Spicy Creamy Carrot Soup

I've been testing out recipes for carrot-based soups for quite some time and haven't been happy with most of the results. Either the mix of spices is wrong, too weak, or too strong. One thing that I was trying to avoid was making it a sweet soup (as many call for orange juice or sweet potatoes), curried carrot soup or a very gingery soup. I can't understand the point of making a carrot-based soup sweeter by adding other sweet components since carrots cook up fairly sweet anyway.

I wanted the carrot soup to taste like savory seasoned carrots. After several failures, I finally gave in and added some damn curry powder. It turns out that adding a bit of curry flavoring cuts the sweetness of the carrots. This was the best one so far, though it still wasn't exactly what I would have hoped for. It's a recipe I made up after reading a lot of others, and finding none of them to my liking.

• 3 large carrots, peeled, and sliced (about 1 lb./500 grams)
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 2 cups chicken stock (1 can, I used Swanson's)
• 1.5 cups milk (I used low fat, but full fat is fine)
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (or peel and mince a garlic clove)
  
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• dash black pepper
• salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)
• about 1/2 tbsp. butter and 1/2 tbsp. oil for sauteing

Heat a large soup pot over low to medium heat then add the butter and oil. Immediately toss in the fennel seeds and cook until fragrant and a little toasted. Add the diced onion, curry powder, and garlic powder (or minced garlic if you're using the real thing) and stir. Cook until the onions are slightly softened (about 5 minutes). You'll need to stir them occasionally. Add the carrots and stir everything around. Cook for a few minutes then add the chicken stock, milk, and a shake of black pepper. After the soup just starts to boil, put a lid on it and lower the temperature to the point where it is simmering rather than boiling. Cook covered until the carrots are tender. I cooked mine for about 45 minutes, though this was likely longer than necessary. Puree the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste and add salt as desired.

by Shari (Orchid64)