Healthy Barley Soup

When I was a child my Grandmother used to make barley soup quite often. She was convinced that it was extremely good for health and had a lot of benefits. A few days ago, while I was grocery shopping, I found barley in an oriental store. I decided to buy some and tried making a soup inspired by my childhood memories.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:


Barley - 3 tbsps
Sliced Onion - 1 medium
Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Finely chopped carrot - 1
Finely chopped parsley - 1 tbsp
Vegetable stock - 1 litre
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste

Method:


In a large pan saute the sliced onions in olive oil. When the onions are soft, add the garlic paste and saute for a little while longer. Now add the barley, chopped carrot and vegetable stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer till the barley is well cooked. It usually takes around 30-45 minutes for the barley to cook. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley.

Brown Bean Soup

Here is another popular Dutch soup recipe. The Brown Bean Soup is a very common winter soup and there are many variations to making it. It is a wholesome meal by itself and is often served with buttered brown bread.
I found this recipe in 'Dutch Cooking Today' and made some very minor changes to it.

Ingredients:


Dried brown beans - 350 gms
Large Potatoes - 2
Bay Leaves - 2
Peppercorns - 6
Cloves - 3
Butter - 50 gms
Finely chopped Onions - 3
Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped celery leaves - 3 tbsps
Worcestershire Sauce - 2 tbsps
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
Chicken/Beef Bouillon cubes - 2
Salt - to taste

Method:


Soak the beans for 12 hours in slightly salted water. Peel and dice the potatoes. Add bay leaves, peppercorns and cloves to the beans and bring them to a boil in their soaking liquid. Simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add the potatoes for the last 30 minutes of the cooking time.
In a separate pan, heat the butter and fry the onion until it's soft. Add the curry powder and fry for a few more minutes.
Remove the bay leaves, cloves and peppercorns from the pan. With a hand-blender puree the beens and potatoes in the cooking liquid. Add this to the onions and simmer the soup for another 10 minutes. Add the bouillon cubes, celery, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with pepper. Add salt if required.

Note : I saved time by cooking the beans in a pressure cooker for four whistles( the beans can take a while to cook). I opened the pressure cooker after it cooled down and then added the diced potatoes and cooked for another 2 whistles.
The original recipe uses parsley; I've used celery instead (simply because it was easily available).
I've used mild madras curry powder where it says curry powder.
The bouillon cubes were my addition. I think they add a lot more flavour to the soup. But since they're not in the original recipe you can omit them and make a purely vegetarian soup.

Dutch Cream of Tomato Soup

Eindhoven has a lovely large library in the center of the city. Unfortunately, most books are in Dutch with the exception of a small English section. As I was browsing through the cookery section last week, which is also mostly in Dutch, I came across one English cook book.It's probably the only one in the section! And it's a Dutch cook book!
 'Dutch cooking today' is a collection of 60 modern and traditional recipes of popular Dutch foods.

I started out by trying their 'Cream of Tomato Soup' and since it turned out really well and I thought I should share it with you.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:


Ripe tomatoes - 1 kg
Chicken/Vegetable stock( made from bouillon cubes) - 1/2 litre
Finely chopped onions - 2
Finely chopped cloves of garlic - 2
Finely chopped thyme - 2 tbsps
Fresh Cream - 125 ml
Salt - to taste
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
Finely chopped mixed fresh herbs - 1 tbsp

Method: 


Wash the tomatoes and chop them into large pieces. In a large saucepan bring the stock, tomatoes, onion, garlic and thyme to a boil. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked and soft.
Let the mixture cool. Puree the soup in a blender and stir in the fresh cream. Season with salt, pepper and with the fresh herbs. You can use whatever fresh herbs you have available. I used coriander, thyme and basil.

Dutch Mustard Soup

Last week I tried some Dutch mustard soup (mosterdsoep) at two different cafes in Eindhoven. Mustard soup is traditionally made in the winter months. If you walk through the city centrum you will notice that a number of cafes and restaurants have mosterdsoep as their soep van dag (soup of the day). 

   At first the idea didn't seem appetizing but I couldn't resist the temptation to try something new as well as traditionally Dutch. Never thought I'd say this.....I absolutely loved the soup!! 

Of course, I had to try my hand at making the soup at home and I found a few good  recipes online. 

Here's the link to the recipe - http://dinnercoop.cs.cmu.edu/dinnercoop/Recipes/karen/ZaanSoup.html

I used low fat cheese spread and low fat creme fraiche since we're a little diet conscious but I've read that if you use the full fat versions they mix better to form a much creamier soup. I'd like to think that thought my version was a little less creamy it was a tad bit healthier. :) 

Avocado Soup

Years ago a family friend came over with some 'butter fruit' from her garden in Bangalore. That's the first time, probably twenty years ago, that I first saw an avocado. My grandmother, not knowing what to do with the fruit, took her friend's advice and turned the pulp into a 'chutney'. Neither she or I had heard about guacamole then and her friend who'd spent many years abroad gave her the 'butter fruit chutney' recipe.

I've been wanting to experiment with the avocado for a while now and some days ago I finally took the plunge.
I used by 15-minute fuss-free recipes book and made us some avocado soup for dinner. We loved the soup-the colour, the texture and its fresh and delicate flavour. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Large ripe avocados - 2
Sour cream - 250 ml
Chicken flavored stock - 1 liter
Finely chopped coriander - a small bunch
Ground pepper and Salt - to taste

Method:


Cut the avocados in half and scoop out the flesh. Discard the peel and the seed. (If you've bought really hard avocados, you might need to wait a few days for them to soften. Leaving them in the sun fastens this process)
With the help of  a food processor,  make a smooth paste with the avocados and 4 tbsp of sour cream.
In a pan add the chicken stock (it should be hot but much below boiling point) and the rest of the sour cream and stir gently to mix. Now, carefully stir in the avocado paste into the stock. Add salt and pepper to taste (you will need very little salt as if you use flavoured chicken stock cubes which already contain salt). Take it off the heat. You may need to use the food processor to blend the soup to a consistent texture.
Serve the soup immediately as keeping it for too long can cause it to get discoloured.

Enjoy!!