Low-fat Caulifower Soup

I return from work to find that I am late yet again. The rain drops I battled with my windshield wipers lash around unobtrusively on my window sill. It has been cool and wet all day long and now in the late evening, nature seems to be doing its garish little dance with rain and clouds. Folks at home are in a drowsy mood and I start thinking of something that would fire up the atmosphere. Natural choice is hot bhajjis as I am so used to fantasizing from my Chennai days. No, I tell myself....find something healthy! Weighing a lot of options, I tactfully start making trade-offs between taste and time. Choices range from masala bhel, spicy popcorn, ragi roti to hot soups. And the winner is - S-O-U-P. I start ravaging my veggie-tray in the refrigerator and find this small cauliflower hiding in a corner - it is your turn tonight, sweetie - I say to its forlorn looking face! Within minutes, I have it washed and scrubbed clean. There are at least 3 different ways in which I make this soup and I decide which one of those to use. This one takes about a half hour to make from the time you pick the veggie to spooning the soup into bowls. Thirty minutes later, I lay out the table and start summoning everyone for dinner. "Whatz for dinner, honey?", asks Vee without looking away from his laptop. I refrain from replying so that he would be forced to check for himself. After deliberating for a little bit, he finally hops over to the table and what he sees, brightens his face. The guy loves soup of any kind. Amma and Appa prefer soups any day to the mundane salads that I so often serve them for dinner. The soup is still piping hot and as everyone savors it one spoonful at a time, all the sleepiness is driven away. They are as pepped up as they could ever get!

Here's the recipe which is my own adaptation from Mrs. Mallika's "100 Refreshing Soups and Stews" cookbook.

Steaming bowl of cauliflower soup

Ingredients -

1) Cauliflower - 1 (quickly separated into large florets)

2) Garlic - 2 small cloves (If you'd rather prefer ginger, go with a 1" piece of it!)

3) Onion - 1 small (roughly chopped up)

4) Green Chilies - 2

5) Milk - 1.5 cups (I used 1%-low fat.)

6) Whole Wheat Flour - 1 tbspn

7) Oil - 1 tspn (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.)

8) Softened butter or ghee - two drops

9) Salt - to taste

10) Black Pepper - a few corns

Method -

1) Heat the oil and butter in a pressure cooker or pan and saute the garlic cloves and green chilies until the raw smell of garlic is all gone.

2) Throw in the onions and continue sauteing for a few minutes until they turn translucent.

3) Next go in, the cauliflower florets. Fry some more.

4) After about 5 minutes, sprinkle the wheat flour and stir around till everything is well coated.

5) Add 1 cup of milk and about 1/2 a cup of water and salt to taste.

6) Pressure cook in a low flame for 10 minutes or until one whistle sounds.

7) Wait till all the pressure is released and leave the cooker open for some time for the contents to cool thoroughly.

8) Take all the solid particles you can find (in the cooker) in a blender and pulse a few times to get a paste-like consistency. It is important to not pour in all the contents with the liquid into the blender as that will result in a not-so-smooth texture.

9) Transfer the soup paste into the cooker again and mix with the liquid portion. Add in the remaining milk and stir well.

10) Simmer until the soup starts boiling and if the soup is too thick for your taste, you can pour a cup of water and wait till it boils through.

11) Spoon into bowls and pulverize some peppercorns over them. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro!