Enjoy These Cold Soups On Hot Summer Days

With the weather warming up, you must be looking for recipes that are a little lighter and will help you keep away from the kitchen, right?

You might also agree that there is nothing more comforting than a hearty bowl of soup served as an appetizer. But who would like a pipping hot soup in summers? So, today, we are breaking the age-old shackles of restricting the soups to just one season and bringing our version of cold soups for you!

You can prepare these scrumptious soup recipes in a few minutes and can enjoy them at any time of the day. You can even keep them in the refrigerator for a day or two, isn’t that cool?

Read on and choose your favourite!

Chilled Tomato Soup

When we talk about soups, the first one that comes to our mind is none other than Tomato Soup! But we know, having the steaming hot tomato soup won’t be the ideal appetizer in the summer season.

So, why not have the creamy and rich soup with the goodness of tomatoes and with all the flavourful seasonings but serve it chilled? We are not joking, by following this easy recipe, you can make your healthy chilled tomato soup in the comfort of your home!

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of tomato juice
• 1 small-sized onion
• 2 cups of bread cubes
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon of red chilli flakes
• 2 sprigs of fresh basil leaves
• 1-2 cups of water
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Take 5-6 medium-sized tomatoes, remove the hard central part and seeds, and chop them. Then, finely chop a small-sized onion and 2 cloves of garlic.
• Once you have prepared all the ingredients, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat.
• Then, add the chopped onion and stir it for 6-7 minutes or until it changes its colour and gets softened.
• Add the minced garlic and red chilli flakes to the pan. Stir them for a minute.
• Now, on medium flame, add the tomatoes and salt as per your taste.
• Cook the ingredients for 3-4 minutes while stirring the dish at intervals.
• Once the tomatoes start getting soft, add 1/2 cup of tomato juice followed by basil leaves.
• Then, add 1-2 cups of water as per your desired consistency.
• Cook the dish for about 15 minutes on simmer.
• Next, remove crumbs from the bread and add the bread cubes to the pan.
• Once the bread cubes start to get soft, mash them with a spoon. Stir the dish for another 5 minutes.
• Now, take the pan off the flame and let the mixture cool down a bit.
• Take out the basil leaves and pour the tomato mixture into a blender. Add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil.
• Blend the mixture until it gets smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl directly from the blender or if you prefer your soup to be very smooth, then you can also sieve the soup.
• Chill the soup in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours before serving.
• Finally, garnish the soup bowls with basil leaves and serve chilled with croutons!

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Cold Cucumber Soup

If you are feeling lazy on a hot summer day and don’t feel like making much effort for cooking anything, then you have got to try this recipe of Cold Cucumber Soup!

We all love to eat cucumber, especially in the summer season but the idea of making a soup with this kitchen ingredient is hard to believe, right? This is possibly the quickest of all soups we can make at home.

This no-cook chilled cucumber soup with the added goodness of yoghurt will definitely become your favorite as it is not only yummy but healthy as well. And trust us, your kids will love it too!

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Ingredients

• 4 medium-sized cucumbers
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of mint leaves
• 1 cup of thick yoghurt
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 green chilli
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Instructions

• Start by preparing the ingredients for the soup. First, taste the cucumbers to check if they are bitter. If the taste is fine then, cut them into cubes.
• Then, chop the garlic cloves.
• Once you have prepared the ingredients, place the cucumber cubes into a blender and blend them a bit.
• Then, add garlic, 1/4 cup of mint leaves, and green chilli followed by adding thick yoghurt and 1/2 cup of milk to the blender. Instead of thick yoghurt, you can also add greek yoghurt.
• After that, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil followed by salt and pepper as per your taste.
• Now, blend all the ingredients together until you get a smooth mixture.
• You can pour the mixture into your bowl directly from the blender or if you prefer your soup to be very smooth, then you can also sieve the soup.
• Taste and adjust the seasonings of the soup.
• Next, chill the soup in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving.
• Pour the soup into the serving bowls and garnish it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or mint leaves. Enjoy!

Which of these soups are you going to make? Do share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page. For more such stories, stay tuned to HerZindagi!