Broccoli and Chicken Soup

Recently I received a handwritten letter, which is a rare phenomenon these days. Call me old-fashioned but I do miss those days where we used to wait for the postman to bring the letter… and when you receive and read, the words written in the letter are full of love and warmth…. There was something charming about it and I miss that.  The letter I received was so timely, as I have been in and out of flu these days and those words cheered me up.

Considering that my immunity is all haywire this month, without guilt I decided to make the ultimate comfort food. I made my favorite soup that is warm for our winter, full of nutrients and incredibly flavorful. It’s one of my favorites. And I also decided to make this for a dear friend who has been unwell for the past two weeks. I felt pampered recently when a dear friend, who is family to me, dropped home some food quite unexpectedly when I was unwell (thank you Shilpa!). So I decided to pay it forward.

So I quickly made a creamy and pureed Broccoli Chicken Soup. Here is my version… remember it’s a little rich….. But who cares as far its soothing and makes you jump back on your feet.

 

 

Broccoli & Chicken Soup

Ingredients

·         5-6 broccoli crowns, stems chopped off (or frozen broccoli)

·         1/2 cup cooked chicken cubes (breast piece)

·         2 tablespoon chopped Onion

·         1/4 cup finely chopped carrot

·         1/4 cup chopped green onions

·         1 tablespoon chopped garlic

·           2 tablespoon chopped celery

·         1 tablespoon chopped parsley

·         2 bay leaf

·         2 cups chicken broth (use chicken broth cube)

·         3 tablespoons butter

·         3 tablespoons flour

·         1/2 cup milk

·         Olive Oil

·         Cream 2 Tablespoon

·         1 tablespoon Cashew nut paste (optional, I used for flavor) (soak a couple of cashew nuts in warm water for ten minutes and blend it into paste with 1 tablespoon of water)

·         Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1.       In a pot, sauté onion, garlic, celery and bay leaf till soft.

2.       Add broccoli, carrot and chicken and sauté for 2 minutes.

3.        Then add broth, parsley and cook until broccoli and carrot are soft.

4.       Use a blender or an immersion blender to puree the broccoli mixture.

5.       Melt butter in a separate pot. Whisk in flour, then slowly pour in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow mixture to thicken (takes 1-2 minutes).

6.       Add butter/milk mixture to pureed broccoli mixture, stir to combine, and heat thoroughly.

7.       Then add a little cream, cashew nut paste and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve it hot.

 

Tips

·         To save time, make ahead cooked chicken and cashew nut paste.

·         If you want to make pure vegetarian soup, please substitute chicken broth with vegetarian. And chicken cubes with potato cubes or cauliflower florets or Zucchini.

·         To make it richer, you can add cheddar cheese towards the end. There are plenty of variations to this soup. Please let me know if you have an interesting variation to this soup.

All images are clicked by me