All-season soup

Nothing can quite match the unalloyed joys of a steaming bowl of broth

WHEN winter comes, can soups be far behind? As a matter of fact, we look forward to the onset of chill in the weather so that the steaming bowl of broth can warm us inside out. Others may prefer a cuppa of tea or coffee or even stronger stuff but truth be told, nothing can quite match the unalloyed joys of the soup. Strangely, Indian cuisine doesn’t give the soup its due. There are yakhani and shorba but these are for the aged, infirm and the convalescent. The concept of beginning a multi-course meal with a soup that sets the tone is alien to most of us. Things are changing a bit and when eating out many Indians routinely order cream of tomato, mushroom or sweet corn with or without chicken with desi khana.

We feel this is only an expensive time pass. Chinese dining in this land is hardly any better. Hot and sour, won ton, man chow add to the variety but few make the attempt to integrate these in a well-composed meal. One large bowl is split into two and a meaningless game of mix and match is played among the vegetarian and non-vegetarian diners. There are few takers for thin clear soups consomm`E9s or subtle aromatic Thai. A journey aboard Shatabdi or Rajdhani, where the fare includes the meals, has addicted many of our friends to the watery tomato soup with breadsticks and butter and others have been seduced by ready-to-eat soup sachets.

The problem with these is that like two-minute magic noodles, the taste soon begins to jade the palate. We strongly recommend that our readers make the basic stock at home as far as possible and enrich it with any handy add-ons. Nothing gives you a better opportunity than a ‘homemade’ soup to show off your creativity. Our only advice is to stay loyal to native preferences and not fall into the trap of Western ‘classic’ recipes. As rasam proves, we, in India, like it hot and flavourful! This time, we share with our readers a quick-fix soup that uses an instant stock.

Sadabahar  soup

Ingredients
Potatoes (medium, peeled,

cut in halves) 4-5

Onions (large, peeled, quartered) two

Cabbage (medium, shredded) 1 head

Carrots (scraped and cubed) 2-3

Tofu/paneer/ boiled boneless

chicken 100 gm

Garlic cloves 4-6

Cinnamon stick 1 inch

Peppercorns (coarsely crushed) ˝ tsp

Ginger piece 2 inch

Green chilli one

Oil 2 tbsp

Maggi/other soup cube one

A handful of beans (strung and chopped)

A bay leaf

Salt to taste

Method
Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add bay leaf and cinnamon to it. When these begin to change colour, add the vegetables and stir-fry briskly for about a minute. Then add two cups of hot water, green chilli and ginger, along with crushed pepper and salt. Crumble the soup cube and bring to boil, add paneer/tofu or chicken, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Drop a blob of butter, adjust seasoning and garnish with quartered tomatoes and a sprig of coriander. Slurp!!!





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