Clear Soup with Crouton

This clear soup is an all season soup for me; warm and soothing in winters, and light and refreshing in summers. The clean flavours and lemon zing makes it a perfect starter. Accompanied with crispy croutons and with addition of chicken chunks, mushrooms and vegetables, it becomes a perfect meal for weight watchers.
Though the soup made with this recipe tastes equally nice even if its not very clear but if you follow the tips and manage to make it clear, it looks lovely in presentation as well.

For Clear Soup :

1/4 kg chicken wings
1/2 cup mushrooms,chopped
1 whole onion, peeled
2 whole tomatoes
1 green chilli pepper
5 cloves garlic
1/2 inch piece ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
6 pepper corns
1 black cardamom
6 cups water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 table spoon lemon juice

This Is What You Do :

In a deep sauce pan add all the ingredients except soy sauce and lemon juice. Let the broth simmer over low heat for an hour. If you want a really clear soup then remember
* don’t cook at boiling temperature or the ingredients will disintegrate and mix with broth.
* don’t stir the broth, this also helps break the ingredients and dissolve in the broth.
When liquid is reduced to half of what it originally was, pour it through a fine sieve into a big soup bowl. Let it cool in a refrigerator till the fats in the soup come to the surface and make a layer. Gently sweep away the layer of fats with a spoon.
Finely julienne cut the vegetables you want to serve as garnish. Place the garnishes in the middle of an individual serving bowl. Heat the soup, add soy sauce and lemon juice. Pour over garnishes. Serve hot with crispy croutons.

For Easy Croutons :

2 slices of bread (I used multi grain)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon BBQ seasoning or curry powder

This Is What You Do :

Mix oil, garlic powder and seasoning on a bowl. Brush both sides of the bread slices with the oil mix. For very quick croutons toast them in electric toaster oven till they are crisp. Or spread them in an oven proof tray and leave in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 175 degrees C. Or toast the slices simply on a skillet/ tawa till crisp and golden. Cut into bite size cubes. These can be stored in an air tight jar to be used later.