Carrot soup.. a nutrition top-up for kids...

Nikhil, my elder kiddo has started liking soups these days. I noticed lately that whenever we are at a restaurant he makes sure he orders his soup first before any other of his favorites. He is usually a picky-eater like many other toddlers at this stage. I always have to think of new ways and hide-n-seek ways to give him few specific vegetable supplements. When i say hide-n-seek I mean I have to play white lies many a times to make him eat some veggies say - beetroot, spinach, beans, sweet potatoes and many more. Thinking of such ways sometimes give me wild ideas or sometime very simple ideas.  Sometimes I mash some veggies and add them to chappathi dough, something mash it give a gravy consistency, sometimes deep-fry for an extra effect but this one here is a wonderful and healthy alternate if the kids like it.

This soup-liking story sparked my silly nutrition-seeking mind to take advantage of this nice little healthy like. Ideas flashed making my eyes sparkling bright and smile getting mischievous that I could feed them some more veggies easily. Nowadays it has been a regular habit to serve them 3-4 unadulterated soups a week, which is very good.

When I discussed this with my friends one day, I could see so many faces brightly lit that were sure many requests for a recipe forward. I could see that many mothers were really very happy to get this recipe getting into their kitchen tables right away. I had so many smiles that I had to post this with a smile on my face.

This is a very simple recipe .. of course fool-proof. Yes, I am sure you can never go wrong with it. Enjoy and let me know.

Serves... 4 kids

Serve option... Hot with croutons/crackers

This is what u'll need....

Carrot - 1 big
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Garlic cloves - 4
Pepper - 1/2 tspn
Jeera - 1/2 tspn
Milk - 1 cup 
Butter - 1/2 tspn
Salt to taste

Here is the stir....

• Wash and chop all the vegetables into big chunks. Transfer it to a pressure cooker along with some peppercorns and jeera/cumin seeds. Sprinkle some salt

• Pressure for 3-4 whistles or until the vegetables are cooked soft. When I make it for grown-ups I dont cook it too much as I like the soup a little chunky. But when I make it for kids, I make sure its nice and soft 

•  Let the pressure go down. Leave the cooker open for a few minutes till the heat goes down. Transfer it to a blender and grind it to a fine paste

• Meanwhile boil some milk and keep it aside. I add milk for 2 reasons - a dash of extra calcium for the kids and other - it makes the soup very silky and creamy which kids love 

• Heat a pan and add butter. Adding butter is optional. You can skip it very well. Transfer the blended mixture to the pan and bring it to a boil. Turn down the flame and add the milk. Few more seconds of stirring will let it all blend and get it done

• Transfer the soup to soup-bowls and give the kids their gift of nutrition along with some favorite croutons/crackers

Note:

• Adding pepper and jeera is a part of good healthy habits. Skip it if your kids dont like them. Or use very little for a subtle effect
• You can add water is you want the consistency a little thinner or boil more if you want a thicker soup
• Serve it at a temperature little more than warm if not very hot. If chilled, soups dont taste as good as they intend to