Sweet Corn Soup

Soups are such an essential winter delight. They are light and hearty and make for an incredible dinner option. I mean you can of course drink them for lunch too but I love making them for dinner since they are usually one pot and get ready in a jiffy. This is why you see me creating numerous soup recipes and sharing them on my blog.

I have grown up having sweet corn soup at parties and get-togethers. Initially, I did not enjoy the sweet flavor of the soup due to corn. However, my mom started making this at home and she adapted the market version to her own by adding a lot of veggies and I loved it. I keep making the version over and over again and it’s always a delight. You can make some variations to this soup though and I have listed them in the next section.

VARIATIONS:

1. Veggies: If you wanted to create a classic Sweet Corn soup, you can make it with sweet corn only, but I like adding lots of veggies as it makes it more nutritious and filling. I have used carrot, broccoli, and peas in my soup but you can also use beans and potatoes too.
2. Thickening Agent: I puree some corn seeds and it to the soup to make the soup thicker. You can also mix about a teaspoon of cornflour with hot water and add that to the soup.
3. Tartness: Since Sweet Corn Soup is an Indo-Chinese soup, traditionally vinegar is added to add some nice acidity to the soup. However, I am not very fond of vinegar and have used lemon juice instead.
4. Oil/Butter: I make this in Vegetable oil but you can also make this in butter to get a nice buttery flavor in the soup. I add butter sometimes when I have guests over to get some extra flavor.

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 15-20 minutes
SERVINGS: 2
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Low

INGREDIENTS: 

1. American Sweet Corn – ½ cup
2. Carrot – 1
3. Broccoli florets – 2-3
4. Peas – ¼ cup
5. Spring onion – 1
6. Garlic pods – 2-3
7. Ginger – a small piece
8. Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons
9. Vegetable oil  – 1 tablespoon
10. Hot Water – 2 cups
11. Black pepper powder – ½ teaspoon
12. Salt – to taste

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

1. Blender
2. Wok/Kadhai

RECIPE:

1. Peel a carrot and finely dice it. Similarly, finely dice a few broccoli florets, garlic pods, and the white portion of the spring onion.

2. Take a kadhai and add a tablespoon of oil to it.
3. Add finely chopped garlic pieces and let them cook for a minute.
4. Then add finely diced carrot, broccoli, spring onion to it and along with corn (half of it) and peas. Mix some salt to cook quicker.
5. In the meantime, take a grinder and add the remaining half of the corn along with a small piece of ginger. Grind until it becomes a smooth paste.
6. Once the veggies are about half cooked, add in the corn-ginger paste. If you want a smooth soup, you can strain this corn-ginger paste to remove any grainy bits.

7. Add about 2 cups of hot water and allow the soup to boil nicely for 3-4 minutes. Now mix the green part of the spring onion.
8. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice and adjust the salt to taste.
9. Sprinkle some freshly crushed black pepper and serve the Vegetable Sweet Corn Soup hot.