Lemongrass Curry Carrot Soup

November 17, 2023

One of my dear friends has a lemongrass bush that is majorly thriving, so she has been gifting me a bunch of beautiful stalks whenever inspiration strikes and this time her lemongrass is being used in a Thai inspired curried carrot soup…

If you are unfamiliar with lemongrass, it has a wonderfully citrusy flavor with hints of floral and ginger too. It is very common in south asian cooking and pairs perfectly with the flavors of curry spices in this thick, creamy soup.

With carrots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk and lots of warm spices this soup is hearty, healthy and full of flavor. It can be easily made vegan, vegetarian and gluten free, so everyone can enjoy its deliciousness.

Let’s get started…

Begin by gathering some extra virgin olive oil, a large yellow onion, 4 cloves of garlic, an inch of fresh ginger, a tablespoon of red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 4 cups of vegetable broth, 14 ounces of coconut milk (whole milk preferred), 2 pounds of carrots, 2 stalks of fresh lemongrass, a large lime and 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite curry powder.

If you do not have a curry powder on hand, this is the spice blend that I added to this soup…

- - - - 1 teaspoon of garam masala
      - 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
      - 1/2 teaspoon of fenugreek
      - 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
      - 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
      - 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
      - 1/2 teaspoon of ground mustard
      - 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
      - 1/2 teaspoon of salt
      - a pinch of black pepper

If you don’t happen to have fenugreek or ground mustard, feel free to leave them out, but I would highly suggest getting garam masala for this soup and any of your future curry endeavors. Garam masala has an amazing sweet, smokey, spicy flavor that is exactly what I love about curry. If you don’t have any in your pantry, pick some up. You’ll be glad that you did…

To prepare your lemongrass, peel off the tough outer leaves, trim the top and bottom and chop the stalks into 3 inch portions. Use the side of a large knife to slightly smash and “bruise” the stalks to help release the flavor and aroma into your soup.

Although lemongrass is perfectly fine to eat, most of the stalks are very tough if not completely smashed and pasted, so I like to leave them large enough to easily fish out of the soup later.

Once the vegetables have all been peeled, chopped, diced, minced and/or grated, place a large pot over medium heat and add a splash of olive oil.

Add a large diced yellow onion and cook for about 10 minutes or until the onions have softened a bit.

Add the minced garlic, grated ginger, a tablespoon of red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and the spices. If you are using my spice blend, follow the amounts above, but if you are using your own curry spice mixture add 1-2 tablespoons depending on how boldly seasoned you prefer your soup and how spicy your red pepper paste is.

Note: If you prefer red curry paste, you can omit the red pepper paste and spices and add 2-3 tablespoons of red curry paste instead.

Sauté the garlic, ginger and spices for about 60 seconds and then add 4 cups of vegetable broth, 14 ounces of coconut milk, 2 pounds of peeled and chopped carrots and 2 stalks of fresh lemongrass that have been peeled and bruised.

Bring the soup up to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are very tender.

Once the carrots are tender, remove the lemongrass from the pot and blend the soup until completely smooth. You can do this by transferring the soup into a blender or with an immersion blender. This batch fit into my Ninja Pro Blender, but if you have a smaller blender, just do it in several batches.

Once the soup has been blender smooth, return it to the pot and add a big pinch of salt and the juice from a large lime.

Do a quick taste test and add more salt or lime juice if the soup doesn’t make your tongue dance.

Before you dig into this creamy, inviting soup, drizzle it with a little heavy cream, add some freshly cracked black pepper and maybe some fresh herbs, if you have anything on hand. I had some oregano on hand and its mildly floral flavor worked perfectly with this soup.

This soup is wonderful. It is thick, creamy and boldly delicious. The curry aroma is so inviting and the fresh lime juice and lemongrass add a great kick of citrus that the carrots really need.

Carrots have a lot of natural sweetness that come out when they are cooked, so the addition of the citrus, spices and soy sauce really balance that out well.

The coconut milk adds just the right amount of creaminess and although I prefer this soup to be thick and creamy, you can always add more vegetable stock or even a second can of low fat coconut milk to thin the consistency out a bit more.

If you are looking for a flavorful Thai inspired soup full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nutrients that your body needs then I hope you have yourself a batch of this healthy, delicious soup.

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