Comfort Foods For Every Palette

Even though India is a tropical country, the winters can be pretty cruel sometimes. Nothing feels as good as snuggling up with some delish comfort food and sharing it with your family. Families often have the same comfort foods, and soups and curries are a popular in general.

When I am sitting with my family, I usually prepare some tomato soup and freeze it in the freezer. I make huge batches to last us for the entire week, and then take it out in portions whenever someone has a cold or for a quick snack in the evening. Toasting up some bread or just plain and classic cheese toasts go really well with tomato soup.

I often try to sneak in as many vegetables as I can in tomato soup in small quantities. I chop up about 3-4 big onions, about 10 tomatoes, (more if they are not very juicy), a few cloves of garlic, a big root of ginger, peeled and diced, and a couple of potatoes or sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes have a lot of fibre and are in general more nutritious than regular potatoes. They also help women have less cramps during their periods.

I put all these in a huge cooker or an instant pot and take about 4-5 whistles. Soon enough, the entire kitchen smells of tomato soup and my kids join me in the kitchen.

Then, I open the cooker and seive the puree into a huge bowl. If I am in a hurry, I will serve the seived tomato soup by itself with some salt or pepper. If I have some time on my hands, I will add one more step the recipe.

I heat some ghee in a huge wok and add some laung and curries leaves. I then add this seived puree and heat it for a few minutes before serving the tomato soup.

Another favourite during winters is paneer butter masala. My family is vegetarian, so this is a great source of protein for us. I try to get fresh paneer from the dairy near my house and chop it up and keep it in the fridge. I stir fry it in some spices - salt, red chilli, some garam masala and a little bit of lemon juice and voila! You have a quick and easy evening snack.

Paneer Butter Masala takes a little bit of time, but it’s every bit worth the effort. I puree some onions and tomatoes in the mixture and add it to a bit of ghee in the wok. I add the puree to the wok and then add a cup of milk. Then, I add the paneer butter masala spice mix to a little bit of water and dissolve it to make sure there are no lumps. I then add it to the wok and chop up some paneer cubes and add it to the curry. I serve it with some paranthas, naan or pita bread, if I don’t have time to cook.

What are your favourite comfort foods?