Make a Simple Soup
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What you will learn
- 1Name the three parts of a simple soup
- 2Wash, peel, and prepare vegetables with a grown-up
- 3Follow the steps to cook a vegetable soup
- 4Taste and season a soup safely
- 5Explain which jobs the grown-up does at the hot stove
Mini Lesson
A pot of soup is one of the easiest and friendliest meals you can make. Every simple soup has just three parts: vegetables, a liquid (water or stock), and seasoning to bring out the flavor. The vegetables are chopped and cooked gently in the liquid until they are soft, then you taste and season. A grown-up stays in charge of the knife and the hot stove, and you do the washing, peeling, measuring, stirring, and tasting.
🏠 The Life Skills Way (step by step)
- WASH and PEEL: rinse the vegetables under the faucet, then peel carrots and potatoes with a peeler, always peeling away from your hand.
- CUT with care: a grown-up does the cutting, or you use a kids' knife with them right beside you and your fingers curled in a "claw grip".
- SOFTEN the onion: the grown-up warms a little oil in the pot and you stir the onion gently until it turns soft and see-through.
- ADD the vegetables and the liquid: tip in the diced vegetables, then pour in enough water or stock to cover them.
- BOIL, then SIMMER: bring the pot to a boil, then turn the heat down low so it simmers gently until the vegetables are soft.
- TASTE and SEASON: let a spoonful cool, taste it, then add a small pinch of salt, pepper, or herbs - a little at a time.
🥣 Serving It Up
- BLEND or LEAVE it chunky: a grown-up blends hot soup, because hot liquid can splash and burn.
- LADLE carefully: the grown-up holds the pot steady while the soup is ladled slowly into bowls.
- COOL it a little: wait a few minutes and blow on your spoon before you take a sip.
- CLEAN up: put the leftovers in a covered container in the fridge once cool, and help wash the cutting board, knife, and pot.
Knives and a hot stove are real dangers - a grown-up is in charge of both. Never cut without a grown-up beside you. Keep pot handles turned in from the edge, never lean over a boiling pot, and let the grown-up lift, pour, and blend anything hot. Steam can burn just like boiling water.
Words to know
stock
A tasty liquid made by cooking vegetables or bones in water, used as the base of soup.
dice
To cut food into small, even cubes.
e.g. Dice the carrot so it cooks quickly.
boil
To heat a liquid until big bubbles roll and pop all over the top.
simmer
To cook gently on low heat with small, lazy bubbles.
season
To add a little salt, pepper, or herbs to bring out the flavor.
ladle
A big, deep spoon with a long handle for serving soup.
💡 Handy Tip: cut every piece about the same size, like dice. Same-size pieces cook in the same time, so nothing is still hard when the rest is soft. Poke a piece of carrot with a fork - if it slides in easily, the soup is ready.
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