Palak Corn Soup, How to make Spinach Corn Shorba

Palak corn soup or shorba with steps – A healthy & tasty soup of spinach and sweet corn kernels tempered in clarified butter & garlic.

What!! tempering and that too in soup? well, yes you are reading that right. We are going to temper a soup. Normally in Indian cooking tempering or tadka (chowk lagana) is a common technique of heating spices in hot oil or ghee and then pouring on any dish to enhance its flavor. The same technique is applied to our very common soup dish. I have given a tadka of garlic to palak & corn soup. Just a little bit of garlic can level up this soup quite a bit.

Related recipes: sweet corn soup  | carrot coriander soup

A very common question that I hear & read many times is “What is the difference between Soup and Shorba?” well there is no fix answer. The word “Shorba” is derived from the Arabic word “shurbah” meaning soup :-). The shorba became famous in India during Mughal rule. Traditionally shorbas were prepared by simmering meat and vegetable in water along with aromatic herbs. Hence I have tried to make this soup taste different by adding tempered garlic flavor in it.

As for all other greens, palak or spinach too have great healthy properties. We all know how good is to include palak in once diet. However kids do not like this particular green. I guess that’s the reason why the character of Popeye the salor was thought out 🙂 To make kids eat spinach. I think the best way is to make soup of palak once a while and add their favorite ingredient like corn and cheese. That will definitely entice kids to eat palak. Other than this corn palak soup we can also make corn palak sabji with the same main ingredients.

This palak corn soup or shorba is easy to make. If you want to make this soup as appetizer for a dinner party then just prepare the corn palak soup before hand and when guests arrive just reheat the soup, temper the soup with garlic and serve hot.

Tips to make perfect healthy palak corn soup

1. To make lush green palak soup always blanche the palak in boiling water with open lid. Do not cover the vessel in which spinach is being blanched.
2. Also to retain the green color of palak, once blanched immediately cool it down by running under cold water. This will stop palak from over cooking.
3. Corn starch act as a thickening agent and make the shorba thick. However you can avoid the corn starch if you want.
4. If using corn starch in the soup then always mix it in some water and then add that water in soup.
5. I have added finely chopped garlic in palak corn soup. Make sure to chop the garlic finely as it taste better with each spoon of soup.
6. For tadka or tempering add less ghee or butter if you wish.
7. If you want to make Jain or no garlic no onion version of this soup just skip the tempering all together.

Recipe of Palak Corn Soup with step by step explanation and pictures

To make palak corn soup/spinach corn shorba we need blanched palak gravy, boiled corn kernels, garlic chopped, corn starch, clarified butter (ghee), salt to taste, cheese to garnish and thats it. Tasty and healthy corn palak soup will be ready in no time.

For the brief recap of the recipe check the recipe box at the end of the post.

In sauce pan take palak puree. I have prepared palak puree by blanching the palak for few minutes and then cooling it under cold running water. Then I just puree the palak. That way the palak cooked nicely and maintain its lush green color.

Then add around 2 1/2 cups of water in palak puree.

Boil the palak gravy for about 1 min until it starts spluttering as seen in below pic.

Then add corn starch to the gravy. This helps gravy to get thick. I have dissolved the corn flour or corn starch in a some water and then added that water in palak.

Add salt to palak soup. Cook for about 2 min.

Then add boiled corn kernels to the palak soup and cook for about 3 min or till the soup thickens.

In the below picture I have shown the consistency of the corn palak soup.

Now let us add the garlic tadka to our palak corn shorba. In a tadka pan heat 1/2 tsp of clarified butter (ghee).

Once ghee is hot add finely chopped garlic and cook for 1/2 min.

Pour the tadka in the soup and give a stir. Your tasty corn palak soup is ready. Garnish the soup with grated cheese and serve hot.

Recipe of Palak Corn Soup or Corn palak shorba

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