My delicious (if I do say so myself) carrot soup

This is a recipe I’m migrating over from my old blog. I made it up after accumulating a bunch of carrots in our weekly veg boxes that really needed eating. I don’t have a photo of it, I don’t think, so apologies for the lack of food porn. I can assure you it looked good and tasted amazing (aren’t I humble?).

Ingredients

• Big bunch of carrots (i had about 10-15 of various sizes)
• 2 baby gem squash (or one acorn)
• sesame oil
• onions (about 6 small ones)
• garam masala
• 6 or 7 small chillies, or 2 normal ones (I used the baby ones we get on our chili plant which are tiny)
• cumin
• cumin seeds
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• cayenne pepper and chilli flakes for extra kick
• salt
• pepper
• chicken stock (about 4-6 cups depending on how thick you like it – I make my own every time we buy a whole chicken and freeze it. worth the work as it tastes better. You could use veggie if you prefer no birds in your carrot soup)
• cream or milk (optional)

Make it

1. Cut up the carrots into pieces that are roughly equal in size; about an inch and a half is a good size.
2. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and then cut it into pieces about the same size as the carrots (leave the skin on for now).
3. Dump the veg in a bowl and pour sesame oil over them until they are well covered but not drenched.
4. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of cumin, a tablespoon of cumin seeds, a tablespoon of garam masala, the bay leaves, a teaspoon of salt, some fresh ground pepper and the chopped chillies over the chopped veg. I also added some extra cayenne and chili flakes because I like a bit of fire. Make sure to mix it all well so that everything is coated.
5. Put these in a roasting pan and stick them in a hot oven (about 400 degrees) for approximately 35-40 minutes depending on how hot your oven cooks. You want the veg to be soft but not mushy.
6. While the veg are roasting, chop up the onions, smash (but don’t chop) the garlic and then toss this into a soup pan with a heavy metal bottom along with some sesame oil and vegetable oil. The bottom of the pan should be covered with oil.
7. Dump in some garam masala, cumin, cayenne, chili flakes and salt and pepper – use your judgement about how much to put in. I added quite a bit of the cumin and then a bit less of everything else.
8. Sauté the onions until they are clear (but don’t burn them).
9. Once the onions are looking clear, add about two cups of water to keep things from burning while you wait for the veg to finish.
10. Once the veg is roasted remove from the oven and let the squash cool a bit. Once you can safely handle the squash, squeeze the skins of and discard them.
11. Toss the veg into the onion water, add the chicken stock and cook over a low simmer for about 30 minutes or so.
12. Remove the bay leaves.
13. Dump everything into a food processor and pulse it until it is a texture that you like.
14. Dump it back into the soup pan and taste for spice. Adjust accordingly. Then dump in a bit of cream or milk to taste – this will kill off some of the heat if it is too spicy.
15. EAT!