Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

As we are always ones to take advantage of seasonal veggie bargains, those three and five pound bags of carrots have been calling my name with their ridiculously low prices lately. In a household of two, however, they can easily sit in the bottom of our fridge getting all soft and frownie before we can eat them all. Sure, I toss them raw into salads and I roast them with dinner, but there are only so many carrots I can eat in the day. And since we’re big on variety in the ST household, the best way to get us to eat our veggies is to switch them up and make them seem different from meal to meal.

You’ve probably seen a lot of carrot soups on the internet. I am not pretending to be original here – I’m just saying that carrot soup has never ever appealed to me before and this one was awesome. My recipe below reflects the fact that I made some minor modifications to the spices originally suggested by Joy the Baker. If you already know what spices you like best, I suggest you do the same!

If you’re craving soup for lunch and just can’t get your act together to make some of your own, head over to the Soup Peddler on Cook Street. Serving up luscious bowls of lovingly prepared organic soups every day, this place is a great addition to the lower Cook Street food crawl.

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 tablespoons minced ginger

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

Dash of cayenne

4-5 cups diced carrots

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup light coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh chopped cilantro and sliced limes for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent, about four minutes. Add ginger and saute for another four minutes, until softened and fragrant. Add the dried spices and diced carrots.  Stir to incorporate.  Let the carrots and spices brown in the pan for 3-5 minutes then add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and let the mixture simmer until carrots are completely softened, about 20-25 minutes minutes. Remove from heat.

Blend the soup with a hand blender, or transfer to a food processor once cooled and process until smooth. If you don’t like your soup totally smooth, here’s where you should yank out some of the carrot. You can add it back once the rest of the soup has been blended. Return to the pot, stir in coconut milk. I also added a few handfuls of fresh spinach at this point too. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and a squirt of lime juice before serving.

Tags: carrots, coconut, curry, ginger, lunch, Recipe, soup, vegetarian