The other day, when we were sitting at the dinner table and asking the kids to tell me what their favorite food was. (Now that they are young adults they hardly complain about my food and eat what I make). so I asked them to list 5 of their favourite dishes that I make. Some of them were poori masal, gnocchi, masala dosa, pasta and spinach soup amongst others. The spinach soup was something my older son liked and one of the only soup he would eat as a kid. It has been over 10 years since I have made it and it had totally slipped my mind.So I was surprised that he mentioned it. The recipe was from my ICA recipe book from my Sweden days. It is a pretty simple and easy soup and calls for frozen chopped spinach since fresh vegetables were not as easily available in the winter. Of course, I am sure things have changed, I lived there 20 years ago.

You need cream for this soup, and as I am lactose intolerant I kept some aside before I added the cream. I served it with some homemade ciabatta bread, cheese and maple butter. I am pretty happy with the way the bread turned out. I have tried making bread and it never comes out perfect and my goal is to learn to make perfect bread by the time the stay-at-home orders are done or till I run out of flour and yeast.

This soup has very few spices, and lacks strong flavours but not bland. Most of the flavour comes from the buljong or the soup cubes. I used 2 tsp of Better than Bouillon but you can use any knorr vegetarian soup cubes (or maggi cubes). I sprinkles some parmesan cheese and chilli flakes at the end for more flavour

Ingredients

• 500 g frozen spinach, thawed lightly and chopped (fresh spinach can be used, chopped)
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
• 6 cups water
• 2 bouillon cubes (stock or soup cube- knorr or maggi)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1 tsp crushed chilli pepper (optional)

Directions

• Heat butter in pan
• Add onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes
• Add spinach and saute for a few minutes
• Sprinkle all purpose flour and mix
• Add water and broth cubes. Cover and cook for around 10 minutes
• Mix in cream and add salt, pepper and nutmeg
• Serve with bread or a boiled egg
• Sprinkle cheese and chilli flakes and serve hot