Vegetable Barley Soup

I have grown up with a love hate relationship with soups. My mother never made soups for us at home...basically the whole concept of soups was very alien to her. Being a Tamilian and growing up in Kerala she never had exposure to any international cuisines. The only soup made at her house was good old rasam. So we were denied the pleasure of sipping warm soups.

 I grew up in a small town in M.P and had only North Indian friends who used to boast about tomato and sweet corn soups made by their mothers. And so my tastebuds so much more wanted to be soaked in the sourness of tomato soups and sweetness of sweet corn soups. Then finally that day came when my mom did make soup...the first ever soup of my life..tomato soup. I liked that but did not love it. Felt that something is missing, but never complained.

Then one day we went to a newly opened restaurant, I ordered sweet and sour soup. When I tasted it I got the shock of my life, it was bad...really BAD. Wasted the whole bowl and my soup tastebuds went dormant for a while.

After coming to Dubai I dined in finest of restaurants and loved the variety of soups in the menu. But it's only very recently that I started to make soups at home and am loving it. With the winters slowly creeping in a bowl of warm soups with some roasted papad is all what I need for my dinner.

Ingredients:

Pearl Barley - 1/4 Cup ( Soaked for 7-8 hours )

Tomato - 1 ( Blanch, peel the skin and chop finely )

Carrots - 3 tbsp finely chopped

Green Peas - 2 tbsp

Onion- 1 medium sized 

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece 

Garlic- 2 cloves 

Green Chilies- 2

Coriander- Chopped for garnishing

Salt- As required

Pav Bhaji Masala- 1 tsp (Optional )

White Pepper Powder- 1/4 tsp 

Olive Oil- 1tbsp

Procedure:

• Clean the soaked barley two,three times in fresh water. 
• Boil the barley in around 3 cups of water till it gets cooked well. Strain the barley but do not discard the water. We will use it as stock for the soup.
• I used my chopper to chop onion, ginger, garlic and green chilies together. Heat oil in a wok and add these chopped veggies. Slightly fry these till raw aroma fades, no need to brown the veggies.
• Now add in chopped tomatoes, carrots, green peas and fry these till all the vegetables get tender. 
• Add salt and pav bhaji masala. Mix everything and add in the boiled barley. 
• Add the barley stock and required amount of water. Boil the soup for 3-4 minutes. Add in white pepper powder. Take out the soup from the heat..
• Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve the soup warm. 

Sending this to Priya's Fast & Quick Healthy Dishes Event hosted by Life With Spices.