Creamy Tomato Basil Soup - guest post by Manasa of Cure yourself with Food - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 7

Today, I have a special guest post from Manasa Rajan of Cure yourself with Food. Manasa is a Nutrition Coach who lives here in Bangalore, India. I met her for the first time at one of our Vegan Bengaluru monthly potlucks and was very impressed to hear about the healthy, high raw diet that she and her family, including her young daughter, follow.

When I decided to include a few guest posts for MoFo this time, I knew one of her recipes would be perfect to share here. I was very happy when she agreed to create a raw recipe for my blog. And what a delicious, refreshing recipe it is!

Apart from her blog, Manasa can also be found on Facebook and Google Plus. Thank you for guest posting on Veganosaurus today, Manasa! :)

Now on to her post...

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When Susmitha asked me to do a guest post on one of my raw vegan recipes, I was a bit tempted to do a raw dessert with nuts and fruits. But lately I have been craving more savoury and spicy foods; my lunch seems to comprise of some kind of raw soup everyday. So, I decided to share one of my favourite raw soup recipes, which is making its presence on a loop in my kitchen. Creamy tomato basil soup!!!

The potted tomato plants on my balcony are offering little plump red beauties, which I cannot get myself to put on the stove to 'cook', I want to preserve and enjoy them in their natural, whole (and organic) lusciousness.

So, here's to raw vegan (really) fast food!!!

Ingredients

1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4-5 hours)
5-6 medium sized tomatoes
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 ghost pepper (or a regular green chilly)
3-4 black pepper corns
1-2 tsp dried basil
1 clove of garlic
sea salt to taste
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Process

Rinse and drain the cashews. Put all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend. The motion of the high powered blender like a Vitamix will heat up the soup, but if you are using a regular blender, you might need to run it a bit longer and be really careful with the steam being generated in the jar. Warm the soup a bit (do not boil), if you prefer. You can taste the soup and add more seasoning if required.