Cream Of Broccoli Soup

          Cream Of Broccoli Soup, this has been on my do-list for a long time, now with the chilly weather outside, perfect one for a warm bowl of soup, I tried it out, some time last week. Though the name is Cream Of  Broccoli Soup, I have not used any cream in the soup, just some milk. The soup needs just a few commonly available ingredients and doesn't take much time to prepare too. It came out very well, creamy and delicious, just serve it with some bread and salad for a complete meal..

Need To Have

• Broccoli Florets - 2 cups
• Onion - 1 small
• Garlic - 3 small cloves
• Whole Wheat Flour - 1 tablespoon
• Warm Milk - 1 cup
• Nutmeg - a small pinch
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Method

          Blanch the broccoli, drain and chop into small florets ( about 2 cups ). Heat a little oil, saute a handful of broccoli, remove and keep for garnish.

          Heat some olive oil, add the chopped onion and garlic and saute till you get a nice aroma and the garlic pieces turn golden. Add the broccoli florets and mix for another minute. Now add the whole wheat flour (atta), mix everything together for another 3 to 5 minutes.

          Add about 1 cup water. cover and cook till the broccoli is cooked and soft. Cool the broccoli, blend it into a smooth mixture ( it's okay to have a few pieces ), adding about 1/2 cup of water.

          Take the blended broccoli in a pan, add the milk and heat the mixture. Just before serving, add the nutmeg powder, salt and pepper and serve it garnished with the sauteed broccoli pieces and some grated parmesan cheese.

Note
Add the salt and pepper just before serving, otherwise the milk might curdle while heating.
Garnishing with cheese is purely optional.
Don't overdo the nutmeg or if you don't want, you can leave it entirely, I just added very little, along with the salt and pepper to individual bowls of soup, instead of adding to the entire quantity.
You can use butter instead of oil for sauteing.
To blanch the broccoli means, add the florets to boiling water, switch off and leave them in the hot water for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove it. If you're using it for a salad, immediately put them in cold water to retain the bright green color, but for the soup, since we are going to cook it again, you can skip that step.