This article was originally published by The Mennonite

February recipe: Carrot coconut soup

The Hungry Hounds is the food blog of Paul and Rebecca Shetler Fast, country representatives for Mennonite Central Committee in Haiti. Learn more about MCC Haiti at their blog, www.haitimcc.org.

Carrot Coconut Soup is made in under 30 minutes and uses a genius recipe from James Peterson. We love Peterson’s cookbooks so much that we originally named our rescue greyhound “James Peterson” in his honor. To our chagrin, we quickly discovered two names and multiple syllables to be far too overwhelming for a greyhound with limited life skills. We found he answered better to Leo. Carrot Coconut Soup builds flavor from a sauté of carrots in butter, with an unusual thickener of rice, finished with coconut milk and curry to round out this delicious soup. Easy pantry ingredients, foolproof technique and lovely bold flavors, perfect for the soup months!

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 1/2 pounds peeled carrots (about 8 medium), roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup long grain rice
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 5 cups low sodium chicken (or vegetable) broth
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • 1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk

Optional garnishes could include: briefly sautéed curried cauliflower, cilantro, yogurt, mint, bread crumbs, salted cashews, etc.

Steps:

  1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, rice, thyme, and sugar and cook over medium heat until rice is golden and carrots are softened, 7-10 minutes.
  2. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover. Allow to simmer 15-20 minutes until carrots are cooked through and rice is puffed up (don’t worry about the texture of the rice, as it is only used as a thickener and will be pureed).
  3. Remove from heat, add curry powder, salt, cayenne and coconut milk and puree soup until it achieves the texture you desire. If the soup is too thick for your taste, thin with broth until you achieve your desired consistency.
  4. Serve plain or with a garnish of your choice. This soup keeps up to 1-week refrigerated and reheats well.

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