Lazy Days - Mushroom Soup

By right, I should make a list every time I go grocery shopping. Instead, I walk down every aisle in the supermarket, and pick up 25 things I think I might need, like a can of chickpeas or coriander seeds. Then, they languish  in the larder, forgotten.

But then again, I always have the best of intentions. I buy chickpeas thinking that I’ll be making hummus and coriander seeds to make kurma.

Two weekends ago, I was at Bangsar Village Grocer and I bought a big container of mixed mushrooms (white mushrooms, brown mushrooms and oyster mushroom). I haven’t bought mushrooms in awhile, and could think of half a dozen recipes I could try out.

But two weeks later, those mushrooms were still sitting pretty in the fridge -but certainly not for much longer. They cost too much for me to continue ignoring them, so I took them out of the fridge. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I thought I should start doing something anyway. So, I cleaned them, and cut them up, and waited for inspiration to hit me.

I ended up cooking a quick bacon and mushroom cream sauce spaghetti with chilli padi, but there was still lots of mushrooms left. I stuck them back into the fridge. It was just one of those days when I couldn’t face up to a sinkful of dishes.

The next day, I took out those mushrooms, and contemplated making a mushroom and bacon quiche; but only for two seconds. I ended up making the easiest thing I could think of – soup.

When it comes to making soup, I don’t follow a recipe.

I sauteed two cloves of garlic in two tablespoons of olive oil, threw in the sliced mushrooms and stir them around for a few minutes till they are soft and aromatic. Then, I pour in the cream, and some milk – enough to cover the mushrooms.

I then blitz the soup with a hand blender, and season with salt and pepper. If you think that the soup is too thick, add milk. If you think it’s too thin, boil the soup a little longer over a slow flame to reduce it, or add more cream.

The best thing about this mushroom soup is that it’s also easy to eat. I just cut up some baguette slices, and dunk them into the soup. Makes for a nice breakfast on weekdays, and tastes so much better than canned soup.

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