Spiced Carrot Soup

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Spiced Carrot Soup ​
This carrot soup is really easy to put together and has the perfect warm fall flavors. To get it nice and silky smooth you do need a blender or immersion blender. It’s very comforting and sweet, with a hint of harissa spice and coconut.This recipe makes a big pot: 6-10 servings depending on how much soup you like to eat.

Ingredient
1 lb of carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1 onion (white or yellow), peeled & roughly chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored & roughly chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, peeled & left whole
1 Tbsp coconut or olive oil
1-2 Tbsp harissa (you can use dry or a paste, if you can’t find any you could also use a curry powder)
1 can of coconut milk
2-4 cups of vegetable stock (less if you like a thicker soup, more if you like a thinner soup)
salt & pepper to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Add oil to a big pot and heat on medium heat. Toss in your carrots, onion, garlic and apple with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook for about 7-10 minutes- until things begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
2. Add your harissa and stir to coat all of your vegetables. Cook for a minute or two until it begins to be really fragrant. 
3. Deglaze your pan with vegetable stock and add your can of coconut milk. Bring everything to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
4. Blend everything up! Use an immersion blender right in the cooking pot, or carefully transfer to a blender jar and blend in batches until smooth.
5. Taste for seasoning, especially if you used an unsalted stock. If you like things spicy add some hot pepper flakes or sambal. If you like things sweeter add a bit of nutmeg.
6. Dish it up! See serving suggestions below for how I like to serve this soup​.

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​Serve it up! 
I always serve this soup with a side of white rice, especially if I’m just having this for my main meal. You can make some great garnishes too- a spiced sour cream topping, a drizzle of basil oil, or chopped vegan bacon all goes really well. But my FAVORITE topping is chhonk.

To make a chhonk you just need to fry aromatics like dried & fresh herbs in some hot fat. Here’s how I make a simple one for this soup:Heat a few teaspoons of oil on low heat until it’s glistening. Toss in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds until they start to pop a bit. Then add about 1/4 of fresh sage leaves and give them a quick toss in the oil to coat.
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That’s it! You can use any herbs/spices that you prefer, but I love the taste of the sage with this sweet and creamy soup. The fresh herbs get nice and crispy and the dried herbs get beautifully toasty and aromatic. I just pile the chhonk on top of the soup along with any remaining oil since it’s so nicely infused with the spices.