Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I can't remember when was the last time I posted from my cellphone. Now that I've got the flu, I don't there to enter my studio; I must not get my nose any closer to the books and their dust mites. Doctor's orders. My desktop is there; my laptop, broken. Fortunately, my cellphone is fine 😁

Yesterday's lunch was a challenge. Both my husband and I felt too weak; the day was just too humid and hot, nasal congestion at its peak. We needed soup, more specifically, onion soup.

Because of its antiinflammatory properties and its high content of vitamin C, onion is one the great favorites in my hometown when you have the flu. Onions promote respiratory health and help us fight allergies. I think it's good we remember that.

...But how do you manage to make soup when you don't feel like getting up from the sofa. Well, I did. My husband had offered to make an onion cream, which is so good when one's got the flu, but I had the picture of the soup I wanted on my mind already, so I'd better made it myself. I got up...

And made onion and potato creamy soup with fries donut shaped arepas, fried pimps and black pepper. It was wall we needed.

Ingredients

For the creamy soup, I used:

• 3 cups yellow onion
• 2 cups potato
• 1 cup leek
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic
• 150 ml homemade coconut milk
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1.2 liters water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• Olive pomace oil and margarine to sautee the vegetables

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Some pimps, arepas, and black pepper

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To make the arepas, I used:

• 2 cups corn flour (P.A.N.)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• The peel of 200 gr almonds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Enough oil to fry (I used corn oil)

Time to make soup!

I took the biggest onions I had on the counter.

In my hometown, we're used to eating our soup with cassava cakes or arepas. On a different day, where I wasn't sick, I'd eat bread with my onion soup, but gluten is forbidden until I am well. I had some leftover dough for arepas. I used it.

I fried them while I was making the rest of our lunch--brunch, actually.

I'd made it the day before using PAN (cornmeal) flour and the skin of the almonds that I used to make milk for risotto.

It was so good for us to eat these peels now, as they have antiviral properties.

These fried arepas, which I coated with sesame seeds were the crispy element of the dish. I made them donut shaped so they would turned crispier.

To make the soup, I started by finely chopping the onions.

Then I sauteed them in margarine and olive pomace oil. Oil helps to prevent the margarine from burning.

Cook until the onion starts to brown.

While the onion cooks, chop the leek and pepper.

Add them in the cooking pot and stir a little.

Time for mortar and pestle. Crush some garlic cloves.

I used white wine to "wash" the mortar and pestle to get every last ounce of crushed garlic out.

I used white wine to "wash" the mortar and pestle to get every last ounce of crushed garlic out.

This way you also Deglaze the pot, which makes delicious soup.

I added a couple of bay leaves.

And salt.

Immediately after that, I added 1.2 liters of water. I wanted to make enough soup just in case we needed it for dinner.

It was now time to use the last potatoes I had on the counter. I washed and peel them.

Diced them.

It was like two cups. They would add enough starch.

I added them in the cooking pot. The broth was hot.

...and with a beautiful golden color. I started to feel really hungry at this point.

I let the potatoes get really tender. It was like 10 minutes.

Then I removed the pot from the fire and added the coconut milk: 150 ml.

It was a good thing that I had made it really creamy.

When the soup had released some of the heat, I processed it in the blender. For this I took out the bay leaves, as in this case, they might make the soup undesirably bitter.

Just 10 seconds tops in the blender.

At this point, the arepitas were ready.

I washed some pimps--in my hometown, they're called "little bullet tomatoes" (tomates balita)--, the ones smaller than cherry tomatoes. They add a twist of acidity so good for sweet soup. And the polyphenols in them were so good to help us fight the flu.

I let them fry for a few seconds.

I went for a lemon and the jar of black pepper to crack some over the soup. I had now all the elements I needed: creamy and sweet, crispy, acid, and spicy.

Bon appetit!

Thank you so much for your visit :)

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

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