Soup: good food indeed!

(The Bengal Post, January 2011)

It all started way back in time, around 6000 BC, or perhaps even before then. According to archaeologists, it could date back to the time when waterproof containers, made from the skins or internal organs (nicely cleaned, of course) of hunted animals, first came into being. That is when the first records show that people made and drank soup. They combined water with meat, vegetables and flavourings to produce savoury and more-or-less-liquid foods that they ate – drank? – as a meal, with a meal, as a way to keep warm, to re-hydrate their bodies and gain quick and easy nourishment to maintain, nurture and heal the system. As the word spread and the concept of ‘soup’ evolved, the categorisation began – clear soups, also called bouillons or consommés, capture the essence of their main ingredient, are light, and do not have any chunks or inclusions; thick soups, on the other hand, are heavier, incorporating a thickening agent that could be flour, cream, eggs, butter or grains, like barley and peas, and serve more as comfort food, as it were, than an appetiser or digestive. Stews, as a different kind of food, are even more thick, have plenty of pieces of vegetables, meats, seafood or cereals and can be a complete meal in themselves, including rice, pasta or other starch form.

Soon the idea that a meal needs soup to be complete spread and cookbooks almost always had entire chapters dedicated to the food. The famous slogan of ‘Soup is good food’ took over the canned foods business and became a truism. People from various parts of the world cooked up pots of delicious soups, each a showcase for local culture and customs. For instance, the Germans became well known for their potato soup, while the French used butter to add life to delicately seasoned bisques and bouillons. As travel became easier and often more necessary to make commerce happen successfully, soups – as indeed all foods – needed to become more portable; this resulted in the development of dried soups, first with concentrated chunks of meat stock and then, spurred by the Japanese penchant for invention and innovation, vegetable extracts. These ‘instant’ soups just needed a little hot water and some stirring to become delicious, quick and nutritious meals. It was just a hop to the next step, when tastemaker or bouillon cubes were created to be added to rice, stews, curries and more for that additional kick of flavour. Of course, the instant noodles in a Styrofoam cup were an instant hit with the college student, since they were filling, cheap, very easy to make and provided a hot burst of energy on a cold winter’s day of term papers and studying for exams.

A somewhat unusual concept is a sweet soup, usually made with seasonal fruit and served cold. Watermelon or musk melon is commonly used to make a soup that acts as a base for other fruit or interesting soufflés, sorbets or desserts. In Norway, fruit soup is made with prunes, raisins and other dried berries, served warm or cold. Cram, milk, spices, alcohol (port, brandy or champagne) are commonly added for a little punch and richness, while potato starch may be used as a thickener with a neutral taste. In the Middle East, China and Central Asia, fruit soups tend to be warm or even hot, the sweetness cut with a little lemon or even acid cheese; the Chinese in fact make a delicious winter melon soup that has a chicken stock base and is savoury, including mushrooms, scallions and other vegetables.

Perhaps most complex in flavour and multifarious in ingredients are the soups from the Orient. They combine the intensity of a long-stewed broth with the lightness of tofu, the heat of spice pastes, the textures of fresh vegetables, the sweetness of seafood and the heft of meat, sometimes all packed into one delicious bowlful. The laksa, the tom yum, the thukpa, even the shorba combine east and west to produce an inimitable and undeniably irresistible blend of flavour, texture and spice that set up a wonderful ‘item number’ almost of Bollywoodian proportions in each mouthful. There is a crunch, a slurp, a spark, a, explosion of gustatory fireworks with every bite and the stomach and the soul do a joyous and exuberant dance.

India has a unique way of looking at soups, broths and stews. Many soups are about healing, using ayurvedic or naturopathic tenets. Cumin, for instance, like fennel and cardamom, is ideal for digestive disturbances, while cucumber is cooling and mustard is heating. Turmeric aids in the treatment of diabetes, skin infections and inflammations, while ginger can help to deal with fever, cold and respiratory congestion. Adding these ingredients to soup or stews at various stages has different effects, most of them therapeutic and relieving, some supportive and nutritive and all delicious. In fact, most Indian food is created with therapy in mind, and thus works on the body and mind as a holistic system, indivisible and always balanced.

Just as good food satisfies the mind and soul, a balanced meal can work to satisfy the digestion. Soup, according to the French, makes food better, while the Chinese, who like soup to end a meal, believe that it helps digestion even as it serves to balance all the flavours that do a merry dance in the mouth, lining up the tastes, as it were, for that last segue into the stomach.

RASAM
(A staple South Indian soup-like dish, eaten with rice or drunk plain. This is the easy, almost instant recipe. Best when it is cold outside or your sinuses are blocked, or your tummy is uneasy)
Garlic – to taste, minced fine
Salt – to taste
Pepper – to taste
Tamarind water – 1 glassful
Plain water/lentil water – 2 glassfuls
Ghee – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – pinch
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/powder – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 6-7
Coriander leaves – 2 tsp, finely chopped
Tomato – 2 tbsp, chopped
Splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida in hot ghee. Add garlic and sauté gently until softened. Add curry leaves (if using, cumin powder). Add tamarind water, simmer gently. Add water (or lentil water), salt, pepper and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for ten minutes. Put in chopped tomato, simmer until soft. Turn off the heat, add coriander leaves and serve hot.

CHICKEN SOUP
(A good way to use up bits of leftovers and make yourself feel better when a cold threatens – there are no proportions, just throw in whatever fits in a large pot)
Cut up chicken (better without skin but with bone)
Garlic – chopped
Ginger – chopped (do not overdo!)
Onions – rough cut
Carrots – rough cut
Potatoes – rough cut
Celery – Rough cut
Peas
Corn kernels
Salt
Pepper
Rice/pasta
Throw all this into a large pot with enough water to cover it with two or three inches more. Boil vigorously at least twice, skimming off the dirty foam. Then simmer for at least an hour, more would be better. Serve piping hot in a large bowl.