Saturday, October 26, 2013

Apology soup

After a rather busy and hectic school-year/summer, and starting yet another study (in Utrecht this time), I feel almost ashamed to return to my blog after such a long leave of absence..
So much has happened, so much has been cooked (and eaten) and somehow I've never been able to find the time to write it down. I am so so so sorry you guys!

'Nuff said. Bach to the important things in life, like food.
First of all, omygosh I'm sort of famous. Or at least, that's how it felt to me!
The Mexico Daily shared my blog-post about Enchilada's, naming it one of their 'top stories'.


My first steps into world-fame!

Ahh It's happening, I'm being discovered, my blog will be famous and so will I and I'm starting my own cooking-show and writing my own cookbook and oh... wait, no, that's not happening. I'd have to actually write a blog for something like that to happen..
I've been complaining to my boyfriend that I don't like the fact that I post so little lately, so he left me today with the task of writing two blog-posts. So you guys are in luck!

If you have read previous posts of me, then by now you should now how affectionately I feel about soup. Therefor my first recipe will be a soup recipe, as a sort of 'I'm-sorry-I'm-never-writing-anymore' apology. Hence the name: apology soup.

And have no fear, because soup-season is here! It's the crazy dutch fall weather again, one moment you're practically swimming because the streets are overflowing with rain and in desperate need of hot cocoa and a blanket, preferably while watching Breaking Bad (oh wait, that's over with, *sob*), and the next you're frantically searching your room for some item of summer-clothing left in your already winter-stocked closet because it's just so goshdarned hot again. It's like this season is a bi-polar teenage girl who is refusing to take her medication because that's just not cool.

Whether the weather (no pun intended) is hot or cold, you can never go wrong with soup. I was scouting the fridge at my bf's place for possible soup ingredients and stumbled across a bunch of carrots. Hmm.. I've actually never made carrot soup before, so therefor it seemed like a good idea to give this a try. As I was seasoning it with curry, it occurred to me that some coconut-milk might actually give this a nice flavor. And thus was born:



Carrot-Coconut soup  (Apology soup)


Nothing says 'I'm sorry' like a good bowl of steaming hot soup.
















Ingredients:



  • A bunch of carrots. Seriously, I did not count them but just a nice bunch will do. Peeled and sliced
  • 2 onions, finely diced
  • 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
  • Aprox. 0.5 liter (about 2 cups) of chicken stock (or vegetable stock for the vegetarian version)
  • One 14-ounce can of coconut milk
  • Some curry and cumin powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Preperation:

Start of by heating a good glug of olive oil in your favorite soup pan, and simmering the carrot, onion, garlic and ginger in there. Once it starts heating up nicely, add the curry and cumin powder, stir, turn down the stove, put on the lid, and let the veggies sweat for some time until the carrot is all tender and the onion is translucent.

Once this has happened, turn the heat back up, pour over the stock, and bring to a boil with the lid on. I actually discovered I poured in too much water, and the whole thing was getting a little to thin for my taste. But, I came up with a rather nice solution, so if this happens to your soup, you could try it: Peel and dice up one or two potatoes. Add them to your soup, and let the whole thing cook through for about 20-30 minutes. After that, blitz everything in your food-processor or using a (hand-held) blender. And tadaa, your runny soup is smooth and creamy, all thanks to a simple potato. But back to the recipe!

Take your lid off and let your soup cook through with the lid off, reducing the amount of liquid and increasing the flavors. Pour in the can of coconut milk, stir, and bring it to a boil again. 
Turn the heat down and let it cook for another 20 minutes or so. Taste. add salt and pepper, stir and taste again. Serve it up in bowls with some freshly squeezed lime juice and finely chopped cilantro. Though I did not have the latter when I made it, it tasted great with just the lime juice and some garlic bread for dipping. 


Vibrant colors to accompany those vibrant flavors.. Enjoy!



I hope you will accept this soup recipe as my apology and keep reading and cooking!


No comments:

Post a Comment