Creamy Healthy Broccoli Soup

Details:

When the name comes and the picture appears for every small middle class family this vegetable is nothing different than a cauliflower but green in color with slight change is taste 😀

Well, apart from this joke, this broccoli has many benefits. 

1. It is a rich source of antioxidants, including vitamins C, K, and A. It also contains several important minerals, including potassium, calcium, and iron. These antioxidants help protect the body from oxidative stress and reduce inflammation.  Wow! antioxidants ! now a days all we look forward is this term in our diet. Of course, for looks looks and only looks. 🙂
2.  Adding this small green like food in your diet, it adds more to your eyes, good bone health, proper weight management as it contains low calories but has good proportion of fiber content which enables it as a filling food which helps to control weight and promotes a good metabolism.

Apart from its all good benefits, lets jump to make a good and tasty broccoli soup.

Steps: don’t look at the number, very easy steps. Just chill, read and cook 🙂

So, here we go:

1. Blanch Broccoli: In a pot of boiling water add in the chopped 3.5 to 4 cups washed fresh broccoli florets. Give everything a stir so the broccoli florets are immersed in water. After it is being boiled, just switched off the gas and cover the pot with a lid for 10 to 15 seconds. Drain the excessive water but do not throw that green water, which is technically the nutritious stock 😀

2. The next step is to start with the creamy mixture for this yummy soup. First, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in the same saucepan or pot you blanched your broccoli in. in case, if you have more vessels, just grab the next one 🙂 if you don’t want to make it messy in the kitchen, use the same one (just reduces your effort of cleaning more and more vessels and also stop wasting water)

3. After the butter has melted, add one small chopped onions and ½ teaspoon of finely chopped garlic. You can also add smashed garlic florets too. Cause anyways, you have to grind it. That grinding part we will mention later. Now come to the main part 🙂
4. After cooking the onions on low to medium-low heat, add 1 to 1½ tablespoons of whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour to the onion mixture.

5. Continue to sauté for 2 to 3 minutes on low heat.

   It is important to cook the flour so that its rawness is not felt in the soup later. If you are going to serve to your in laws, they will get it in first spoon and rest of the story you know it all :). Stop imagining, come to root level. so it is important to cook the flour properly.

6. Now  add the green blanched broccoli to the soup mixture. Mix it well. stir! stir! stir!
7. Remember, the stock we kept while blanching these green aliens? It is time to mix it with the mixture. Let it cook for some more time. Cover with a lid and simmer on low to medium-low heat until the broccoli is tender (about 6 to 7 minutes).
8. Well, don’t forget to check occasionally.  Take the pot off heat when the broccoli has become tender, and then let it become warm or cool. But don’t overcook it else, after all this hard work in the process, you will loose the nutrients that you wanted in your diet. Once the soup mixture has slightly cool down, use an immersion hand blender to blend the soup until the texture is smooth.
9. It is okay, not every house hold keeps all these fancy equipment. You can simply pour that mixture to your regular mixy-grinder and do vroom vroom and make a smooth paste out of it. Remember, in this case let the mixture be cool down completely, else your mixy pot lid will pop out after first pulse and instead of broccoli soup you will have decorated broccoli kitchen walls 🙂
10. Now, heat 1½ cups of whole milk in a saucepan. Do not to overheat the milk – simply lightly heat and do not boil. You are making soup, so no need to make it piping hot 🙂
11. Now, add hot milk to the pureed soup and mix the soup thoroughly on a low heat.
12. Oh! taste? We didn’t add anything! Oh, yes yes…add some “swad anusar”(as per taste) salt, some finely crushed black pepper, some oregano or your choice of dried or fresh herbs to that final mixture.
13. Gently heat soup and stir occasionally on a low heat. DO NOT BOIL! I REPEAT, DO NOT BOIL.
14.  Finally, pour the soup into beautiful serving bowls. You can also garnish with homemade croutons, cream, cheese, or fresh herbs like parsley or dill or  what is just readily available, the very beautiful ingredient in every Indian house hold – the dhaniya patta (coriander leaves) 😀 and voila! Taste your delightful broccoli soup.
15. You can also add a dollop of heavy cream or whipping cream as a garnishing style to add beaty to the dish 🙂

Let me know and share your experience of reading this blog and preparing this tasty soup and adding it to your routine 🙂 Enjoy a healthy meal. See you next time with more healthy things.

Thank you. 🙂