#ewew cooks Vegetables & Tomato Soup

After making Cottage Pie, I still had quite a lot of tomato puree left which I needed to use as soon as possible since the instruction on the bottle mentioned to keep refrigerated once opened and finish in two days.

So, what better way to use up a lot of it then to make a healthy Vegetables & Tomato Soup.  I've made Borsch Soup before (but with a different brand of tomato paste) and this is almost similar, only thing is that this version is meat-free (and by that I mean there's no meat in the soup) but not totally meat-free (as the stock is still made from chicken bones).

Ingredients:

1 medium carrot, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 ribs of celery, diced

1/2 a red capsicum, diced

2 stalks of Chinese coriander, chopped

For the stock:
1 chicken carcass (you can also use chicken off cuts)

1 litre water

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Preparation:

Besides chopping up all the vegetables, you need to make a chicken stock (you could substitute with water if you're too lazy to make the stock).  Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly and remove any visible fats on the carcass.

You can make the stock in one of two ways.  Blanch the chicken carcass (that has been chopped into large pieces) with hot water for about a minute.  Remove the chicken pieces and put them into 1 litre of cold water (season with salt to taste) and bring to a boil.  Simmer on medium-low heat (uncovered, if you're using a small pan, like me) for about 30 minutes.

I would switch off the heat, put the lid back on and let the stock steep in the chicken bones for the next half to one hour (or until I'm ready to make the soup as I always make my stock ahead of time).  But if you don't have the luxury of time, then discard the chicken pieces and use the stock immediately.  The resulting stock will be a delicious, clear chicken broth that's ideal for making clear soups.

The other method would be to saute the chicken pieces in a hot pan first with some olive oil until they're browned.  I sometimes use leftover chicken off cuts for this purpose (nothing goes to waste).

Then add the chicken pieces to the water to make your stock (don't forget to season with salt).  I always under-season my stock base as I can always tweak it when I build my layers of flavour later.  The stock should reduce to about 700 - 800ml after 30 minutes of simmering.

The resulting stock will not be as clear as the first method but I chose to do it this way (for this recipe) as I believe it adds depth of flavour to the soup base.  Plus, since this is a tomato-based soup, it doesn't require the stock to be clear.

Method:

Put in all the vegetables at once (season with 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper) and saute them in olive oil for about 5 minutes.

You don't need to brown the vegetables, just sweat the onions and soften the vegetables slightly over medium-low heat.

It's ok if the vegetables aren't soft enough at this point as the boiling process later will render them softer. Add the chopped coriander (or parsley if you like) right at the end.  I prefer coriander as it's readily available at the wet market + it gives the soup the added fragrance that I like.

Into the stock, add all the sauteed vegetables and simmer for another 10 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.  Season with another 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper.

To that, add 1 cup of tomato puree (an additional 1/2 cup if you like your soup thicker with a more intense tomato flavour) and simmer for a further 10 minutes until all the vegetables have totally soften.  Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Finish with a sprinkling of black pepper and the Vegetables & Tomato Soup is ready to serve.  If you want a 100% vegetarian soup, you can...just substitute the chicken stock with water.

I grew up not liking tomatoes, so tomato soup isn't something you'd see me eating (or drinking) all that much but it's beginning to grow on me these days.

But I prefer having a home-cooked one as some I've ordered at restaurants tend to be overly tart.  Once you find the tomato puree that suits your taste buds, you can control and tweak the tartness to your liking.

Especially now that I've found a tomato puree that I like...which resulted in a tomato soup that I thought was rather successful.

I love how soft the vegetables were and that pinch of black pepper was much needed to bring out the flavours of the soup.

And the good thing about this soup is that it keeps really well in the freezer.  The vegetables will get even softer when reheated.  That's the reason why I make extras, so that I can have something in a jiffy when I'm feeling peckish.

Just imagine reheating a bowl of this Vegetables & Tomato Soup...and drinking this warm and comforting soup, while curled up in front of the TV with your favourite show on, in the cool environment of your air-conditioned living room...ah, bliss I tell you! ;)

Serves 3 - 4