Carrot, ginger and coriander soup

(My Mac is in the shop getting a new hard drive so apologies in advance for photo quality, layout, etc. This post was written on the iPad which they should rename the iPain-in-the-A**)

It’s undeniably fall in Berlin. The relentless rain is constantly chasing little L and I indoors. People used to ask me how I was able to live in rainy London? The thing is, the weather in London is quite pleasant! It certainly doesn’t make me think that I should have an ark at the ready.

That is so English of me though isn’t it? Complaining about the weather!

There is a silver lining to all these rain clouds though. It’s soup season! I really love blended soups! I learned how to make them from my friend and great chef Stephen Williams.

I almost never buy shop made soups because frankly they are awful. They never have any flavour, are over salty, rely too much on a potato base for thickness and volume and usually commit two heinous soup crimes.

1. The onion is usually raw and makes the soup taste acidic and acrid.
2. They usually use some disgusting powdered stock cube that makes the inside of my mouth oily and powdery at the same time.

Blended soups are so easy to make though! And paired with some great German “brotchen” it makes a tasty lunch. I always make more and freeze it so that I have a veritable rainbow of soups in my freezer at the ready. Although this soup was so good that I ate it all over 2 days with some incredible sourdough from Soluna bakery in Kreuzberg.

Carrot, ginger and coriander soup
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 kg carrots, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick (because of the thin slices, the soup cooks really quickly and the carrots retain their vibrant colour)
50g butter (sounds like a lot but I find carrots need the fat and it really amplifies the flavour)
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder
2 teaspoons of ground turmeric (this stuff real amplifies the colour and is a wonder spice health wise)
6g of fresh ginger, minced
1 Telma chicken a tock cube (this is a kosher brand I stocked up on in London, I am pretty sure they sell it here in Berlin at Kosher food shops. I only like this like this brand. If I can’t find it, I usually go stock free)
4 cups water (and more if soup is too thick)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (use it as a seasoning to bring out the flavour of your soup, you should definitely NOT taste vinegar)
1/3 cup cream
About 12 stalks of fresh coriander (I insist on this ingredient, it really makes this soup shine)

Method:
1. In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter, add the sunflower oil and the onions and cook until the onions are soft and translucent (about 10 minutes).
2. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the carrots, cardamom, turmeric and the minced ginger, put the lid on and let the carrots soften a little in the butter for 5 min or so, stirring every now and then.
4. Crumble in the stock cube, add 4 cups of boiling water, lid on and cook for about 15 minutes or until the carrots give in easily when prodded with a fork.
5. Using a hand held blender, blitz the soup until thick, add the cream, salt and pepper, vinegar, and water if you feel the soup is too thick.
6. Add the coriander leaves and blitz again until your orange soup is speckled with green.

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6 Responses to Carrot, ginger and coriander soup

  1. A lovely soup! The addition of fresh coriander is terrific!

  2. This looks fantastic. Healthy and flavorful. hehe I-pain in the a@@ so funny. I love my mac so I know what you’re feeling.

  3. Sylee says:

    I’m glad you liked the Soluna bread!

  4. I just made this soup for dinner, and it was very, very good! I used organic carrots and homemade butter. I didn’t have any cream (the cream from the raw milk I buy was used to make the butter), but it was still very yummy. This has a curry flavor, with many of the same spices used in Indian curry, so I added a chopped fresh chile to the onion while it was cooking for a bit of heat.

    Can you buy fresh chiles in Berlin?

    Thank you for inspiring me.

    Kathleen

    • Excellent! I do really love this soup. I made a roasted butternut squash and tomato soup the other day that used chili. It turned out the chili was not hot at all! Thanks for trying it and so pleased you enjoyed it. Love that you make your own butter.

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