Broccoli Soup with Rice

Another Fearless Olive rendition of the classic broccoli soup, now with some carbs and a bit of milk to replace the heavy cream that many prefer. Slurp away!

Ingredients

1 small sized broccoli

1/4 cup rice

1/2 cup milk (you can use regular or almond milk)

A pinch of nutmeg, pinch of pepper and salt per preference 1 garlic sliced

1 small onion

2 tbsp olive oil (but of course!)

Method

Boil the rice for about 5 minutes till it is tender then drop the broccoli in to soften up. Then take the broccoli and rice out with a strainer. Dice the onions and sauté them in olive oil, adding the boiled broccoli and rice with salt and cook it for about one minute. At this point, add the milk and continue cooking until the whole thing takes on a thick, creamy texture. Most broccoli recipes encourage addition of cream but since I am always looking for healthier alternates, I would instead suggest either regular milk or almond milk if you wish. Add the nutmeg and pepper once the mix thickens and after cooling it a bit, blend the whole thing. Towards the end, roast the garlic till they are a little orangish and add a spot of oil to sauté them. A lot of people would also suggest frying garlic but again, this column restrains from obsessively frying things. Once blended, check for salt and pepper and sprinkle the garlic on top.

This is not a soup that should be served cold, so add a swirl of thick yoghurt and the sautéed garlic to give you that creamy sensation and dunk in bread sticks or your fingers and just slurp away!

Photo: Collected