Monsoons are confusing for the kids. Parents want them to be cozy and covered while they are all sweaty and sultry. They need more showers in the day of humidity while the parents want them to be quick and covered so as to avoid them from catching cold.
This soup really helps in the monsoons. Super tasty and energy giving, it maintains the body temperature and avoids the unwanted shivers in the rainy weather. Takes not much of an effort but we have here a winning concoction. Try it and have a sumptuous and confident evening 🙂
….need to know (food details)
- Number of people served : 2 for the party
- Preparation time : 20 minutes
- Serving size : 1 bowl each
….and we need (ingredients)
- Celery stalks, 4, chopped : I grow celery for around 5 months in a year and they grow well in tubs, bags and small planters. They have one of the healthiest foliage & excellent antioxidant. It gives good bitter pungency to the stock.
- Garlic cloves, 3 – 4 : The King Pungent. Pungency is the reason why we use this allicin rich clove which combats sickness and common cold.
- Vegetable oil, 3 teaspoon : Sunflower seed or groundnut oil would be good. We are looking for an average greasing here.
- Mutton Stock, 4 cups : Healthiest broth is prepared with mutton. It builds bones and is abundant in calcium.
- Soya Sauce, 2 tablespoon : It is the most popular umami fixture I guess.
- Lemon grass, chopped, 1 teaspoon : I learnt that lemongrass is a mild astringent and helps controlling fever, cough, digestion, blood pressure etc. besides adding a wonderful citrus zest to the dish. Now I have sufficient lemongrass in my garden throughout the year.
- Black pepper, 2 pinches : Good proportion of salt and pepper are great anti oxidants too.
- Table salt, 1/2 teaspoon : Regular table salt would o good
- Coriander, chopped, for garnish : This comes straight from my garden. Gives a orangy zest, coriander is again a blood regulator.
….time to cook ‘n roll (preparing instructions)
- Preparing the mutton stock is a pre-recipe exercise here. A simple mutton stock that I make is by pressure cooking 3 pieces of mutton with a teaspoon of garam masala and 1/2 teaspoon salt. We can also add a bay leaf , 1 small black cardamom and 1/2 inch of cinnamon to enhance.
- Now heat oil in a pan. When it steams, add the chopped celery and chopped garlic and stir saute’ for 3 minutes on low medium flame.
- Add half the stock in it and cook for 5 minutes..
- To this add the soya sauce, lemongrass, salt and pepper and stir cook for 2 minutes to mix well.
- Now add the remaining stock and boil cook for 10 minutes on low medium flame.
- This should reduce the stock to about 1 & 1/2 to 2 cups.
- Serve in hot bowls garnishing with roughly chopped coriander. Enjoy 🙂
Storage : You can refrigerate for a week, no sweat in the monsoons with that 🙂
Missing Something ? : You may add 1/2 teaspoon of paprika to increase your heat quotient but do not add any spice which overwhelms your basic flavors of celery and garlic !!