Carrot and cardamon soup

Soup 2 of my soup frenzy Sunday, and another adaptation from the New Covent Garden's Soup and Beyond book.

I'm surprised the recipe included a teaspoon of sugar, which I omitted, as it is still very sweet for my liking. It took a bit of tweaking to produce a little sharpness - I added lime lime leaves and tamarind.  

I also added some red lentils to make this soup more substantial for lunch, so you don't need any bread with it.  

Purple carrots, disappointingly orange on the inside

On a whim I bought some purple carrots which I used for this soup - maybe they are sweeter than orange ones? Apparently back in the day all carrots used to be purple, till William of Orange made them all orange. Sounds like a QI not true alert to me.

Carrot, lentil and cardamon soup ingredients

• About 3 medium or 2 large carrot
• I large onion
• I clove garlic
• 1/2 litre vegetable stock
• 50g red lentils, rinsed
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• About 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• Seeds from 8 cardamon pods
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 1 tablespoon chopped lime leaves

  How to make carrot, lentil and cardamon soup

1. Chop the onion finely.
2. Add a little rapeseed or olive oil to a pan to warm.
3. Add the onion and cover with a lid to sweat for about 5 minutes.
4. Grate the carrot and add to the onion.
5. Crush the garlic and add to the pan.
6. Fry for a few minutes till the carrot starts to reduce and you can smell the garlic.
7. Add the stock and coconut milk and lentils.
8. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.
9. Add the cardamon seeds, lime leaves and tamarind paste.
10. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Simmer for about 30 minutes. 
12. Add the lemon before serving. 

 

Carrot, cardamon and lentil soup which looks like any other soup