New year, new me! I’m going to cook soup for dinner at least twice a week. It’s going to be great. I’ll be eating healthier. I’m going to lose a ton of weight. I’m going to have that extra spring in my step, and I’m going to forget about ALL of this in the next fifteen days or so. Let’s see how far this rickshaw goes before the driver goes on the exact opposite of a hunger strike, shall we?

#Recipe for Broccoli soup below:

1. Heat olive oil in a pot. Add 1 sliced onion, 5 sliced cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of carom seeds (ajwain). Cook till soft.

2. Chop a carrot real fine and toss it in. Cutting it small makes it cook faster, so yeah.. do it.

3. Cook for 2 min, and then add broccoli to the pot. Make sure you’ve cut it into florets, and make damn sure you don’t waste the stalks, alright?

4. Cook for 5 min on medium heat

5. Crumble 2 chicken / vegetable stock cubes into the pot and add one cup of hot water. Mix well, and cook the veg in this broth for 15 min.

6. Turn off the heat, cool and transfer the mixture to a blender. Puree till smooth and transfer everything back to the pot.

7. Add salt, freshly ground black pepper and 1 tbsp (yes, one tablespoon) of cumin powder

8. Bring the soup to a gentle boil, adjust consistency and you’re done

9. I wanted to add a dollop of butter at this stage, but Early January Dhruv is a serious individual whose iron will cannot be bent, and I went with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil instead.

This soup made for a nice simple dinner, and was done in less than 30 minutes. I like my soups coarse, so didn’t bother straining it. Remember, you control the consistency of this thing. If you like your soups really smooth, cook it a little longer and then pass it through a strainer and you’ll be good. Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes. The weekly giveaways are still on. If you’re trying this, post your results and tag me, and I’ll send you a funky apron. Or an onion. Or something. ????