Garlic Soup

It is said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But garlic a day keeps everybody away!

The goodness of garlic is plenty whether raw or cooked. All members of my family simply love this delicious bulb in whichever form: raw in salad dressings/sauces or garlic seasoning in our typical Konkani dishes. So when I came across this garlic soup during our tenure in Dubai, I did not hesitate to prepare this and it was a great hit in our family and it still is. I have slightly modified it to our Indian taste.

This soup tastes wonderful during cold nights, rainy days or even during hot weather! Apart from the taste, it’s very healthy too as garlic has great medicinal value.

Ingredients:

Garlic	30 cloves
Water /vegetable stock	1/2 litre
Bay leaf	1
Nutmeg	A pinch
Basil/Tulsi	A few leaves
Oregano (dried or fresh)	Dried (1 tsp) fresh – 3-4 leaves
Clove	2-3
Olive oil	1 tbsp
For Garnish :
Black pepper powder	As per taste
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Corriander leaves chopped	1 tbsp

Method:

1. Peel the garlic.
2. Boil the water / vegetable stock in a pan and add to it all the above ingredients (except those meant for garnish).
3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer (with the lid covered) for about 20-30 minutes or until the garlic cloves are soft. Remove from the heat.
4. Strain the soup through a sieve and press the garlic cloves through. Stir the soup well.
5. Finally garnish it with coriander leaves, pepper powder and lemon juice. Serve hot.

Serves : 2

Note:

At the time of preparation of the soup, I did not have vegetable stock nor coriander leaves instead I used water (instead of stock) & finely chopped fresh curry leaves (kadipatta)as garnish. It gives a unique taste to the soup.

The soup tastes good with bread sticks - masala one (available in Nilgiri super market) which is a little spicy so goes well with the soup. Bread sticks are a healthier version than croutons.

For more info on garlic see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic