This was just an accidental experiment. I bought bones and meat (beef) for our cat hoping to nourish him. But then Cats aren't dogs so 'Don' our cat dismissed the bone realising it had nothing he could bite off. And so I was left with 100 gms of bone in my freezer and since I had to make judicious use of everything I buy, I decided to google for recipes. Even before I could decide on what to search on the internet, a teeny little voice told me soup would be a great option. And so I googled for bone soups and was surprised at the recipes uploaded. I also did consider the option of preparing a stock out of the bones but then resisted the idea and went ahead with the soup. It's a very simple recipe and does not have any distinct or sharp flavours.It looked quite similar to the Tibetan soups I have had from momo hut, Koramangala. I did not puree the vegetables though that could have made the soup thicker compared to the floating logs as my hubby named the vegetable floating in the soup. I must warn that this is a high calorie soup with the amount of fat that was floating over the pot.But once on a cold winter night it would not kill you to have a ladle of bone soup.
Ingredients for Bone soup
Bone( mutton/beef)- 100 g
Onion- 1 large sliced
Tomatoes- 2 medium diced
Carrots- 100 gm chopped
Potatoes- 1 medium sized chopped
Celery stalk- 1 sliced
Bay leaf- 1
Garlic- 3-4 pods
Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Butter- 1/2 tsp
Salt- to taste
Directions
Pressure cook the bones in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and salt. Strain and separate the stock. And in the same cooker heat some butter, saute the bay leaf followed by onion and garlic. Add the tomatoes and other vegetables and the cooked bones when the onion browns. Add pepper and sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes.
Now add the stock and pressure cook the soup for 2 whistles. Let the soup simmer once the pressure settles. If you want your soup thicker at this point add 2 tbsp cornflour mixed in 1 cup water. I left the soup as it was. Add more pepper if you like it that way. And the bone soup is ready. I had some baguette to go along and it made us three ( my cousin, hubby and me) a simple lunch. Another variation I tried was adding rice to the same soup the next day and it taste equally good.
And here we introduce the fourth member of our family ' Don', my Sous Chef , guardian angel who watches over my oven, nips the basil shrub, licks of the water that drips from the defrosted chicken and warns us with this meooow that something's burning in the kitchen. He loves playing football and that too in the kitchen when I am cooking.He is naughty and witty.As some of you know we also blog at www.catharasisofaresearchscholar.blogspot.com, if you love cats do go to the section- cat chronicles. I am on a vacation for 10 days but I will try to upload recipes wherever I am.
Till then ciao meowwwwwwwww !
