Tomato Eggplant Soup

A hearty fall or winter soup that is fairly easy to make and very satisfying!

Ingredients:
1 lb plum tomatoes
1 lb eggplant
5-6 medium carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs curry powder
2-3 tsp kosher salt/to taste
1 tsp pepper/to taste
2 tbs olive oil
4-6 cups water
plain yogurt

Recipe:


Preheat the oven to 400°F and spray a sheet pan with oil.
Cut the eggplant into large pieces, halve the tomatoes, and roughly chop the carrots.
Place the vegetables onto the pan and drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil and lightly sprinkle the kosher salt.

Vegetables Before

Let the vegetables roast for 40 min to 1 hour.
Take out the vegetables and let them cool.

Vegetables After

As the vegetables cool, finely chop the garlic.

When you can handle the vegetables by hand, peel off the tomato and eggplant skins (should easily slide/peel off after roasting in the oven).
Place all the vegetables into food processor and blend till smooth (may need to add some of the water here to fully puree).
To get rid of seeds and any remaining bits of skin, strain the vegetable puree.  I don't have one of those fine mesh soup strainers but I used a strainer that I use for draining fried foods.

Straining puree with liquid

This may be the most labor intensive step in the whole recipe - the reason being that I would strain my puree and add water to what did not strain through and food process the unstrained bits with water.  This way I got the most of out every bit of vegetable!  By no means must you do this step, I just like getting everything I can out of whatever I make!

After strain

Once you have your strained puree, cook the chopped garlic in the remaining 1 tbs olive oil in a large pot.

Once you can smell the garlic, pour in the puree.
Add water to get the soup to a desired consistency (I added about 5 cups of water total).

Add the curry powder, salt, and pepper.

Curry Powder

Cook the soup over medium-low heat till it comes to a boil.
Serve your soup (about 2 large ladle fulls or 1 1/2 cups).

For added flavor and creaminess -put a dollop of yogurt in the soup.  It gives the soup an extra tang and compliments the eggplant.  

Note - if you dislike eggplant, this soup is a great way to incorporate it into your diet without being overwhelmed by complete eggplant taste and you can always add a bit more tomato if the flavor is too strong for your tastes.