I have always been a huge fan of Asian food. My trip 3 years ago undoubtably solidified my love affair with it but growing up in a city where the main immigrant population comes from Asia you can imagine there was every type growing up. And not just average Asian food either, we are talking about some of the best outside the country of origin. So as you can imagine, like this recipe, I am trying to sneak in Asian ingredients wherever I can
Here I am adding ginger, coconut milk and for an added kick some red or green curry paste because lets face it everything is better with a little bit of spice. While in Asia this past month my mother in Law kept ordering Green Curry when we were out and it was always so confusing to me. A) She was not a big Spice eater and B) she didn’t like eggplant. Well, the Green Curry is the spiciest and the main vegetable ingredient is different types of Eggplant. As you can see, very confusing
Me on the other hand, bring on the heat. When I am making this dish for myself I am a lot more heavy handed on the curry paste but you can add as little or as much as you want. I have had some curry pastes that are super spicy and others that are super mild so you really have to watch that when adding
I have to admit, we have only been back from Asia for about 4 months now and so many mornings I have woken up wishing that I was just able to walk into town and pick up some amazing street food. And when I say amazing I mean amazing … Can’t remember a single bad food memory there
Me, I am not at all what you would consider a breakfast person and I quite hate it because I am in fact a morning person. And especially in North America (the majority of places anyways) there is nothing but what we would consider “breakfast” items for sale until 11am. I mean if I am waking up at 7am I have at least 4 hours until I can go out and get something to eat that I want. Come on, can’t everywhere serve spicy duck noodle soup at 8am is that so hard to ask?
As you might be able to tell yes, I woke up early this morning and have been craving some spicy noodle soup. I think I am still having noodle withdrawals since being in Thailand
Something that I quite like about carrots is that they are such a versatile vegetable you can have all year round. You can have some braised carrots in a beef stew in the winter time. (or you know on a 30 degree day in the Caribbean like me but hey, I live here) You can make warm spiced carrot cake cookies in the fall. Or you can make this Coconut Curry Carrot soup when its sunny or cold outside.
So what makes this dish so yummy …..
- Creamy
- Healthy
- Quick and Easy
- Good Proteins from Chickpeas
- Cold or Hot
- Silky Smooth
- Just Yum!
Another great thing about this dish is that most of these ingredients you are going to have on hand especially if you cook a lot of Asian food. I always have a little bit of leftover curry paste in my fridge and only on a bad day where there not be a hunk of ginger in my fridge. And things such as the bean sprouts and heavy cream, you don’t have to go to the store just to use these for the garnish the soup is still great with out them. You can always save some of the coconut milk to drizzle on top. Even a dollop of yoghurt would work if you like
Enjoy!
- [br][b]Soup:[/b]
- 1 Pound Carrots, roughly chopped
- 1/2 Onion
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1 Tbl. Minced Ginger
- 1 Tbl. Green or Red Curry
- 1/2 Cup Chopped Tomato
- 1 Can Coconut Milk
- 2 Cups Vegetable Stock
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
- [br][b]Cumin Spiced Chickpeas:[/b]
- 2 Tbl. Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 Cup Chickpeas, dried
- 1/2 Tsp. Cumin
- Salt
- Pepper
- [br][b]Toppings:[/b]
- Heavy Cream
- Pepper
- Bean Sprouts
- Cilantro
- Cumin Spiced Chickpeas (See Above)
- For the spiced chickpeas, heat a small pan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the chickpeas and sauce until crunchy. Drain on a plate lined with a paper towel and season with the cumin, salt and pepper
- In a medium sized pot, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onion for 2 minutes then add the carrots, ginger, garlic and curry paste. Sauté for 5 minutes or so then add the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper
- Simmer until the carrots are soft
- With an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Alternatively you can do this in a blender or food processor
- Serve topped with the cream, bean sprouts, cilantro, the cumin spiced chickpeas and some fresh cracked black pepper
Yummy, can’t wait to try this one!