Saturday, October 11, 2008

Broccoli Chowder (Creamy Broccoli Soup With Potatoes And Corn)

Broccoli Chowder is a delicious green and gold soup hearty enough to serve as a meal! It becomes a veritable feast especially if accompanied by corn cakes, corn muffins, quesadillas, spicy toast, and/or a salad.

8 Servings

Ingredients:

2 lbs Broccoli
1/2 lb Potatoes (any type), diced
2 medium green or golden Zucchini, or other mild summer squash, finely diced
1 lb Corn Kernels, fresh or frozen
2 T Unsalted Butter or oil
1 Onion, diced
3 ribs Celery (including leaves), finely sliced
4 sprigs Fresh Thyme
Sea Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Cayenne (Optional)
3 c water
2 c milk
3 Tbsp Unbleached flour dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Whole Black Pepper
1/2 cup Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup Cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Fresh or Sour Cream (Optional), to serve
Paprika, to serve

Method:

Separate the florets from the stems of the broccoli. Peel and chop the stems. Cut the florets into bite size pieces. Keep them separate.

Place the onions, a pinch of salt, and the thyme sprigs in a large stainless steel pot with the butter and cook until onions are translucent.

Add celery and stir cook for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Add water, turmeric, rest of the salt, cayenne, corn kernels, broccoli stems, and potatoes.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir the broccoli florets, diced zucchini, flour-water slurry, and the milk into the soup and allow it to come to a boil. Add boiling water if the soup is too thick.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Dry roast the black pepper and the cumin seeds until fragrant; grind using a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder.

Turn off the heat and add the herbs and the ground spices to the soup. Mix well.

Let the soup rest for about 10 minutes.

Serve hot topped with a little cream lightly dusted with paprika.

Note: The vegetables may be roasted if desired just as in corn chowder. Instead of zucchini, other mild squashes or gourds like the Indian tori or lauki (Opo squash), chayote squash, etc may be used.

2 comments:

Ramya said...

Hi Geetha,
I am going to try this chowder .I have some broccoli florets,but did not want to make the usual sabzi.My kids frown on it.I will let you know how it turned out soon.

Geetha said...

Hi Ramya,
I hope the chowder was a success for you. How did your children like it? Do let me know. Thank you!