Bowl of Comfort: Try these five delicious soup recipes at home this monsoon

Soups are appetising, easy to make, and add the perfect amount of warmth and comfort to your meals. Gather these ingredients and whip up a delightful bowl

Love it or hate it, Mumbai’s monsoon is one of the most talked about topics in the country. While the season is mostly synonymous with chai and pakodas, a hot bowl of soup can also give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. Soups are appetising, easy to make, and add the perfect amount of warmth and comfort to your meals. 

“Soup is the cuisine’s kindest course,” renowned English novelist Virginia Woolf had once said. In the midst of a pandemic, we need kindness in abundance. So, gather these ingredients and try out delicious soup recipes provided by five Mumbai-based chefs. 

Farmer’s style potato, leek and corn chowder with skin chips and crème fraiche
by chef Rollin Lasrado, Smoke House Deli

Photo Courtesy: Smoke House Deli

Ingredients

Potato, peeled, cut in dices. Keep the skins aside in ice cold water for the chips 500 g

Sweet corn 250 g

Leeks    200 g

Onion, chopped 200 g

Celery, peeled and chopped 50 g

Carrot, peeled and chopped 50 g

Garlic cloves, chopped fine 2

Salt and fresh crushed black pepper, to taste 

Stock – veg or chicken whichever you like. Keep hot 1.5 ltr

Olive oil 30 ml

Crème fraiche or sour cream 100 g

Oil to deep fry the chips

Method

•    Remove the roots, leaves and outer layer of the leeks. Cut in half lengthwise and then slice the leeks into half-moon slices, around ½” thick. Immerse in cold water to clean and drain.

•    Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed stockpot on medium high heat. Sauté the leeks first. Then add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Gently stir and cook slightly covered for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and not caramelised.

•    Add the potatoes and gently sauté. Add the hot stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover it partially and reduce the flame. Simmer till the potatoes are completely cooked. Season as desired. Remember – A soup boiled is a soup spoiled! Old jungle saying.

•    Drain the potato skins and wipe off any excess water. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or pan to 160 degrees Celsius. Test the oil with a wooden satay stick or small piece of bread. If it bubbles vigorously, it is ready. Keep a plate or bowl lined with kitchen paper to drain the fries. Place the potato skins in the oil and fry till golden brown and crisp. Drain from the oil and toss with some salt. This ensures that the salt will stick and melt onto the chips. If seasoned when cold, the salt will just fall off. Alternately, you could place them on a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, season and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 – 20 mins till crispy!

•    When the soup is almost ready, add the sweet corn in it and cook for a further 10 minutes, till the corn is tender. Use an immersion blender to pulverize to a coarse puree. 

•    Serve hot with a dollop of crème fraiche and crispy potato chips. 

•    Leave some of the skins on the potatoes when making the soup for added fibre. You could add shredded spinach or kale to the soup to make it even healthier.

Oven roasted tomato soup with olives, basil and parmesan
by chef Malcolm Pereira, The Sassy Spoon

Photo courtesy: The Sassy Spoon

Ingredients:

Tomatoes 4 nos

Onion     1 medium

Garlic cloves 2-3 cloves

Celery 1 stalk

Black olives (pitted) 8-10 nos

Olive oil 2 tbsp

Basil few sprigs

Tomato puree 1 tbsp (optional)

Red wine vinegar 1 tbsp

Parmesan cheese 3 tbsp

Vegetable stock 3 cups

Sugar    to taste

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Method:

•    Take nice ripe tomatoes and wash them well, cut it into quarters.

•    Peel onion, garlic and cut roughly, wash celery and cut into pieces.

•    In a roasting tray mix tomatoes, onion, garlic, olives, celery, basil stems and olive oil.

•    Spread it evenly and roast it in a preheated oven at 160 C for 15 minutes. Toss it to get even colour and roast for another 15 minutes.

•    Once done remove it from the oven and cool the mixture. Blend this mixture in batches along with parmesan cheese and basil leaves.

•    Pass it through a sieve to get a smooth puree.

•    Now take a saucepan and heat a little olive oil and sauté the tomato paste, now add the vegetable stock and blended tomato mixture. Bring it to a boil, add red wine vinegar and check for seasoning. 

•    Serve in a soup bowl, garnish with olive oil and grated parmesan cheese.

Lebanon Lentil
by chef Ajay Thakur, Bayroute

Photo courtesy: Bayroute

Ingredients:

Red masoor dal 60g

Chopped onion 10g

Chopped celery 5g

Chopped garlic 5g

Chopped carrot 10g

Ghee 20g

Bay leaf 3g

Water 200ml

Salt to taste

Dukkah spice 12g

Cumin Powder 4g

Vegetable stock 50ml

Method:

•    Soak the dal for 20 minutes in warm water.

•    In a sauce pan add half the ghee and bay leaf and let it crackle.

•    Sauté all the chopped vegetables till translucent.

•    Add in the strained dal and sauté for a couple of minutes. 

•    Add in the water and bring to a boil continuously stirring. 

•    Cover and simmer for 20 min or till the dal has completely dissolved in the water.

•    Remove the bay leaf, cool the mixture and then blend till a smooth thick mixture is formed.

•    In a pan add in the mixture add in vegetable stock, salt and cumin powder. Finish the soup with the remaining ghee. 

•    To garnish sprinkle the dukkah spice and serve hot

Cooking tip: If dukkah is not available in the kitchen one old replace with any spice like zaatar or sumac or even garam masala.  

Cheesy Broccoli Soup
by chef Sarvesh N. Karandikar, CocoCafe

Photo Courtesy: CocoCafe

Ingredients:

Onion (diced) 150 g

Large carrots 2

Stalks of celery 2

Garlic cloves 2

Broccoli florets 340 g

Salted butter 2 tbsp

Salt 1/4 tsp

Dijon mustard 1 tsp

All-purpose flour 35 g

Chicken broth 60 ml

Whole milk- 470 ml

Shredded cheddar 230 g

For garnish fresh parsley chopped

Black pepper 1/2 tsp

Almonds slivered 100 g

Sprig rosemary 2

Smoked paprika 1/2 tsp

Method:

•    Finely chop onion, carrots and celery, separately mince garlic, chop broccoli into 1/2 inch florets, and finely chop any broccoli stems (use only tender bits). Set garlic and broccoli aside.

•    Melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and salt. Sauté until vegetables are softened, about 6-7 minutes.

•    Add minced garlic and mustard to the pot and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Sprinkle sieved flour over vegetables and stir to evenly coat.

•    Stream broth and milk into the pot, stirring constantly to dissolve the flour. Season soup with salt and pepper. Then add broccoli.

•    Brink soup to a low boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer. Stir occasionally, until broccoli is just tender, about 10-15 mins.

•    Turn off the heat, but leave the soup pot on the burner. Add half of the cheese to the soup in 2 additions, stirring after each addition, until completely melted.

•    Add slivered almonds to a frying pan, heat over a high flame and fry for a minute. Add 2 tsp oil, salt and chopped rosemary then fry until crisp. Remove from heat and sprinkle in paprika, toss together.

•    Chop parsley. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with rosemary almonds and parsley. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to the soup if required.

Roasted butternut squash soup with barley
by sous chef Shrikant Jogdankar, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar

Photo courtesy: JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar

Ingredients:

Butternut squash 120 g

Garlic 5 g

Onion 10 g

Thyme 1 spring

Rosemary 1 spring

Salt 10 g

White pepper 5 g

Olive oil 5 ml

Butter 10 g

Full fat cream 10 ml

Pearl barley 10 g

Method:

•    Marinate medium cut butternut squash with salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary and garlic and roast it at 180 degree for 15 mins.

•    Sautee chopped garlic and onion with olive oil and add the roasted pumpkin to it.

•    Add double the quantity of vegetable stock and bring it to boil.

•    Blend the mixture and check for seasoning.

•    Cook the barley separately with some thyme in and add to the soup.

•    Add the block of butter and cream to the soup and serve hot.

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