Broccoli stalk soup

Trying to keep inline my own mental promise, I decided I should blog yet another recipe today. However, owing to the fact that I genuinely do not have too much time, I am finishing up with this mega simple broccoli soup recipe that I recently started making & totally fell in love with. From an accessory ingredient perspective, this recipe isn’t too different from the simple broccoli soup recipe that I already have up on my site. However, the key ingredient broccoli is actually the main difference :). How many of us remove the broccoli florets & discard the entire stalk? I used to be one of those up until recently. I never thought it could be or should be consumed. However, I was chatting with one of my colleagues who showed me this super cool video of a guy (headbangerskitchen i think) who makes use of the entire broccoli to make a really nice soup. He made it Keto friendly & added loads of butter & cream :D. Since I am definitely not on a keto diet, I stuck to my own recipe but played around with the spices for an aromatic soup. The first time I made this I really did not know what to expect. Since the folks in my house have a very sensitive nose & they generally think broccoli has a strong smell, I added quite a bit of our indian spices to mask the smell. The end result of the soup was something I genuinely wasn’t prepared for mentally – the soup was even better than the broccoli soup we make with the broccoli florets :D. Then I quickly googled if we can indeed consume the stalk & realised we sure as hell can :). It’s got equal if not more benefits as that of the broccoli florets. Voila, we no more waste the cauliflower or broccoli stalk. Both those can be made use of to make a really awesome tasting soup. And I really mean NO exaggerations when I say this is a top notch soup & that you guys gotta give it a go. This soup gives you satisfaction in 2 ways a) You have some hearty soup in your hand b) You have utilised something you normally discard. Such a win-win this soup is I tell ya. Try it out & you will be amazed at how awesome it tastes.

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Broccoli stalk soup

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

 

Course: Soup, Starters

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 3 cups

Ingredients

• 1 medium broccoli's stalk
• 6 small garlic
• 1 medium onion
• 1 big bay leaf
• 4 nos cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 15-20 nos black pepper corn
• 1 tsp butter olive oil is fine too
• 3/4 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp rock salt
• 1 cup whole milk

Instructions

1. Wash & roughly chop garlic, onion & the broccoli stalk. 

2. In a small pressure cooker, heat some butter. Throw in the spices (bay leaf, cloves & cinnamon). Saute for a few seconds. 

3. Throw in the roughly chopped onion & garlic. Saute for 1 or 2 minutes on high heat. 

4. When the onions start to brown, throw in the roughly chopped broccoli stalk. 

5. Saute for a minute. Add garam masala, rock salt, 2 cups of water. 

6. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. Turn off the heat & let the pressure release. 

7. Once the pressure releases, blend the cooked mixture using a hand blender till there are no visible lumps/ solid parts. 

8. Bring the mixture to a boil adding 1 cup of milk & an extra cup of water (add the water if you don't want a very thick soup). Check & adjust for salt here. 

9. Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat. 

10. You can serve this as it is. However, if you want to add a doze of added health/ crunch to this, you can saute some broccoli florets in some butter & season it with just salt & butter. 

11. Add the broccoli florets on to the soup right before serving the soup & of course, make sure to serve the soup hot :).

Recipe Notes

1. If you do not have a hand blender, then wait till the mixture cools down. Transfer just the solid part (leave the liquid in the vessel) to a mixer & grind the whole thing to a smooth puree.
2. You can totally skip making the broccoli florets. That's just an optional step. However, I really liked the added crunch.
3. You can skip the indian spices and add some italian herbs instead (dried or fresh basil leaves). However, I really like this version & would love it if you tried this way :). 
4. Add more or reduce the number of pepper corns based on your taste preference. 

Stepwise pictures

Wash & roughly chop the garlic, onion & broccoli stalk. In a small pressure cooker, heat 1 tsp butter. Once heated, add the fresh spices – bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon. Saute for a few seconds & then add chopped garlic & onion.

Saute on high heat for 1 or 2 minutes till the onions start to brown.

Add the roughly chopped broccoli stalk at this time.

Saute for 1 minute & add garam masala, rock salt. mix well.

Add 2 cups of water & pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. Turn off the heat & wait for the pressure to release.

Using a hand blender, blend the whole mixture to a smooth paste. Bring the mixture to a boil by adding 1 cup milk. I also added 1 cup water since I wanted my soup to not be very thick. Check & adjust for salt at this stage. Turn off the heat once the mixture boils.

If you want an added crunch to your soup, an option is to saute some broccoli florets in some butter/ oil.

You just need to season the broccoli with some salt & pepper. When they are cooked but still crunchy (3-4 minutes on medium heat), turn off the heat & add this broccoli to the soup before serving.

Serve the yummax soup hot hot.