Multi-Purpose Mutton Soup (Broth / Stock)

Winter is coming (hehehe – not everyone will get this, but that’s okay 😉) and what better than a piping hot, robust soup/broth to sip on. I saw a mug of soup on my friend Khuzaan’s Insta stories and the soup looked so yum that I could not help but reach out to ask for the recipe.

The recipe belonged to his gym trainer, Murtaza’s mum, Mrs. Irfana Nasir. She ever so kindly sent the recipe within minutes (via Khuzaan). I gave this a try the very next day. This is one of the easiest broth/stock recipes you will ever come across and yet, the broth turns out so darn flavourful. I’ve now made so many times that I’ve kind of lost count. Yes, this is that good a recipe. It is such a simple recipe that even a newbie in the kitchen can whip this up within minutes.

I will always follow a recipe to the T the first time around and subsequently put my own tiny twist on it when I remake it. I’ve adjusted the ingredients a teeny-tiny bit and the recipe I’m publishing is the one I’ve customized, but this recipe belongs to Mrs. Irfana Nasir. I lay no claim to it at all.

Mrs. Irfana Nasir, Murtaza, Khuzaan: Heartfelt thanks for sharing this recipe with me.

Ingredients:

Half kilo mutton (on bone)
10-12 black peppercorns
1-inch cinnamon
2 heaped teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1 large onion, chopped into big pieces (easier to fish out later)
2 tomatoes, quartered (easier to fish out later)
1 green chili, keep whole, do not chop
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1 litre water 

Method:

1. Add all the above ingredients in a pressure cooker.
   
   
   
   
   
2. When the pressure builds up and the cooker releases the first whistle, lower the flame. 
3. Continue cooking for 8 more whistles on LOW heat. This low heat cooking will lend robustness to the soup. (Take Mrs. Nasir’s and my word for it) 
4. When done, take the cooker off the stove and allow the pressure to release on its own. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once cool, fish out the mutton pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Strain the soup in a colander or a stainless steel sieve if you want a clearer soup. I used a colander as I did not have Gordon Ramsey judging me. 😉
   
   
   
   
   
7. Mash the vegetables to extract all the goodness and discard the mashed veggies.
   
   
   
   
   
8. This yields approximately 1250 mils of broth. Use as desired. (We usually add a squeeze of lime, an extra dash of pepper powder and sip on it. At times, I portion it into 500 ml containers and freeze it for the dishes that require stock) 
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. You may chop the onions and tomatoes small but fishing out the mutton from the soup gets a tad messy hence I prefer to cut them into large chunks. The first time I recreated this recipe, I cut the veggies small, as mentioned by Mrs. Nasir. At all other times, I’ve cut them into large chunks.
2. Use the mutton for sandwiches. You may also shred the mutton and add it to the strained soup. 
3. Yes, Google has lots of explanations with regard to the terms soup, stock, and broth. Let’s not debate or argue over that. Let’s keep it simple; let’s cook up this deliciousness and enjoy it, yeah?? 😊 
4. Mutton on-bone is what you use for this soup. If you’re opting for boneless mutton, the soup will be yum but, it will lack that beautiful robustness, and that’s what this soup/broth is all about. 
5. The original recipe uses only 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste and no green chili. I like my soup with a bit of zing hence adjusted these ingredients. Feel free to go with whatever suits your palate. 
6. As mentioned at the onset, the original recipe belongs Mrs. Irfana Nasir. The photographs, though, belong to my blog, Kenzy’s Kitchen Korner. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   

Some more photographs:

Chicken Corn Chowder with Bacon Crumble

I read this recipe, online, at Facebook. The original recipe (veg version) belongs to Rachel of The Stay At Home Chef. I stuck to her recipe the first time around, but the added sugar was a big mistake coz the chowder tasted very sweet. *rolls eyes* That’s a big NO in my book. The second time around, I changed the potato and corn cooking technique and omitted the sugar entirely. I also added chicken shreds. The chowder was 100% perfect! I am penning the recipe as perfected by me so as to avoid confusion. This is a non-spicy, creamy soup and, of course, it’s absolutely yum! Do give this one a try. Your kids and family will love it!

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 small white onion, diced

1 cup boiled chicken, shredded or diced small

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (use new potatoes, the clean thin-skinned ones)

3 cups frozen golden corn

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper powder

1½ cups heavy cream, gently smoothen with a whisk

1½ cups milk

225 grams bacon, fried crisp in a non-stick pan (sans oil) and crumbled

Method:

1.    Put frozen golden corn in a pressure cooker with water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Reduce heat and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Shut off stove and allow the pressure to release by itself.

2.    When the pressure has let off, open the cooker, drain the corn; keep aside. Discard the liquid.

3.    Rinse the cooker, add the cubed potatoes. Add water to cover the potatoes. Pressure cook with whistle on but do not allow the whistle to go off. As soon as you realize the whistle is about to go off, shut the stove immediately. Allow the built-up pressure to release by itself.

4.    When the pressure has let off, open the cooker, drain the potatoes; keep aside. Discard the liquid. The potatoes at this stage are semi-cooked.

5.    Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. The entire soup will be made in this pot so make sure it is big enough.

6.    Add the onions, lower heat (to ensure the butter does not burn) and sauté for about 5 to 7 minutes.

7.    Stir in the flour, until a paste forms and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not allow the flour to darken and change colour.

8.    Slowly whisk in the chicken stock to get a smooth mixture and bring to a boil.

9.    Add the potatoes, corn, salt and pepper.

10. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender; about 15-20 minutes. The cooking time will depend on how large or small you have cut them. The potatoes should be cooked through but shouldn’t be mushy; they should retain their cubed shape.

11. When the potatoes are tender, add in the milk and cream and stir to combine.

12. Check seasoning. Add and adjust if required.

13. Serve hot topped with crumbled bacon.

Bacon Crumble

This paragraph is mainly for newbies in the kitchen arena. 

1. Lay out bacon strips in a non-stick pan. Do not allow the strips to touch each other.
   
   
   
2. On low heat allow the bacon to crisp on one side. Flip the strips when crisp and crisp up the other side too. 
3. Remove the crisp bacon strips on kitchen towel paper to drain the excess fat.
   
   
   
4. When cool, break or snip into tiny bits. The size of the bits is entirely your choice.
   
   
   
5. You can make more, snip then and store them in an airtight jar in the fridge. They keep nicely and can be used over scrambled eggs. 😉 The bacon fat that collects in the non-stick pan can be stored too. Use your imagination and use it to flavour rice, eggs, etc. There is also a microwave method which I did not use and am too lazy to type out. Please check You Tube or Google for the same. 

Chef Notes:

1.    I always have ready stock/broth in the freezer hence did not have to make it from scratch. In case you wish to make it from scratch, I’d advise you to go with half a kilo of Chicken Wings, 1 carrot peeled and diced large, 5-6 garlic cloves, 1 potato diced large, a teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste, salt, 1 whole green chilli (do not cut or slit) and approximately 900-1000 mils of water. I have advised Chicken Wings as the chicken skin on the wings will lend immense flavour to the stock/broth and the chicken shredded from the wings will be just enough for this recipe.

2.    Do opt for frozen (raw) golden corn. Tinned golden corn can be used but the texture and bite of the soup will differ greatly. I would not advise it!

3.    I opted for cream from a local dairy instead of heavy cream. It was quite the same as the one we get in an Amul Cream carton.

4.    Vegetarians can omit the bacon and chicken and use a flavourful vegetable stock instead. Also, instead of chicken and bacon they may opt for diced carrots, a handful of peas and mushrooms to go with the corn kernels.

5.    As I mentioned earlier, the original recipe tells you to use 2 tablespoons sugar. With the corn lending sweetness to the chowder, the added sugar simply ruined the warm, hearty base flavour of the chowder. The chowder got to darn sweet. I would not advise you to add sugar; not even a wee bit, not at all.

6.    You may use black pepper if you don’t mind a black flaked/speckled soup. I stuck to white pepper.

7.    As mentioned at the onset, the original recipe belongs to Rachel of The Stay At Home Chef. This version of the recipe and the photographs, though, belong to my blog, Kenzy’s Kitchen Korner. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs:

Yes, I sourced white onions for this recipe. That's just me, I prefer not to compromise unless I really have to. 

Tomato Soup (No Corn Flour Added)

Years ago, and by that, I mean about two decades ago, I used to make a tomato soup recipe with added corn flour. (For the life of me, I cannot recollect where I had sourced it from). One fine day I suddenly decided to make tomato soup without any thickening agent (haan, hateli Bawi hu, aise jhatke kabhi kabhi lag jaate hai. :P ). This is the recipe that emerged from that ‘jhatka’. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 kilo red, ripe tomatoes

1 carrot; peeled and diced

2 stalks celery

2 cloves garlic; peeled

2 cups water

Salt; to taste

Black pepper powder; to taste

Sugar; to taste

2 slices bread; cut into cubes

2 teaspoons oil

Method:

1. Wash the tomatoes. Cut a slit or two into each tomato.
2. Put the tomatoes in a pressure cooker, add 2 cups water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. 
3. Remove cooker from heat and allow the pressure to release by itself. 
4. Remove tomatoes from the cooker, peel the skin.
5. Remove carrots, garlic and celery; keep aside.
6. Strain the water from the cooker; keep aside.
7. When the tomatoes are cool enough, put them in a grinder with carrots, garlic and celery and whiz to a smooth pulp.
8. Strain the pulp in a sieve to ensure the pulp is devoid of seeds and is of a velvety texture.
9. Heat the pulp; add half to three-fourth cup of the strained soupy water. (Add more or less depending on the consistency you desire; I prefer a thick, hearty soup).
10. Add seasonings to taste. (I added 1¼ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon and a wee bit more of pepper powder and 2 tablespoons sugar).  
11. Simmer for a few minutes and take the pot off the heat. 
12. Heat oil in a small non-stick pan. Add the bread cubes and on very gentle heat keep tossing the bread cubes until they beautifully crisp up on all sides. 
13. Pour the soup into soup bowl and garnish with the bread croutons. 

Chef Notes: 

1. All three seasonings (salt, pepper and sugar) added by me have been mentioned in exact quantities but please adjust these three seasonings according to taste. My family prefers a sweetish tomato soup with a hard backlash of black pepper.
2. I prefer not to deep-fry the croutons but if you prefer deep fried ones go right ahead and do that. Those will work too.
3. If you aren’t fond of soggy croutons, serve them on the side instead of adding them as garnish to the soup.
4. You may, of course, use olive oil or butter to fry the croutons. 
5. This quantity makes 3 small, or 2 large, bowls of soup.
6. You may share the direct link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Potato & Leek Soup

Potato & Leek Soup

Warm, soul-satisfying, velvety and delicious! The creamy Potato & Leek soup is all that… and more! This soup is had hot in Britain, though the French version (Vichyssoise), credited to Chef Louis, is served cold. According to the information on the net, the origin of the soup is still embroiled in debate. The French claim it as theirs, the British insist they invented it and the Americans make the same claim. I really don’t care where it originated because as a home cook what truly interested me were the smiles on the face of Grumpy and Anu when I put this in front of them. Grumpy went on to grumpily ask for a second helping (I’m beginning to believe in miracles :P ). My all time favorite soup, since the age of four, has been Sweet Corn Chicken soup. Well, guess what?? Not any more!!

Ingredients:

½ cup + ½ tablespoon butter

3 leeks, light green and white part only

4 medium-sized or 2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup cream, very gently whisked to a smooth texture (I used Amul)

450 mils hot chicken stock

200 mils milk, or as needed

Salt, to taste

¾ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper powder, or to taste

2 rashers chicken bacon, cut into tiny ¼ inch pieces

1 chive, finely chopped for garnish

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes. Wash and cube them into one inch pieces. Soak the potato cubes in water. Keep aside.
   
   
2. Trim off the dark leaves of the leek. Use only the very light green and white part of the leek. Horizontally, slice the leek in half and then chop it finely. Discard the root.
3. Add the leeks to a bowlful of cold water and with your fingers separate the leeks so that the dirt and grime fall off and settle at the bottom of the bowl.
   
   
   
   
4. Gently lift the leeks from the cold water and give them a rinse or two in a sieve to wash out any excess dirt. Keep aside.
   
   
   
   
5. Heat ½ tablespoon butter in a pan and fry the chicken bacon till crisp. When done, drain the chicken bacon on a paper towel.
   
   
   
   
6. Add ½ cup butter to the butter in which the chicken bacon had been fried.
7. When the butter melts, add the chopped and washed leeks and cook for about 10-12 minutes until the leeks soften.
   
   
8. Drain the potatoes from the water. Add the cubed potatoes, salt and pepper to taste and give it a good stir.
   
   
   
   
9. Turn down the heat to low. Place a cartouche (round greaseproof paper) over the potatoes to ensure the steam stays in.
   
   
10. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the potatoes to cook for about 8 minutes or until they are cooked. They should at this point be cooked through but not mushy.
11. Uncover the pan, discard the cartouche.
12. Add the hot chicken broth and continue to simmer the broth for 5 minutes.
    
    
    
    
13. Take the pan off the hob, allow the soup to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then grind it in blender, in batches, until smooth. If needed, use some of the milk to blend it smooth if the mixture is too thick.
14. Empty out the smoothly blended soup into a clean pan. Add the smoothened cream. Mix well.
15. Put the vessel back on the stove and simmer on very low heat, stirring all the time.
16. Add the remaining milk to adjust the consistency. Feel free to use a bit more or less to adjust the consistency. (For consistency details please check Chef Notes)
17. Add salt, check seasoning and adjust as needed.
18. Simmer on very low heat, stirring all the time, till soup reheats.
19. Remove the soup into individual soup bowls, garnish with crisp chicken bacon and a pinch of chives. Serve hot with soup sticks or warm crusty bread.
    
    

Chef Notes:

1. The consistency of this soup is thick but not gluggy or blobby. It should be just thick enough to smoothly coat the back of a spoon.
2. Leeks belong to the onion family but they take longer to soften than regular onions or spring onions so ensure that you cook them until they are soft and cooked through.
3. I used chicken stock and chicken bacon because I’m a non-vegetarian but feel free to use vegetable stock and omit the use of chicken bacon if you wish to make a vegetarian version of the soup.
4. If you need to go low-cal with this soup, feel free to reduce the quantity of the butter. Some people opt for milk with just a tablespoon of cream. I refuse to do that because I know it will adversely affect the creamy texture and taste which is the heart and soul of this soup.
5. Please do your best to use freshly milled pepper as that truly enhances the flavor of the soup. (Okay, at the cost of sounding very vain, i admit, I love my Peugeot pepper mill ;) )
6. If you choose to use regular bacon instead of chicken bacon you won’t need ½ tablespoon of butter to crisp it. The fat released from the bacon will work to crisp it up.
7. I retained a wee bit of the soup and refrigerated it for six hours and tried it cold because I wanted to try the Vichyssoise version of it. It was just as creamy and delicious but, I have to honestly admit, I preferred it hot.
8. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.