spicy carrot apple and ginger soup

carrot apple and ginger juice was one of my favorite drinks when i used to work at a juice bar. and i always heard of people making carrot ginger soup, so i put the two together and made up a sweet and spicy soup perfect for autumn time.

it has several different layers of spicy, from the soothing and warming spice of the ginger to the hot and sharp spice of the pepper.  it warms you from the inside out just like any great soup should.

if you want a mellower version just leave out the small pepper, it will be slightly sweeter.

spicy carrot apple and ginger soup
4 c chopped carrots
2 c chopped apples
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 quart water
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion
1 small pepper (like jalapeno, fresno, or hungarian)
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tbsp braggs liquid aminos
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 c cold water
2 c cold rice milk

i got some lovely carrots from the farmers market.  about one bunch should be fine.

bring the quart of water, the bay leaf and salt to a boil in a large pot.

add the chopped carrots and apple and cook on high heat for about 20-25 minutes.

coarsely chop the onion, pepper, garlic and grate the ginger.  they don’t have to be finely chopped because they will be blended later.

in a large frying warm up the olive oil.  once warm gently throw in the onion, pepper, garlic, ginger, salt and ginger powder.  sauté on high heat until the garlic and ginger begin to brown.  then add the liquid aminos and vinegar and cook until the liquid has cooked off.

remove the bay leaf from the boiling water and add the fried veggies to the mixture in the pot.  cover and cook until most of the water is gone, stirring occasionally.  this should take about 15 minutes.

take it off of the heat add the water and rice milk.  let it cool for 10-15 minutes before blending.  trying to blend hot liquids is dangerous and messy.

once it’s cool, blend thoroughly in small batches so that the blender is only half full.  if you have a hand blender this step can be done in the pot.

once it’s all blended, just heat back up right before serving.

it’s delicious, hardy and warming on a rainy day.  the ginger is soothing on the stomach which works wonders for a cold or as a hangover tonic.

yields 5-6 servings.