Recently I was in Whole Foods Market and saw this (pictured) soup and it sounded so good. I decided to try my hand at making a homemade version.
I did and I loved it...here's the recipe. It makes one serving (one cup) and is approximately 115 calories.
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1 teaspoon virgin unrefined coconut oil (see note 1)
½ teaspoon ginger- garlic paste
4-5 whole cashews
2 regular carrots cut into pieces
1 cup chicken broth (see note 2)
½ teaspoon sugar
Dash of onion powder
Dash of curry powder
Dash of paprika
Sea salt to taste (see note 3)
1 tablespoon of half and half (see note 4)
Dash of garam masala (see note 5)
In a saucepan briefly sauté the ginger-garlic past and cashews in the oil. Add the broth and 2 regular carrots cut into small pieces (smaller=quicker cooking). Bring to a boil, adding the sugar, onion powder, curry powder and paprika. Boil/simmer until carrots are tender…then add salt to taste. You can add additional broth at this point if it has boiled away to less than one cup.
With a stick blender (or a regular blender) puree the contents of the sauce pan, adding a pinch of garam masala. When everything is smooth, add 1 tablespoon of half and half and stir to blend. Do not boil after adding the half and half because your soup will curdle.
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As noted above this recipe makes one serving, or one cup. For multiple servings increase accordingly.
Note 1) The coconut oil has a slight fragrance of coconut which pairs so nicely with the ginger, cashews and carrots. If you don’t have coconut oil on hand and wouldn’t want to purchase it to use in other ingredients, just use an oil with no flavor and add a good pinch of coconut, or perhaps some coconut milk at the end…but again do not boil after adding the coconut milk or your soup will curdle.
Note 2) I used a powdered chicken flavoring plus water for the broth. You could use plain water or a vegetable broth but it may not be as tasty.
Note 3) If you salt to taste at the beginning, the finished product, which cooks down and condenses, may be too salty.
Note 4) You can use evaporated milk instead. The half and half or evaporated milk makes the soup opaque and only adds an additional 30 calories. The serving of soup has a total of approximately 115 calories.
Note 5) Garam masala is an Indian blend of spices. Its main ingredients are cinnamon, cloves and coriander (powder). You can replace the garam masala with a pinch of cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cloves…and if you have coriander powder add a pinch of it too.
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This soup was incredible in flavor.
For an explanation of the definition of a dash click here.
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In a couple days I will give a weight management update.