A hot cup of soup on a cold,wintry night !

 It's Winters and the first week of January and it's cold, dark and gloomy as I look out of my window. The bright sunny days have taken a break and the grey, cloudy days are playing havoc as the temperature keeps plummeting with each passing day. For us people, living in the plains of North India, the winter season comes as a breath of fresh air since we have to put up with the hot, humid summers throughout the year . The winters, maybe due to their brief tenure happen to be the most exciting time for most of us here . And because winter is just a 2 month stint at our end, our homes are not centrally heated , neither do they have a built in fireplace so we are mostly forced to stay indoors during the cold , windy evenings huddled in front of our heaters/ blowers in the living room, with a blanket thrown over our feet as we spend some 'family time' before dinner.
    This year, the husband came up with a (brrr)rilliant idea to fight the cold. He suggested that I try a new recipe of soup every evening, not the normal ones that I've been making but a different recipe each day. It would be even better if it is endowed with fresh winter veggies that the market is overflowing with thesedays ....Hmmm ! Not a bad  idea. So he scans through the thousands of recipe books gathering dust on my kitchen shelf ( I normally don't consult them unless I'm looking for something specific) and selects a recipe each day and leaves a bookmark on the page that consists of the soup recipe he has selected, the one he thinks is simple and will be ready in a jiffy. So after all my  prep work of chopping ( okay, he does help there ) boiling , pureeing , when the soup is ready and if it turns out well, which normally it does, guess who takes the credit ??? The husband of course !!! Okay, we'll grant him that , after all, he's done all that hard work of selecting the recipe for the day ;)
   One such soup that we chanced upon in the above mentioned manner was the Green Pea Soup and it turned out to be a delicious one; one  that I have repeated on several occasions last week, especially when my family was here for Christmas and they loved it too. So I'm sharing the recipe with all of you here . Do try it if you are looking for a yummy, hot cup of soup to keep you warm in hail, snow or sleet :)

Green Pea Soup 
( Makes 4 cups)
1 cup shelled peas
1 tbsp butter
1 onion- chopped, 3 flakes of garlic, crushed
4 cups of water
1/2 ( half) cup milk
salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of sugar
25 grams cheese, grated.

1. Heat butter in a pressure cooker. Add onion, garlic, salt and freshly crushed pepper. Cook till onions turn transparent.
2. Add peas. Saute for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
3. Add water and give 3-4 whistles. Remove from fire. After it cools down, blend in a mixer to get a smooth puree. Pass it through a sieve, pressing it with the back of the spoon and discard the remains.
4.Heat the soup, add milk, a pinch of sugar, some more salt and pepper and bring it to a boil. Lower the flame for about 2 mnts. Add grated cheese. Mix well and serve. You can sprinkle some grated cheese on top before serving and also a dash of crushed pepper.

I normally tuck myself in a blanket on my rocking chair, in the evening, with this hot cup of soup in my hand and enjoy the re- runs of Koffee with Karan. Even the nonsensical talks of the bimbos and bimbettes  ( is that a word ? ) seem tolerable I tell you. No. I'm not talking about Aamir Khan. He was the only exception there. So long, enjoy the soup ;)