My son is a big laddu fan. So much so that I have gained expertise in turning anything into the laddu-ball shape to entice him to eat it. Typical paruppu-saadam urundai (small balls of dal/lentil and rice) are passé. Fruit balls made with the melon baller, cooked vegetables and rice balls, pulao balls (yes, I’ve made those too!), milk and biscuit balls (those were before he started eating ‘bikki’), roti-sabzi balls – you name it, and I’ve made it all! Funnily enough, you know how he eats the actual boondi laddu? He crumbles the entire laddu, smashes it up even more and then puts each tiny bit by tiny bit into his mouth!
So, if your son is anything like mine or if he likes cheese (anyone who doesn’t?) then this soup will really speak to you. This funny sounding soup looks very interesting and tastes simply wow. It has cheese dumplings along with finely diced veggies in a clear soup. These aren’t the usual oozy cheesy cheese balls. These are more like soft, but firm, cheese dumplings made by binding corn flour and cheese.
Paraguayan food is predominantly non-vegetarian. The country is said to have abundant crop of mangoes, avocadoes and vegetables, but they aren’t much used in the cuisine. I was lucky to come across this vegetarian Paraguayan soup in the book The Global Vegetarian. The best part about this one is that the whole dish comes together pretty quickly. It is light, yet filling; tasty and nutritious too. Read on for the how-to.
PS: About the pictures: I know they’re pretty dark. I tried to shoot with natural light with our Indonesian wood coffee table for background. I don’t think I was too successful. For one, I don’t have a tripod for the camera, so I can’t shoot at aperture lower than 1/25th of a second.
Bori Bori Soup – Vegetable soup from Paraguay with corn-cheese balls
Ingredients
For the soup:
Chopped green beans (any variety) – 1 cup, finely chopped
Mixed vegetables – 2 cups, finely chopped (mix of capsicum, carrot, corn, sweet corn, zucchini)
Onion – 1, large, finely chopped
Garlic – 2-3 fat cloves, minced
Coarsely ground black pepper and salt to taste
Water – 3 cups
Oil – 2 tbsp
For the dumplings:
Fine corn flour – ½ cup (yellow flour made from corn ie. makki ki atta, not corn starch)
Grated cheddar cheese – ½ cup
Dried oregano – 2 tsp
Ground black pepper – ½ tsp
Method:
For the dumplings:
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead into a dough. You can add milk/water a teaspoon at a time if you find it too dry to bind
Leave the dough to rest, covered, for about half an hour
Pinch out pieces of dough the size of a small lemon/rounded teaspoon (I made them larger!). Roll it well and keep aside
For the soup:
Heat oil in age saucepan and sauté the garlic and onions till onions turn transparent
Stir in all the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes
Add salt, pepper and water and bring to a boil
Then lower the heat to the minimum and gently add the dumpling one by one
Simmer the soup for 15-20 minutes
Serve hot!
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This is my post for alphabet P (for Paraguay) for the blogging event titled Around the World in 30 Days , a special bi-annual version of the Blogging Marathon hosted by Srivalli.
More recipes from countries starting with the alphabet P:
How nice to know about your lil one..the soup looks so good..
aww little ikshu and his antics….btw..my son does not like cheese :(:( he is a fan of laddu though but wont entertain anything but semi sweet laddu….this bori bori soup i can imagine how well might have worked for ur lil man.
wow thats a very tempting and delicious soup 🙂 love the combination of veggies with cheesy dumpling 🙂
The soup sounds interesting and every kid has his own way with food..like the idea of balls:)) . Regarding pics I think USHA and Pavani can guide you better.
Wow, bori bori soup is just inviting, and definitely inviting, even i loved the idea of making balls.
Looks very rustic and homey!
Lol, that is nice to know about your son’s fondness for laddu and how he eats it. Soups looks yummy. Coming to pictures, I don’t know what settings you can adjust on your camera. In low light conditions tripod is a must if you are using slow shutter speed. You could try increasing your ISO setting or even decreasing your f stop. You can do a combination of increasing your ISO and using a smaller f stop. Hope this helps.
This soup is like kofta curry with the dumpling cooked in the pot. Very interesting recipe.
Your son is adorable — did he get over the laddoo phase yet?
That is a very interesting name for the soup and the veggie balls in gravy look yummy!!
So, I bet your adorable little one must have enjoyed this soup because of the cheese and the shape of the dumplings. 🙂
Looks like a delicious and filling soup. The cheese and corn dumplings sound interesting…
Glad you chose this country. I thought it was the one P country not represented. I tried to find recipes to try from this country but was unsuccessful to find the time to perform the recipes I found.
Reblogged this on Pan Riffing and commented:
Watching Anthony Bourdain in Paraguay — want to make this soup!
I can imagine iskhu eating the crumbled laddu .So sweet! And my LO started liking laddoo from this diwali only!And coming to the soup, I would love to have it:)
Iskhu and his masti! How is he? Love the soup btw I want some of it right now.
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