How to Make Tomato Basil Soup

How to Make Tomato Basil Soup How to Make Tomato Basil Soup Tomato soup is a hot favorite with everyone and when you add the flavor of basil to it, you will love it still more. This soup can be served as an appetizer, or even to supplement as a meal when it is combined with nicely toasted bread slices. It is quite easy to make at home and you can be sure that your kids will love it a lot. It can be a great recipe to serve to your friends on a cold winter evening. You can be sure that your guests will be thrilled to spice up their taste buds with this homemade soup, especially with the rich taste of basil in it. If you want, you can also keep the basil away from the soup, if you don’t enjoy the flavor.

Ingredients:

5 large sized ripe tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
14 fresh basil leaves
1 cup whipped cream
1 tbsp butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure:

Take some water in a large sized pot and place it on the stove over medium heat. Put the tomatoes in it and wait for the water to boil. Simmer and keep boiling the tomatoes till you notice that the skin of the tomatoes starts peeling away. Now is the time to remove from heat and wait for the water to cool down.
You can also use a pair of tongs to get the boiled tomatoes out of the boiling water once they are done instead of waiting for the water to cool down. Wait till the tomatoes have reached room temperature and then gently peel off the skins. It will be easy to peel off the skins when the tomatoes have been boiled well.
Crush the tomatoes so that they get pureed. If you want then you can remove the seeds but it is better to let them stay in the soup. Now the tomatoes are ready to be pureed in the blender along with the bail leaves. Wait till you get a thick tomato puree which is very smooth.
Take the puree out from the blender and pour into a pot. It will have the nice flavor of basil to it. Now add the already ready tomato juice to it. To make the soup even tastier, you can add the whipped cream and butter to it. Add the salt and pepper according to your taste and place the pot on the stove over medium heat.
When the soup starts boiling, simmer and keep stirring. You can keep doing this for about half an hour or until the soup has the desired consistency. Make sure that the bottom of the pot does not get burnt or you will get a burnt smell in the soup.
The soup is now ready to be served. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with fresh basil leaves. If you want a tangier flavor to it, you can sprinkle some lemon juice in the soup.

This soup is quite easy to make and you can try several variations too. Add the taste of onions to it by chopping and pureeing an onion after boiling it with the tomatoes. You might also convert this vegetarian soup into a chicken soup by using chicken stock instead of the tomato juice. Small pieces of boiled chicken can be added to the soup along with the cream and butter. This will give a completely different taste.