Brought to you by Nuffnang and BRITA
Fresh, flavourful and filling – that’s how I like my soup and that’s how I would describe this bowl of delicious tortilla soup!
After all what’s not to love about this dish?
It has a combination of my favourite ingredients which you’re well acquainted with in my past recipes: the peppery and smokiness of the Old El Paso Fajita seasoning mix, the natural sweetness from corn kernels, the thick and luscious tomato passata, the heartiness of black beans and quinoa complemented with the refreshing lime juice and fresh coriander leaves, as well as the richness of the nature’s butter – avocado. (What a mouthful of ingredients huh?)
Additionally, tortilla soup is not complete without the crunchy pan toasted tortilla strips which barely made it as the soup garnish as I could not stop munching on them! (Yup, bad Emily!)
And let’s not forget the core ingredient of this recipe which amalgamates all these wonderful flavours together, transforming into a pot of mouth-watering Mexican soup feast – filtered water.
{Filtered water straight from the BRITA 3-Way Water Filter Tap}
We often place importance on drinking filtered water but when it comes to water as a cooking ingredient, shouldn’t the latter deserve the same emphasis?
It is said that a great dish is made of good quality ingredients, which explains our relentless quest for sourcing fresh produce and ingredients. However, the same cannot be said about water as a cooking ingredient. In my opinion water is the next fundamental ingredient in our cooking after salt and the following statement made by the MasterChef’s Gary Mehigan sums up my thoughts about cooking with filtered water:
“Cleaner and clearer filtered water is perfect for bringing out the full potential of your dishes. It enhances the natural flavours and goodness of your other ingredients.”
On that note, I would like leave you with my chicken and quinoa tortilla soup recipe as well as a chance to win one of three BRITA jugs, valued at $35 each. All you have to do is tell me in the comment box below:-
“How would you use filtered water in your cooking?”
Please note that the giveaway is open to all Australian residents, aged 14 years and over; and will be open from 12:01 am Australian Eastern Standard Time (“AEST”) on Wednesday 27 August 2014 and will continue until 5:00 pm AEST on Friday 5 September 2014 (“Promotion Period”). For the full terms and conditions of the giveaway, please visit here.
Ingredients
- 750ml (26 fl oz) filtered water
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 14g (½ oz) Old El Paso fajita seasoning mix
- 1 large chicken breast (about 300g)
- 400g tomato passata or purée
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 green capsicum, deseeded & diced
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1 x 435g (15 oz) canned black beans (Goya brand), drained & rinsed
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 3 flour tortilla, cut into strips
- 1 ripen avocado, diced
- A handful of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- ½ cup grated cheese optional
Instructions
- Prepare 750ml filtered water. Set aside.
- In a medium sized pot, add cooking oil and fajita seasoning mix. Saute over low heat until starts to become aromatic.
- Add chicken breast (as a whole) and toss to ensure the seasoning mix is well coated the chicken over low heat for a few seconds and quickly, add filtered water. Poach the chicken until it is thoroughly cooked.
- Remove the chicken from the broth, set aside on a plate and keep warm. Add tomato passata, uncooked quinoa, capsicum, corn kernels and black beans into the broth. Cook over the high heat until it is bubbling and reduce to low heat and simmer for 30 minutes, covered.
- In the meantime, prep the garnishes: (1) shred the chicken breast; (2) toast the flour tortilla strips with some oil in a pan until slightly brown and crispy; (3) dice the avocado drizzled with some lime juice.
- After 30 minutes, the soup is ready to serve. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste if required.
- To serve: ladle the soup into four bowls and top with shredded chicken breast, toasted flour tortilla strips, avocado, coriander, a lime wedge and grated cheese (if using).
To learn more about the BRITA product range and recipes developed exclusively by Gary Mehigan using filtered water as the key ingredient, please visit http://betterwithbrita.com/.
I would use filtered water in my soups, I generally use home grown vegetables so I wonder if filtered water would bring out the real flavours even better??
I can imagine it would being the taste potential of home grown veggies to its fullest! (Love the luxury of home grown veg, can’t wait to have my own veggie patch!)
Would have to say that I would use it to bake a cake
Yes, why not! 🙂
This tortilla soups looks delicious. I have never made a soup like this before so I definitely need to try the recipe, thanks for the great post!
Thanks Thalia! I hope you’ll like the recipe. 🙂
I think it’s especially important to use filtered water in recipes where the food isn’t being cooked, like in sorbets
I would make a decadent raspberry sorbet served with vanilla meringue and fresh raspberries 🙂
That’s sounds delicious, Trish! Would love to have some of that haha! 😉
Hey Emily,
I’m a huge fan of herbal teas and I would use this jug to filter my water and make my signature stove-top ginger spiced chai.