Day 5 - Carrot Soup with Mint and Orange

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It is said that soup is one of the food types that takes longest to digest, leaving you feeling fuller longer, so it's always a good idea to start your meal with a bowl of it. Unless of course it's saturated in oil and loaded with salt.

Luckily this recipe is neither.

To make two big bowlfuls you need

15 ml of oil, I used half sesame and half olive
3 large carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp. finely crumbled dry mint
2 tsp. whole coriander seed, crushed
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
Zest and juice of one sweet orange
Salt to taste

Slice the carrots and onion very thinly, put into a lidded saucepan with oil. Cover and leave to sweat over a low heat for 10 minutes or so, stirring from time to time so that nothing browns.

Add the crushed garlic, mint, coriander and pepper and stir around, then enough hot water to just cover the carrots. Put in the orange zest and let everything simmer for 20 minutes until the carrots are completely soft.

Use a stick blender to reduce the vegetables to a puree, return to serving temperature and add the juice. Add salt carefully to taste.

Serve in big bowls. Add a swirl of soya yoghurt if you like and enjoy with some crusty bread.