Cold Tomato Soup with Melon and Chili

Ingredients

• 9 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 2 onions
• 1.5 organic lemons
• Salt
• Pepper (freshly ground)
• 2 tbsp mild olive oil
• 1 small honeydew melon (or sugarcane melon)
• 2 small dried chili peppers
• 2 sprigs Mint
• 4 tbsp Sour cream

Instructions

1. 1.

   Slice the tomatoes crosswise, blanch briefly in boiling salted water. Then shock them in cold water and peel. Cut off the stems, then puree the tomatoes finely with a blender or immersion blender. Transfer to a large bowl. Peel the cucumber and cut it lengthwise into halves. Remove seeds and dice the cucumber halves. Peel the onions and roughly cube them. Puree the cucumber and onions together until smooth, then add to the tomato purée and mix well.

2. 2.

   Wash the lemon hot and grate its zest finely. Squeeze out the juice. Season the vegetable purée with salt, pepper, 2–3 tbsp lemon juice and the lemon zest. Stir in the olive oil and cover the purée, placing it in the refrigerator to chill.

3. 3.

   Halve the melon, remove seeds and cut into wedges. Peel the wedges and dice them small. Crush the chili peppers in a mortar. Mix the remaining lemon juice with the melon pieces and combine. Cover and refrigerate. If desired, finely chop some mint leaves and stir them in. Chill for several hours. When ready to serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with melon cubes, sour cream, and optional mint leaves.