Roasted Capsicum and Tomato soup

The complete meal – Roasted Capsicum and Tomato Soup with Homemade Bread

Soups make a great dinner choice during all seasons but in winters they make my heart go mmmm… I’ve been thinking of making roasted capsicum and tomato soup since sometime now but every time I brought home red capsicum, it got used up in pasta and never made it to the soup recipe:). This time I made the soup the day I came back from the grocer so that Sikander didn’t have a chance to look through the vegetable drawer and say “hmm… red capsicum… let’s make some pasta!”

Roasting gives a warm earthy flavor to vegetables. The burnt aroma and taste is what I love most of roasted eggplant also. The red capsicum and the tomatoes give this soup a fiery red color lots of tangyness, little sweetness and lots of health benefits to top it all! This soup is ideal for diabetics and is rich in Vitamin A and C. My reference recipe for the soup was Tarla Dalal’s Roasted Capsicum Soup.

Roasted Capsicum and Tomato soup

Preparation Time: 10 mins| Cooking Time: 15 mins| Serves 2 (as main)

2 red capsicums

4 tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

2 bayleaves

½ cup skimmed milk

1tbsp cornflour

2tbsp Worcestershire sauce

A few drops of tobasco sauce

Salt to taste

Roast the red capsicum over flame. Keep turning, till the skin turns black all over. And I mean really black. Don’t worry that your lovely red capsicum will lose its color. Trust me, it won’t :). The skin will burn and become black and it will then easily peel off from the capsicum leaving behind a brighter red one! (See the picture)
Keep aside the roasted capsicum in a bowl to cool down.
Once cooled, remove the skin, stem and seeds and cut into quarters.
In a pan, heat about 3 cups of water. Add tomatoes (cut into quarters or 8 each), bay-leaves and garlic cloves. Boil till the tomatoes turn soft.
Remove the bay-leaves and tomato skins (they would have loosened and many would just be floating on the water).
Add the roasted capsicum and puree to a smooth paste.
Mix cornflour in warm milk and add to the tomato-capsicum paste. Mix well.
Add salt, Worcestershire sauce and tobasco sauce and simmer the soup for a few minutes till it thickens.
Empty into soup bowl, garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with warm bread for a complete meal.