Carrot Soup

It was almost the end of last November, but we still had so many carrots to be picked, thanks to Navya, who is so obsessed not only when it comes to eating those raw, crunchy carrots, but also while planting the seeds. She had planted the seeds all around the small vegetable patch in our backyard like a border; and from Summer till late Fall we ate a lot of carrots every single day, in every possible way too! Both Maanas and Navya would eat raw carrots, but “ewww” was their immediate response if they had to have any dish with cooked carrots until…

…this unexpected find. To my biggest surprise, I saw Maanas going back for the second serving and then the third. For all the nutrition packed in it, I wouldn’t have complained if he went for the fourth too! The soup made for two days, got over with just one dinner. It had to be incredibly delicious!

Carrot Soup

• 1 medium onion, minced

• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 1 potato, peeled and diced

• 2 lbs.(1Kg) carrots, peeled or scrubbed and then sliced.

• 1 apple sliced (optional, we used Granny Smith)

• Seeds from 2 green cardamom pods

• 1 whole star anise

• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract(optional)

• 4 cups of water

• 2 cups of plain unsweetened almond milk (Step by step photos to make almond milk at home)

• Key limes(1 or 2), the rind and juice separate

• Salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

Add onion, garlic, potato, carrots, apple, star anise, cardamom seeds, salt, vanilla extract and water into a large saucepan, bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Cool, remove the star anise and blend until very smooth with almond milk. Add the star anise back. If you are making it a day in advance, you can cool the soup completely and cover and refrigerate.

When ready to serve, reheat the soup without allowing it to boil. Add juice from the key limes to taste. Adjust the salt. Serve topped with freshly ground pepper and a bit of lime rind.