Spicy Carrot Soup
December 24, 2002
Our English friend Sarah-Jane gave us this recipe. She sometimes makes it with parsnip instead of carrots. It serves 4-5 people as a first course. The soup isn’t very spicy right after making it, but gets spicer as it sits for a few hours. This is a great dish to make ahead of time.
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tsp garam masala powder
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 2 14-oz cans of vegetable stock
- Juice of one lemon (3 Tbs)
You can get garam masala powder at an Indian food store, though I just saw it the other day at Safeway next to the curry powder. Make this in a large heavy pot.
- Saute the onion, carrots, and garlic in the oil and butter for a while, maybe five minutes. (See the first picture below.)
- Add the masala, chilli, and flour and stir for 30 seconds. (See the second picture below.)
- Add the stock and lemon juice, simmer for 20 minutes.
- Blend completely in a food processor.
The recipe as she gave it to me has salt and pepper in the ingredients, but I’ve never added them because they weren’t in the directions. I think the soup is just fine without them.
For the blending step, first separate the solids and the liquid with a strainer or fine colander and blend only the solids. Otherwise there will be too much liquid in the food processor and the vegetables won’t get blended completely. After the solids have been blended, add a cup or two of the liquid and blend a bit more. Then mix the solids and the liquid again in the pot.
I’ve doubled this recipe to serve nine people. It doubles very well except that sauteing the ingredients is harder.
Saute the ingredients for a few minutes.
Add the spices and stir for 30 seconds.
