Some more of my No Frills Health Soups .....

With the continuous downpour at intervals, a warm soup is just what we look for on a cool and wet evening ! 

Mixed Vegetable Broth + Broccoli Soup  & Celery + Tomato Soup

 

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Mixed Vegetable Soup 

Mixed Vegetable Soup Ingredients

This mixed vegetable broth is what I drank for 3 months continuously every evening and continue to eat it very often even now. My yoga guru late Dr Padmanabha Pillai introduced me to this soup along with an ayurveda diet for weight loss and water retention problem after my first delivery - what a difference it made ! 

This isnt a fancy soup but if the garlic is browned (and tempered ie tadka ) well and tomatoes are sauted just right, the health broth is something to look forward to..

Mixed Vegetable Soup - (for 4 People) 

Ingredients

# Cabbage - 200 gms  

# Tomatoes - 2 to 3 medium

# Onion - 1 medium

# Beans - 100gm 

# Carrot - 2 

# Cauliflower  - 100 gm

# Cluster Beans  - 100gm 

# Bottle gourd  -  100 gm 

# Garlic Cloves - 5 to 7  crush them  well and keep aside beforehand 

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Method

1.Wash the vegetables and slice the cabbage finely or chop into small pieces.

2. Slice the french beans,carrots and cluster beans diagonally.

3. Slice the Tomatoes into slightly thick pieces 

4. Slice the onions finely 

5. Remove the pith ie the soft white portion of the bottle gourd and dice into medium size pieces.

6. Break the cauliflower into medium size florets. 

7. In a vessel heat about 1 tbsp oil and when really hot - add the Garlic . The garlic aroma should come through.

8. Brown the garlic, add the onions and saute till the rawness goes. 

9. Then add the Tomatoes and saute well.

10 . Once done add all the vegetables one by one and mix well . 

11. Add 4 to 5 cups water and salt  and cook tilll the vegetables are done. 

12. Serve hot .

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Celery Soup 

Celery Soup Ingredients 

     
    

Vegetable Stock    (for 4 People) -

(I use the same vegetable stock for the Broccoli soup and other soups as well, instead of the time consuming stocks I used to prepare for the soups or use the cubes to save time ( which have lots of preservatives and high salt ).

How to avoid both was something I often wondered till one day while making a soup, a thought struck me - why not boil vegetables with spices and use the water as stock !

Ingredients for Stock 

# Onion -1
# Carrot - 1

# Tomato - 1
# Cabbage - 1 cup
# Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves

# Bayleaf - 1

# Pepper - 3 to 4

# Cloves -2 

Boil all the above together  for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and strain and keep aside. 

Ingredients for Celery Soup

# Celery -  2 sticks 
# Onion - 1 Big
# Garlic - 4 

# Cabbage - 50 gm
# Butter - 1 tsp 

# Extra Onion -1  - slice thinly and fry brown and use for garnishing .

Method 

1. In a saucepan ,melt butter and a drop of oil so butter does not burn 

2. Add Garlic and brown slightly

3. Then add onions and saute well

4. Add celery leaves and cabbage and saute well 

5. Add stock and pressure cook for 5 minutes. Cool and  strain .

.6 Then blend in the mixer .

7. Simmer with salt and pepper 

8. Fry sliced onions and when brown, add on top of the celery soup when serving.

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Broccoli Soup 

Broccoli Soup Ingredients 

Vegetable Stock 

Ingredients

# Onion -1

# Carrot - 1
# Tomato - 1
# Cabbage - 1 cup
# Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves

# Bayleaf - 1

# Pepper - 3 to 4

# Cloves -2 

Boil all together  for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and strain and keep aside 

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Ingredients for Broccoli Soup

# Broccoli - 200 gm - ( break into florets and keep some aside for garnishing) 

# Onion - 1 Big 
# Garlic - 3 to 4 
# Butter - 1 tsp 

Method 

1. In a saucepan, melt butter and a drop of oil so butter does not burn 

2. Add Garlic and brown slightly

3. Then add onions and saute well,

4. Add Broccoli and saute lightly 

5. Add stock and pressure cook for 5 minutes. Cool and strain .

.6. Then blend in the mixer 

7. Simmer for 5 to 7  minutes  with salt and pepper 

8. Fry sliced onions and when brown add on top of the celery soup when serving 

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Tomato Soup 

Tomato Soup Ingredients

This soup of my mother's I can have every other day!

Simple and easy to make it really is a great soother when one is tired.

Ingredients

#Tomatoes - Red and firm - 5 to 6 big

#Potato - 1 big  OR  1 Carrot ( If you run out of a Potato)

# Onion - 1 big 

# Cinnamon ( Dalchini) - a small piece

# Clove ( Lavang ) -2

# Bayleaf -(Tejpatta) - 2 

# Black Pepper - 2 to 3

# Ginger ( Adrak ) - 1 inch

# Garlic ( Lehsun) - 2 cloves 

Method

1. Pressure cook all ingredients together . Close the gas after the first whistle .

2. Cool and strain.

3. Remove the spices 

4. Blend in the mixer and strain again to remove the seeds and smoothen 

5. Bring the soup to a boil. 

6. Add salt and Pepper to taste.

7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Croutons

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