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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Chettinad Soups


Tomato soup
It is a practice in chettiar houses to give a cup of soup to the guests an hour before lunch during any small function or whenever there are lot of people at home.These soups will be watery, neither too hot nor spicy. I have always noted that after taking the soup the ladies other than chettiars will become eager to know how it is prepared. During the grand lunch also it will be served in cups. As far as I am concerned the best time everybody at home loves to have this is around 7 pm. My dear readers, if you try this once then I am sure this soup will become a regular item in your home too. Very simple recipe. Even the newcomers to the kitchen can also have a try




Ingredients
Tomatoes-3 (medium size)
Big onion-1
Green chillies-3
Coriander leaves-little
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Broken green gram dal-a handful (1/2 cup) do not add too much dhal. Thick soups will not be tasty
To season
Bay leaf-a small piece
Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
Pepper corns-1 teaspoon
Cinnamon-2 small pieces
Cardamom-2
Clove-2
Curry leaf-little
Ghee-1 teaspoon
Procedure
Cut the onions and tomatoes into small pieces. Split the chilies. If you use a small pressure cooker for making the soup it is just a 5 minutes work in the kitchen. Keep the cooker in the stove. Season the soup in a teaspoon of ghee with the items given in ‘to season’. The little ghee used will give a wonderful flavor for the soup. I am always calorie conscious and rarely use ghee. But for the soup, I always prefer ghee. After seasoning, add the onions, chilies and tomatoes item by item and sauté nicely. After 5 minutes add the dhal and mix nicely. Now pour 2 cups of water into the cooker. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and the salt required. Close the cooker and put the weight. Now reduce the flame to very low and switch off the stove after 10 minutes. When the pressure is gone open the cooker and smash the tomato and onion pieces nicely with a ladle. Now add enough water (to the consistency in which you want the soup).At least 3 cups of water can be added. Check for the salt and boil the soup for 5 more minutes without closing the cooker. If the children at home do not want to have the tomato pieces in the soup, Pour the soup into a strainer and squeeze off the tomato and onion pieces. To the clear soup obtained add chopped coriander leaves and serve.

13 comments:

Cham said...

I am really eager to make it right away ur soup :) I am gonna make it for lunch... The ingredients sounds good too :) It is should be light and appetizing...

Solai Chidambaram said...

Yes Cham.This soup will be very light.Usually given to young kids and for those recovering from illness.Will go well with rice

Illatharasi said...

Looks delicious....
I will try this and let u know.....

Revathi said...

Never knew soup is served in chettinad household. Soup is almost like rasam illa aachi ?

Solai Chidambaram said...

REvathi,I dont understand wat u mean by almost like rasam.Is it the look u are referring or the taste.It will look like rasam.But will taste entirely different.Broken green granm dhal is added in soup.No tamarind used.So it will taste entirely different.All will not like to drink rasam because of the extra sour taste right

Unknown said...

Thanks. It came out great. Reminded me of soup given in thonnai (biodegradable cup made from dried leaf). Now thonnai is replaced by plastic cups!
I used spice that was 2/3 years old but it still came out exactly as I remember.
PS. Isn't broken green gram dal also known as pasi payyiru?

Solai Chidambaram said...

Thanks SNR.broken green gram is pasiparuppu.pasipayaru will be whole green ones

ChitraKrishna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ChitraKrishna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ChitraKrishna said...

Hai Solai
I am really very delighted to read ur posts. Ur blog reminds my home :(

Unknown said...

Hi
Iam looking for the recipe for Chettinad mushroom soup can you please help me

Raji said...

It tasted so awesome. My husband said it tastes close to chicken soup minus the chicken part ;-) I loved it so much. Many thanks for the recipe!

Unknown said...

This is the 1st time I add comments in this blog even though I'm familiar about this today I add 2 ingredients extra just to do some research that is, I add kalpasi while seasoning and lemon grass at last 5 mins. Omg I don't know how to explain, It took me to heaven.