Classic tomato soup is with fresh flavours, it is tangy with a hint of sweetness. You can make this soup using fresh or canned tomatoes and a handful of ingredients.
Homemade Tomato soup is one of our favourites. This is such a simple comforting homemade soup and one(at least I) can savour it all year long. Onion and tomatoes sauteed in butter for beautiful flavour, then tomatoes are cooked and blended until smooth.
It is rich and creamy, yet doesn't contain oodles of cream. Check out the detailed recipe to find the trick for the creamiest tomato soup without adding cream. I am also going to share few modifications to get Indian Restaurant style Tomato soup.
Fresh or Canned Tomatoes for Tomato Soup?
I would say use what you have access to. Both will lend different flavours to the soup but both versions will be delicious in their own way.
Canned tomatoes are the best quality in-season tomatoes with intense flavour. It is convenient to use because there will always be a couple of canes of tomatoes lying in the pantry. You can make tomato soup any time of the year, instead of waiting for the Tomato season.
Fresh tomatoes are also equally flavourful. Homemade tomato soup is a great way to use in-season fresh produce. Pick ripe plum tomatoes for the best result. Here is a small trick, while using fresh tomatoes. Add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to intensify the flavour.
How to make the soup
Start with sauteing onion and garlic in butter. Add peppercorn and bay leaf. Saute until aromatic. Add chopped tomato, salt and saute until the tomatoes have softened a bit. Add tomato paste and stock/water. Let the tomatoes get cooked well until it is soft and mushy.
Discard the bay leaf and blend using a hand blender until smooth. If using a mixer grinder/ food processor, make sure to cool it down a bit (else it hot liquid will splatter).
Run the blended liquid through a colander/sieve. Discard the skin and seed remains. Skip this step if using canned tomatoes.
To make the tomato soup creamy and rich, instead of adding cornflour mixture or cream, we are making a roux.
Melt butter, saute flour/maida until the raw smell is gone. Lower heat and then slowly add two full ladles of tomato mixture. Stir continuously to avoid any lump. The mixture should look smooth and it will start to thicken.
Add the rest of the liquid and slowly stir to mix well.
Now add sugar, salt and oregano. Check salt and add more if required.
Fresh tomatoes are tart compared to tinned tomatoes. So you might need to add more sugar to adjust the tartness.
Indian Restaurant Style Tomato Soup
In Indian restaurants, tomato soup has got a very different take. The flavour and the colour are quite different.
Tomato soup that you get in India has a red/purplish hue to it. To get the colour, add a small piece of beetroot while adding onion and garlic. Don't get tempted and add more. Just a small piece of beetroot will give a beautiful colour and you can't even taste the veggie.
Also, add a small piece of ginger,1 clove, and 2-3 coriander stems (chopped) while adding onion and garlic.
Garnish
Drizzle some cream while serving. Fresh Italian Basil adds a lot of freshness to the tomato soup. You can also add a dollop of fresh basil pesto, freshly grated parmesan or crispy bacon while serving.
Can this soup be frozen?
This soup freezes beautifully. If making a bigger batch, divide it into smaller portions ( 2-3 servings) and freeze up to 3 months.
What to serve with Tomato Soup?
I can't think of tomato soup without some garlic bread, buttery crispy croutons. Before you start with the soup, pop in some seasoned bread chunks in the oven and perfect croutons are ready
This thick creamy soup is perfect to scoop with a thick slice of toasted bread or grilled cheese or focaccia.
To make it a complete meal, serve it with some grilled chicken.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Tomato Soup
Ingredients
To make with Fresh Tomatoes
- 1 kg Ripe Plum Tomatoes ref note 1
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 3 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium Onion
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorn
- 3-4 cups vegetable stock/water
- 1 dried oregano/basil
- 2 tabespoon flour
Instructions
To make with fresh Tomatoes
- Roughly chop fresh tomatoes. Keep aside along with all the juice.
- Heat a heavy bottom soup pot. Melt oil and butter. Add chopped onion, garlic, peppercorn and bay leaf. Saute until onion has softened and garlic is aromatic. It will take around 2-3 minutes.
- Add chopped tomatoes along with all its juice. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Saute for 4-5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, stock/water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. The tomato should be cooked soft and mushy.
- Switch off the heat. Remove the bay leaf.
- Using a hand blender blend it until smooth. If using a food processor make sure to cool it down before processing.
- Run the blended tomato mixture through a colander. Discard the residual skin/seeds.
- Clean the used pot or in a separate pot melt the remaining butter. Stir in the flour. Cook on low heat for minutes until the flour is not smelling raw anymore. Take care not to brown the flour.
- Slowly add a ladle of the strained tomato mixture and keep stirring continuously. Add another ladle of the mixture while stirring with the other hand to avoid lumps.
- Add the rest of the tomato mixture. Adjust the thickness by adding more water. Add sugar, oregano and salt (if required). (increase the amount of sugar as per taste to balance the tartness of tomatoes)
- Let it simmer for another 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring in between to avoid the mixture getting stuck.
- Serve the soup with a drizzle of cream or shredded parmesan or crouton.
To make with canned tomatoes
- Use a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.
- You may skip tomato paste because canned tomatoes already have an intense flavour.
- No need of running the blended mixture through a colander.
To make Indian Restaurant Style Tomato Soup
- Add 1 teaspoon of ginger, 2 small pieces to beetroot(for colour) and 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander stem to the pot, while adding onion and garlic.
Notes
- Use the hybrid variant(instead of the local variety of tomate
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