Spicy Tomato Soup

Oh this is a favourite soup of mine and one that I cook happily. In the years gone by every time I asked my husband if he wanted to have tomato soup and vegetable pulao, he always said no. I was not too much into cooking then either but now I have the time and am learning to cook things I like. I decided to make it without asking his opinion and I am so glad I did. He actually enjoyed it and is happy to eat this dish. I find it so satisfying to have hot spicy soup especially when I am feeling cold or having flu. This to me is the veggie equivalent of the chicken soup for all cold and flu.

·        Ingredients

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (liquidise it to make a smooth juice)

500 mls of water

1 medium onion finely chopped

2 green chillies finely chopped

1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped

3 – 4 cloves of garlic also finely chopped

1 small potato finely grated

A teaspoon of cumin

3 cloves

A small piece of cinnamon

A small dry red chilli

1 tablespoon of olive oil

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 tablespoon of sugar

Salt to taste

A couple of table spoons of finely chopped fresh coriander and a small cube of unsalted butter or makkhan (homemade butter) to garnish.

·        Preparation

Heat a pan and put the olive oil, cumin in it. When the cumin starts to brown add the cloves, cinnamon and dried red chilli in it. Once they heat up add the onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger in the pan. Cook till the onions start to turn brown. Then add the liquidised tomato to the pan as well as the water. At the same time put the grated potato, salt, dried red chilli powder, basil and sugar. Bring it to the boil and then simmer on medium heat until the grated potato cooks down to thicken the soup. You can add the coriander and butter once the soup is done or you can use it to garnish individual bowls of soup. You should be able to get two big bowls of soup from this recipe.

While you can put a couple of fresh basil leaves on top as well but I would not use pesto for this purpose. Having tried it I can tell you it does not work. Also you can increase of decrease any of the spices according to your taste. You can actually make a large amount and keep in the fridge to have it over a few days. I have kept this for a week in the fridge. Enjoy!