Curried Carrot Soup

To give this carrot soup a little kick, try adding curry and a little cayenne pepper. The original recipe does not include the added milk… but, I can’t imagine carrot soup without a little creaminess to it. You can use fat free milk, if you want.

Carrots are used to thicken soups, sauces and can even be incorporated into baking instead of fat. I won’t be trying that, but I thought you’d like to know.

Curried Carrot Soup

Adapted from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 pounds carrots
1 spring fresh thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon mild curry paste or 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
Coarse salt
black pepper
1 cup 2% milk
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper*
(this is optional, because this pepper is very hot!)

Procedure:

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions and carrots and saute 5 minutes.
Add 4 cups chicken stock, curry and cayenne, and about 1 teaspoon salt to the pot.
Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes.
Place pot on a trivet next to food processor. Process soup in 2 or 3 small batches until soup is smooth and carrots are fully pureed.
Transfer processed soup into a large bowl as you work to make room for more soup in the food processor.
Return completed soup to the soup pot and place back over low heat.
Add milk. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings.

Banana Curry Chicken

Sounds exotic, right? Sometimes my mind goes blank, and I don’t know what to cook for lunch, so I was looking for a chicken recipe and stumbled on this one which has Thai influence. When you think about curry you immediately associate it with India, but Thai cooking also uses curry, except it is usually the green kind. I’ll get more into Thai cooking soon; I do love their mix of curries, herbs, coconut milk and fruits.

I changed a few things around this recipe, and it ended up being a really tasty dish. Because of the banana it is obviously on the sweet side, but the spicy contrast from the curry, and the acidity of the lime juice really balance it out. So next time you feel adventurous and want to try something new, I recommend you try this. I used black sesame seeds as decoration because I had some lying around, but you don’t have to go out and buy some. You can decorate with chopped cilantro, or regular sesame seeds.

Banana Curry Chicken

Ingredients

2 large bananas, cut into pieces
1 banana, sliced
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons butter
Grated zest of 1 lime
4 teaspoons lime juice
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
3/4 cup water, more if needed
4 bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 1/4 pounds in all), skin removed
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley (optional)
black and white sesame seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Procedure:

In a food processor or blender, puree the bananas, curry powder, coriander, dry mustard, butter, lime zest, lime juice, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup of the water.
Make a few deep cuts in each chicken breast and pour the curry sauce over the chicken, making sure the sauce gets into the cuts. Let it marinate for 30 minutes.
Heat a medium sized pan, and add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Cook the chicken breasts for 4 minutes on each side (without the marinade) but together with the sliced banana. Add the marinade, and add remaining 1/2 cup water. Continue to whisk until the sauce is heated through, adding more water if you want a thinner sauce. Cover and let cook for an additional 10 minutes over low heat. Serve the chicken breasts with the sauce over them.
Sprinkle with parsley or with sesame seeds if you like.
Serve with rice.