How to cure the post India blues?

India was amazing, so amazing. I saw loads, met hoardes of very friendly Indians who treated us like superstars for our incredible whiteness of skin, sang in the cinema watching Bollywood films and enjoyed every morsel of food I ate. The food was fantastic and not even a bout of Delhi belly held me back from the street vendors, curries, breads....

Unfortunately however that bout of Delhi belly didnt leave Delhi with my flight last Saturday morning and Im now on a course of antibiotics which has left me avoiding food altoghether this week until the words from the doctor yesterday said I had to take the tablets half an hour before food implying that Id better get back to eating.

So what to make to feel better other than soup? Much as I would love a curry right now I think something a bit calmer for my tummy might be better. I do have a list of recipes I want to try from India though so there will be plenty of curries to come.

This soup is dead easy to make and has so few ingredients that you cant possibly go wrong. That and blue cheese is fairly cheap in the shops right now. It also tastes like it is doing wonders for you which is a good thing on a bleak January day when you are counting down far too many days until you will see the sun again.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

• 800g Broccoli -
• 2 pints of vegetable stock - I used fancy Marks and Spencer one from a jar but Ive found Oxo cubes do the job for this nicely
• 1 large onion
• 2 -3 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 100g blue brie or a much smaller amount of strong blue cheese such as stilton

Wash the broccoli and chop into small florets. Chop the stalks up into very small bits as it will all be mushed up so no point wasting it.

Heat some oil in a large saucepan and lightly fry the onion and garlic until soft but not too brown.

Throw in the 2 pints of stock and all of the broccoli. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer covered for about 5 minutes or until the broccoli is soft enough to chew without making a crunchy sound.

Chop up the brie/stilton and mix through the soup. Add some salt, pepper and the chilli powder to taste. Be careful on this one as the blue cheese can be quite salty and the broccoli very peppery!

Throw it into a blender and liquidize and you should have 4 good sized bowls of winter cheer.