Carrot and Coriander Soup | #cookwithmegsy

Hi guys!

This is the first in the series of #cookwithmegsy (which, before you judge me, is an inside joke - however, by all means tag your versions of the recipes with #cookwithmegsy so I can see them). Every week, I will be posting up a new recipe for you all to try. I'm a vegetarian by choice, but I do cook with meat every so often so for all you meat eaters out there, keep a look out for my meat dishes! 

Today's dish is a very quick, and simple to make Carrot and Coriander soup. 

Suitable for Vegetarians, it can be Dairy-free and is Gluten-free too. 

What you will need;

• 1 bag of carrots from the supermarket (or about 5 good sized carrots
• 1 potato (this is optional)
• 1 onion
• fresh coriander (I use half a bag from the supermarket)
• 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
• half a tablespoon of nutmeg - but this can be altered to your own taste
• 2 pints of vegetable stock
• Vegetable oil (/butter)
• Either a stick blender or a food processor - anything to whizz the soup up.

Method; 

Step 1: Prep your veg! Give them all a quick wash. Then, dice your onion, and chop the potato and carrots into chunks. Don't worry about the neatness of your chopping - they just need to be cut down enough for them to cook well, but try to make them evenly sized for cooking purposes. Also, at this point I'd cut the fresh coriander up and put it to one side.

Step 2: Use a reasonable size (about a tablespoon) of vegetable oil in the bottom of your pan (I personally prefer to use the equivalent amount of butter, its down to personal preference) and allow to heat up for about 30 seconds to a minute. Throw in all the diced onions and leave these to 'sweat' or sauté on a low heat. I normally chose heat 3 for this. 

Step 3: After about 4 minutes, add in your carrots, potato and the ground coriander. Again, leave these to sauté for about 3 minutes, or, as long as it takes you to make 2 pints of vegetable stock, if you haven't already prepped these.

Step 4: Add your 2 pints of vegetable stock to the pan, and bring up to the boil. Leave for 1 minute, then bring down to a simmer. Cover the pot, and leave it for 20 minutes or until your carrots are tender. 

Step 5: Now, add your fresh coriander and nutmeg. Take off the heat and add the soup to your food processor or use your hand blender, which is what I personally use - just for ease, and, I find it more fun to use the hand wand. 

Step 6: Grab a bowl and enjoy! You can always add a dash of fresh cream at this point if you fancy it.

Hope you enjoyed this simple little recipe. I absolutely love this, and it is one of my all time favourites! Let me know how you got on making it, or, any other recipes that you'd like to see.

#cookwithmegsy