Paprika – Corn Surprise

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 2 shallots
• 2 small garlic cloves
• 2 bell peppers, yellow
• 1 can corn (drained weight 285 g)
• 800 ml vegetable stock
• 75 ml cream substitute (you may)
• Margarine (low-fat margarine)
• Balsamic vinegar, white
• salt and pepper
• curry powder
• 3 bell peppers, red, sturdy!

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 25 minutes

Creamy bell pepper and corn soup with a special surprise effect. (Also suitable for WW!)

Finely dice the shallots, peel the garlic, and press it through a press. Dice the yellow bell peppers and drain the corn (3 WW points). Sauté the shallots and garlic in a little low-fat margarine (10 g = 1.5 WW points), add the bell peppers and corn, and fry briefly. Deglaze the vegetables with the broth and simmer for two to three minutes. Then skim off a few tablespoons of the vegetables and only add them back to the soup at the end to give them a firmer texture. Now puree everything with a hand blender, stir in the cream substitute (you can use “Cooking with Finesse” for 1.5 points), and season with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and curry powder. Add the skimmed vegetables back to the soup. For the “surprise,” wash the red bell peppers and cut off the bottom end horizontally and very straight, so that the pepper can now stand securely upside down and is flush with the surface. Carefully remove the seeds and core, place the pepper with the opening facing up on a sturdy surface, and fill it with the soup. Place a soup plate (which must be flat and level in the middle, not a bowl) upside down and press it over the pepper like a lid. Lift the pepper, press the plate and pepper firmly together, and carefully turn it over. It will look as if you just served a raw bell pepper, but when you lift it, the soup flows out. Unfortunately, I only had yellow bell peppers for the photos; the surprise effect is even nicer when the yellow soup comes from a red bell pepper. Also, I accidentally cut off the wrong end of the bell pepper in the photos. It’s fine, of course, but it looks even better with the green stem. The entire pot of soup has 6 WW points. As a starter, this portion is easily enough for four people, but you’d obviously need four red bell peppers. As a main course, I would serve the soup to three people. It’s a truly amazing effect, and it works with all sorts of other soups, too!