Cheap Tuesday Gourmet – Curry Carrot Soup

As we mentioned last week, we have altered the rules and are allowing the use of preserves – to show that a little extra effort yields an amazing product with less cost.

This week we used our homemade turkey stock made at Christmas.  We preserved it by pressure canning (you cannot use a hot water bath for any meat related products) and followed the wisdom of the National Centre for Home Food Preservation on how to handle.  We made 4.5 liters with leftover carcass and a few veggies.  Total cost per liter was around $0.75.

We had plenty of Ontario carrots and Onions left from the Can Jam.  We bought our carrots for $0.60 a pound and onions for $0.50.  We used 2 pounds of carrots and half a pound of onions.

2 tablespoons of oil, a tablespoon of curry powder and other seasoning (i.e. salt, pepper, hot peppers) is all you need for this fantastic soup.  The yield is 8-10 cups (2-2.5 liters) for around $2.75.  If you want to get ridiculous, add 3-4 drops (no more) of truffle oil.  This could increase your cost by bout $0.20 but will be a difference you will taste (though some will not like).

It is also delicious.

The recipe:

1. Heat oil and soften slices of onions until they are translucent.
2. Toss all the curry powder in, coat the onions.
3. Toss in 2 pounds of cut carrots (we used the food processor for speed) and warm in the onion, curry and oil for a few minutes.
4. Add the stock.  Simmer everything for 20-30 minutes to soften the onions.  Be patient, the softer things get, the smoother your soup will become.
5. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend smooth (this will have to be done in 3-4 batches to get the entire thing – we did part, transferred to another pot and continues with the next bit until complete.  If you don’t have a food processor, the carrots could bu mashed with a potato masher (make sure you cook hem good and soft) and start with onions that are chopped very small as they won’t be intimidated by your potato masher.
6. Add water to the consistency you would like.  We used 2 cups and could have used 3 or 4.
7. We added a swirl of olive oil at the last minute for looks and taste (I didn’t mix it in when eating – left it just like you see it and got tastes of it in almost every bite).

You could substitute vegetable stock (or the more economical cubes) if you wished for different flavor/ cost/ lifestyle/ choice.