Recipe

Carrot-leek soup with curry, ginger and garlic

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Photo by charitydinner

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Carrot Recipe
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charitydinner's Notes: This was my second attempt at a carrot-leek soup. The first involved a considerably smaller, and not nearly large enough, amount of carrots, and a misjudgment of the description on a somewhat...
This was my second attempt at a carrot-leek soup. The first involved a considerably smaller, and not nearly large enough, amount of carrots, and a misjudgment of the description on a somewhat-difficult-to-identify can of curry paste. This time around, the results were an appropriately hearty, creamy and flavorful vegetable soup. To amp the creaminess and the sweetness of the soup, I made a quick Sriracha-honey-Greek yogurt.

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Serves about 12 people

Carrot-leek soup with curry, ginger and garlic:

2 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and roughly chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

1 bunch leeks, relatively thinly sliced Ask a question about this ingredient

4 cakes cloves garlic, heavily smashed Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons olive oil Ask a question about this ingredient

salt and pepper to taste Ask a question about this ingredient

chicken stock to cover the vegetables with about 1 inch extra stock (this will depend on the size of the stockpot you use) Ask a question about this ingredient

4 tablespoons red curry paste Ask a question about this ingredient

1 12 ounce can of coconut milk Ask a question about this ingredient

3 tablespoons ginger root, grated Ask a question about this ingredient

squeeze of lemon juice Ask a question about this ingredient

Sriracha-honey Greek yogurt:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon honey Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon Sriracha Ask a question about this ingredient

Peel and slice the carrots, place them in a large bowl, and set them aside.
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Slice the leeks, from the white part or bottom up, until you reach the darker green portion. Slices should be about 1/4 inch thick. Place the leeks in a water bath and move them around a bit, so any dirt between layers shakes out. Drain and set aside.
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In a large stockpot, bring the olive oil to medium heat. Smash garlic cloves with a heavy slap on the back of a knife, and scrape them into the warmed oil.
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Let the garlic cloves cook until they become aromatic, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the leeks, and season with salt and pepper.
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When the leeks start to soften, add the chopped carrots. Let this go for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, before covering with stock, leaving about an inch of extra liquid over the carrots.
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Bring the stock to a boil, cover the pot and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour.
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When the carrots give easily with a finger press, remove the stockpot from heat. Blend the carrot mixture thoroughly with an immersion blender on a high setting. Pour the blended carrots into a large bowl.
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Place the now-empty stockpot back on medium-low to medium heat. Put the curry paste in the pan, and stir while cooking for about 5 minutes. Pour the coconut milk over the curry paste, and whisk until the paste is fully incorporated.
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Add the grated ginger root to the coconut milk, and allow it to steep for about 5 minutes. When you can strongly smell the ginger, it's time to add the carrots back in. Whisk until combined, and allow the soup to simmer for about 10 more minutes. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon to brighten all the flavors.
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For the Sriracha-honey yogurt, whisk the Sriracha, honey and yogurt. Scoop about 1 tablespoon into your bowl of carrot soup.
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1 Comment on Carrot-leek soup with curry, ginger and garlic

SarahSoda added 4 months ago

I came across this recipe today as I had leeks in the fridge and wanted to try something other than the usual leek and potato soup. The idea of carrots, leeks, curry and ginger sounded wonderful. I have to say that the result was not what I expected. When making the soup, I was surprised at the amount of red curry paste called for in the recipe having used red curry paste and knowing that a ltilte goes a long way. But I thought that given the large quantities of vegetables and stock, we might be OK. Boy was I wrong! I know that curry pastes can vary widely in degree of hotness and the one I used must have been hotter than what was used in the recipe. The end result was over -poweringly hot. I really like heavily spiced food, but the heat completely overwhelmed the taste of the carrots and leeks. And the amount of ginger was verging on bitter. Sorry to say I threw the whole pot of soup out. Dagnabit... was so looking foward to this. (Can you tell me what brand of curry paste you used? I used Mae Ploy from my local Thai market).