Hot and Cold Soup!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a great one -finally, after a long wait, we had the first snow of the season, and enjoyed it like little children :-) To celebrate the first snow, I made this Hot and Cold Soup.

I have noticed something ever since I started my food blog: my friends and family always call me whenever they eat something interesting, or notice a new way of presenting food, or a new garnish and sometimes, even when they've had something weird.

This soup idea was given to me by a friend who had a mexican hot and cold soup in a restaurant. She described the 3 layers, and that it was served in a glass and that it was very interesting. So, I borrowed the basic presentation idea and made my own version of this hot and cold soup.

The final verdict - It was a brilliant idea, I was happy with the taste of all the three different layers and the crispy zucchini skin added the zing. My hubby had a big smile on his lips when I served this soup and the smile stayed on after the first spoonful which is a surest sign that the recipe was a hit. 

Ingredients

Ginger-Garlic-Chilli Paste

2 inch piece- ginger, peeled, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped

2 - green chillies

Grind together the ginger, garlic and chillies using a little water. 

First Layer

1 - zucchini

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp - mint leaves, finely chopped

5 pcs - sage leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste (more or less)

1 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1 - bayleaf

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup - milk

Method

1. Peel the zucchini, save the skin and keep aside. Cut the zucchini into small pieces. 
2. Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the cumin seeds and bayleaf. When the seeds start spluttering, add the 1 tsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and saute for a min on medium heat. 
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except 1/4 cup of milk. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the zucchini turns soft. 
4. Let it cool, remove the bayleaf. 
5. Add the zucchini mix and 1/4cup of milk to a mixer and puree. 
6. Transfer the pureed mixture to a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Second Layer

2 cups - low fat yogurt 

1/2 tsp - dried mint leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup - milk

1/2 tsp - sugar

1 tbsp - olive oil

1. Take a tray, put 2 layers of dish towels on the tray and put a wet muslin cloth on the top of the towels. 
2. Spread the yogurt on the wet muslin cloth and leave it for appx 15 mins. 
3. Remove the yogurt with the help of a spoon and a good nice thick hung yogurt is ready. (By the way, you can use this hung yogurt for all sorts of deserts as well – and is a much quicker method than the usual actual "hanging"). 
4. Put the yogurt in a bowl, add the salt, pepper, dried mint leaves, sugar and mix. Add the milk spoon wise and mix well before adding the next spoonful. Finally add the oil and mix. Let it chill in the refrigerator.

Third Layer

1 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 tbsp - ginger-garlic-chilli paste

2 - big size tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup - onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup - red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 pieces of cloves

2 tsp - cream

salt and pepper to taste

a generous pinch of sugar

1. Heat oil in a non stick pan, add the 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic-chilli paste and cook for a minute. Add the cloves, onions and red bell pepper and cook until the onions are soft. 
2. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and cook. Lastly add the cream and sugar and cook for half a minute and remove the mixture from the heat.

For the Zucchini Crisps

Grease a small baking tray, put the zucchini skin on the tray, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and citric acid and bake in a preheated oven to 220 degrees C until crisp. 

1. Put the zucchini cream in the serving glass. Carefully add the yogurt layer (I put the yogurt into a whipping bag with a big nozzle, for a neat result) and finally add the hot tomato mix on the top. Garnish it with the zucchini crisps and some chilli threads. 
2. Serve while the top layer is still hot.

Enjoy!