Healthy Recipe: Asian Carrot and Coriander Soup

We’ve teamed up with Sam Rice at The Midlife Kitchen who has just launched her new blog stealthhealthblog.com to bring you a super delicious and nutritious recipe each month.  This month it’s all about winter warming soup.

Carrot and coriander is a classic taste combo which I absolutely love but we are living in competitive culinary times and so I’ve brought it bang up-to-date with an Asian twist. The extra goodies I’ve added are ginger, star anise and chilli and because I love the texture so much in soup I’ve also added some butternut squash. I’m going to be so bold as to say that I prefer this creation to the original, I hope you’ll agree.

SERVES: 4

KITCHEN TIME: 15 mins prep, 40 mins cooking

INGREDIENTS

• ½ a butternut squash, deseeded and sliced (roast a whole one as it’s always good to have leftovers!)

• 5 large carrots, topped and tailed (no need to peel)

• 1-2 large red chillis, deseeded (go for 2 if you like it spicy)

• 1 large red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

• 1 litre of vegetable stock from a cube

• A large handful of fresh coriander, washed and roughly chopped

• A generous tbsp of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

• 1 star anise

• Sea salt

• Black pepper

PREP TIP

You can always roast the veg in advance and keep in the fridge until you are ready to make the soup.

METHOD

Place the butternut squash, carrots, red onion and red chilli in a roasting pan and roast for half an hour in the oven at 180˚C, turning over a couple of times during the roasting process - if they look a bit dry add a splash of water. In the meantime heat 1 litre of water in a large saucepan and crumble in the stock cubes, stir until dissolved. Add the coriander, ginger and star anise to the stock and let it simmer very gently until the roasted veg are ready. Add the roasted veg to the stock and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Allow the soup to cool slightly before blending with a hand-held stick blender or in a blender or food processor until smooth. Taste, season with salt and pepper and serve.

SERVING TIP

If you like it a bit hotter you can always sprinkle over a few dried, red chilli flakes to serve. I also love a spoon of plain Greek yoghurt swirled in at the end (obviously not if you are vegan or dairy-free!).

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.