Here's what our house smells like today...

We couldn't keep up with the carrots from our garden last Fall, so I froze a bunch roughly chopped in 2 pound bags for THIS wonderful recipe.

Carrot Lemongrass Soup (with coriander, ginger and coconut) from ReBar cookbook

serves 6 to 8 hungry folk!

8 cups soup stock (I use whatever I have, this time I'm using 6 cups of veggie stock I made using up the veggies in my fridge that were past prime, so mostly cruciferous variety, plus 2 cups chicken stock from my freezer)
6 kaffir lime leaves (I use dry as I can't find them to buy here and my aunt brings me dried ones from Australia!)
2 Tbsp veg oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 Tbsp coarse salt
3 lemongrass stalks (I couldn't find fresh so used dried)
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 Tbsp coriander seeds, ground
2 lbs carrots, roughly chopped
1 can (398 mL) coconut milk
2 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp minced lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon

Heat stock, add lime leaves.
Heat oil over medium heat, cook onion and 1 tsp salt until translucent. Add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, curry paste and coriander; saute and stir for 5 min. Stir in chopped carrots and remaining 2 tsp of salt. Saute for several minutes, then pour in hot stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until carrots are soft (about 15 min.)
Remove the lime leaves and puree the soup. Whisk in coconut milk and sambal oelek and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Just before serving add lemon zest, juice and season to taste with more salt or more sambal. Add spoonful of yogurt (and cilantro if you don't HATE cilantro like I do!!!) to each bowl and ENJOY!

Annika says this soup helps her see in the dark. I don't doubt it! YUM!