Carrot and Coriander Soup- vegan

This soup is delicious with soda bread rolls and home- made peanut butter for a satisfying lunch.

In the Gaudiya Matha, eating carrots is prohibited (look here for details) but some practitioners of Bhakti Yoga will use the orange European sort (as opposed to the dark red Indian carrots), so on this blog for the first time is a carrot recipe for those who do. This soup was really popular in bistros back in the 80s and we thought it deserved a makeover; our version is thick and hearty and contains fresh coriander leaf as well as ground coriander seed.

(Makes about 6 servings)

1 kg fresh carrots

200g potato, diced small

2 tabs cold-pressed sunflower oil

1/2 tsp compound hing

2 rounded tabs ground coriander seed

stock made from 1 tab brown rice miso and 1l of water

25g fresh coriander

2 tsps black pepper

seasalt to taste

• Prepare and slice the carrots thinly.
• Cook the potatoes in the oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan, then add the carrots and mix well.
• Stir in the hing and the ground coriander.
• Add the stock, put the lid on your pan and simmer until the veg is soft, adding the fresh coriander at this point. 
• Now blitz it in the blender until smooth and return to the pan.
• Add salt and pepper, adjust the liquid if you like, and re-heat gently to serve.

Note: ginger and orange are two flavours that go really well with carrot- you could try adding one or both of these to the soup.