. Add in chopped potatoes and vegetable stock and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook this over a medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes or till the potatoes are fully cooked and tender. Add in hot milk and check the seasoning for taste. Serve this soup hot with croutons.

Croutons

Croutons are tiny pieces of bread that have been fried till they are golden and crisp. These are usually deep fried in oil and are used in many soups to add both flavour as well as body to the soup. These can be plain or flavoured such as garlic-flavoured croutons, or onion flavoured croutons.

For the health conscious and the weight and calorie watchers there is no need to shudder at the mere mention of croutons and deep-fried. Croutons can just as easily be made in the oven and taste as good as the fried ones do. To make croutons in the oven, simply take two slices of bread and remove the crusts. Cut each slice into four or eight pieces and lightly brush each piece of bread with a little oil. Bake these in an oven that is at a moderate temperature till they turn golden in colour and crisp.

Hearty chicken vegetable soup

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized carrots peeled and chopped into small pieces

1 cup of shelled peas

1 medium-sized potato peeled and chopped into small pieces

1/2 a cup of French beans chopped

1/2 a cup of cauliflower florets cut into bits

1/2 a cup of spring onions chopped fine (including the green stem)

2 medium-size pieces of chicken washed and cleaned

2 cups boiled macaroni

6 cups of water

3 tablespoons of butter

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

In a pan put the washed and cleaned chicken pieces with 3 cups of water and a little salt and pepper and boil it till it is well cooked. Cool and shred the chicken pieces off and keep aside. The stock that has been obtained from boiling the chicken is also to be kept aside. In another pan boil the vegetables except the spring onions in the remaining 3 cups of water till they are tender. Strain and keep this stock aside as well. In a pan add in the butter and fry the spring onion in this for a couple of minutes but not letting it brown. Add the boiled vegetables and the shredded chicken to this and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add in all the chicken stock and as much of the vegetable stock that is needed. Add in the boiled macaroni and check the salt and pepper and add more if needed. Serve hot with fresh bread for a fulfilling and nutritious meal.