Fragrant carrot soup

A low protein (possibly protein-free depending on your regime) curried carrot soup for chilly days. Makes an easy PKU meal with 10 mins prep and 30 minutes cooking time.

Ingredients

• 150g chopped onion (about 1 large onion)
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed (or 2tsp from a jar of crushed garlic)
• 500g peeled and chopped carrots (I prefer mine unpeeled, it worked)
• 50g butter (The original recipe called for 150g! I used a third of that and the recipe seemed fine)
• 1tsp cumin seeds
• 1tsp curry powder
• 300ml chicken stock, use a PKU friendly one from the NSPKU booklets
• 500ml water
• 1 bouquet garni (this is not a cupboard staple for me, I used 3 bay leaves).
• Coriander leaves to garnish.

Method

1. Melt butter in a saucepan, then add the onions, garlic, and carrots. Cook on a heat low enough that the onions do not colour (e.g., a low-medium heat) for five minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add the cumin seeds to a dry pan and toast. Pay attention as this only takes a minute or two on a medium heat.
3. Add the cumin seeds and curry powder to the carrots and cook for two minutes. Then add the stock, water, and bouquet garni or bay leaves. Top tip: count in your bay leaves, then you know how many to remove later.
4. Bring the soup to the boil, then add a little salt. Reduce the heat and simmer the sou for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and pick out the bouquet garni or bayleaves. Blend carefully, check to see if it needs salt or pepper. Then, reheat if needed, and serve.

Source: Michael Caines via The Guardian. There are a few more PKU friendly soups in this article to try.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.