Creamy Tomato Soup Recipe

This creamy tomato soup ticks all the boxes of comfort food. It is one of the most popular soups in India.

• Fresh Tomato vs Canned
• Tomato Soup Recipe Variations
• The Bread Croutons
• Watch Tomato Soup Video
• My Tried and True Tips
• Creamy Tomato Soup Recipe

What could be more comforting than a bowl of hearty tomato soup with the right amount of tanginess, sweetness, creaminess and a secret ingredient to give it that perfect crunch – the bread croutons?

The Indian-style version of the dish is my personal favourite. It has the flavour of – bay leaf, ginger, garlic, onion, and fresh cream. There is a hint of earthiness and spiciness to balance the acidic taste of the tomatoes.

It is a one-pot, gluten-free, vegetarian soup that is easy to make at home.

Fresh Tomato vs Canned

This is a fresh tomato soup recipe.

In India, a bowl of perfect tomato soup is always prepared with fresh, juicy tomatoes. Try to use the best available local variety of lush and ripe tomatoes to make this soup.

However, you can use canned tomatoes as well to make the soup. Taste the canned tomatoes and adjust the seasoning accordingly.

Looking for comforting soup recipes?

Tomato Soup Recipe Variations

There are tons of tomato soup recipe variations. Each region has its particular favourite version of this soup recipe.

• Instant Pot : To make tomato soup in an instant pot , use saute mode for 5 minutes and then pressure cook mode for 5 minutes.
• Blend the soup in the instant pot itself. Set saute mode for 5 minutes, add remaining ingredients, stir, and the soup is ready.

The Bread Croutons

For me, bread croutons are the highlight of this Indian-style tomato soup. Who else remembers fighting for extra croutons as a child while slurping the delicious soup? Those fried bits of bread were probably never as tempting and gratifying to when served with a bowl of homemade soup.

Here I am sharing two methods to make bread croutons from scratch at home:

Stovetop Method:

• Any kind of sandwich bread is good enough to make croutons. Start by removing the edges of the bread slices. Cut each slice of bread into bite-size squares or cubes.
• Heat 2 – 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan.
• Once the oil is heated, add the bread cubes, gently toss and fry till they turn light brown in colour and crisp. Transfer to a plate, sprinkle a little salt and black pepper.

Oven/Baking Method:

• Grease a large baking tray with olive oil. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
• Combine salt, thyme, red chilli flakes, extra virgin olive oil, and chopped garlic cloves in a bowl.
• Whisk nicely. Pour this dressing over the bread cubes and gently toss. Evenly, spread the bread cubes on a greased baking tray.
• Bake in a preheated oven for 5 – 10 minutes or until light brown in colour and crisp.

Watch Tomato Soup Video

My Tried and True Tips

• Ideally, butter is used to make tomato soup. The slightly sauteed butter gives a sweet taste to the soup. However, you can use olive oil as well.
• Avoid adding too much liquid to the soup else you will not get a thick consistency. Allow the tomatoes to release their juices before adding any liquid.
• Never, ever forget to sieve the blended soup . Else the texture of the soup will not be smooth and silky.
• Vegetable Stock is always better than plain water to cook the soup ingredients. It makes the soup way more flavoursome and delicious.
• If the tomato soup is too tart , balance the acidity or tartness by adding sugar or tomato ketchup. You can increase the quantity of cream as well.
• If the tomato soup is too liquid , add a cornstarch slurry or any other thickening agent to get the desired consistency. Simmer the soup till it is thick enough, taste and adjust the seasoning.

What else you can make with fresh tomatoes? Try my recipes of Tomato Ketchup , Tomato Salad , Spicy Salsa , or Couscous Soup.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 500 gram tomato, roughly chopped
• ▢ 4 tablespoon olive oil or butter
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ▢ ½ Cup chopped onion
• ▢ ½ Cup carrot, diced
• ▢ Salt to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• ▢ 2 – 3 Cup vegetable stock or water ( get recipe )
• ▢ 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup ( get recipe )
• ▢ ¼ Cup light cream

Instructions

Prep Work For Tomato Soup:

• Roughly chop onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and carrot before starting the soup.

How To Make Fresh Tomato Soup:

• Heat oil in a saucepan or a heavy bottom pan.
• Add the bay leaf, chopped garlic, ginger, onion and saute till the aroma of herbs is released. No need to brown the onions or garlic.
• Next, add the chopped carrot and saute for a 2 – 3 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and saute for 5 minutes. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow the tomatoes to cook over low heat.
• Once the tomatoes turn mushy and release their juices, remove the lid. Gently mash the vegetables using the back of the ladle/spoon. Turn off the heat.
• Once the vegetables cool down a bit, transfer the vegetables to a blender and make a smooth puree.
• Place a sieve over the same saucepan. Pour the vegetable puree over the sieve. Gently stir to get the smooth soup into the saucepan. Turn on the heat.
• Add black pepper, tomato ketchup, cream and water to the soup. Stir to combine.
• Simmer the tomato soup for 3 – 5 minutes over low heat. If the consistency seems too thick add a little bit more water. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
• Serve tomato soup with bread croutons, a drizzle of fresh cream and chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Recipe Notes:

• You can make this soup vegan by using coconut milk or cream.
• For thickness, add 1 cup diced potato while sauteeing carrot.
• This tomato soup can be easily done in an instant pot or pressure cooker. It takes only 10 minutes in an instant pot.
• Instead of tomato ketchup, you can use tomato paste or tomato pasta/pizza sauce .

Nutrition

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Creamy Tomato Soup Recipe

Equipment

• Saucepan

Ingredients

• 500 gram tomato, roughly chopped
• 4 tablespoon olive oil or butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ½ Cup chopped onion
• ½ Cup carrot, diced
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 2 - 3 Cup vegetable stock or water ( get recipe )
• 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup ( get recipe )
• ¼ Cup light cream

Instructions

Prep Work For Tomato Soup:

• Roughly chop onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and carrot before starting the soup.

How To Make Fresh Tomato Soup:

• Heat oil in a saucepan or a heavy bottom pan.
• Add the bay leaf, chopped garlic, ginger, onion and saute till the aroma of herbs is released. No need to brown the onions or garlic.
• Next, add the chopped carrot and saute for a 2 - 3 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and saute for 5 minutes. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow the tomatoes to cook over low heat.
• Once the tomatoes turn mushy and release their juices, remove the lid. Gently mash the vegetables using the back of the ladle/spoon. Turn off the heat.
• Once the vegetables cool down a bit, transfer the vegetables to a blender and make a smooth puree.
• Place a sieve over the same saucepan. Pour the vegetable puree over the sieve. Gently stir to get the smooth soup into the saucepan. Turn on the heat.
• Add black pepper, tomato ketchup, cream and water to the soup. Stir to combine.
• Simmer the tomato soup for 3 - 5 minutes over low heat. If the consistency seems too thick add a little bit more water. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
• Serve tomato soup with bread croutons, a drizzle of fresh cream and chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Video

Notes

• You can make this soup vegan by using coconut milk or cream.
• For thickness, add 1 cup diced potato while sauteeing carrot.
• This tomato soup can be easily done in an instant pot or pressure cooker. It takes only 10 minutes in an instant pot.
• Instead of tomato ketchup, you can use tomato paste or tomato pasta/pizza sauce .

Nutrition

Here is my tried and tested Indian Jalebi recipe without using yeast. These homemade jalebis will remain crisp for hours and taste delicious.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

• About Jalebi
• My Jalebi Obsession
• Watch Jalebi Video
• My Tried and True Tips
• Serving Suggestion
• Storing and Reheating
• Jalebi Recipe

Looking for more festive recipes? Try my 50+ Traditional Diwali Recipe Ideas , or if you are a paneer lover, 15 Best Paneer Recipes for Diwali . We have 10 Indian thali festive thali meals that will make your Diwali feast one of the best.

About Jalebi

Jalebi – the deep-fried pretzel-like sweet from India, is well-celebrated among food lovers. Across the Indian sub-continent, it is readily available at sweet shops, restaurants, and street carts. The moment Jalebi batter touches the hot oil, it starts taking whimsical shapes as if it has a mind of its own.

The pair of hands seasoned with years of practice could only master the tactful technique of shaping a perfect Jalebi.

The man sitting beside the wide and flat skillet filled with oil, the batter filled in a muslin cloth, moves his wrist like a magic wand in a rhythmic motion over the kadhai, and voila, there you have Jalebi ready. It is always absorbing to watch the halwai make Jalebis.

My Jalebi Obsession

My obsession with Jalebi Recipe unfolded two years back. It took me two years to bring the perfect recipe to the blog. The task of disciplining Jalebi batter on a pan filled with piping hot oil is no less than taming a dragon.

Finally, we have a failproof jalebi recipe after many trials and errors.

Reasons To LOVE This Jalebi Recipe

• easy to follow
• requires minimal ingredients
• always yield crisp and tasty jalebi
• no yeast is used to ferment the batter

Watch Jalebi Video

My Tried and True Tips

Sharing with you a few notes scribbled in my recipe journal after each trial.

• Jalebi Batter: You need only 6 ingredients – maida (all-purpose flour), corn starch, curd, baking powder, ghee, and a pinch of turmeric. The batter comes together in 5 minutes. The batter should be thick with a dropping consistency, a little thicker than the idli dosa batter.
• Sour Curd: Use only sour curd to mix the batter, no milk. If required, use a tablespoon or so of lukewarm water.
• Fermentation: Inside the oven or microwave are my pet spots to keep the batter for fermentation. During the summer or humid season, the jalebi batter gets fermented in 6 – 8 hours, but it might give you a heart wreck during the cold season. Wrap the bowl containing batter with a woolen piece of cloth and then keep it for fermenting, it may sound funny but this trick really works.

Jalebi Shape: To shape the Jalebi, you can either use the piping bag, plastic squeeze bottle, or a muslin cloth. Initially, it is best to make small-size Jalebi with one or two concentric circles.

• To test the batter and perfect the wrist movement, try making a few jalebis on a plate or kitchen counter.
• Don’t get intimidated by the idea of creating a perfectly shaped Jalebi.

Sugar Syrup: For soaking the jalebi, we need a thick and one-string consistency of sugar syrup.

To test the sugar syrup , take a spoonful of it and try to check it in between your thumb and index finger. If the syrup sticks to your fingers and forms one string when pulled apart, it is ready for jalebi.

• The sugar syrup should be hot while soaking the jalebi.
• It can be flavoured with saffron, green cardamom powder, kewra, or rose water.

Frying Jalebi: While deep-frying the Jalebi, keep on moderating the heat. Jalebi gets the desired colour and crispness when deep-fried at the right temperature.

• The fuming hot oil might result in a burnt and disoriented Jalebi. Also, do not flip the jalebi again and again while frying. Let them get crisp and light brown from one side, then flip and cook from the other side.
• Traditionally ghee (clarified butter) is used for frying jalebi. But I always prefer flavourless refined oil for frying the jalebi, and the taste is truly delicious.

Soaking Jalebi: After frying, transfer jalebi to a metal colander for 5 – 10 seconds. This step ensures the removal of excess oil from the fried jalebi. Next, soak the fried jalebi in the warm sugar syrup. The jalebi and sugar syrup should be warm, not lukewarm or at room temperature. Let the jalebi sit in the sugar syrup for 5 – 10 minutes to absorb the syrup.

Serving Suggestion

A jalebi is best-served piping hot after soaking in the sugar syrup. It is crisp, warm, and tastes best. Many food lovers enjoy crisp and hot jalebi with chilled rabri, phirni , or plain curd .

In North India, jalebi is served for a hearty breakfast with poha or kachori .

Storing and Reheating

As I said earlier, Jalebi is best served piping hot.

After a few hours at room temperature, it starts turning soft and loses its crunch. I would not recommend storing it in the refrigerator for many days. However, you can store the batter in the refrigerator and make jalebi whenever you like.

For reheating the jalebi, I prefer using the air-fryer or crispy lid of the Instant Pot . Within 5 minutes, they both make jalebi crisp and hot.

More Indian Sweet Recipes for festive season

• Gujiya
• Mawa Barfi
• Carrot Halwa
• Besan Ladoo
• Coconut Laddo
• Sattu Ke Laddu
• Khoya Gulab Jamun

Ingredients

Ingredients For Batter:

• ▢ 1 Cup maida (all-purpose flour)
• ▢ 2 tablespoon corn flour (starch)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 Cup sour curd
• ▢ 2 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder for color

Ingredients For Sugar Syrup:

• ▢ 2 Cup granulated white sugar
• ▢ 2 Cup water
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon saffron

Instructions

Jalebi Batter:

• To make the Jalebi batter, combine together the maida, cornflour, baking powder, turmeric in a bowl.
• Add ghee and curd to the dry ingredients. Mix nicely to make a thick batter. Whisk the batter nicely for 5 – 10 minutes either with a wire whisk or using an electric hand mixer.
• The consistency of the batter should be thick and not watery, a little thicker than dosa batter. You should be able to make a shape using a piping bag.
• Cover the jalebi batter and place it in a warm place for 24 hours or at least 8 – 10 hours, till it is fermented, the batter will rise once fermented.
• Once the batter is fermented stir the batter in a cut and folds motion to combine it once again. Make sure not to whisk it for too long once it is fermented.

Sugar Syrup:

• To make the sugar syrup, boil the sugar with water and saffron strands in a wide pan on medium heat until the sugar dissolves. When the syrup becomes thick and of one string consistency. Turn off the heat and keep aside. But make sure the syrup is hot while soaking the jalebi.

Frying Jalebi:

• Now to make the jalebis preheat the oil in a wide heavy-bottomed pan for deep frying. To check whether the oil is hot enough for deep frying the Jalebi, drop a teaspoon of batter in oil and if it comes floating to the top almost immediately, the oil is ready for frying.
• Meanwhile fill the plastic squeeze bottle with the batter. Tap to remove air. Test the batter by making few jalebis on a plate. Next, pipe spirals or concentric circles of the batter onto the hot oil. Fry the jalebi on low-medium heat until golden brown in color and crisp.
• Once the jalebi is crisp and browned, transfer to a metal colander to drain the excess oil. Let it sit for 5 – 10 seconds.

Soaking Jalebi:

• Transfer the warm jalebi to the hot sugar syrup. And let them sit in the syrup for the next 5 – 10 minutes to absorb the sweetness.
• Serve Jalebi warm with rabri, kheer or curd.

Recipe Notes:

• The leftover batter can be stored in the fridge and is good to use for the next 2 – 3 days.
• As we are not using any yeast in this recipe, it is important to use sour curd for making the batter. The batter will turn light and fluffy after fermenting.
• Turmeric is added only for the color in the batter. You can use organic food color as well.
• If the nozzle or tip of the squeeze bottle is too thin, cut it a little bit to get the desired thickness of jalebi. Please keep in mind, the jalebi expands in size while frying. So adjust the thickness of the nozzle accordingly.

Nutrition

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