Sunday's Soup/Creamy Carrot and Cilantro Soup

Whether it's spring, summer, fall, or winter, I love to eat soup, and my refrigerator just isn't quite right if I don't have a soup that I can grab and warm up for my lunch.  

I tell lots of stories about my grandmother, but one of many sweet memories is the big pot of gumbo she would make up when we would visit. OMG!!!, was it ever good, filled with fresh okra! There was no air conditioning in her house. I didn't care, I would sit at her dining room table with my legs stuck to the seat of the chair(because it was so hot, I would be wearing shorts and the back of my legs would stick to the leather seat), and enjoy every bite :) 

This is the time of year when all the wonderful vegetables are coming to market, and I am like a kid in a candy store...well a vegetable candy store! The carrots, onions, multiple colors of bell peppers just make my heart sing and send me straight to the kitchen :)
   

The soup that I am sharing today has a bit of  a twist to it. You can tweak it if you're a little afraid of the spice. 

First, I began with these wonderful boiler onions. They are typically used in dishes like stews, or with other boiled vegetables, as they are small and mild. If you can't find boiler onions, a nice white onion will work just fine.

I then came across a beautiful orange bell pepper and my favorite, a habanero pepper. Both were seeded and chopped. Like I said, if you are a little afraid of the heat from the pepper, you can just omit it. While habaneros are hot, they also have a sweet taste. You could also use just half, or even a quarter.    

The peppers and onions were added to 4 heaping cups of sliced carrots, 3 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of chopped ginger, dried cilantro and ground coriander. The final little surprise ingredient is 1 chopped Granny Smith apple. The apple is both sweet and tart and the mixture of the flavors works beautifully with the habanero to reduce a little of the spice and yet allow for the flavor.

   

Once the vegetables are tender, the soup is pureed and a cup of coconut milk is added to the mixture resulting in a creamy, spicy, sweet soup. 

To enhance the flavor a little further, I added a dollop of fresh made cilantro pesto. If you are vegan, just eliminate the pesto, or make the pesto without the Parmesan cheese.

You can find the recipe for the Cilantro Pesto HERE. The recipe for the soup is below and you'll see that I have added a printable tab to the recipe.

Creamy Carrot and Cilantro Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced carrots
1 orange bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 habenero pepper seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 medium white onion chopped
1 Granny Smith apple skin removed and chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 heaping teaspoon dried cilantro
salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup coconut milk
4 cups vegetable stock

Directions:

Bring all ingredients except the coconut milk to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until vegetables are tender, approximately 20-30 minutes. 

Using a blender, or hand held blender, puree the soup until creamy. Add coconut milk. If the soup is a little too thick, add additional vegetable stock. Simmer the soup on a low flame until coconut milk and any additional stock has warmed. 

Serve the soup with a dollop of cilantro pesto.

Enjoy!