Carrot and Cardamom Soup (V)

Carrot and cardamom soup with three olive bread

I've always loved carrot soup! One of the first recipes I ever tried was from a Marks & Spencer's cookbook and it was carrot and coriander soup. This was way back before it became popular and available ready made in every supermarket!  I loved it, and it's been a staple for the family ever since.  But I fancied a change from coriander, and having discovered that I can grind down the wondrous cardamom pods into cardamom powder, I wanted to try carrot soup with cardamom instead. It works so well!

Ingredients

280g carrot, thinly sliced (or you can use ready prepared baton carrots if you prefer)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
500 ml (½ litre) of vegetable stock
30g plant butter or dairy butter
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon of ground bay leaves
1 cup (½ pint) of plant based such as oat milk, or dairy milk
olive oil for frying
pinch of salt

Method

Put olive oil into soup pan and heat up, add onion and carrot and cook until softened, adding cardamom and bay during the cooking. Add half the stock and simmer gently.

In a separate pan melt the butter and add the flour and make a roux, stirring continuously for 1-1½ mins. Don't overcook it or it will burn. Add the rest of the vegetable stock, a spoonful at a time, mixing well to avoid lumps, once it's pourable add it to the soup pan and mix well. Blend using a stick blender or similar.

Add the milk, do a taste test, add a pinch of salt if needed and simmer for another 3-5 minutes to make sure it's hot through. Serve hot with fresh bread.

Serves 3-4

Vegetarian 

If you use plant based butter and milk this is a great vegetarian soup.