Food Talk
Soup it up

Nothing beats the pleasure of piping hot soup to cut the winter chill. Pushpesh Pant on soup sense

Recipe for chicken/vegetable stock

Ingredients

Chicken bones 1 kg 
Ginger 50 gm
Spring onion 50 gm 
Bay leaf one 
Cinnamon sticks two 
(about one inch each)
Peppercorn one teaspoon 

Method

Boil the bones with all ingredients in almost two litres of water under pressure for about 25 minutes. Skim the froth and pass through a sieve or thin muslin cloth. 
If vegetable stock is being prepared, replace the chicken bones with equal weight of mixed vegetables like potatoes (peeled and cut into big pieces), carrots, cabbage, peas, and cauliflower. Alternatively, lentils may be used, mashed well pass through the sieve or a soup press and then dilute it with boiling water as per taste. Then a soup Indian, Chinese and Thai or even Continental can be prepared with very little trouble adding boneless chicken pieces, corn kernels, chunks of vegetables and sprinkling a dash of the preferred souse - fish, oyster or chilly. Slice mushrooms or blanched spinach and slivers of almonds on top can enliven any soup evening. 

There are many whose passage through this planet is completed in the belief that a soup is a diet fit enough only for the convalescent or those with a weak stomach. They know not what they miss. A soup is a many-splendoured thing. It can be enjoyed piping hot in the winters and refreshingly chilled in the summer (Gazpacho is a wonderful example). One can flirt adventurously without any risk with the exotic while sipping small spoonfuls of Tom Yam and decide leisurely whether the kaffir lime or the lemon grass suit one's mood of the moment.

Whenever we dine out we begin the meal by ordering a soup - more often than not without thinking about it. It is customary, and provides a convenient interval to settle down before the starters or the main course appears. At the most an 'effort is made' to choose between the vegetarian and non-vegetarian soups.

The choice on most menus is restricted to cream of tomato or cream of chicken or chicken sweet corn. If it is a Chinese evening out then the range extends a little, one may encounter sweet and sour in vegetarian or non-vegetarian incarnations, wanton or talumein. Most Indians by sheer habit continue to order even the Chinese soups before the meal while the great Chinese themselves treat their soups like the good old Russian borshch as a substantial one dish meal.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to come across a purist who is not inhibited about declaring his preference for clear consomm`E9, unadulterated by thickeners or other flavoured additives.

Shoraba in the Indian culinary tradition is certainly not part of a regular or formal meal. Interestingly, the soup does find mention in ancient Indian texts. A Sanskrit verse refers to it thus - Bhoojanam dehi rajendra, ghrit soop samanvitam - O king give me a meal with soup enriched with ghee. And who can forget the divine Rasam redolent with pepper and curry leaves, just a hint of hing, soured with tamarind and tempered with mustard, fenugreek and chilies that can knock down any gentler soup any other time? During the Raj, the meeting of the East and the West gave birth to the unique Mulligatawny soup. The name derives from pepper water in Tamil. It continues to enjoy great popularity till date. To meet the requirements of shuddha shakahari, lentil soups were created and given the impressive name of daal shoraba.

What is important to remember is that the Indian soup like the Chinese and the Thai soup and unlike the soup in the Continental repertoire is not a preliminary, an appetiser or just the first course. It is an independent delicacy. It is a pity that most of us have forgotten in this era of instantly prepared soup cubes and sachets. How heavenly a homemade soup can be. The trick to master the art of patiently preparing a stock - vegetarian or non-vegetarian and then using it in a variety of ways to dazzle the guests. A soup with a coup of dry toast or a phulka makes an excellent light meal and like a salad you can play around endlessly with ingredients, colours and aromas. Just get hold of a few nice soup bowls and a tureen and see how you can mesmerise everyone around with your tabletop wizardry. We can assure you no one will ever complain of being in soup with you.

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