Thick Onion Soup

Dear Appu,

And so this is the beginning. Nov 23, 2007 and I have finally made a start with Dear Appu. And what a time to start isn’t it, when life is taking one of its most dynamic forms for you. And for all of us.  Well, it takes a couple of earthquakes to realign the fault lines, I guess. And no matter how devastating the destruction…it always gives way to rebuilding. So, let that be the theme that runs through this blog. Building and rebuilding. I shall build these pages with recipes and notes, and we shall all, together, rebuild some hope.

Today is the day after Thanksgiving. It is actually the first time we Thanksgiving and acknowledged it. I felt happy doing it, and taking a little extra efforts to learn more about it and cook a simple meal. A non-Indian meal. And since I am always a little wary of cooking a non Indian meal, for fearing of it not turning out well, I stuck to something very simple. Onion soup and a pasta dish. In this post, I’ll tell you more about the Onion soup, which I personally think turned out great. R agrees with me. Here we go… 

I N G R E D I E N T S

Butter – 5 tbsp
Onions – 1 large, finely chopped (I used red onions)
Garlic cloves – 3, crushed
All purpose flour/Maida – 1/3 cup
Vegetable stock – 2 and 1/2 cups (Its alright to use plain water too, like I did.)
Milk – 2 and 1/2 cups
Lemon juice – 2-3 tsp
Ground allspice – A good pinch (I used curry powder since I did not have this)
Bay leaf – 1
Carrot – 1, coarsely grated
Heavy cream – 4-6 tbsp (I think this is optional, I didn’t use any cream)
Salt and pepper
Parsley – 2 tbsp, chopped, to garnish

M E T H O D

1. Melt the butter in a pan and cook the onions and garlic over low heat. stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes, until soft, but not coloured.

2. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute, then gradually stir in the stock (or water) and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the milk, then bring back to a boil.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add 2 tsp of the lemon juice, the allspice and bay leaf. Simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Discard the bay leaf.

4. Stir in the carrot into the soup and simmer for 2-3 minutes more. Add more lemon juice, if necessary. Stir in the cream and reheat (I skipped this step).

5. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve warm.

Viola! Pretty simple, I would say. And if you like the flavour of onions, you will love this soup! Ending with a quote…can you believe, I found a quote on onion soup???!!!

“Onion soup sustains. The process of making it is somewhat like the process of learning to love. It requires commitment, extraordinary effort, time, and will make you cry.”