This soup is one of my favourites and it’s a winner on a cold winter’s day. This recipe makes a fairly large batch but you can easily halve it or freeze whatever is left over for another day.
Makes one large pan
Ingredients
1kg carrots, peeled and chopped
½ brown onion, peeled and chopped
1 large thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and chopped into fairly large pieces
1 large clove of garlic, peeled
1 Bay leaf
2 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
200g potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 stock cube (chicken or vegetable)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Place carrots, onion, ginger, garlic, and bay leaf in a large pan with some olive oil and cook gently on a medium/low heat for a good 20-30 minutes. This gentle cooking helps to develop flavour in the soup later on. Keep stirring the vegetables to make sure they don’t “catch” on the bottom of the pan and burn.
Add the cumin and turmeric and stir well, cooking the spices out for a minute or so. Add the potatoes then add enough water to the pan to cover the vegetables completely. Add a stock cube, season with salt and pepper then bring to the boil. When cooking, you may notice a foamy substance on the surface of the soup. Use a ladle to discard the foam. Once the soup boils, reduce the pan to medium/low heat and simmer gently for about 40 minutes.
Remove the soup from the heat then blend with a stick blender. Add more water if needed or reduce further if the soup is too loose. Check the seasoning then serve with a drizzle of olive oil, some dried cumin seeds and some chopped coriander (optional).
