There are times when you feel a little curious about a recipe and try it with an open mind. When I say am open mind, what I mean is that a part of your mind is preparing you for a colossal failure. This soup was in that category.

Eggplant, that too, in a soup? I had to try it for myself. I was expecting it to fail, but surprisingly it turned out well. It’s the basil that stands out the most, with a nice taste of eggplant coming in later. I liked it. But I have always been an eggplant lover.

I didn’t bother pureeing it when I served it first, but gave it a try later. Liked both the versions.

My husband is not a big fan of soups. So when I was making lunch for him, I threw a portion of this soup along with some boiled eggs and spinach puree I had and made a quick curry out of it. Served with some basmati rice and he was one happy man!

This post goes to January BM, under take away dishes theme. My choice of take away place is San Francisco Soup company. Yesterday was Smoky split pea soup and today is Roasted eggplant soup. Come back tomorrow for another interesting soup recipe.

Recipe adapted from : Food.com

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 eggplant
• 1 red pepper
• 3-4 tomatoes
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or chili powder (per taste)
• 6 cups stock or water
• few basil leaves
• salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Coat a baking pan with olive oil and place your veggies on it after cutting it into half.
2. Eggplant needs to be scored and seasoned and placed flat side down. Peppers can also be placed flat side down.
3. Garlic can be cut into half and wrapped in foil with some oil, salt and pepper. Tomatoes can be cut into two and kept flat side up.
4. Bake until the veggies are roasted, about 40 minutes. Place the peppers in a ziploc.
5. Let it all cool. Peel off the skin from peppers. Roughly chop tomatoes and peppers.
6. In a soup pan, add one tablespoon oil. Add the onions and cook until its pink.
7. Add the pepper flakes, follow it up with the chopped tomatoes and peppers. Squeeze out the garlic from its skin and add it.
8. Scrape out the flesh from the eggplant and throw the skin out. Add it to the soup along with 6 cups of water or stock and basil.
9. Season per taste. Let it come to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes.
10. Take off the heat and once cool enough to handle, puree in batches.
11. Heat at the time of serving and add some grated cheese if you prefer.