Rhonda's Easy Carrot Ginger Soup

A couple of weeks ago I was in West Orange, NJ at a restaurant and tasted the best Carrot Ginger soup ever!  However it was clear that it was filled with butter and heavy cream.  I have been on a quest to find a recipe that excludes the dairy but keeps the rich taste.  I am sad to say I could not find one, but happy to say I created my own and it is BETTER than the original, if I must say so myself.  I put a couple of surprises in there to create the texture of the "heavy" soup without the calories (sweet potato and coconut milk).  I used all organic veggies too!  At the end I have some recommendations on how to cut the calories - although I don't think its very high in calories (maybe the olive oil and coconut milk contribute but its far less than butter and heavy cream).  Sorry for the crappy photo, next time I won't use my cell phone.

Rhonda's Easy Carrot Ginger Soup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped

1/2 large white onion chopped 

2 thumbs of fresh ginger sliced thin (take the outer skin off first)

2 lbs. carrots 

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 large sweet potato

8 oz. light coconut milk @ room temperature (I used the Trader Joe's brand which comes in a can)

In a large stock pot heat the olive oil and add the garlic, onion and ginger over medium heat until they are translucent.  While those are cooking skin the carrots and sweet potato and cut them into large chunks.  Once the veggies are translucent add the carrots, sweet potato and vegetable broth to the pot and cook on medium heat until you can break the carrots apart easily with a fork (I cooked mine for about an hour and 1/2).  

When it is done transfer the contents of the pot to a blender (do this in small batches and never fill the blender more than 1/2 full each time).  In each batch (I did mine in 2 batches) add 4 oz of coconut.  Be careful when blending HOT liquids!  Blend until smooth and transfer to another pot or large bowl.  Blend next batch, adding the final 4 oz of coconut milk and add to the pot/bowl where the first batch is.  Stir to mix batches and serve.

You will notice I added no salt or other spices.  This recipe without the spices was very very good, the ginger, onion and garlic was enough.  You may add spices such as nutmeg, all-spice, or pepper.  Additionally to reduce calories you can decrease the amount of olive oil used to 1/8 cup or swap the coconut milk for rice, almond or soy milk.  

Please let me know how you enjoy it!

This Journey is All Mine!

Rhonda