Soupalooza: Concocting this Curried Carrot Soup a happy convergence
I didn't set out looking to make Curried Carrot Soup. Rather, Curried Carrot Soup found me. When you encounter the same soup recipe four times in one week, it dawns on you that the soup gods are trying to send you a message.
It may be in the zeitgeist, but every cookbook, magazine or website I have been on lately features a recipe for Curried Carrot Soup. So I decided to give in and whip up a batch of the spicy orange concoction.
Trouble was I couldn't decide which one to choose. Sure, they all had carrots and curry powder as ingredients, but that's where the similarity stopped. Rachael Ray suggests using baby carrots, which is absolutely brilliant, especially if you don't like to peel and chop. My new Blendtec Blender cookbook includes coconut milk, which adds a nice richness to the soup. And the recipe at chow.com calls for garlic and ginger to add a little zest.
I decided to blend the recipes and come up with my own, combing the best from each. To that end, I used a bag of baby carrots, which definitely made the process easier, if not a smidge more expensive. You can chop them up a bit, if you want to speed the cooking process, but it didn't take long for the whole baby carrots to get soft, about 15 minutes, give or take.
I also added minced ginger and garlic to the recipe. This was key for me because I always balked at the idea of carrot soup because of the sweetness. The curry powder, cayenne pepper, garlic and ginger completely countered the cloying sweetness of the carrots and gave the soup the necessary zip it needed. The coconut milk gave it a silky texture and added another layer of flavor.
The recipe, as is, will please the vegans and vegetarians in your life, but feel free to add a dollop of sour cream on top, as well as a sprinkling of chives to liven up the flavor even more. In all, the soup gods turned me into a Curried Carrot soup convert.
One word of caution, however. Carrots stain! I had no idea that my plastic blender jar would turn a yellowish orange after mixing the soup. I am still trying a variety of ways to get the darned thing clear again, including bleach and Oxy-Clean, but still no luck. Next time I would definitely use the immersion blender and keep the soup away from plastic.