Spiced carrot and cauliflower soup is the perfect hug in a mug comfort food for a chilly day. It’s curl up by the fire, feet up in front of the telly or snuggled down with a good book sort of comfort food, I think you get the picture here….
While I often make carrot soup (here is my simple country carrot soup and my carrot and sweet potato soup and carrot and thyme soup recipes) with a few additions and quirks I hadn’t actually tried combining carrot with cauliflower in a soup. Yet when you think about it we very often serve carrots alongside cauliflower with a roast dinner etc, the two do go well together on a plate so why not as a soup.
Actually this was also one of those ‘what can I use up that is lurking in the fridge’ sort of recipes, you know the type, when you’ve got to get those veggies used up and don’t want to fall into the guilty trap of letting them go to waste.
So my carrot and cauliflower soup was born. It is loaded with aromatic spices which give it a real kick in the ass and boost that leaves no room for any accusations of blandness that many a simple veggie soups can claim.
I like this soup really thick (as you can see in the photos), a real meal in itself with some crusty bread on the side. However if you want a silkier thinner version just add more stock or a little water. If you want a creamy version then go for the addition of single cream, but do taste test as you’re doing this to make sure you are not losing out on those punchy flavours that are the real signature of this tasty carrot and cauliflower soup.
So read on for the recipe, definitely one to add to your repertoire of comfort foods.
Karon x
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 6 black peppercorns
- 2 cardamom pods
- 1/12 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 large carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 medium cauliflower
- 2 potatoes peeled
- 1 stick celery chopped
- 900ml/1½ pints vegetable stock
- Dry roast all your spices in a pan for just about a minute until they are aromatic
- Immediately remove from heat and grind in a mortar and pestle
- Heat oil in a pot and saute the onion for 5 minutes along with the ground spices
- Add the garlic for a further 2 minutes.
- Chop the cauliflower into florettes and add this along with all other veggies and cook for a few minutes more
- Add the vegetable stock
- Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Whazz with a stick blender till smooth.
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