This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)
Dunno if I'd make this again, and absolutely not on a budget. There's a lot of food that goes into this, but you end up wasting the bulk of it. This is less a soup and more a tomato/apple stock so you cook the heck out of the ingredients, then throw the bulk away once it's cooked out.
It's good, though. Really good. And now I know how to make something I order at Indian places. But this is definitely something for when money isn't as much of an issue.
# Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)
Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking
4.0 tbsp unsalted butter
8.0 whole tomatoes (cut into 8 slices)
1.0 whole apple (peeled) (cored) (cut into 8 slices)
2.0 whole red chilies
0.5 whole bay leaf
5.0 whole peppercorns
4.0 grams ginger root (peeled) (sliced)
0.5 tsp cumin seed
0.25 cup water
2.0 cups vegetable stock
2.0 tbsp flour
0.25 tsp sugar
1.0 tsp salt
0.5 cup cream
1.0 tbsp butter
2.0 tbsp cilantro
1 - Melt a quarter of the unsalted butter in a 3-quart/liter saucepan over moderate heat.
2 - Add the tomatoes, apple, hot chilies, bay leaf, peppercorns, ginger and cumin seeds and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
3 - Pour in the water, cover with a round of buttered parchment, and place the lid on the pan.
4 - Reduce the heat to low and gently cook 30 to 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are very soft and puply.
5 - Rub the tomato mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bow! with the stock and mix well.
6 - Melt the remaining unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat.
7 - Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
8 - Pour in the tomato-vegetable broth stirring as you pour, and bring to a simmer.
9 - Add the sugar and salt and continue to simmer for no more than 5 minutes.
10 - Before serving, add the cream and again heat (the soup will curdle if it is boiled).
11 - Place a dab of salted butter in each katori or warmed bowl, ladle in the hot soup and and garnish with a little circle of fresh cilantro.
@dolari
What does the buttered parchment do? I've never heard of this method of cooking or stewing something.
@hannahshouse2 - Honestly, I'm not sure...it's in the original recipe. I'm guessing it's a way to "steam" the tomato/apples with less empty space between the food and the dutch oven cover.
@hannahshouse2 - Glad to hear you're learning to cook! I never learned when I was younger because in our family cooking was "woman's work" and none of the women in my family would teach me ("Get yourself a good woman, and she'll cook for you.") She didn't know at the time that, me being trans, I was trying to be the good woman who wanted to cook!
I didn't really learn to cook until I was in my 40s when I had three foodie roomies who noticed I couldn't cook, and I they taught me REAL GOOD.
@hannahshouse2 - My issue was that I wanted to learn, but most cookbooks just assume you already know all the techniques. The difference between "fry something" and "saute something" and "simmer something" and I had no idea what any of that was.
My roomies taught me that, as well as a digital cookbook designed for families, which meant it was written for kids with adult supervision, and had videos and images of just how everything should look at every step. If you have a Nintendo DS/3DS I highly suggest Personal Trainer Cooking and America's Test Kitchen which helped me a ton.
I'm still completely devoted to cooking from instructions, with vey little deviation or innovation, but now, at least, if I want to make something quick, I have enough skills to make, say a nice omlette instead of just scrambled eggs, or a deli trio sandwich instead of boloney.
@dolari
I am a big fan of America's test kitchen and tasty.com cause it has videos. And luckily my husband's mother gave him a Betty Crocker cookbook when he 1st moved out on his own that literally tells you like how to bake a potato how to cook an artichoke with very simple steps. Great for basics.
I've asked him for years to teach me how to barbecue but hes afraid to let me because I tend to burn myself and cut myself in the process of cooking.
@dolari
I begged for a mandolin one year from my birthday cause I liked things Julianned and I made him nervous cutting them individually with a knife. Got it and promptly shredded the front of all 4 fingers and he took it away from me and I've never been allowed to use it again and I'm back to julianning with a little tiny pairing knife.
@hannahshouse2 - Mandolins are super super scary devices....but they julienne so well.....
@dolari
I've also taught myself how to make perfect light fluffy pillowy scrambled eggs from a Gordon Ramsay video.
@dolari
I love that you found your way to cooking too. And yay for patient roomies.
I have been a trial to hubs. I take too long, read instructions and I use all the measuring cups and bowls.
He jokingly asked me when we met and I was a single mom if I could cook anything that didn't come in a Box. So he kinda had to learn to cook out of necessity because he really likes good food.