It was raining Cats and Dogs on Saturday Morning..and it was decided we are having soup for lunch . The menu was so apt for the weather . An hour after it was all ready, the sun was shining bright, rain drops cleared up from my french window and kids were all excited  to open up the door and start playing outdoor. Well that’s the London Weather! Totally unpredictable. Thanks to the nearly perfect weather update on BBC, H did tell me the weather will improve. I didn’t have the slightest hope though …

Guess it was a week and half before,  PR firm and I were having a casual mail exchange about Soup Boosters. I was all excited to try the 4 flavors that were introduced new in the market. But when the courier arrived, little  did I expect the hamper to have a rustic wooden crate loaded with fresh vegetables and soup boosters – Aromatic Thai Paste,Wild Garlic and herbs,Roasted Moroccan and Mexican Chilli. Happy Feet indeed! The crate is a beautiful prop, any food blogger would die for.

Soup Boosters from the New Covent Garden Soup & Co are flavor enhancers. According to the recipe printed on the backside of the tubes, they ask you to squeeze in at least 1/2 the tube for 1 kg vegetable used for the soup. I so wanted to try the Thai Paste , but only when I went through the ingredients, I realised it contained Fish Sauce. Thank God !! I read the label.. I would recommend the company to label the paste V, if its suitable for vegetarians.

Let me warn you , this post is images Loaded. I just couldn’t stop snapping .. If you would like to be a part of my photography exploration , continue reading…

Soup is energy packed , flavor packed and ideal when you would like to have something light.We ( H and me) love soups any time.. But little did I realize I had not exposed the little’s in the family to soup of any kind. Woof!! A definite blunder. After this its a promise to myself that kids will be having all the varieties I am aware of at-least in the next 6 months.

Steam capturing was in my to do learn list last month. So whenever I cook something hot, I would quickly carry it to my set up and begin snapping. This steam captured in this soup is a continuation to my tea posts . That’s where all the learning began. Whilst food is being cooked, set up is all done parallel y as we need to freeze the moment to capture steam. Any delay,steam would start falling off and we would need to reheat the food. I really didn’t want to do it.. Hence all the early practice with the tea helped..

I tailored my Vegetable Soup to suit everyone in the family, neither over dozed in flavors nor too subtle.What goes in the Soup ??? Well It can be an assortment of vegetables readily available.. For my first version , I used some potatoes too ..

This particular ingredients image is first of its kind in my blog and I was very happy when I tried to do it.

VEGETABLE CLEAR SOUP Prep Time: 10 Min | Cooking Time: 20 Min | Serves 2-3 INGREDIENTS: 2 Cups of Chopped mixed vegetables ( Carrots, peppers – green and orange , broccoli, leeks ) ½ White Onion + ½ Red Onion finely chopped ½ tsp of grated Ginger 1 Tbsp. Corn flour + 2-3 tsp water 1 tsp Soya Sauce ½ tsp Sweet Chilli Sauce 2.5 Cups of Water ¼ tsp of Pepper Powder ¾ Tsp of Garlic and Herbs Soups Boosters ** Salt to taste DIRECTIONS:  · Wash the assortment of vegetables and chop them fine. · Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add finely chopped onions, followed by ginger .Fry until slightly translucent. · Add all the chopped veggies and sauté in medium flame for 2-3 minutes, until all the raw smell disappears and they are partially cooked. · Pour in 2.5 Cups of Boiling Water and allow it simmer for a couple of minutes. Approximately 4-5 Minutes, I would say. At this stage, season with salt, pepper, soya sauce and some sweet chilli sauce to suit your taste. Also add in ¾ tsp of Soup boosters to enhance the flavour. · Mix corn flour with just enough cold water to make a watery paste. · Add the corn flour paste to the simmered soup, allow 2 more minutes. You will eventually see the soup thicken slightly. · Garnish with the green part of the leeks. NOTES: **Instead of Soup Boosters, you may use 1 tsp of garlic paste at the time of frying Onions as replacement. If you are unsure on the proportion of soya sauce and sweet chilli sauce, leave it on the table as an add-on.

With Many thanks to New Covent Garden Soup & Co & Havasww for sending across the products.