Tomato Soup - Hotel Style

The reason i named this as Hotel style is , it reminds me of the thick creamy soup we get there. As kids, it was on birthdays & anniversaries we would go to a restaurant right and i would always have the good old tomato soup :). Its when i started college, i started trying other soups...


The one i am writing now is what i learnt from my MIL. The first time i had this, i was floored (she is an amazing cook, with hell of patience to whip up dishes painstakingly for her children). This is quick and easy to make and tastes really good, trust me :)

Tomato Soup - Hotel Style

Ingredients
1. Onion - 1/2 
2. Carrot - 1/2 
3. Beetroot - 1/4
4. Potato - 1/4
5. Tomatoes - 4
6. Cloves -2
7. Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch
8. Corn flour/Maida - 2 tsp
9. Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
10. Sugar -1/2 tsp
11. Salt - to taste
12. Ghee - 1 -2 tsp
13. Pepper powder (optional) - a pinch
14. Water - 4 cups


Preparation Time!!
1a. Add tomatoes in hot water for 5-6 minutes and blanch the skin
1b. In a pressure cooker, add ghee, cloves, cinnamon and light toss it 
2. Add onion ( roughly chopped) and sauté for a min or so
3. Then add carrot, beetroot & potato ( all can be roughly chopped) and mix well
4. Add tomatoes (chunky pieces) and mix all the ingredients & toss for less than a minute
5. Add the water and pressure cook for 2 whistles
6. Once the steam is off, drain the water into another vessel ( Don't throw the water away)
7. Cool veggies and the puree them using a blender
8. Transfer the puree into the cooker, keep the flame at medium
9. Add cornflour, red chill powder, sugar, salt and mix
10. Add the water ( the one we drained previously...the broth)
11. Give it one boil and take of flame
12. Serve in a bowl with a pinch of pepper and 1/2 tsp of butter


Pointers
1. Using a knife, mark an X on top of tomatoes and put them on hot water for blanching. This help to peel skin easily
2. You could skip blanching and directly add tomatoes too! If you do this, then make sure you pass the puree through a sieve! You don't want the skin to obstruct you when you enjoy your soup :D... 
3. I hate the idea of filtering the puree so i blanch and i don't like the skin when i eat...ya its quite small and you might hardly notice..but some of us are weird right ;)
4. You could add lauki (bottle guard) instead of potato too! Beetroot gives a nice color, you could skip. But veggies are good one way or other, so i add them :)
5. You could skip butter but i would say don't...its yummy!!!


Serving - 2 big bowls
Duration - 30-40 minutes ( Mainly due to cooling time & pressure cooking)


Sending this to Priya's Healthy Diet Event - Warm Soups