Curry Carrot Soup

We just got back yesterday from a week long vacation on an Alaskan Cruise (a few pictures are at the bottom of this post), and I came home to a bare bones fridge without any willpower to make it to the grocery store.  I grabbed all of the surviving veggies out of the pantry and fridge and got to work.  Sometimes the best recipes come from those we throw together out of necessity, and this is a keeper!

It is ever so slightly starting to feel like fall in western Washington, so this creamy, comforting soup just hit the spot.  Along with an afternoon of football, knitting, and tea, this soup got me in the mood to cuddle up on the couch, wear fuzzy socks, and relax.  Ahhhh... :)

I made this recipe in my InstantPot Duo pressure cooker, but it can easily be done on the stovetop or a crockpot by adjusting the cooking times.  See my notes below for suggested adjustments.

Curry Carrot Soup
(Pressure Cooker Friendly)
Time: 10 minutes prep, 6 minutes high pressure
Servings: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
        2 cups chopped onion
        2 celery sticks, chopped
        4 cups chopped carrots
        1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
        1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
        1 tsp minced ginger
        1 tsp cumin seeds
        1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
        1/2 tsp dried mustard powder (optional)
        1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubbed
        1 cup dried yellow split peas
        1 cup dried red lentils
        6 cups water (boiling water will bring pot to pressure faster, optional)
        2 Tbsp mild curry powder
        1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)

        3 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, deseeded, and chopped

Pressure Cooker Instructions:
1.)  In a large pressure cooker, saute the onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, cumin, and fennel seeds for 3-5 minutes.
2.)  Add in the remaining ingredients except for the roasted red bell peppers.  Stir to distribute spices throughout.
3.)  Lock the lid in place and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.  Allow the pressure to come down naturally for 15 minutes, and then release any remaining pressure.
4.)  Carefully remove the lid once pressure has been released.  Add in the chopped roasted peppers.  Serve chunky or use an immersion blender to cream the soup, adding additional water to reach the desired consistency.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Amy's Notes:
To make this soup on the stovetop, follow the same directions to saute, but simmer for 20-30 minutes in place of the 6 minutes cooking at pressure.

To make this soup in a crockpot, throw all of the ingredients in and cook on high for about 4 hours.

I would suggest topping with green onion, cilantro, parsley, basil, or nutritional yeast.  Again, I was running on empty cupboards, so mine pictured is merely garnished with fresh ground black pepper.

Now, here are a few pictures from our Alaskan Cruise last week... :)

Our first stop was in Ketchican.  We started the day by going to Creek Street (the old red light district), and then continued for a hike up Deer Mountain.  I hiked about halfway up (1500 feet) until we got to a beautiful overlook.  We met my parents halfway up the trail and Kevin and my dad decided to continue to the top of the mountain (3200 feet) while my mom and I slowly made our way down the mountain so I would have time to check out a yarn shop in town.

This is Kevin after the long hike.  The peak above is where him and my dad made it up to.  We were all a little sore the day following, but the views and scenery made it all worth it!

Our next stop should have been up the Tracy Arm Fjord, but unfortunately someone had a medical emergency that day on the ship and we had to proceed to Juneau instead of  seeing the Tracy Arm Glacier.  Huge bummer!  Thankfully, we didn't have any hard-set plans in Juneau and were able to take a shuttle up to Mendenhall Glacier.  The weather was perfectly sunny, but just cool enough that I got to rock some of my favorite knitted pieces.

Later in Juneau we took another shuttle to the Alaskan Brewery for a guided tasting.  Lots of fun to learn about the innovative ways the brewery has adapted to produce the quantities they do with more efficiency and less environmental impacts (recycling CO2 from fermentation and using spent grain biomass for energy).  The beer was delicious!

Health and Happiness,

Amy