Root Vegetable Soup

Cold, chilly winters are ahead. It gets dark by 4:30 evening and suddenly you feel like the day's finished early. The good thing is we wind up dinners early, most of the cooking is left to the oven and the sheet pans, bakeware have been put to good use. The kitchen is substantially warmer owing to the heat generated by the oven. I spend less time in the kitchen and get to catch up on a book soon due at the library or watch a favorite TV program of my choice.

I love a Soup and Bread dinner. The bread makes up for the carbohydrate intake and the soup provides simple nutrition without adding lot of calories. This soup is very mild and holds good for diverse palates. Few years ago, when I was working in Bangalore, my parents were out of town and I fell sick. It took me a week to recover from flu and cold. My dear friend, Deltu took care of me for couple of days and made this soup inspired by Root Vegetables available in the season. It had a light seasoning of ground cloves and cinnamon richly smothered and cooked in the vegetables mashed to perfection. This soup is a comfort blanket for cold, winter days. Its very easy to prepare and pairs well with grilled bread.

~ Root Vegetable Soup ~
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:
Potatoes (peeled and diced) - 2 cups
Carrots (peeled and diced) - 1 cup
Beetroot (peeled and diced) - 1 cup
Parsnip (peeled and diced) - 1/2 cup
Turnip (peeled and diced) - 1/2 cup
Red Onion (chopped) - 1/2 cup
Bay Leaf - 1
Black Pepper (coarsely ground) - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil
Salt

For Garnish - chopped Coriander leaves

Contraption - 1 Soup Croc

Method:
Rinse all the vegetables to get rid of grime and dirt. Peel off the skin and dice and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. Allow to cool and mash in the cooked broth with a vegetable masher. In a deep bottomed pan, heat few spoons of olive oil, season with a bay leaf, saute chopped onion till they are lightly browned. Add the mashed vegetables now and adjust water, salt and pepper as per taste. Bring to a rolling boil and simmer on low flame with the lid on for 5-8 minutes. Once done, blend with an immersion blender until pasty and smooth textured. Serve hot in a Soup Croc with grilled bread slices on the side. Garnish with chopped Coriander leaves. A Ciabatta or Portuguese roll blends well with this rich soup.