Over the past few weeks, Mama Earth has sent us baby carrots, ‘regular’ carrots and purple carrots. Needless to say, we had an excess of carrots. I tried to think of a meal I could make that would use up as much carrots as possible. I decided on soup!
Roasted Carrot, Sweet Potato & Bean Soup
Ingredients
Butter (2 tbsp)
Onion (1 onion)
Garlic (4 cloves)
Ginger (1tsp, peeled and minced)
Celery (2 pieces, chopped)
Carrots (4 cups, peeled and sliced)
Sweet Potato ( 2 cups, peeled and cubed)
White Kidney Beans (1 can)
Vegetable broth (1 box)
Cumin (1 heaping tsp)
Tumeric (1 heaping tsp)
Sage (1 tsp)
Chili flakes (just a sprinkle)
Black Pepper
Salt
What I did:
- Preheated oven to 375 degrees
- Tossed carrots in olive oil
- Placed carrots on a tray large enough to hold them without touching
A. Cooked until tender, blistered and slightly brown in some spots - Melted the butter in a large dutch oven on medium heat
- Added onion and garlic, cooked until tender
- Added celery and ginger, cooked until tender
- Added broth, 2 cups of water, sweet potato and carrots
A. Brought to a boil and then reduced heat to medium and covered the pot
B. Cooked until carrots and sweet potato were tender - Used a hand blender to lightly puree the big chunks
- Added can of white kidney beans
- Added cumin, turmeric, sage, chili flakes, black pepper and salt to taste
A. Soup simmered on low until ready to serve
This soup was a huge hit! My family loved it and I am so thankful I documented the process so that I can recreate it in the future. It is absolutely delicious and filling. I’d actually intended to use Navy beans, but White Kidney beans were purchased instead. They worked really well in it, though. Next time, I’ll try it with the Navy beans just to see if it makes a major difference. As well, I found it slightly salty, but everyone else in my family thought it was just fine. As such, I’ll likely leave the recipe as is! If you give it a try, let me know how it turned out, or what you did differently.
I didn’t realize how hearty the soup would be and made a dish on the side. I wanted to use up some more of the carrots and another container of Mung beans that were patiently waiting in the fridge.
Aloo Gobi Reinterpreted
Ingredients:
Butter
Onion (1, chopped and diced)
Garlic (4 cloves, chopped and diced)
Ginger (1 tbsp, minced)
Tomato (2 tomatoes, cubed)
Cauliflower (chopped)
Potatoes (peeled and diced)
Sweet Potatoes (peeled and diced)
Purple Carrots (peeled and diced)
Mung Beans
Cumin
Coriander
Cinnamon
Tumeric
Garam Masala
Paprika
What I did:
- Melted butter (1tbsp) in dutch oven
- Browned cauliflower on medium heat and removed when fragrant and brown in some spots
- Melted butter (1tbsp) in dutch oven
- Browned potatoes on medium heat and removed when brown in some spots
- Melted butter (1tbsp)
- Cooked onion garlic and ginger until tender
- Added spices and cooked for a few minutes
- Added tomatoes and cooked until tender (add a little water if needed), with pot covered – stirring occasionally
- Added potatoes and mung beans, cooked until potatoes were tender (add a little water if needed), with pot covered – stirring occasionally
- Added carrots, cooked until tender (add a little water if needed), with pot covered – stirring occasionally
- Added cauliflower and cooked until tender (add a little water if needed), with pot covered – stirring occasionally
- Removed from heat when flavours have melded and vegetables are tender
I served this with brown rice and actually liked it a lot. I ended up eating it for lunch the next day as I said before, the soup was quite hearty. My family said they liked it but that it was a bit bland. One comment was that it was a little sweet, which may explain why my 14 month old seems to really like it. Initially, I’d used generous teaspoons of seasoning, and in the end, after tasting had to add more. As such, if I make this again, I’d initially season with a generous tbsp or two of each seasoning. As well, I’d probably put the carrots on a bit earlier as they ended up being rather firm compared to the potatoes and cauliflower. Other than that, it really was quite yummy and healthy feeling!
Cooking reflectively,
Tamla
12raisins 