Corn Soup

In continuation of the healthy soups, here's one that is a big hit with the kids, and adults and grandparents! And no one believes anything this delicious could be low fat and healthy. Go ahead and try this.

 

Corn Soup

2 corn on the cob, or about 1 1/2 cups of corn, cooked with a little salt.
1 cup Water
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
1 tsp Butter. (yes, only one one tsp)

Cook the corn with a little bit of salt and remove the corn from the ears. Or, if using prepacked cooked corn, forget the above step. D-uh.

Put the corn in a blender with the water and blend well. Strain through a very fine strainer. Take the remaining bits of corn which haven't blended and return to the blender with a little water and blend again. Again pass through the strainer.

Add the strained corn to a saucepan on low-medium heat. Add a little salt, pepper and the butter. Heat through but do not allow to come to a boil.

Serve hot or warm.

Other soups on this blog: Carrot Soup, Mulligatawny Soup and Mushroom Soup.

Carrot Soup

One of the many things I've done with my kids that I'm proud of is making them love soup! Every day they have a different kind of soup, and they have to have a bowl of vegetable soup before eating dinner. I blitz all my soups because my kids don't like chunky soups, but do go ahead and make it to the consistency that you desire. The other thing which I like about my soups is that they are very low calorie and low fat. Thankfully.

Carrot Soup

3 Carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small Potato, peeled and chopped
1 tsp Butter
1 tsp Sugar
Cilantro Leaves, for garnish (optional)
Pepper and Salt, to taste


Melt the butter in a pan on medium heat. Add the potatoes and carrots and stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add water (enough to submerge the veggies), cover and cook until veggies are very soft and mushy, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the stove and allow to cool in the pan. Put the soup (the veggies and the water) in a blender and blend until smooth. It should be neither too thin nor too thick. Adjust water accordingly.

Put the soup back on the stove and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Mulligatawny Soup

Mulligatawny in Tamil means Pepper Water (Milagu + Thanni). When the British came to rule India, they enjoyed the local rasam very much and decided to tweak it a bit to make it suit their palettes, as well as trying to make it an appetizer or entree on its own. The version you see on restaurant menus these days is an anglicized version of rasam or pepper water.

We enjoy it on cool nights when you need just a bowl of hot soup and some bread. Be warned that this is a heavy soup and a bowl can be had as a complete meal.


Mulligatawny Soup

1 tsp Peppercorn
1 Onion, sliced
250 g Moong Dal (split yellow lentils)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 Bay Leaves
2-3 Curry Leaves
1 Apple, skinned and chopped
1/4 cup shredded Coconut
1 Carrot, chopped
1 clove Garlic
small pinch Garam Masala
Salt, to taste (about 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp Oil

In a heavy saucepan, cook the lentils with 2-3 cups of water.

In a skillet, saute the onions, carrots, bay leaf, peppercorn, apple, curry leaves and coconut together. Once the carrots are cooked through, add the sauteed ingredients to the cooking lentils. Add the garam masala, turmeric and salt and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes or until lentils are completely cooked.

Remove from heat. Hunt for and fish out the bay leaf and curry leaves (you don't want those blended in - they make the soup bitter). Put the soup in the blender for a few minutes and strain.

Garnish with lemon juice, chopped fresh cilantro and/or cooked rice.

This is for Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen for October's No Croutons Required featuring Vegetarian Soups.

Soup and Toast

If you haven't heard of the Taste and Create event, I can only introduce it as one of the most fun events in the blogosphere. Started by Nicole of For the Love of Food, it pairs random bloggers together and you get to make something from the other person's blog. It opens up your horizons, introducing you to some special blogs and amazing recipes.

This month I was paired with Mable Tan of Happee Monkee. She does some fantastic baking and lovely photographs. Her writing is light and interesting, and one can lose track of time reading up on her varied posts.

Lately, I've been trying to discover different kinds of soup, and so I had to try her Mushroom Soup with Pesto Toast. And I'm glad I did, because it was fabulous. I'm eating it right now and couldn't wait to write about it! Slurp!


Mushroom Soup
(check here for the recipe - I made a couple of small changes)

1 cup Mushrooms, sliced (I used button)
2 cups Water
2-3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Onion, sliced
1-2 tbsp Butter

Saute the garlic and onions in the butter until soft. Add the mushrooms and allow to soften. Add the water and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Process in batches in a blender until combined. Return to heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Pesto Toast

She makes a lovely spinach and basil pesto. I used spinach, pine nuts and parmesan. Spread the pesto on toast and sprinkle with parmesan. I let it melt in a toaster oven for about 5 minutes.


The soup was so great. I know I'm going to make it very often - my daughter loved it too. And the toast was a perfect accompaniment. We are enjoying our lovely lunch. Thanks!