Carrot-Ginger Soup

Carrots are the one vegetable I always have in the fridge no matter what. I like them mostly raw but when they cook they get really sweet, almost like a different vegetable. I love making soups with carrots because of that! And currys. Well, actually this soup is a curry soup so there you go!! Carrots are best friends with ginger, and ginger is a main component of curry so...you get what I mean, right?
So at the moment the vegetable situation is not that hot in my fridge, I reeeeeally need to go to the market this week-end..so that's when that never-ending bag of carrots comes in handy! And those never ending bags of lentils also!!



For this soup, I used:

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 branch celeri, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 golf-ball size FRESH ginger, peeled and grated(or finely chopped)
4-5 carrots, peeld, chopped
1-2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup red lentils
3-4 cups chicken stock(start with 3, the lentils will thicken the soup..)
salt, pepper, curry powder, cumin, tumeric, red chili flakes

Throw all the veggies in a pot, with the broth and seasonnings. When it starts to boil add the lentils, and simmer util everything is cooked.
Puree in 2 batches, to make it all nice and smooth. I blend it twice, so that it's REALLY velvety and creamy-like(but no cream!!). I may have added a bit of milk because I put in a lot of chili flakes, it was a bit too spicy. But that's totally optional, go with your taste buds, they never lie!!



I sprinled a bit of parsley on top to be fancy, and to make nice pictures!!

Hot Curry-Ginger Lentil and Vegetable Soup.

Today I was gonna post up a really nice quick-bread recipe I found online. I "baked" it this afternoon, made it according to the instructions, I'm absoluetly POSITIVE I didn't forget anything, but it didn't work out. It was still raw on the inside. I was able to salvage a little bit of it, and it tastes great but it's in crumbles. Oh, well. These things happen...
So, I had to find something for diner that would be quick enough to make before daylight disapears(all the pics all naturally lighted, at night it just doesn't work as well). And...since I'm the soup master, and I have plenty of options in the fridge for soup, soup it is. Plus, I feel I have a bit of a cold coming so I wanted something soothing, spicy and gingery. And spicy it was! I put a little too much chili flakes in it...oups...

So here it is:
*and also, like any cooking "recipes" on this site, these ingredients are not set in stone, if there's something you don't like don't use it. if you want to add something, go for it! it's all about freestylin' ya know?!


1 big onion
1 branch celeri
1 big or 2 medium carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
6-7 button mushrooms
1 piece fresh ginger the size of a golfball, cut in 2
1 big potato
1/3-1/2 cup lentils(i used brown lentils)
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt, pepper to taste
about 1tsp each of: curry powder, ground cumin, tumeric, paprika, chili flakes
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP oil(i used grapeseed)



-Cut all the veggies, sautee the onion first in oil, 1-2 minutes. Add carrots, celeri, garlic and ginger, salt and pepper, heat for 2 minutes.
-Add zucchinis, mushrooms, potato, lentils and all the spices. Sautee for a bit...
-Add the stock and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer until cooked.
-Puree 1/3 of it in a blender, return to pot.
-Bon Appetit!

Now, I always eat my soup with crackers and margarine. It's a habit. I think it goes back to my childhood, the traditional saturday vegetable "Minestrone" soup eaten with saltines. And I just really like crackers. I'm gonna learn how to make them for a later post...