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Jan 24, 2013

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

6 comments:

  1. Niharika24/1/13

    I am always worried about my kids health. They both are very choosy too. My daughter hates vegetables. I find it very tough. This has given me an idea to give them the vegetables. Will try this soup. I hope it works magic with my kids too.
    You have a nice blog here. I will have to some again for more kids recipes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try this idea with your kids and let me know your success in the venture
      Thanks for the compliment and sure stop by for more kids spl

      Delete
    2. Niharika4/2/13

      Hi Nirmala, i made this last week and it was too good. my kids loved it so much. we again made it over the weekend and everybody enjoyed. Thumbs up on this one

      Delete
  2. Blogging ???? You have taken me girl. I love this. You are always good, good in whatever you do. I have always liked you like that. Keep it up

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shweta4/2/13

    I always like soups and keep thinking i shud try some time. Your recipe tempted me so much that i tried it finally. it was very good. only problem was that i added too much pepper so it was spicy

    ReplyDelete

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