Tomato n Carrot Soup

During my vacation in India this time...it was beautiful and gloomy typical Bangalore weather.It rained almost every evening making the weather chill ..what else can be more comforting than a big bowl of hot tomato soup to Sip and Slurrp.......

 This Tomato n Carrot Soup recipe of mine was a huge hit and i served it whenever I had guests at home...

Recipe Courtesy : Web recipe with personal twist

This recipe serves 4-5 people

Ingredients

1. Cinnamon : 2 small sticks
2. Cloves : 3 pieces
3. Garlic : 6-8 large garlic pods crushed
4. Onion : 1 small onion cut into medium sized pieces
5. Tomatoes : 5-6 medium sized Apple or Roma tomatoes. Cut them into halves.The sweet ones are best for the soup.
6. Carrots : 2-3 medium sized , peel and cut them into medium sized pieces
7. Corn starch : 2 Tbsp. Mix it with some cold water in a bowl without any lumps.
8. Sugar  : 2 Tbsp
9. Salt : to taste
10. Black pepper : to taste

Procedure

• In a pressure cooker, On medium heat, add 1-2 Tbsp of oil and put in the whole cinnamon sticks and cloves. Give it few seconds.
•  Then add onion pieces, crushed garlic pods and stir it for few seconds to get slight brown color on onion.
• Put in the carrot pieces and tomato halves and stir everything together for a minute.
• Add two glasses of water and close the cooker and let it whistle.
• After three whistles turn off the heat and allow it to cool.
• Now find all the cinnamon n clove pieces and remove them without fail. Peel the skin of the tomatoes.since we have cut them into halves, it's easy to peel the skin. 
• Transfer the tomato mixture into a mixer and reserve the liquid for later use.blend the tomato mixture to a smooth puree.Now strain the puree to remove any tomato seeds or skin.
• In a soup pan add the reserved liquid to the tomato purée and bring it to boil.
• Add some more water, sugar, cornstarch water, salt and pepper as per taste and Boil it for 5 minutes. Add water as per your required consistency. If the soup looks very watery.. Add some more cornstarch to thicken it. 
• Finally taste the soup for salt and pepper. Add some more sugar if it tastes tangy.
•  If you want to impress kids or guests , then add a big spoon of Ghee or Butter and turn of the heat.
• Serve it hot and enjoy the compliments.