Cream of Tomato with garlic + cilantro stalks aroma

Question

I've been trying to crack this Cream of Tomato recipe for many decades now that is served in almost all Indian five star hotels and professionally managed kitchens. At the end when it's served, it has a strong and the most fragrant aroma of garlic, cilantro stalks, nutmeg, etc but does not necessarily feel 'garlicky'.

Here's my recipe to start with:

1. Add oil+butter in a pan with black pepper corns. Add crushed tomatoes, garlic and cilantro stalks. Let cook for 15-20 minutes. Blend and then strain.
2. Start again with butter and nutmeg powder.
3. Add all purpose flour and then some milk and let cook for a couple minutes.
4. Pour the blended/ strained tomatoes. Let cook for 10 minutes. Test salt/ white pepper.
5. Serve.

What can I do at the end to get the garlic aroma in soup? Thanks and best wishes.

Answer 1

This is mere theory/guesswork, but I wonder if they might do it like a tadka [tarka] you add to dall [lentil] recipes?

Fry garlic & other spices in oil, then pour over right at the end. Stirring in is optional, for presentation effect.

Here's a link to a rather elaborate tadka method, including smoking charcoal which sounds fabulous, though I've never tried it myself
https://www.cookwithmanali.com/dal-tadka/

Alternatively, my own 'cheat' to punch up the garlic in a dall recipe is to add powdered garlic right at the end. This punches up the fresh 'garlickiness' a lot, with very little effort. It has a tendency to go lumpy if you're not careful, so mixed in as a slurry is the easiest way to avoid that.

As to the coriander/cilantro, I can think of no method to get the bright, fresh smell & taste into a soup just before serving other than to make a quick purée & stir it in. I'm sure you would be able to spot the bits of bright green, though, done this way, but coriander really doesn't keep that bright flavour more than a few minutes once heated.