Carrots on sale and and a few stock pantry items lead me to create this new soup. The versatility allows you complete control, from spice, vegan, and salt level. Also tasty served chilled.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
- Olive oil, and one tablespoon
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Sprinkle of sea salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (or more to your liking)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons gochujang
- 4-5 cups unsalted vegetable stock (homemade is best)
- 1 sprig of sage (optional)
- 1 cup full fat coconut cream (optional)
- Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425F degrees.
- On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread out the carrots and drizzle olive oil. Grind fresh black pepper and sprinkle with sea salt. Toss and repeat to ensure evenly coated.
- Place carrots into the preheated oven and roast for 35-40 minutes until edges are browned, tossing at least once halfway through roasting.
- Halfway into the carrots roasting, in a large dutch oven heat butter over medium low heat. Once butter has melted, add onions and saute, sweating the onions about 4-5 minutes until translucent.
- Add sesame oil and more fresh ground black pepper, if preferred.
- Add garlic and ginger and stir to cook through, removing the raw flavor.
- Add gochujang and mix into the onions and garlic.
- Add vegetable stock and bring to a simmer while ensuring the gochujang dissolves into the soup, adding optional sage.
- Once carrots are roasted and tender, add to the simmering stock. Continue to simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
- Using an immersion blender on pulse, carefully blend the soup aiming to get all the carrots, onion and ginger blended. You can also work in batches in a traditional blender (be careful as the soup will be extremely hot). You choose the final texture and if you want to leave larger pieces of carrots.
- Add cream, if using. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve hot.
Toppings:
- Drizzle of cream, drizzle of sesame oil, or a shaking of toasted sesame seeds
- Chopped green scallions
Options:
- The dish is vegan, but you can use heavy cream for a richer soup.
- Alternatively, for a deeper flavor use beef stock instead of vegetable.
- If time is a challenge, place all the soup ingredients into an Instant Pot and pressure cook on High for 5 minutes. Allow to naturally release and blend the same way. Feel free to saute the onions, garlic and ginger, first, if time allows.
Salt Swaps:
- The salt from this dish comes from the gochujang which is a very salty red pepper paste.
- Unsalted butter provides richness to the dish without compromising the amount of sodium in the finished soup.
- Unsalted vegetable stock, preferable homemade, adds depth without adding salt.
