The first time I had tomato soup was meeting a sister Hip Hop Wife for lunch after not seeing each other for a while. I had been fasting so I needed something soft as my first meal for that day. At this point I had appreciated Mexican, Chicken and Minestrone Soup (had this one for the first time with mom in JHB). Just realised how I have such fond memories attached to the two times I discovered I loved these two types of soups. All the other soups I have mentioned have a lot going on, the ingredients, there are lots of bits to bite on, veggies and texture. When you think tomato soup one can easily get the feeling that there isn’t much going on. Just looking at it, looks very one dimensional, it’s a bowl of red right? Believe it or not, this is very far from what it is. When was the last time you were blown away by something you ate? It’s over a year since I’ve had that experience but I remember it like it was yesterday. You wouldn’t think that three ingredients; butter, onion, and tomato can come together to make such a velvety and delicious tomato soup. I did a bit of research to see the different options to make this soup. We had fresh tomatoes, which can be hard to come by these days, making this all the more exciting. This simple homemade tomato soup is quick, easy, and insanely delicious. It is also excellent with canned tomatoes.

Tomato soup is a soup with tomatoes as the primary ingredient. It can be enjoyed at room temperature or hot. It can be served smooth in texture where as it can include chunks of tomatoes with chicken or vegetable stock. This Creamy Tomato Soup is easy, comforting, and has a rich flavour profile. Tomato soup is also said to be an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamins C and E, among many others. Consuming antioxidants has been linked to a lowering risk of inflammation-related diseases.

I made grilled cheese sandwiches to serve alongside the soup, and made my husband breakfast. Ne go ya go pala gore a lalle ka soup shem...lol. He came into the kitchen and was instantly drawn to it, thought it smelled like pizza. One could use this as the base for your pizza or a pasta sauce so his comment was that of a seasoned ChellzKitchen taste tester, he’s a pro at it! He tasted it with some grilled cheese and I want to believe he was pleasantly surprised. In actual fact, he clearly enjoyed it because he dished some with his breakfast-dinner (not a typo). Surely we are not the only family who sometimes has breakfast at supper time, right...lol. Breakfast is not only a super meal, it is deliciously versatile. Next soup on the list for me to try is Cabbage soup, which has a bad rep and is described by many as a paupers meal, when it probably isn’t just cabbage and water. Join me next week as we make and enjoy cabbage soup to keep the winter blues at bay. Keep warm and follow the ChellzKitchen FB page to see the reveal of the new exciting #Mopako101 campaign with Danone.

Ingredients

This simple homemade tomato soup is quick, easy, and insanely

delicious

4 tbl spoon butter

1/2 large onion, cut into large wedges

5 Large tomatoes

1½ cups water or vegetable stock, or chicken stock

¼ tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp fine sea salt, or more to taste

¼ tsp sugar

Nutriday plain yoghurt

Pepper to taste

Directions

Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add onion wedges, water, halved tomatoes, and salt, pepper and garlic salt. Bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally and add additional salt as needed.

Blend the soup, and then season with sugar to taste. The soup doesn’t need to be ultra-smooth; some texture is a nice touch.

An immersion blender does make quick work of this, or you can use a blender.

If you use a regular blender, it is best to blend in batches and not fill the blender as much as you usually would since the soup is so hot.

We like to remove the centre insert of the lid and cover it with a kitchen towel while blending — this helps to release some of the steam and prevents the blender lid from popping off (which can be a big, hot mess). Drizzle some Nutriday Plain Yoghurt on the top once plated for a Michelin star finish.