Spicy Carrot and Coriander Soup

What we all need on a cold day is a nice, warming soup. I've always liked carrot and coriander soup, and I had a bit of a glut of carrots and fresh coriander last week. Where this soup differs from your standard carrot and coriander soup is the addition of some warming spices.

This soup is vegan, although it can be adapted for non vegans/vegetarians!

Dice one onion and about 6 carrots. Fry the onion gently in a drop of oil in a large pan until soft, then add the carrots, 1 tsp dried coriander, 2 tsp powdered ginger, and a good shake of dried chilli flakes. Add 700ml of water and 2 vegetable stock cubes or 2 tsp of stock powder. Bring to the boil, put a lid on the pan and simmer until the carrots are soft.

Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth. Roughly chop a bunch of fresh coriander and add to the pan, and give it a quick burst with the blender again.

Serve in steaming bowls with some nice bread. The ginger makes it warming, and the chillies give it a bit of a kick.

Notes:

• This soup can be made in a traditional or electric pressure cooker. Put all the ingredients except the coriander in the cooker and cook on high pressure for about 15 minutes. Blend and add the coriander at the end as described above.

• Ham or chicken stock can be substituted for the vegetable stock. Or just plain water and salt, if you dont have any stock/ stock cubes.

• This soup is a good vehicle for leftovers too! Feel free to throw any leftover cooked vegetables and/or leftover gravy in the pot with the carrots.

• You can use chopped fresh chillies if you prefer - either red or green, or a bit of both! how hot you make your soup is up to you.

• If you're one of those people who can't eat coriander because it tastes weird, just leave it out. This soup tastes just fine without it. Just call it carrot soup! :-)