Cream of Tomato Soup (தக்காளி சூப்)

Think about soup and first that comes to many people’s mind is tomato soup. It tastes heavenly when served hot and the croutons add lot of taste and texture to the soup. Using a hand blender made the blending so easy, but a regular blender would do just fine. Please remember to not add all the liquid while grinding as it can make it frothy and the color will be orange. I used the canned tomatoes that worked like a charm as it is riper than the tomatoes we get in the supermarket and their skin is already peeled off making the process much easier. If you cannot find the tomato paste, add ½ cup of the juice from the can. It will be little less in flavor but not huge.

Ingredients
Tomato (canned) – 1 can (28 oz.)
Brown Sugar – 1 ½ table spoon (regular sugar does not work well)
Onion (minced fine) – ¼ cup (You can also use Shallots)
Butter – 4 table spoons
Tomato Paste – 1 table spoon
Cloves – 2
Cinnamon Stick – 1
Bay Leaf – 1
All-Purpose Flour – 2 table spoons
Stock – 1 ¾ cup
Cream – ½ cup
Salt – 1 tea spoon
Chili Powder / Cayenne Pepper – ¼ tea spoon

Method
Strain the tomatoes and keep the water aside.
Cover a baking sheet with foil (this step is a must or else it will be very difficult to get the tomatoes out of there).
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F on convention mode (450 F if using baking mode).
Cut open the tomatoes and remove as many seeds as possible.
Line the deseeded tomatoes in a rimmed baking sheet with cut side down.
Sprinkle brown sugar on the tomatoes and roast them in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and allow it cool.
Once cooled, remove them from the baking sheet and set aside.
Melt butter in a pan until foaming and add the onions and sauté them well.
Add the cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and sauté for 30 seconds.
Add the tomato paste and mix well and reduce the heat and cook until they are all tender.
Add salt and chili and 2 table spoons of flour and mix well to ensure no lumps and cook for 30 seconds
Add vegetable stock or more tomato juice from can and whisk well to ensure that there are no lumps.
Add 3 cups more of the tomato juice from the can and whisk well to combine and bring it to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Pick and remove the cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and discard
Now strain the solids and blend them with about 1/3 of the liquid until smooth
Put the mixture and the remaining liquid back in the pan, add cream and serve hot with croutons on top!!

Sending this to Siri’s Anniversary Event