Moroccan Carrot Soup

For this kitchen in the Gilmore Park Church, Minoo chosed a theme of spice. Here is an excerpt that Minoo shared with us.

Spices do more than make food taste great. Recent reseach is showing that spices can promote health and well being through a series of actions that are anti-aging and inhibiting of degenerative disease. The vegetarian diet so often associated with good health and lack of disease relies heavily on the use of spice. But you dont have to be a vegetarian to gain the amazing health benefits these inexpensive flavour enhancers have to offer.

The addition of spices can turn up the taste of almost any food. Here are some examples of the uses of spices in everyday cooking:

• Add some chili pepper, cumin or turmeric to mashed potatoes or rice.
• Sprinkle marjoram or rosemary on your salads.
• Dress up cottage cheese with whatever spice flavour that appeals to you
• Add spice to vegetable dishes
• Sprinkle spice on meats, poultry or fish before cooking

Any way you do it, adding spice means adding a wealth of health benefits. Spices have more antioxidant power, measure for measure, than fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants helps prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and premature aging.

This Moroccan Carrot Soup has a punch of flavour. The addition of lemon juice gives it a much depth of flavour.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped white onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 2/3 cups)
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream, stirred to loosen

Source: this recipe is adapted from Epicurious.com

Makes 4 servings; Preparation time: 20 minutes: Total time: 40 minutes

Instructions

Melt butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 2 minutes. Add in minced garlic and diced carrots.

Add broth and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile heat a tablespoon of oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry cumin seeds until fragrant but not burn.

Add cumin seeds to the soup. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk honey, lemon juice, and allspice in a small bowl.

When the carrots are tender, remove the soup from heat. Stir in the honey, lemon juice and allspice mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender or use a hand blender to blend the soup until smooth. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. Garnish with chopped parsley. Sprinkle generously with ground cumin if desired.

• Carrot
• Community Kitchen
• Recipe
• Soup