“Jowar (Sorghum) Vegetable Soup” … with rising of summer heat one opts for simple meals, be it curd rice for lunch or a light veggie soup for dinner … Jowar soup is an easy way to include and introduce millet into your meals … jowar is gluten free and protein rich millet that is promoted as being an healthy alternative to Maida/ other flours … you can easily use it as a thickening agent to soups and make it that much more healthier … here is my simple version of jowar soup with plenty of seasonal veggies added on … Yummilicious …
** As I mentioned on title Jowar/ Sorghum is a gluten-free and protein-rich millet which is full of protein, iron, fiber, and it is believed to help in keeping bad cholesterol away. Jowar on consumption produces a cooling effect on body, which means you can safely consume it throughout the year. It is loaded with nutrients, minerals and vitamins that are good not only for growing children but for both young and old alike. You can check more details on the benefits of consuming jowar or any other millet on google.
** Jowar is off white in color and are small pearl sized that need to be soaked for at least 8-10 hours/ overnight if to be used as whole in preparation of dishes. However, these days Jowar Rava, Jowar flakes and many more varieties are available in the market for instant use. Jowar Flour has been used for decades by our ancestors especially in the northern parts of India and is easily available in all grocery stores, if not then definitely you will find it online, so just go ahead and purchase it and try out various dishes.
** Here is my simple recipe for “Jowar (Sorghum) Vegetable Soup” … my style …
** Ingredients :
Jowar/ Jwari/ Sorghum Flour : 2-3 tblsp
Cauliflower : one cup florets.
Vatana/ Green Peas : one small cup
Carrot/ Gajar : 2 medium sized
Capsicum/ Simla Mirchi/ Donne Mirsanga : 2 medium sized
Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 1 large sized
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 5- 6
Black Pepper Corns/ Kali Miri : 1-2 tblsp
Butter/ Loni : 2 tblsp
Kala Namak/ Black Salt or any Salt : to taste
** Cut cauliflower to small sized florets, in all you should have about one heaped cup of the same. Shell fresh peas and keep them ready. Peel off the outer skin of carrot and cut them to ½ inch sized cubes. Add cut cauliflower, carrot and shelled green peas in sieve and rinse well under running water and keep it aside ready.
** Cut the capsicum to ½ inch square pieces discarding the inner seeds. Rinse and keep it aside ready separately.
** Peel off the outer skin of onion and garlic and cut them to fine pieces and keep them also ready aside separately.
** Coarsely crush the black pepper and keep it aside ready or you can also use readily available black pepper powder as is convenient to you.
** Add butter/loni (I used homemade butter) in a pan, when it begins to melt on medium heat add garlic and fry until the color changes lightly. Add chopped onion and continue to fry both together until they turn evenly light brown in color.
** Add the rinsed cauliflower, green peas, carrot along with 2-3 cups of water and bring to a boil on high heat. Once it boils for 2-3 minutes lower the heat to medium and cook covered until the veggies are just about 70% done.
** Add capsicum pieces, mix well and further cook till all veggies are 85% done only. You have to keep a constant check on veggies to avoid them being overcooked otherwise if the crunch is lost the soup loses on taste.
** Now make a paste/ slurry of jowar flour with 1 cup water until smooth taking care that there are no lumps. Add this to the simmering veggies on low heat and immediately keep mixing well so that it mixes up with all ingredients evenly.
** The soup thickens immediately so keep stirring until all the water has been mixed in well. Check the consistency of the soup and add required amount of water to bring to a semi thick soup consistency or as per your preference.
** Let soup cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes stirring often to avoid it sticking to the bottom. Lastly add kala namak and coarsely powdered pepper as per taste and mix well. Remove and keep it aside covered for flavors to be infused.
** “Jowar (Sorghum) Vegetable Soup” is done and ready to be served. Tastes best served steaming hot topped with a dollop of butter with a dash of coarsely crushed pepper. You can add a dash of freshly squeezed juice of lemon if desired (Optional), I have not added. Serve some bread sticks, toast, croutons etc. as per your preference along with the soup for dinner. It is a good choice to cut the last few remaining pieces of bread slices, fry and keep ready to be served with soup.
** You can also serve it as an appetizer when you have guests or at functions. In my home we have been going on a light dinner for almost a decade now and prefer having any type of soup as it is without anything else served alongside or maybe sometimes a toast or bread stick if really hungry. This soup is a complete meal by itself so add it into your meals for a healthier lifestyle for your family. Soups are always a comfort meal and with busy schedules you can prepare them prior and reheat as needed.
** Growing children are always hungry and there is always a need for ample of food to be in stock as children are unpredictable when it comes to tasting of dishes. What they loved today need not be so on another day and it is always brainstorming to decide what to cook. 3-4 decades back all one knew about was either Tomato soup or Sweet Corn soup and Amma usually prepared tomato soup, sometimes with addition of mutton soup and we just savored them when we came home hungry from school.
** With changing times, technology and access to anything and everything easily online, we have to admit that life has become much more easier. For those of us who are reaching old age do know the difficulties we faced to keep things intact, not to mention what our parents faced. These days all one needs is a little bit of prior planning and half the work load is accomplished. With easy access to blogs, you tubes etc. recipes are at fingertips, so do make the best use of this technology and enjoy life.
** You can check out more “Soup” recipes shared in the blog, following the common link shared below that includes both veg and non.veg soups ….
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