Carrot-Ginger Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk
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Last week a friend and I met for lunch at The Placid Baker in Troy. We did as we always do: ordered a lot, shared everything, contemplated dessert — macaron? frangipane tart? chocolate cake? — then split that, too. Everything, as always there, was delicious but the soup of the day, a curried coconut-ginger number, had me scraping the bowl, wiping the crock’s creases with the last of the freshly baked baguette. Heaven.
Several days later, I called to see if I could get some details. Tom, the owner, answered and kindly shared: they roast the carrots with curry, coriander and turmeric; they cook celery, onions, and ginger stovetop; and they use coconut milk for creaminess. The soup, incidentally, is vegan.
I set to work scrubbing the carrots, sweating the aromatics, toasting the coriander seeds and before long, the soup was nearly done. Before puréeing it, I borrowed a trick from Julia Turshen’s recipe for curried lentils: after dumping the can of coconut milk into the pot, I used the empty can as a measure, filling it up twice with water and adding it to the pot.
There is nothing unusual about the flavors in this soup — carrot and ginger, a common match, often are found with curry and coconut — but I still find this extraordinarily good and exactly what I want to be eating right now. It’s a reminder, too, how layers of flavors — slowly sweated aromatics, roasted vegetables, toasted spices, big-flavor ingredients such as coconut milk — can build into something more than the sum of its parts. There is no stock in this soup, and there is no need for it.
This soup comes together in about 45 minutes and you can prep as you go: while the carrots roast, chop the onions onions, celery, and ginger; and while those vegetables sweat, toast the spices. The carrots should finish roasting at about the same time the aromatics finish sweating. Once all the vegetables are cooked, you are minutes from completion.
PS: ALL the soup recipes right here → Soup
Here’s the play-by-play: gather your ingredients:
Give your carrots a scrub; peel them if they are especially dirty.
Roughly chop the carrots; toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper; roast at 425ºF for about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, finely chop the onions, celery, and ginger.
Sweat them slowly in a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Meanwhile, gather your spices and …
… toast some coriander seeds, if you wish.
Add the spices to the sweated vegetables.
When the carrots begin caramelizing at the edges…
…add them to the pot.
Add a can of coconut milk, then fill it up with water and add it to the pot, too. (Do this twice).
Bring to a simmer…
…then purée.
Serve with lots of bread, olive-oil toasted if you wish.
Carrot-Ginger Soup With Curry & Coconut Milk
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3.5 quarts
Description
Inspired by a soup served at The Placid Baker in Troy.
*Only peel the carrots if they are especially dirty. My CSA carrots, even with a good scrubbing, must be peeled before using. Post peeling and trimming, my carrots weigh around 1.5 lbs.
If you don’ have curry powder on hand or don’t feel like buying it, you could probably get away with this mix: 1 tablespoon turmeric, 1 tablespoon ground or whole coriander, 2 teaspoons ground or whole cumin, 1/2 teaspoon paprika. If using whole spices, toast first in a dry skillet, then crush with a mortar and pestle.
Ingredients
- 1.5–1.75 pounds carrots, washed well and unpeeled*, see notes above
- 3 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste, divided
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 2 small onions, finely diced to yield 2 cups
- 4–5 stalks celery, finely diced to yield a heaping cup
- a small knob ginger, peeled, and minced to yield 2 tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon coriander seed or ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon curry powder, such as Madras
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425ºF. Trim the root end off each carrot. Roughly chop the carrots into 2-inch pieces. Cut lengthwise through the carrots at the thicker parts. Transfer carrots to a rimmed sheet pan. (I line mine with parchment paper, because they are in bad shape.) Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Transfer pan to oven and roast for 25 minutes or until edges begin to caramelize in places.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat with the onions, celery, and ginger. As soon as you hear a sizzle, turn the heat down to low, season with a pinch of salt, stir, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove lid every so often, letting the condensation drip back into the pot, to check on the vegetables; stir to be sure the vegetables aren’t sticking or browning — the goal here is to get the vegetables soft, not to brown them (though a little browning is fine).
- If you are using whole coriander seeds, toast in a small skillet until fragrant and beginning to brown. Use a mortar and pestle to grind them into a fine powder. Once the onions, celery, and ginger have cooked for 15 minutes, add the coriander, curry powder, and turmeric. Stir to combine.
- Add the roasted carrots and the can of coconut milk. Fill up the empty can with water and add to the pot. Do this once more. Add the remaining teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a simmer. Use an immersion blender to purée until smooth. Alternatively transfer to a food processor and purée in batches.
- Taste. Adjust taste as desired. Simmer to thicken if necessary; add more water if too thick.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: baked, sauté
- Cuisine: Indian
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93 Comments on “Carrot-Ginger Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk”
Step 2 should include onions, not carrots. The carrots are roasting in the oven.
THANK YOU!! Oiy. Editing now.
I am going to make this soon and maybe add some roasted (or maybe not?) chickpeas for a bit of protein!
YES! Chickpeas would be so good with this 🙂
I had surprise guests today after being away myself. Nothing in the pantry except everything to make this soup! We sat by the fire, watched the snow melt and enjoyed this delicious soup with your
peasant bread, of course.
🙂
This soup would be like a warm hug in a bowl. Delicious combination of flavours.
Thanks, Alexandra! 🙂
Delicious! Of course another hit. You never disappoint! So glad I have enough to enjoy again 😊 Thank you!
So happy to hear this, Jeanne!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I can’t do anything curry cook or smell. How can I adapt your recipe omitting it?
I would just omit the curry powder. If you like cumin, you could add some of that.
Made this last night and enjoyed it with the peasant bread my husband made last week. Yum! Definitely making this again and for sure next Thanksgiving!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Lisa. And yay for peasant bread 🙂 🙂 🙂
Really good with bread! We had to stop ourselves from eating all the roasted carrots.
Ha! I love it 🙂 I could eat the whole sheetpan of roasted carrots as well.
I made this the other day and it came together easily, and it’s delicious. I also added a fat squeeze of fresh lime juice before eating and that worked so well that I think I will always include it as an ingredient.
Lime sounds delicious and perfect here. Great idea.
Delicious soup! I had leeks to use, so replaced the onions. I also had two parsnips to use up so added to the roasting carrots. I chopped the ginger, but really should have grated it to break down the fibers, adds a wonderful zing! Served with sour cream and a hot pan of cornbread. Made a wonderful dinner, actually several! Thanks!!
Oh wonderful to hear this! It all sounds so good 🙂
I made this last weekend and we loved it. It was so good I’ll be making it again this week. Thanks!
So happy to hear this, Janie! And great to hear from you, too 🙂 🙂 🙂
Great flavor in this. My 18 and 20 year old sons want to have it again! Fed 4 adults dinner for about $8.00! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh wonderful, I’m so happy to hear this!
This looks great, especially the shot with the toasty bread soaking up the soup. I tried years ago to make a curried sweet potato soup that I just could not get right – it was weird and unbalanced. I’ll definitely give this a try!
🙂 🙂 🙂
This is soooo delicious and filling. I will definitely make this again!! And did not have to add a thing!
This is soooo delicious and filling. I will definitely make this again!! And did not have to add a thing! Thank you.
Wonderful, so happy to hear this!
this is probably the best vegan recipe ever. I looked at the amount of ingredients and went with half as much, since I thought I making it for two servings… I had to keep myself from “testing” the whole pot.
used less water to get a thicker consistency, also fresh kurkuma root stained my fingers and added a lovely orange to the soup/mash.
Fist time I used roasted carrots and loved it!
Love this soup. Do you think I can freeze it?
Absolutely!
I didn’t have curry powder so I made the recipe using the substitute that you suggested, and I’m wondering if you meant to say teaspoons instead of tablespoons for the turmeric and the coriander. I was adding the spices kind of absentmindedly and realized afterward that the substituted spices are a lot more in total than the 1 tablespoon of curry powder in the original recipe. Will try it again with the curry powder because otherwise it was really good!
Thank you. I added roasted cauliflower and chickpeas since my family likes a chunky soup. It was delish.
Nice! Love this idea.
Great soup, I roasted all the vegetables and sautéed the ginger, the ginger definitely adds a nice kick to the flavor. A soup with lots of wonderful flavors and so easy to make.
I made it today and thanks to your instructions about spices to use if I had no curry powder in the shelf, I was really able to personalize it to our tastes. My husband is very sensitive to these spices and I used about half the recommended amounts of turmeric, cumin, coriander and paprika. My Soup came out so smooth and beautiful! I’m going to serve with naan and a nice mint chutney. Color make it look like cooking with crayola! Love it, thank you!
So happy to hear this, Lisa!!
Absolutely delicious!! I will definitely be making this again. Shared with friends and they gave it rave reviews.
BTW, I used only tumeric in my recipe. Thank you Alexandra!
So happy to hear this Celestine!
This soup was delicious! My husband loved it as well. I did not have any celery but I don’t feel it was missed. Definitely keeping this recipe.
I’m so happy to hear this, Holly! Great to know celery can be omitted, too. 🙂
Made this and it was delish thanks! Thinned down the leftovers with more water & used it as the stock for a risotto – gorgeous
Amazing! I love this idea, Esther. Thanks so much for writing 😍😍😍
I have made this soup several times and it is absolutely delicious!! I have done it by roasting carrots and sometimes not – either way soooo good!!! Economical, healthy and freezes well too. Bravo Ali
Wonderful to hear this, Linda! Thanks so much for writing 😍😍😍
I LOVE THIS SOUP!!! Not only simple, economical and healthy it is just plain DELICIOUS!
I do substitute water for vegetable stock. Added bonus, freezes very well too!
So nice to hear this, Linda! This is one of my favorites as well. Thanks for writing 🙂
Made this soup for the first time tonight after the temperature suddenly plunged in Tucson, thank goodness it’s finally time for some of the comfort foods I love the most. This soup is incredibly simple to make and it’s my favorite kind of recipe, one that allows for ample time to “clean as you go”. Hurray for a clean kitchen when dinner is ready!
That said, the depth of flavor here is so satisfying. There is so much more going on than the standard carrot ginger soup that it feels utterly satiating on many fronts. Thank you for sharing this beautiful recipe, and cheers from my deliciously scented home!
So nice to hear this, Brooke! And I hear you: I love a recipe that allows you to clean as you go. It feels like winter in Upstate New York … hope you are enjoying your cooler temperatures as well. Thanks for writing 🙂
How necessary are the onions and celery? I have a household of picky eaters who do not like those, but I don’t want to try making the soup without them if that will ruin how it turns out 🙂
Hi Angela,
For me, the onions and celery are the building blocks of the soup, imparting subtle sweetness as well as savory notes. You honestly don’t specifically taste onion or celery in the end because there is so much flavor lent by the carrots, spices, and coconut milk. I worry the soup will lack depth of flavor without the onions and celery.
Delicious! Excellent combination of flavors, especially liked the fresh ginger and the coriander seeds. Followed the recipe step by step, it came out great!
So nice to hear this, Ginka! This is a favorite of mine this time of year.
Wow!!!! I made this soup last night and absolutely LOVED it!! So quick and easy but absolutely packed with flavour! As one reviewer suggested, I squeezed in some fresh lime juice at the end. The flavours were vibrant, fresh and the soup was surprisingly satisfying (I’m not usually a “soup” for dinner gal, but this was perfect). Thank you Ali for a wonderful recipe that I will be making again (and again).
So nice to hear this, Kelly! This is one of my favorites as well this time of year. Thanks so much for writing!
Thank you! Due to dietary restrictions I had to make some changes and it still turned out delicious.
Wonderful to hear this, Virginia! Thanks for writing 🙂