Tamatar Ka Shorba - Thin Indian Tomato Soup with Whole Warm Spices !

Made n Enjoyed
Hello readers,

The amount of times I've left the house for my grocery shopping without checking fridge or pantry properly, and end up getting few things which are already in the house, is countless. Doesn't matter too much if it's non perishable, but we're in trouble if the ingredients are fresh! This happened to me last week when I bought lots of tomatoes when I already had nearly 2 kgs in my fridge. Started wondering what I'm going to do with all these tomatoes? Went to ask husband, he suggested I should make sev tameta nu shaak ( tomatoes and gram flour noodles curry ) but I did not have sev in the house..so I was back to square one !

Couldn't decide one way or the other what to do with all these tomatoes...Finally my daughter came up to me and asked to make the soup which we had for first time in an Indian restaurant in Switzerland ten years back. But she couldn't remember what this soup was called. She described it to me by recalling the taste of that soup and how it was presented to us...I had flash back of that day and I remember asking the chef for this particular recipe. And we all settled for Tamatar ka Shorba for lunch.

A very simple recipe, you can whip up with everyday spices from your kitchen and comes out perfectly giving the soup a very good taste. So what makes this soup different from the millions of other tomato soup recipes out there? Well, it's a lot thinner than the consistency of a normal soup. It is not chunky and is similar to the consistency of gujarati daal or kadhi. Overall, it's a deliciously brothy soup with cumin tadka and is incredibly easy to make ! If that isn't a winner in your eyes, then I don't know what is! Slurpppppppp away!

You will need :-

1. 1 kg fresh ripe tomatoes ( roughly chopped )
2. 2 tbsp tomato puree ( optional )
3. 1 big red onion ( roughly chopped )
4. 5-6 cloves garlic
5. 1 tbsp grated ginger
6. 2 green chillies
7. 1 small cinnamon stick
8. 3-4 cloves
9. 8-10 black pepper seeds
10. 2-3 bay leaves
11. 1-2 black cardamom pod
12. 3-4 green cardamom pod
13. 2 star anise
14. Salt to taste
15. 1-2 tbsp sugar ( sugar helps in removing acidity from tomatoes )
16. 2 tbsp oil
17. 1 tsp cumin seeds
18. Pinch of hing ( asafoetida )
19. Fresh coriander to garnish

Method :-
In a large pressure cooker place all the ingredients from no 1 to 13 with 600-700 ml water.
Let it cook till 3 whistle.
If you do not have pressure cooker put all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring it to boil.
Simmer for 25-30 minutes on a low heat till tomatoes are mashed completely.
Remove most of the whole spices with the help of spoon. But don't throw away. If one or two left in the mixture, it's fine.
Now by using electric hand blender or mixer blend tomato mix to puree. Make sure there isn't any lump of tomatoes in there.
DO NOT STRAIN this mixture. why you want to waste all the goodness of tomatoes.
Transfer the tomato mixture in a large saucepan, add tomato puree, if mixture is thick add 1/2 cup of water. Bring it to a good boil.
Add sugar and salt.
Prepare tempering ( tadka ) by heating a oil in a tiny saucepan, add cumin seeds and discarded whole spices , let them crackle add hing and pour in to tomato soup.
Check the seasoning and serve hot with fresh chopped coriander.
Goes perfectly with any crusty bread.
Enjoy !