Fall Vegetable Soup

We had a lovely thanksgiving this year, with unseasonably warm weather and enjoyable company. As always its also a holiday to indulge in the fall bounties and so we did. Here's a few pictures from our Thanksgiving dinner. After all the rich food over the weekend, "cyber Monday" is "lean" Monday in our household. I usually end up having a good number of vegetables leftover from the big dinner. This year I had some squash, one sweet potato, corn etc which I put to good use by making this fall vegetable soup. The ingredient that makes this soup a bit different from the ordinary is the use of apple cider. I made some mulled cider and had a few cups of unsweetened cider leftover. Used that instead of the vegetable stock to get the tang and the sweet aromatic flavor of the apple. The outcome was a pretty filling yet light enough kind of a soup to start the detox regime post-thanksgiving :-)

Notes:

• Any combination of fall vegetables will work. Feel free to substitute with other fall vegetables like turnip, pumpkin etc.
• The vegetables can be diced large or small as long as they are evenly sized.

Ingredients

Butternut squash - 1 cup diced
1 Sweet potato diced
1 Medium Potato, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 medium red onion. finely chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 tsp ginger minced
1 clove of garlic minced
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin powder
2 cups apple cider, unsweetened
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a big pot. Add onions, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onions are translucent. 
2. Add the chopped vegetables except corn kernels and saute for 2 minutes. 
3. Now add the spices (cayenne, paprika, basil, cumin powder and salt). Saute for 2 more minutes. 
4. Now add 2 cups of apple cider and one cup of water. 
5. Cover and simmer over medium flame. Add more water to get the consistency you like. I added 4 cups water in total. 
6. After the vegetables are cooked tender but not falling apart (about 15 min or so), add corn kernels, taste, adjust seasoning.
7. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the corn is tender. 
8. Serve hot with some rustic bread on the side. 

Enjoy !!