Paprika pistachio soup with grissini stick

On Sunday we had a fantastic grill party with friends from all over the world but we bought way too much food. So in order to use the leftovers today I made a low in calorie pepper soup.

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, stemmed, seeded and diced
• 1-2 fresh green Thai or serrano chiles, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tbs paprika pasta from tube or ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
• 2 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 cup nonfat coconut milk or soya milk
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• a pinch of sugar to taste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro or basil

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell peppers and chile to taste. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables release some of their juices and the onion is lightly brown around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the vegetables with paprika, salt a pinch of sugar and cardamom and cook, stirring, until the spices are very fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Add pistachios and broth (or water). Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are fork-tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the heat; let cool 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the soup to a blender (in batches if necessary) and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pan.
4. Whisk soya milk and cream in a bowl; stir into the soup. Add the paprika pasta then gently warm over low heat. Serve sprinkled with cilantro or basil and serve with grissini tomato stick.