I first made this soup last fall after buying a 10 pound bag of organic carrots from Costco. I’d been making lots of soups and stock and realized that at 10 pound bag of organic carrots from Costco was much cheaper than the equivalent amount of non-organic carrots anywhere else.
After several pots of soup and stock, I realized that 10 pounds of carrots goes a long way. Only because I didn’t want the carrots to go bad, I decided to make carrot soup. My husband doesn’t like carrots but I love them and was selfishly delighted that I’d have an entire pot of fabulous soup all to myself.
Well, I was wrong. Joe came snooping into the kitchen and skeptically asked what smelled so good. When I told him it was carrot soup, he left the kitchen without even tasting it. He couldn’t hold out for very long, though, and was back in a matter of minutes. He gave in, tried the soup, and then asked me to pack it in his lunch every day until we ran out. And then he asked me to make another pot. It’s really that good – it’s sweet, spicy, thick, creamy. It has it all.
I haven’t always been a fan of curry because the only type I’d had was in Indian restaurants. I did some research, though, and found that I had only been eating one type of curry. Larousse Gastronomique, my favorite go-to food reference, states that curry is actually a British invention and that the name curry “…has been adopted by some Indian restaurants, often to describe a range of inferior dishes prepared by simmering different ingredients in a standard sauce. “ I understood completely why I thought I didn’t like curry.
Store-bought curry powders haven’t won me over. Instead, I mix my own and keep it in a glass jar so I have curry powder whenever I need it. The mix I use has been adapted from Susan O’Brien’s Gluten-free, Sugar-free Cooking.
Serve this soup hot or cold – either way it’s delicious. The sweet curried carrot soup at the top of this post has been garnished with plain, unsweetened whipped heavy cream and thinly sliced scallions. Stir the cream into the soup and it becomes so rich and decadent. Sometimes I make croutons from cornbread by drying them in the oven at 250 degrees F until crispy and throw them on top of this soup too.
A couple of tips when making this soup:
- Don’t waste your time chopping everything into a small dice. You can get it as smooth as you like with your blender, food processor, or immersion blender.
- I use ground white pepper because it adds a kick without adding black specks to the soup. Black pepper will work just fine if you don’t have ground white pepper. Just taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking – ground white pepper is spicier than black pepper.
This is a fabulous and very simple soup – I hope you’ll try it and let me know if you like it as much as Joe and I do.
If you’re looking for more great food, you can find it at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday. (These are blog carnivals just like the one I host on Monday – feel free to join in the fun and link your recipe.)
Update 10/21/09 – This post has been linked to Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Thursday.
Want more soup? These are on my to-try list:
- Split Pea Soup from The Gluten-Free Homemaker
- Kale & White Bean Soup from good Life {eats}
Sweet Curried Carrot Soup
Serves 62 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, medium dice
1 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 pounds carrots, peeled and roughly chopped in 1 inch pieces
2 cups waterMelt butter in a 6 quart, heavy bottomed stock pot over medium low heat. Add onion, curry powder, salt, and pepper. Sautee until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and carrots . Simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrots are very tender.
Puree with an immersion blender or in small batches in a food processor until very smooth. Add water until desired consistency is reached.
Variation: Add 1 t. ground ginger with other spices. This gives the soup a little more kick!
Curry Powder
makes about 1/4 cup2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder (light or dark)Mix the powders together in a small bowl. Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place.
Enjoy!
