Homemade soup

Recipes, Cooking tips and maybe some 'Home Made' secrets !
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Spreckly
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Homemade soup

Post by Spreckly »

I prefer my own soup to soup out of tins, though I do occasionally open tomato or veg soup.

I make sufficient to last around four days, and use carrotts, potatoes, leeks, onion, parsnip, and whatevery else is around in the fridge. I add herbs, and sometimes a veggie stock cube, but it is always watery, even with masses of veg, which I mash up with a potato masher.

Anyone got any remedies for thickening, apart from flour or cream? Some of the internet recipes are so expensive!
Freeranger
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by Freeranger »

Hi Spreckly -I take a portion out of the soup and liquidise it, then return it - it makes it thicker and less brothy. If you add something like lentils, beans or potato, it works particularly well but it's not necessary to add those things - it still works. Or arrowroot also works.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by lancashire lass »

but it is always watery, even with masses of veg, which I mash up with a potato masher.

Anyone got any remedies for thickening, apart from flour or cream? Some of the internet recipes are so expensive!
I remember the vegetable soups my mother used to make and these were slow cooked all afternoon - she'd start off with root veg (onions, carrots, swede and so on) and added a broth mix (barley, lentils, split peas) along with chopped celery, herbs and seasoning, and just enough water to cook those veg in the pan first. Then after stirring, she'd add the greens like sprouts, shredded cabbage (usually savoy), leek and whatever else (peas) and then would top up the water but again, keeping it to the minimum (some veg might even be proud of the water like the peas which don't take long to cook - with the lid on the pan, they would cook more by steam than in the water before the juices in the other veg break down and add to water) You can always add more water AFTER cooking if it's not enough. Finally ... drum roll .... dumplings! Turn the heat up so that the water / soup is boiling which in itself will start reducing and add dumplings which then take up water as they cook. Alternatively, we always had thick slices of bread served at the same time to dip in or broken up and added to the soup to soak up excess water (even nicer if there was butter on the bread)

I often use sauce / spice mixes (the dry packet like Creamy pepper sauce (my fave), Tuna bake, Chilli con carne, curries or casserole mix, Schwartz Somerset Pork (another fave of mine) but NOT the jars of sauces) For example, I'll make something similar to corn beef hash (potatoes, onions, carrots, peas, celery maybe with sliced peppers, winter squash or sweet potato, sprouts) but in a frying pan with a lid instead of in a sauce pan (I do lightly fry the onions and peppers first to caramelise (and if I'm cooking meat such as minced beef or turkey, to brown off and seal in the juices first. Tinned meat or tuna fish I'll add at the end of cooking instead) but then add water to the frying pan as I add other veg to cook on first. If the recipe calls for potatoes, I'll leave them to the last as they are sliced (for quick cooking) and put on top - some slices might end up just proud of the water line) Bring up to the boil with the lid on and then simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Depending on what I've made and how sloppy it is, I might just add a few gravy granules to thicken up (not too much as it can make it too salty for my liking) or I might try reducing the water first by bringing the pan to the boil and let it roll boil until I'm happy with it. As the frying pan has a larger surface area, it should reduce down a lot quicker.

If I then use the packet spice / sauce mix, after turning over the veg in the pan to make sure it is cooked through and well mixed, I add a knob of butter and some milk to the centre of the pan (not a lot as you already have a pan of water - evaporated milk is better as it is concentrated - so use your judgement) then add some of the dry contents of the sauce packet into the milk and butter (as the milk is "cold" it won't go lumpy straight away) I don't use the whole packet just a portion. Quickly stir to mix up the dry ingredients into the cold milk and then into the rest of the food while at the same time, turn the heat up to full. Bring up to the boil and keep stirring until the sauce starts to thicken. Even those casserole spice packets which indicate 1-2 cooking time can quickly thicken a ready cooked soup or hash in less than 5 minutes.

Finally, another way to "soak up" excess water during cooking and there's nothing better than using pasta or noodles. My "spaggy bol" is all made in one pan (the frying pan) - I don't use dry spagetti but instead use fusilli (the twisty little pasta but you can use whatever shape you like) After browning the onions, mushrooms and meat and adding the tinned chopped tomatoes (with a little water to rinse out the tin), I put a handful of fusilli in at the same time along with herbs and final seasoning, bring up to the boil, lid on and simmer. Do watch out as sometimes the pasta can soak up a lot more of the water than expected, but if you are making a soup, you wouldn't be using as much pasta (or noodles - you can break up into smaller pieces if you want) anyway.

EDIT - forgot to mention that you might be able to add dried beans to the soup (but not the red kidney beans which must be cooked first)
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lancashire lass
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by lancashire lass »

PS I only remembered after I'd logged off of something else you could use to soak up water .... rice! (I suppose any dry ingredient such as cous cous or bulgur wheat can be used) Of course a lot depends on how much water there is - a small amount of rice or cous cous (rather than a serving amount) won't soak up that much. I once made a curry and the recipe called for the rice to be cooked in the vegetable sauce mix which helped to soak up the excess water.

PPS When adding the dry packet contents of spicy / sauce mixes - the more butter you add, the less milk you need to use ...
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Mo
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by Mo »

I suppose the other soaker-upper might be porridge oats.
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by fabindia »

We make carrot, lentil - finely chop an onion and fry, add red lentils, carrots and stock plus a tiny touch of turmeric, salt, pepper and cumin. We then blend it to a thick soup.
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by fabindia »

We make carrot, lentil - finely chop an onion and fry, add red lentils, carrots and stock plus a tiny touch of turmeric, salt, pepper and cumin. We then blend it to a thick soup.
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kitla
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by kitla »

I do the same as freeranger. Take a bit out whizz it up & pour it back in, the potatoes etc whizzed always act as a thickener.
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Meanqueen
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by Meanqueen »

Mo wrote: 22 Dec 2021, 21:55 I suppose the other soaker-upper might be porridge oats.
Porridge oats works well. Doesn't need to be a lot as it swells up. Could grind it to a powder first in a blender if you prefer.

I use packet sauce mixes, only half the packet, mix with cold water in a mug and add it a few minutes before the cooking is finished.

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Spreckly
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by Spreckly »

Thank you all for your replies. I do not possess a blender, but use a potato masher to thin the ingredients down. Dumplings sound a brilliant idea, I make them for stews, and I hadn't thought of oats as a thickener. I shall be making soup for lunch, so will read your replies again, to let them sink in.
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by fabindia »

We made 'leftovers' soup yesterday, basically all the vegetables still in the fridge from Christmas. We had onion, garlic, carrot, mooli ( a type of radish that looks like a big white raddish), a bit of cabbage, and a bit of broccoli. I also added a cup of red lentils for a bit of body and more protein. A few spices, a stock cube and seasoning.

Once cooked, blended it and had it for dinner last night with fresh home baked bread. Cost very little, besides which the veg would need throwing away in a day or two.
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Spreckly
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Re: Homemade soup

Post by Spreckly »

I have made a successful soup, thanks to all your advice. I added porridge oats and some pearl barley, which successfully thickened it. Having the last portion today.
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