Creamed Spinach Tomato and Chestnut Soup with some Bhartiya Touch

With the kind of fluctuating weather we have these days, everybody around us is falling sick here. I am also down with cough and cold. So, it’s just some warm hearty bowl of soups these days for us.
Last time we had this Spiced Lentil Soup. This time it’s creamy spinach and tomato soup. I have used more of spinach than tomatoes. And we all know spinach is very healthy.

I have added some cashews also. The other day when I made it again, I added some roasted chestnuts also. Roasted chestnuts have similar taste of a sweet potato and it enhances the creamy texture of the soup also.Chestnuts are rich in carbohydrates and low in fat.

We went for some outings way back in Autumn last year and we collected some conkers from our long walk near the Windsor castle.

But these are Horse Chestnut and are not edible chestnuts unless you want to copy squirrels. And if you wish to follow some old British tradition then end up using these in your games also. Just tie them with thread and hit on your opponent’s conkers.

Anyways now back to the recipe-If you wish you may add some sautéed paneer cubes in this thick soup to have more or less easy breezy palak paneer.

Creamy Spinach tomato and Chestnut Soup

Recipe requirements
About 400 Gms of baby spinach leaves or 1 bunch of spinach leaves
2 medium size potatoes
2-3 medium size tomatoes
5-6 cashews/ 4-5 roasted chestnuts
½ inch ginger
2 garlic pods
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1-2 tsp of black pepper powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of sugar
1-2 tbs of butter (optional)
¼ cup of cream

Method
Wash and clean spinach leaves in water to get rid of dirt or sand.
Chop potatoes into cubes and chop tomato also. It’s not necessary to cut them finely and accurately and anyways it’s going to be pressure cooked so you will end up with a mush whatever way you cut the vegetables.
In a pressure cooker, add all the things-spinach, potato, tomato, ginger, garlic.
Add the seasonings-black pepper powder, red pepper flakes, coriander powder, sugar and salt.

How will you toast the chestnuts

Mark an “X” mark on every chestnut with a sharp knife. And on a foiled baking tray roast the chestnuts at 180 deg C for 15-20 mints. Take out in between and stir it. This will become dry and roasted. Keep it in an air tight container and use accordingly. Peel the whole outer hard shell with the brown outer lining to get the white portion of chestnuts which will be used in this soup.
If you wish you may dry grind these roasted chestnuts and keep it in air tight containers to be used accordingly in your recipes. Well Supermarkets do keep ready-made chestnut puree as well if I am not wrong. If you want to avoid all this hassle you can use ready-made puree also.

Add chestnuts or cashews what ever you prefer.
This soup is very flexible and spinach, tomato and chestnut ratio can be altered according to individual or family preferences.Make it 1:2:1 or 2:1:1 or 1:1:2 Ok, I should stop now ..and let you decide for a change.

Now add about 2 cups of water. And lock the pressure cooker lid.
After two whistles, take it off from the flame. Let the pressure subside and then open the lid.
Pulse thro in a food processor to get a smooth puree.
Add in cream and make a good stir. Reserve some cream for decorations. Add butter if you feel like otherwise it’s not necessary.
Enjoy this heart vegetarian creamy soup.

Note-

In India you may wish to substitute toasted chestnuts with almonds or cashews which are readily available there unless you come from Kashmir or northern UP where I guess chestnut is available during the onset of winters if I am not wrong.
This is probably another no oil, no onion, less spiced version of palak paneer if you put some paneer pieces into it. So go for it that way also.See I am telling you many variations of this recipe.
If you wish you may add 1 tsp of garam masala for some more flavor.

Happy Cooking Friends