Cream of Chicken Tomato Soup with Fried Okra

Tasted this soup in a restaurant and really liked it. Decided to give it a try. Took the cream of Chicken Tomato recipe and then added the fried okra to try and replicate what I ate at the restaurant. It came pretty close to what I had set out to achieve. Yummy soup - must try!





Method

1. Melt 1 tbsp butter/olive oil  in a heavy bottomed pan. Add 1 bay leaf to the hot oil/butter.
2. Add 2-3 pods of thinly sliced garlic and fry them slightly. Add 2 thinly diced carrots and saute till partially cooked.
3. Add 10-12 mushrooms finely chopped and saute. Add salt and pepper.
4. Add  4 tomatoes thinly sliced, 3-4 cups water and let the whole mixture boil for 20-30 mins on a slow flame. Also add chicken pieces(bigger ones) to the mixture. 
5. Remove from flame, let it cool and then remove the chicken pieces aside. Blend the tomato, carrot and mushroom mixture in a grinder. Strain it for smoother texture and then again put it on the flame for cooking
6. Shred the boiled chicken and add it to the soup. Let it boil again.
7. Add pepper, adjust the salt and you can also add oregano/italian seasoning for additional taste
8. Pour in 1 to 2 tbsp of cream to the soup and keep aside
9. Thinly slice okra (bhindi) and deep fry it in oil. You can also deep fry bread crumbs sliced into cubes.
10. Serve the soup with fried bhindi topping and bread crumbs.