Vegetable/ Tomato Soup

This is my version of a tomato soup, initiated when my not-so-little one got hooked on the tomato soup and the grilled cheese sandwich meal at pre-school. Tomato soup in itself is too tart for one or too sweet for the other person and its very uni dimensional in taste for me. "No Flavor", says my little one.:)
Playing around with different variations over time, we have a standard soup acceptable to everyone in the house now. And all I did was add a handful of carrots, onions, celery or leeks or fennel, and a small piece of potato to thicken it. Pair with a crusty bread, grilled cheese sandwich or Panini and that's our Sunday evening meal!

Panini itself is another addiction if there is some good bread available. So if there is soup, we make a beeline to get some bread and if there is bread, then soup has to be made. The panini can be as varied as you like it with whatever leftover meat and veggies going into it, all grilled to a crisp.

That's it. Each of our taste in soups are unique and one person saying "this is the best soup ever" never works. So try this soup, vary it to your taste, add or subtract the ingredients as you like it and you will get a soup that everyone in your house likes.


You will Need:
Tomatoes-2 big ones(beef steak or 3-4 plum ones)
Potato-1 half of a small sized one.
Onion-1 small one
Garlic-1 fat clove
Carrots- 2 thin full ones
Celery-1 stalk (substitute with 3 scallions or 1 piece of fennel)
Pepper-1/4 tsp or as per taste
Paprika-1/8 tsp
Salt to taste
One bay leaf
Good EV olive Oil-1 or 2 tablespoon
Water-2-3 cups of water (or low sodium chicken stock)

Preparation:
In a pressure cooker, heat the olive oil and add the garlic, onions and celery. Saute for a minute and add the rest of the ingredients except salt. Saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes, add the water, close the lid and pressure cook for a couple of whistles. When it cools down,, open, remove the bay leaf and puree using a hand blender or the blender jar. Add salt and add more water if it feels too thick. Serve with a dot of butter and pepper to taste.

Variations: The amount of carrot and potato determine the taste of the soup so be careful before you get excited and add too much. It may end up as a carrot or potato soup. So if the carrot or potato is too big, reduce the quantity. If you have leftover tomato diced or tomato sauce in a can, add that too as that really gives a nice flavor and color. Add cilantro or parsley or basil as desired.