Tomato soup

In this cold Bangalore weather, a hot soup is soooo comforting. Everybody's favourite soup at home? Tomato, of course. It doesn't take too much time to make it either. The perfect weekday evening soup. Most store bought soup powders use cornflour or other flours to obtain the thickness, I generally add some other veggies or 2 tbsp of dal to do the same. Makes it healthy as well as thick. Potato is the general thickening agent people use at home, I avoid it and generally use cauliflower or sweet potato.

Ingredients:

Tomato - 3 medium
Carrots - 2
Sweet potato - 1/2 cup (peeled and cubed)
Onion - 1 small
Bay leaf / Tej patta - 1
Cinnamon / Dalchini - 1" piece
Black peppercorns / Kali mirch - 4-5
Clove/ Lawang - 1-2
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Pepper powder / Red chilli powder - 1-2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Water

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a cooker pan
Roughly chop the onions and fry for 1-2 mins
Roughly chop the tomato, sweet potato and carrot and add to the cooker
Add all the whole spices
Add water just enough to cover the vegetables
Add salt and pressure cook for appx 2-3 whistles or 5-8 mins
Cool the vegetables a little and puree them in a mixer
Pour the puree back into the pan, add a cup of water, sugar, red chilli powder or pepper and allow it to boil
Add more water if the soup is too thick.
Boil on low flame for another 8-10 mins.
Serve hot. The above recipe makes enough for 3 people.