Coffee, Tea or Tomato Soup?

Work and family commitments have kept me really busy over the last few weeks, so much so that I haven't cooked in my kitchen for ages (and I certainly don't regard boiling water for instant noodles as a form of cooking). With the inspiration battery running low, it also seemed like a good excuse to take a short break from this blog...... so, my apologies to those who've been checking in every once in a while to find "naught anew"!

Anyway, enough with excuses... today, I want to tell you about a tomato soup that is more than just tomatoes.


Wanting something light and quick for dinner, I felt that a nice tangy tomato soup with toasted garlic bread would fit the bill, and decided to add a little extra zing to the usual tomato soup (based on something I remembered reading in a food magazine a couple of months back).

• slice 3 tomatoes into wedges, and chop up a quarter to half of a big onion (amount depending on your preference, and I also generally prefer to use big onions as opposed to smaller shallots, for the simple reason that it is much easier to peel and chop)
• saute the chopped onions in a deep saucepan with a bit of oil until softened
• then add 2 tablespoons of curry powder (yes, I do mean curry powder - any kind will probably do, but since this was going into a tomato-based soup, I used the curry powder usually labelled for vegetable curries) to the pan and cook with the sauted onions for a few minutes
• add the tomato wedges, half a can of pureed tomatoes, and a cup of chicken broth to the pan and simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 to 7 minutes
• and finally, add 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter (again, I do mean peanut butter of the likes that come out from a Skippy bottle) to the mixture and some salt and ground black pepper for seasoning - stir for about 2 minutes or so and the soup is ready to be served!

Your initial reaction when reading the above recipe is probably of horror but don't discount it altogether because of the unusual pairing of ingredients - the curry powder adds a certain zing of spiciness (though not overpowering) to an otherwise normal tangy tomato soup, and the peanut butter provides an interesting element of surprise and counterfoil to that spiciness. Dunk some garlic buttered toast into the whole concoction and the flavours develop even further. In fact, don't even tell your dining companions the two secret ingredients and see if they can guess the same!