We must have about 10 pounds of carrots from our CSA share. I’ve been waiting for the temps to drop so I could turn them into soup. This was the first batch. Makes about 2 quarts of soup:
Spiced Carrot and Tamarind Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions coarsely chopped
- 3 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
- 6 cups boiling water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Put the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots and onions and toss to coat with the oil. Cook for a few minutes without browning. Add the cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, paprika, cumin and garlic. Stir until the carrots and onions are well coated. Add the tamarind concentrate, boiling water, salt and pepper, and stir well.
Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes until the carrots are soft and cooked through. Remove from heat and puree with a stick blender. Serve and enjoy!
My verdict:
This was a good way of plowing through some mega-carrots we’d gotten from our CSA. I added cumin to the original recipe and served it with some croutons and a squirt of lime and it was really good.
I also used half chicken stock and half water to give it more flavor, but if you wanted to keep it vegetarian or vegan, you could use veggie stock or just water.
If you don’t have tamarind concentrate, which tastes sweet and tart, pomegranate molasses would be a good substitute or lime juice mixed with some light brown sugar. Even balsamic vinegar could work.
I get dried garlic (and a lot of other stuff like that) from Rockerbox Spices. Rae’s product is pure garlic and has spoiled me for most commercial stuff. Otherwise, fresh garlic and grated fresh ginger would work well here.
