Friday, August 31, 2012

Tomato, quinoa and stirfry vegetables soup


Soups are always a welcome change to my usual dinner options. I make soup quite often and especially when we have been experiencing dull weather, all I could think of was a nicely colourful and hearty soup that would lift our mood. This one offers a power pack nutrition from the ingredients that have been added into it.



Not long ago I found few packets of quinoa in the aisle of a store here and as mentioned earlier i picked some extra lest the store does not restock the same. I have been cooking this wonder grain very often now since both of us at home like it very much., so much so that I powdered it and along with almond milk  made kheer  for the neivedhyam on Janmaashtami festival.
I had baked some pav bread and had some extra after we used a few for dinner. So I thought of making a hearty soup and consume the bread with that. going through the vegetable tray in my refrigerator I was glad to find a variety of vegetables that will be good and two big round tomatoes.
All of that was enough for me to set out making this soup for our dinner that night.
This is a very simple soup to combine but very filling if you have a bowl full with the bread.

Ingredients:
2 ripe and fairly large tomatoes
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup vegetables cut in fine long strips
2 stalks spring onions
2 pods garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon carom seeds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash and cut the tomatoes in halves.
Crush the garlic and the carom seeds coarsely and mix with a few drops of olive oil.
Rub the above coarse paste on the tomatoes. Place them in a foil and in a baking tray. Oven roast them for 20 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.
Remove from the oven, remove the peel off the tomatoes and blend them to a fine puree.
Meanwhile, roast very slightly the quinoa with 1teaspoon oil and add sufficient water and some salt to cook the quinoa.
Similarly stir fry the vegetables until crisp using the rest of the oil along with the chopped spring onions.





Mix the cooked quinoa and the tomato puree, white pepper and simmer the soup to desired thickness.
Top with the stir fry vegetables and serve hot with dinner rolls.
This soup uses practically no added fat other than the olive oil.
I have used cabbage, colour peppers, carrot and beans with some green peas. the combination of vegetables can be according to your taste and availability.




The soup was perfect for the gray and cloudy days that we were experiencing. Hope you shall be making this too.

14 comments:

  1. Wonderful recipe, loved this ... Love that picture of padi with quinoa...

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  2. that is a one comfort bowl of soup..loved those soup bowls.

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  3. nice pics Lata, lovely pic of that measuring cup with the quinoa in it..good lighting! :)

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  4. With quinoa, wonderful. Nice clicks.

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  5. Bookmarking this soup akka - definitely something I want to try.

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  6. Yummy looking soup and lovely clicks...

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  7. I eat lots and lots of Quinoa... This is very nice recipe and I live this. But I make it without roasting the tomato.. Will try this version too
    Great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com

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  8. Yummy looking and wonderful soup, perfect for the rainy weather, The new big pictures are added advantage

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  9. Finally got to see a wonderful comforting soup with my favourite tomato and quick, beautifully done akka.

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  10. Lata you make this look so tempting. so far, an upma and an idli recipe with quinoa have not endeared it to the family! :-(
    Will try this recipe.

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  11. Looks very nice..interesting recipe mam :)

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Hello,
Welcome and thank you for taking time to drop by.
I appreciate your valuable comments and tips.
I sincerely hope to improve with them.
Hope we shall interact often.
Thanks once again,
Lata Raja.