Recipe: Cashew Almond Mushroom Soup

Deepa Mehrotra decided to eschew milk and flour for her mushroom soup and add the richness of nuts that, to her delight, made sure the soup turned out extra delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 packet or 200 gm mushroom, finely chopped
• 1½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6-7 garlic pods, finely chopped
• 1 onion, chopped

Ingredients, continued

• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs (thyme, oregano etc)
• 8-10 cashews
• 8-10 almonds, skin on
• 1 tsp black pepper powder

Ingredients, continued

• Salt to taste, about 1½ tsp
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2-3 tbsp chopped greens of spring onions, for garnish

Method

• Heat the olive oil with the garlic and the onion in a saucepan, over medium heat and fry a few minutes.
  Now add the nuts and fry a few minutes more till they are lightly toasted.
  Take out of the pan and keep aside.

Method, continued

• In the same pan add the chopped mushrooms -- add a little extra oil only if required -- and fry for a few minutes, allowing it to sweat out the water.
  Take half of the fried mushrooms out of the pan and keep aside.
• Add the onion-garlic-nuts mixture back to the pan that contains the remaining fried mushroom.
  Add the vegetable stock, salt, pepper, mixed herbs and bring to a boil.

Method, continued

• Cool slightly and grind in a mixer/blender.
• Return the ground soup to the saucepan along with the portion of fried mushrooms kept aside.
  Bring to a boil and take off heat.
  Divide the soup between 2-3 soup bowls and garnish with green onions
• Serve hot with bread on side; serves 2-3.

Tips
Liquid broth is available in some gourmet food stores. Or substitute the vegetable broth by combining 2 vegetable soup cubes or 2 vegetable broth/bouillon cubes or 2 tsp vegetable broth/bouillon powder with 4 cups boiling water.
Or make vegetable broth from scratch by boiling 4-5 cups water with 1-2 large roughly chopped carrots, 3 stalks roughly chopped celery with leaves, 2 medium onions chopped in chunks, 5-6 whole black peppercorns, 2 tsp salt, 4 tbsp chopped parsley with stems, 2 lavang or cloves, 5 pods garlic, 2 tej patta or bay leaves till vegetables are tender and the water is steeped with the flavour of the vegetables and spices.
Strain and use 4 cups for the recipe.