Have I ever mentioned to you folks that I love soups. It’s my way of eating the healthy stuff  like greens and all the veggies I dislike. I always wanted to try and learn some soup recipes cause I am not a huge fan of readymade soups and preserved foods. I got the perfect opportunity over the last few days when MDH and I decided to go for light dinners. Some soup and salads, or some tidbits along with the soup.

Over the last year I’ve had minor weight issues – I tend to suddenly put on weight but a little bit of controlled diet (mind you not giving up on my favourite items) and walks help me be fine. My friends from school and college days who have carried with them the picture of a skinny, perpetual 40 kg me, refuse to believe that I could have weight issues.

I’m not obese or over-weight but neither am I that skinny girl anymore. I’m in the right weight range and love the way I look now – it makes me feel good and confident within. Oh don’t get me wrong – I’m not being judgemental. I had been 43 Kgs for 25 years of my life – so you can imagine how good I feel now? Won’t you feel the same if you had been overweight all your life and finely managed to get in a good shape. You feel wonderful from within and there is nothing wrong in it. We may not have the perfect model shaped figures but what is important is to have a fit body and healthy figure. Tell me when you look into your mirror and find that lovely gal staring back at you – don’t you feel good? I do.

I’m also conscious of the fact that I could step onto the over-weight side if I do not control my cravings for chocolates, cheese, chips and ghee. There was a time in my life when I could eat these everyday and not gain an ounce. When 30s set in – all things change – Damn!

Either ways, here are some quick soups I tried on my own during our soup dinner week. I took some help from my aunt who makes some great soups in the world. A word of thanks to Shalmali too. She runs this excellent food blog Bakasoor – where she offers some excellent recipes. Her husband is a friend of mine from engineering days and I used his connection to get some more soup recipes from her as I was running out of my ideas! I have to try them yet and plan to do so in the coming week. Thanks a ton girl.

Ok so here goes some of my own inventions 🙂

1. Quick Fix – Chicken Corn Soup:

I had made some corn soup the previous day and since I got the quantity a bit wrong, I realized I had enough soup to last me for 2 days. I also had some leftover chicken gravy with 4-5 chicken pieces. I took the leftover corn soup, shredded the chicken pieces, added some water, finely chopped coriander leaves, chicken stock and boiled all the ingredients together. The result was one delicious stomach filling soup. Try it and let me know.

Corn soup recipe you ask? Here it goes.

2. Corn Soup

Take a bowl of corn kernels, boil them well. Mince them in the mixer to get a fine paste. Add ½ tsp olive oil in the vessel, pour the corn mixture, add water, some salt and pepper to taste. Take 1 tbsp cornflour and mix in cold milk (2-3 tbsps) . Once you see the soup mixture boiling – add this cornflour-milk mixture and let the soup boil on low flame. Your corn soup is ready.

3. Green Peas Soup:

Ingredients: Green peas (2-3 cups), Coriander Stems w/o leaves (6-7)Rice grains – 2-3 tbsp,Black Pepper – 1 no,Cardamom – ½ inch piece,Cloves – 1 no,Ginger – 1/4th inch,Garlic – 2-3 cloves,Water,Salt,Pepper (Powder), Olive Oil (1 tsp)

Method:

Boil green peas, clove, black pepper, rice grains and cardamom in water. Let the ingredients boil well. Simmer and cool the mixture. Don’t drain the water & keep it in another vessel. Grind the boiled ingredients along with the coriander stems in a mixer to get a fine paste. Add olive oil in the heated vessel, then add the paste and water ( use the same in which you boiled the ingredients)

Boil the soup for sometime on medium/low flame and serve hot

 

(Image courtsey: www.homemadesoup.org.uk/)