Tomato shorba
Tomato shorba is a mildly spiced, tangy soup made from fresh ripe tomatoes. Shorba means a soup in very ancient Persian and the origin of shorba dates back to either ancient Persia or India. The essence of this shorba is the quick sauté of species to release the flavour and fragrance before adding the tomatoes.
What you'll need :
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 inch stick of cinnamon, lightly crushed
2 tsp ground cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
Salt and crushed pepper as per taste
5-6 fresh ripe tomatoes
Warm water
Fresh cream if needed
1 clove garlic
pinch of sesame seeds
How to :
Boil the tomatoes in 3-4 cups of water. Once the outer skin of the tomatoes begins to break, turn off the heat and allow it to cool down.Set aside the water used to boil the tomatoes. This can be later used as stock.
In a non-stick pan, add butter and sauté the finely grated garlic. Add finely chopped onions, cumin & coriander powder, garam masala and sauté for 2 mins until translucent. Add the peeled tomatoes to this mixture and turn off the heat. Blend all the ingredients in the mixer and strain the soup through a sieve (I usually prefer not to strain though) Discard the left out stuff from the sieve. Season the soup with sugar and salt and heat if for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with cream and coriander leaves/sesame seeds before serving.
