KartoffelSuppe-German Potato Soup

This is a simple potato (kartoffel) soup (suppe) from Germany.The creamy soup is very quick to make and this version which I found here is practically vegan.There can be several additions of meat and veggies to this soup but the king ingredient remains potato (kartoffel).The spices used is minimum only bayleaf,if you leave out the salt & pepper which are a must-have in every soup.Also garlic though healthy is left out.It is said that Germans rarely use garlic as it leaves a bad breath!.It is only recently that garlic has been accepted due to the Italian and French influences. Well whatever it is the soup is hearty and delicious.

Ingredients:

Potato: 2 -3 medium
Onion: 1 small chopped
Carrot: 1 medium(The carrot is completely optional and is my addition)
Celery: 1 small stick with leaves and stalks

BayLeaf
Salt
Pepper

Water: as needed to cook the veggies

Preparation:
Peel and cube potatoes and carrot.Chop celery and onions finely.

Heat oil in a pan,add the chopped veggies together and saute till they get coated with oil and start cooking and the onions turn transparent.

Add little salt,pepper and bayleaf and water and bring to a boil.Reduce the heat,cover the pan and let it simmer till the veggies are cooked.This takes around 15-20 minutes.

Once done,with a masher or the ladle,mash the potato into the the soup.You can also use a handheld immersion blender.This gives it a creamy texture.Alternately,you can drain the veggies into the blender,keeping the cooked water/stock separate,then puree the veggies adding little stock water and then depending on the thickness you want keep adding more stock water or even milk which makes it look more creamy but actually thins it out,in which case heat through the soup,but do not boil.

I simply mashed the potato using a ladle leaving few chunks of potato and did not add milk . Serve ladling into bowls removing the bayleaf and adjusting salt and pepper.The recipe serves 2-3 people comfortably

The onion,celery and optional carrot I used acts like a stock base .Also instead of just carrot,you can add a whole lot of vegetables like turnip etc which enhance the stock and soup.Instead of/addition to the bayleaf you can add spices like dill/marjoram and fresh herbs like parsley.Such version can be found here

A warm bowl of soup is warming AWED:German ,an event by DK and hosted by Lakshmi