Soups Recipes

It is very comforting to come home to a bowl of creamy hot soup, especially when it is pouring outside, cold and wet. After a hot shower, while drying your hair, someone serves you a bowl of steaming hot soup, that will be so warm, for the heart as well as to satisfy your gastronomical desires.

Soup is one of the easiest food to make, fast, light and yummy. If you don't fancy having heavy dinner, do soups.

All my recipes, I modified them from various cookbooks. After making a few rounds, I sort of know how much ingredients I need, what to add, how it will taste if I add this and that. Cooking make me feel like a magician, an alchemist actually, putting things together and create great foods that activate all my 5 senses in one seating : 

• see the colors of the ingredients,

• feel the texture of the ingredients,

• smell the natural fragrance of the fresh ingredients,

• taste the ingredients and lastly,

• listen while the ingredients simmer, crack and cook.

Isn't it fascinating? It is really very therapeutic and very meditative to me when I cook. 

Lets start by making a simple stock for almost all types of soups. It can be frozen in a 2-cup pack to be used anytime. Sometimes, you don’t even need to thaw the stock, just put in the whole frozen stock into a pot with all the other ingredients, it will melt with the heat.

Chicken Stock

Ingredients :

• 2 big Chicken carcass (or meat if you prefer)

• 2 big onions (with skin)

• 2 big carrot (no shredding, leave skin)

• Few stalks of celery (with leaves)

• Few peppercorn

• 4 liters of water

Clean the chicken carcass and put into a 4-liter pot. Add in all the ingredients without cutting them unless they are too long to fit the pot. Bring to a boil. Then lower the flame to simmer for 4 hours. 

Leave to cool. Remove and dispose of all the ingredients.  Holding on to a filter, scoop about 2-cup into a plastic bag. Seal them properly and freeze. Makes about 5 packs.

Now, lets see how we use it for some great comfort soups, ie, Pumpkin soup and French Onion Soup.

Pumpkin Soup

• 1 kg pumpkin
  
• 2 cups chicken stock
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• some garlic, chopped
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  
• 1/3 cup coconut milk or yogurt
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  

I learnt from a cookbook to cut the pumpkin into quarter, brush it with some oil and bake it in the oven. This way, the pumpkin is softened and I can just scoop the flesh with a spoon. 

Add pumpkin, stock, water, onion, garlic and cumin. Bring to the boil, about 15 mins. Leave it to cool. Transfer to a blender and process. Return mixture to pot, add coconut milk or yogurt, heat up and serve. (I prefer using yogurt and I garnish it with chopped cilantro to serve.)

French Onion Soup

• 4 large onions (yellow ones are better, slice them thinly)
  
• 60g butter
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 4 cups chicken stock (in fact beef stock may taste better)
  
• a few slices baguette
  
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
  

Melt butter in a pan and cook the onions.

Add water and bring to the boil or until the onions are tender.

Add stock, simmer for 5 mins.

Grill baguette slices on both sides. Top with grated cheese, grill until cheese has melted.

Place toast in soup bowl and spoon soup over the top.

I like these soups because they are so easy to make.  They make hearty meals too, just add garlic rolls to go with pumpkin soup and toss some salad. 

Wallah......! Dinner is ready.