A tomato soup with a citrus twist. This is basically a creamy tomato soup at base infused with fresh orange juice. There is already a recipe shared for tomato soup way back and this recipe is nothing like it. The process involved is more like cooking a curry or gravy.

But, why the orange twist? I had a batch of oranges lying on the counter and I wanted to use them up before they were wasted. So I made carrot and orange soup. This turned out super delicious, but my bad I could not get good pictures to post. Yet again, on this bright day I set out early to make this soup. I changed my mind and challenged myself to try the same preparation with tomatoes instead. Yes, it was super tasty and hence this post 🙂

I pan fried the tomatoes, onions,garlic and mint leaves with butter and then blended them. Frying tomatoes gives a nice aroma to the soup when compared to using blanched tomatoes. Now, you know that this is not an instant soup. Be it frying or blanching, both needs your precious time, yet not time consuming. A tasty meal is not made just like that you see.

This soup can be quite heavy on your tummy and its filling too. It is a small meal in itself and made rich with butter and cream. In fact you can reduce the amount of butter used and skip the cream in your preparation for a guilt free soup. For those on diet can completely omit butter and cream and use very little olive oil.

Like I mentioned above, you have 2 versions of the same soup, with carrots and tomatoes. If you are using carrots you don’t have to add cornstarch to thicken the soup; Carrots when blended will be thicker. Also, it naturally has a creamy texture so you can skip the cream too. There it becomes a wholesome, super nutritious healthy food. Even with tomatoes, if you want to keep it light then do not add cornstarch.

Soup tastes best when served warm. Do try this delicious soup and tell me which one you like better.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes 2 medium.
• Onion 1 medium .
• Mint leaves 15 – 20
• Orange Juice 1/2 cup.
• Milk Cream 2tbsp .
• Corn Flour 1 tbsp.
• Pepper corns 1 tsp .
• Butter 2 tbsp .
• Salt.

Method

• Roughly chop onions and tomatoes.
• Mix Corn flour with half cup of water and keep aside.
• Heat  1 tbsp butter in a pan, preferably non stick pan.
• Once the butter melts, add 6-7 mint leaves, onion and salt. Sauté it. When the onions turn golden brown add tomatoes. Fry it for 4-5 minutes in high flame.
• Switch off the flame and let it cool. Make a fine puree.
• In the same pan heat remaining butter.
• Add remaining mint leaves and add the puree.
• To the puree add crushed black pepper or pepper powder and mix well.
• Add cornstarch and stir well.
• Adjust water and salt; and cook it in low flame for 10 minutes.
• Turn off the flame. Add milk cream and mix well.
• After 2-4 minutes add orange juice and stir.

Note: Don’t add orange juice when flame is on. It will give bitter taste.