Curried Carrot Soup

I asked my son to pick up my favorite carrots with tops from Costco.  They're in a 1.5 lb bag.  I was going to roast them, like I've done before in the picture below...aren't they beauties?

BUT instead, he came home with these (When I took them out of the fridge and put them on the counter, they landed with a THUD):

OMG - 5 lbs!!!  So, when life gives you carrots, make soup.  My recipe came from what was in the fridge/cupboard.  I did peruse other recipes to make sure I was on track with my idea and I was.  I used:

1 large Vidalia onion, diced in food processor

2 pounds of organic baby carrots, diced in food processor

1 can coconut milk 

1 cup of Miso soup (leftover from Japanese dinner)

1 nub of fresh ginger, I processed it with the onion

3 cloves of garlic, I processed it with the onion

1 teaspoon of Turmeric spice

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 tablespoon of Garam Masala (Indian spice mix)

2 tablespoons of Madras curry spice

Fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt, to taste

1 tetra box (900 ml) of no salt chicken broth

1 lime, zest taken off and juice squeezed

1 teaspoon Red Boat fish sauce

Fresh cilantro, chopped finely for garnish

I decided since it was it was all going to be pureed, I would do all the veg in the food processor.  I started with the onions, garlic and ginger which I cut up roughly first.  Below, I had already peeled the ginger with a spoon.

After it was chop chopped, I put it into a dutch oven with some avocado oil.

When soft, I added in all the spices and then the carrots.  I guessed at how much 2 lbs was but did about a pound each in the food processor each time.  I added in all the liquids, the lime zest, fish sauce and S&P.

I stirred and then tasted,  It was spot on at this point.  I brought to a boil, then a simmer, covered it and left it until the carrots were soft.  That took just under a half hour.

I pureed the soup with my hand blender.  Then I added in some lime juice.  I re-seasoned and then served.  I put a teaspoon of Greek yogurt on mine along with the cilantro.

This mistake of the carrots, ended up being a positive as far as the soup was concerned.  I never, ever buy baby carrots and never would.  This soup had great flavors and a mild kick of heat.  It reminded me of a squash soup (like butternut) and I'm sure it would be okay to eat it cold too (which I might try tomorrow).  There was a fantastic piquancy to this.  I lucked out!