In a Soup

After a few weeks of non-stop indulgence and gluttony I thought it would be good to start cutting back on all the rich and potentially harmful diet I am so fond of. I had been sifting through a cookbook bought around Christmas after having a version of Lasagna at a friend's place for dinner. She later revealed it was from a book called the complete low-fat cookbook; she is diabetic and this particular lasagna omits the heavy bechamel sauce I don't like, and replaces it with some semolina cooked in milk to coat the top, giving it a structure and texture after the baking. It was after this meal that I took a look at her cookbook and decided it order it on Amazon.

Don't be deterred by the Low-fat bit, I have never come across a low-fat cookbook that features such deliciousness. It has a number of Asian recipes, including Indian that appeals to most palates, they are mild and innovative, uses different kinds of proteins and vegetable, and has an entire section on desserts, yes, you heard right!

So, after the general skim through I zeroed in on this Broccoli-potato-coriander soup because I had the ingredients at home, looked simple enough to make and it had potatoes in it, we know potato makes everything right in the world. Yesterday, after household chores I set out to making this promising soup. We were watching a movie at 19:15 at a theatre close to home so I wanted dinner to be ready when we got back. 

After the cutting, chopping, seasoning I put the lid on of the saucepan and waited for it to cook; in the meanwhile, I got the food processor ready and made myself a beautiful cup of tea, the tea set a Christmas gift from the friend who made the Lasagna.

Once the vegetables were cooked I poured it into the bowl of the processor, put the lid on, pressed the 'on' button and nothing. I unlocked the bowl from the main unit, opened the lid, poured the soup back into the saucepan thinking the blade may not have been correctly placed, so did it again, poured the veggies back in, closed the lid and switched it on again, once again nothing happened, only the light was on so I knew there was nothing wrong with the power source. By this time, I was deeply disturbed, the expensive food processor, a gift from my sister, was only half a year old and I attempted to make the soup because I had the food processor and now it was betraying me. I was emotional and upset. I abandoned the whole thing, switched off the lights in my kitchen and went away to watch the movie... by the way it was Philomena in case you are interested to know.

While walking back home we stopped at a turkish food joint and got ourselves some dinner. Soup was not going to happen.

Once back home I tried to go though forums online to see if there was something that could be done to the food processor, everyone on those forums said to make sure that it was placed correctly, all the parts were locked into their positions and there were 'click' sounds etc. and I couldn't find a fault with my arranging of the bowls, it wasn't the first time I was using it. 

Around 12 a.m. when I was lying in bed trying to sleep a thought came to my mind... was it because I had not closed the feed chute? I hadn't done it because the vegetables were right off the stove, it was piping hot and closing it off would've created pressure so I had decided to leave it open only covering it with a tea towel. Eureka! I knew I had the solution and smiling to myself drifted off to sleep.

Today morning I went into the kitchen and the first thing I did was to go to the food processor, pour the soup stuff into the bowl again, close the lid and close off the feed chute and switch it on, et voila! It worked! 

I took some of the mixture out into a small saucepan and put the rest in the refrigerator, something more had to be done to it before it was ready to be eaten. Oh and was it yummy. I am not a soup person, except chicken hot and sour or sweet corn soups at Chinese joints in India, read Kolkata, but, I absolutely loved this one, it is heavy enough to be had as a meal in itself and one could serve it as an appetizer in smaller portions with some crunchy fried bacon on top for some punch.

Here's the Recipe:

Ingredients:

500 gm broccoli

cooking spray

2 onions, finely chopped

2 tsp.  Ground cumin

1 tsp  ground coriander

750 gm Potatoes, diced

2 chicken stock cubes

1.5 cups skim milk

1.Cut broccoli into small pieces. Spray the base of a large saucepan with cooking oil, the place over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Add 1 Tbsp. water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened and is lightly golden. Add the ground cumin and coriander and cook for 2 minutes.

2.Add the potato and broccoli to pan, stir and add stock cubes, and 4 cups of water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Allow to cool.

3.Blend the soup in batches in a blender until smooth. Return to the pan and stir in milk. Slowly reheat, without boiling. Stir in chopped coriander and season well before serving.

My own twists: I don't have cooking spray so I added a tbsp of olive oil. Added some whole cumin and dried thyme in the hot oil before I put the onions in. I did not have milk at home so I added some natural yogurt at the end. I also like some heat so added some chili flakes and a generous amount of crushed black pepper. The addition of yogurt at the end gave it a lightness and a well rounded flavour.

Dinner tonight is a whole roast chicken, it's the first time I am going to cook one, so be prepared to read about it.