Children's Day Special

Alphabet Soup

To Surprise Your Kids With

Children's Day is a good excuse to put a pot of alphabet vegetable soup on the table with vegetables, soft potato and tiny pasta letters swimming in a tomato and herb broth. Younger age groups who have just learnt to spell and even older ones who like to play with their food will find it a delightful dish to relish. Beyond its obvious tomato and herby taste are garlic and onions sautéed in olive oil, which enhance its flavour, along with Italian seasoning, black pepper, and thyme. The thick consistency of this Children's Day special soup comes from a combination of tomatoes in different forms: one through the tomato paste and the other through the diced tomatoes, which also concentrates their tangy flavour. The recipe's author says the tomato paste helps thicken the soup and adds concentrated flavour. There is no chilli in this recipe, which makes it perfect for non-refined palates of children. Along with the herbs and flavouring agents mentioned, a bay leaf is added during the simmering stage and discarded, which adds a subtle flavour to the soup. The best finishing touch comes in the form of the fresh Parmesan, once the soup is done. Texture is where it wins over fussy eaters in this Children's Day special dish. A medium-sized potato adds enough starch to make the soup more hearty and also filling, with the fresh vegetables giving the soup ample fibre. They also add more bite along with the alphabet pasta, and colour to an otherwise reddish and yellow soup. For this recipe, use vegetable broth to keep the soup vegetarian. Serve it with bread for dipping.