Are you a Soup lover? I am. I am also a big advocate of love for soup. That's perhaps the biggest inspiration for this blog. Being a strict vegetarian from India, my recipe is restricted to Indian vegetarian cuisine only, but many principles are common and applicable for all kinds of soups.
Who is this blog for?: While anyone having a passion for soup or reading is most welcome aboard. If you are hunting for a recipe, say "how to cook a particular type of soup, then this site is not for you right now, you may find the info in may other useful sites. To help you find what you are perhaps looking - please click. https://google.com/search?q=how+to+cook+a+soup%3F+soup+recipes&rlz=1C1PRFI_enIN875IN875&oq=how+to+cook+a+soup%3F+soup+recipes&aqs=chrome.69i57.24782j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
If you are fond of cooking and consider cooking an art or science and believe in constant learning and practicing. you are in the right company, thanks for your visit and please read on.
Purpose decide the Type: You often look at soup as an appetizer before a square meal or as a meal by itself, or as a quick light healthy snack to quench the untimely hunger pangs. Whatever be the reason or need, there is always a soup that you will heartily devour and that makes you sincerely thankful to your soup provider. Thus, the types of soups get defined by the purpose for which they are sought. Thus an appetizer soup is usually a clear soup, while the snack or meal option of soups are thick soups with a consistency ranging from a creamy syrup to a thick porridge-like broth.
In this blog, I am going to share some simple yet very effective soup-making tips. I am purposely avoiding elaborating recipes for popular and oft-addressed varieties like tomato soup, sweetcorn soup, etc. I will rather concentrate on ideas to make soup-making an easy and enjoyable job for you and in turn trying to complement your overall soup-making skills. I will also share some quick-fix ideas to make both clear soups and thick broth soups very easily as needed.
First, Clear soups. These are always an extract or decoction or stock of some desirable smelling vegetable or aromatic herbs or healthy vegetables and fruits. The main purpose of consuming this soup could be to work up a healthy appetite before a meal; this can also be taken as digestion-promoting post-meal wash-down. Or simply for gaining the health benefit or therapeutic advantage could be the purpose. Be it what it may, Clear appetizing soups should be necessarily low on salt, low on fat and low on starch(carbohydrate).
Very popular spicy ingredients that make great soups include black pepper, cumin seeds, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, onion, etc. These lend their essence and characteristic flavor to the soup making it appealing to the palate. Mint leaves and coriander leaves can be added to all soups as a general rule.
Black pepper and cumin seeds are best used in crushed form. They can be dry roasted and crushed or pounded using a hand pestle-mortar to fine powder or blended in a dry grinder. A more effective way is to soak 7-10 black peppercorn in water for 10-15 minutes and then grinding them to paste consistency in a handheld pestle and mortar or a blender/ mixer grinder. While dry roasting effectively brings out the flavor, wet pounding ensures the authentic taste is retained and well brought out.
Cumin seeds can also be soaked and ground along with black pepper as is commonly done in south Indian cuisine. However, dry roasting the cumin seeds bring out a very characteristic strong flavor, popular with the North Indian Cuisine. Thus, if wet grinding/ blending is to be adopted, use the cumin seed paste as such; if pepper and cumin seeds are to be dry roasted and ground, use it as a final garnish like a chat masala.
To make the wet blending process user-friendly, try soaking a teaspoon or two of rice along with cumin seeds and black pepper; add to this some 5-10 garlic cloves and some ginger. you can also include a few well-washed curry leaves and/or mint leaves and/or coriander leaves to the mixture to be ground into a paste. If you prefer you may also add one or two medium-sized green chillies. Where coconuts are easily available, some finely scrapped coconut will lend a rich flavor and texture to the broth, Adding coconut will also help to gain the needed consistency during blending for ease of handling and scoop out.
But remember, the above paste is to only lend your soup the needed spicy punch. Hence discretion is suggested in the quantity of the spicy paste you prepare. The above paste added to plain water itself can make a perfect clear soup that you want. But variations are always welcome. For eg. stock of cooked vegetables, greens, dhal is often used instead of plain water to make the clear soup. Each will lend its characteristic flavor, taste and color.
Finely chopped onion, mushroom, carrot, pole beans, capsicum, cabbage are popular choices of ingredients to punctuate the soup. Care to be exercised such that all the vegetables are chopped really very fine so that it cooks quite easily and poses no discomfort to eating the soup with a standard soup-spoon. It is preferable not to over-cook the vegetables. Otherwise, they will lose their nutrients, aroma and beneficial qualities and also will lose their basic crunchiness. Especially, capsicum and mushroom should only be partially cooked or best added separately after a quick blanching in hot boiling water.
Thick soups. often thick soups are desired to quench the hunger when it is not mealtime. But how to make thick soups whenever needed? Let's see a few quick-fix ideas. First, let's understand what makes a soup thick or what makes it a filling one. When clear soups are further enriched with additional starch/ carbohydrate or protein it makes the soup thick and also more satiating. Primarily most vegetarian option of thick soups is rich in carbohydrates.
Here are a few quick ways to enrich the starch content. take a few slices of bread and soak them in water. mash it up to a paste-like consistency; mix this in more water or the clear soup broth and mix it to a boil while constantly stirring. As the soup thickens, add the seasoning and garnish.
If bread is not available, you may cook a few medium-sized potatoes in boiling water till it softens adequately and skin is peeled off easily. Mash the boiled potatoes to a smooth paste-like consistency and dissolve it in water or the clear soup that needs to be thickened. Care to be taken to mash the potatoes evenly such that no lumps are left and constant stirring ensuring no overheating happens at the pan bottom.
Alternately, cornflour can be dissolved in water till no lumps are left and brought to a boil with constant and vigorous stirring. This will work up a gelatinous consistency to the broth. To this, the ground paste of spicy mix can be added and diluted as needed while bringing it to a quick boil once more to homogenize.
A small helping of crystal sugar or jaggery if added while the soup is brought to a boil will further enhance the taste. In all these the level of salt needs to be carefully maintained. It will be a good formula to limit the salt level to well below 50-60% of the normal preferable salt level for the quantity of soup in question. The best option is to let each of the individuals tasting the soup to add salt as per their own needs.
Creme soups, garnishing. Soups served in restaurants use a liberal dose of cream or milk to make the soup appear pseudo-rich or less spicy. I personally do not advocate this as the addition of cream or milk really blunts the aroma and flattens the soup taste. But individual tastes are so very different and varied. Should you need to add the cream, whip up the cream and add to a small portion of fully cooked soup first which could be then mixed with the rest of the quantity. Remember to add the cream only after the soup is removed from the stove. Adding the cream or milk when the broth is boiling or too hot can cause the milk/cream to break and separate into de-emulsified lumps of curdled milk protein - spoiling the overall texture of the soup. Slow and gradual addition is the trick. Do remember the calorie content of the rich soups or thick soups and cream soups can add up to substantial levels. If someone is dieting, they better stick to clear soups.
Final garnish by seasoning/ tempering - called Tadka in Hindi and "Thaalippu in Tamil - spices like mustard seeds, cumin seeds, onion, garlic etc are stir-fried in ghee or oil and added to the broth in sizzling hot condition - this helps to enhance the overall aroma of the preparation and also serves as an olfactory invitation. Few drops of ghee or a small scoop of butter/ cream added to the soup bowl further peppers up the visual appeal and perception of the taste. Likewise, a single leaf fresh green mint or coriander floated on the soup bowl will win much appreciation.
P.S.: Ok, I wish you have a great soup experience. Do try these ideas at your kitchen and do take a few minutes to let me know your experience, views and /or feedback. Thank you.
