Mar 22, 2010

Vegetable Soup - Made with 10 kinds of veggies!!

My friend Sandhya had this request on the blog's facebook page - "hey need help... i need to make vegetable soup with no veggies visible. if i grind the veggies it tastes yuck what do i do?"

I promised her I'll make it soon and blog about it. So, here it is Sandy - hope this helps. Do try it and I hope little Sanjay will like his soup!

Before I go on to the recipe, I just wanted to quickly bring up something. I watched this program  - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on TV last night and I'm totally stumped by what I saw. The program talks about eating habits in America - and the focus is on Huntington, West Virginia. This town is the most unhealthiest town in America - and when you watch it, you know why. Kids in school are fed pizza for breakfast! Yeah..You heard it right. Pizza for breakfast and mashed potatoes made out of completely processed potato pearls! There is no fresh food served at school and they pride themselves in having a system that works and follows regulations!

I think every parent with kids in American schools should watch this program and make sure they talk to their school cafeterias about what is served. I also think that you should watch this with your kids so they understand what's good and what's bad. Kids are our future and we better teach them to respect their own bodies. Please check this link for the video - http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution you might be able to view the video for a week or so. Catch the series on ABC if possible. Go Jamie Oliver for starting this wonderful revolution!

Now, moving on to the recipe. This is a simple and wonderful soup with 10 different kinds of veggies.  You could add more veggies if you like too. The more the better!

Here I have all of my veggies. Clockwise starting from bottom left - Tomato, Green Beans, Fresh Spinach, Carrots, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Green Bell Pepper, Onions and Beetroots and Green Peas in the center.

Chop all the veggies roughly. Cut a couple of small beetroots and wash multiple times in water - this helps dilute some of the color. Do not add too much beetroot or the soup will be purple. If you're in the US, using canned stewed tomatoes will give a wonderful color to the soup - but this is not available everywhere in India. So, I wanted to just go with the fresh tomatoes. But, fresh tomatoes with so many other veggies will not give a good red color - hence the beets to add in some color to the soup. And if the soup is red, its easier to pass it on as tomato soup to the kids! They don't have to know about the other 9 veggies!


In a pressure cooker, add about 1 tbsp of oil. When the oil it hot, add 1 tsp of Jeera and about 10-12 whole black pepper. This adds flavor and some spice to the soup. You can skip this and instead add pepper powder on top while serving if you prefer that.


Next, add some chopped ginger and about 2-3 green chillies. Fry everything for a min. You could also add chopped garlic for added flavor.


Next, add the chopped onions and fry for a min. When they become translucent, add the bell peppers and fry for another min.

Next, add the chopped cabbage and stir well quickly. The cabbage leaves will start losing its moisture and reduce in volume.


When you see the cabbage leaves wilting, throw in the fresh spinach and fry a little bit until that blends in. 


Then, add the rest of the chopped veggies.


Now is the time to add spices. There are only 3 seasoning I added here - Salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. How simple is that? You do not need any extra masala - just keep it simple. The veggies have so much flavor in them, that is more than sufficient. Add the salt and red chilli powder as per your taste. As for the turmeric, add about 1 tsp. This turmeric also helps in the color and mixes in with the purple of the beets and controls the soup from becoming purpilicious! And the wonderful benefits of turmeric are an added bonus!


Mix all the veggies and spices together well. Make sure that all veggies get a good coating of the spices.


Now, add about 4-5 cups of water to this. You could add vegetable broth - but really, you're making it in the process - so water should just be fine.


Make sure that all the veggies are completely covered and you have maybe a half an inch extra water on top.


Pressure cook the veggies for about 4-5 whistles.


Once the steam settles, open the cooker - voila - look at that beautiful color - can you see the red in here now?


When the soup has cooled down a bit, move it to a blender and blend until really smooth.


Look at that color now - pour the blended soup back to the pan and set the stove to simmer. Let this boil for a few mins. Check the salt and add more if needed. Also, check the consistency - if its too thick, add some water to thin it down. If its too thin - well..just drink it like that!


Add 1 tbsp of butter to the soup to add a little bit of richness and a whole lot of flavor to the soup. This will also help cut down the spice of the black peppers - especially for kids.


Be proud of yourselves for making such a healthy and wonderful soup for your family. Now, I like chunky vegetable soup - so I just poured myself a bowl before blending the soup. I love the bite I get in every spoonful of soup. So, if you like chunky soup too - forget the whole blending workout and just soup it up like that!



And for all those people in your house who don't want spinach getting in between their teeth or having to bite down a piece of black pepper - serve them this wonderful smooth 10 vegetable soup!


And what's a great soup like this worth without a great side kick! Just like every successful man had a successful side kick with him (think Goundamani and Sendhil) this soup has my wonderful panini sandwich to go to town with!

To make the panini sandwich, I just used whole wheat bread. Cut off the sides. Add a few leaves of fresh spinach on either side. Add a couple of slices of tomatoes and then a few small pieces of onions. Top off with just a little bit of shredded mozzarella cheese (Ricotta works great too).


Fold the slices together and grill in a panini maker or a sandwich maker.


Serve hot soup with a side of grilled paninis!






Enjoy. Peace Out!



32 comments:

  1. Awesomeness! This couldn't get any healthier! Lovely soup Anu :)
    We usually have soup nights at least 2-3 times a week and Im positive we'll love this one. Will make it soon...bookmarked!

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  2. WOW!!!!!
    Healthy soup with panini's look delicious:-)
    Thx for sharing....

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  3. Woooow,,,soup loooks creamy n rich with panini,,good for the health,thanks for sharing the healthy soup,,take care n keep smiling..

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  4. Dear Mriganayani,

    Please do collect you gift from my blog.

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  5. ive got to try this! altho my almost-3 is not likely to give it a shot :( he doesnt trust me with anything liquid, probably suspects ill mix his medicine in or something. so no juice, no soup, no nothing. the only liquid (other than H2O and milk) he has is coconut water and even that straight out of a coconut chopped right under his nose! ill make a nice thick pasty soup, that doesn't qualify as liquid ;-)

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  6. wow!!! the soup looks 'super' delicious, and mouth watering!! i must try it out...

    b,t,w... isn't mozarella cheeze a non-veg product? is it fit for veggies?

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  7. Healthy soup. Appreciate ur patience for the illustrative clicks. Loved ur colorful soup.

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  8. Healthy and yummy soup, love your step by step method, beautiful clicks too...

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  9. looks delicious. I too make all veggie soup the same way, when I am too much bored. The sandwich looks great.

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  10. I will be right there...if something is left out..who would resist such healthy & lovely soup...gr8 with panini's...ahhhh

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  11. It is undoubtedly a healthy soup and the color makes it more attractive for kids.

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  12. Hahahaha...ROFL! I cannot stop laughing at Nag's comment! =))

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  13. Thank you everyone for your kind comments!

    @Cookcurrynook - we do have soup nights too - but once a week. I get bullied if I make it more often! LOL

    @Aruna - Thank You!

    @ Sathya - Thank You!

    @ Arundhati - LOL..your son is smart! Good luck sneaking in stuff into his food!

    @Kumar. Thank You. I googled about cheese being vegetarian. The issue is that some manufacturers use rennet as an enzyme to process the cheese. But, there are vegetarian enzymes used by many manufacturers now. I have not been looking specfically for that and have been eating cheese - so what can I say! I'll start looking out for it. If your cheese pack says - Suitable for vegetarians, or vegetable enzyme used - I think that should work. Thank you bringing it up and teaching me something I did'nt know.

    @ Nags - Honey, I'm ready if you'll cook half the time too! LOL! You crack me up so much - I laughed so loud my daughter thought I was crazy!!

    @Chit Chat - Thank You - patience is overrated!

    @ Treat and Trick - Thank You

    @ Shanthi - Thank you - that made me laugh to think that you make soup when you're bored!

    @A2Z - you're most welcome. Bring over your leftovers for me!

    @RV - Thank you

    @ Cook curry - me too!

    @ Vanamala - Thank you!

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  14. Loved this Soup recipe:) A great way to have all the veggies too :) Panini and Soup is a delicious combination!!!

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  15. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm what can I say. Yumm Yumm Yumm!!

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  16. Hey Anu the video link is really worth to watch each parent has to know this and thanks a ton for sharing dear..

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  17. I am so getting to become a great fan of all your posts. You create magic with the ingredients :)

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  18. Very filling and attractive soup...looks yummm!!!

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  19. Ok I will cook half the time, you cook the other half. But I get to cook the half. Ok? Ok! :D

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  20. Sorry, I meant I get to PICK the half :D ah well forget it. Just delete these comments, wontcha?

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  21. Healthy and delicious soup!! Please accept the award from my blog.

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  22. Wow! Your soup is so tempting, Anu. Should try this sometime. Have you posted any recipes for cutlets in your blog? If not, please post it in your blog. If possible veg and cheese cutlet.

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  23. I do the same...just dnt add chilli and turmeric...will try this version too...looks awesome...love the side dish too:)

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  24. Ohh this doesnt look like vege soup at all! Maybe pumpkin or something. Love the easy panini...
    BTW I posted soup too - but stuck in teeth kind :)

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  25. That was a lovely "Dasavathar in Disguise" soup.You definitely made a day for veggie lovers like me.Keep rocking:)

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  26. That was a lovely "Dasavathar in Disguise" soup!! Loved it. Keep rocking :)

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  27. What a perfect healthy soup !! yummy !!
    true, even I watched a documentary abt American food habits, they become obsess coz of their eating habits. A guy planned to eat all 30 in McDonald's and had done his whole body check up and found problem in all the main areas of his body and gained about 20 + lbs in a month. So now we know what we should do avoid !!

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  28. nice recipes
    keep doing the good work
    thx for the same

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  29. thanks a lot for this lovely lovely soup idea!!!! Will try it out and let you know!

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