I was unsure whether to put this recipe in as people might be getting fed up with this soup. Whenever I'm back in Britain this always seems to be the default vegetarian soup. The kind of pubs and cafes that feature chalk-board menus seem to specialise in it. I would have thought if you have a chalk board, it's so that you can change the menu regularly, but it's amazing how often the 'soup of the day' happens to be this one. (That reminds me of the guy who went into a pub and asked if they were serving food. 'Only yesterday's soup.' the barman replied. 'What about today's soup?' the guy asked. 'Come back tomorrow.' said the barman.)
Having said all this, this is still one of my favourite soups and for that reason alone the recipe should be included here. Add the facts that it's cheap, easy and fun to do then there's no way I'm going to leave it out.
If you've got whole coriander seeds and an extra three or four minutes to spare (and you should have because the carrots take ages to cook) roast and grind them yourself. If you don't have green coriander, just use the seeds. If you don't have seeds or powder, just use the green stuff. I won't send the recipe police round to check.
Ingredients
500g carrots
1 orange
1 small onion
1 veg stock cube
Half a teaspoon of ground coriander seed
A bunch of green coriander
A little vegetable oil
Salt
Peel and slice the carrots, put them in a pot with about a half-litre of water. You don't have to worry about the thickness of the slices as you're going to puree the soup but if you're in a hurry, make the slices thinner - they'll cook quicker. Bring to the boil then simmer until you can break the slices easily with a fork. Drain and save the water for stock. Puree the carrot by pushing it through a sieve with the back of a ladle or a big spoon. If you've come this far and don't have a sieve, mash the carrots with a fork or a potato masher.
Grate a little rind off the surface of your orange (don't take off more than a third of the rind) and throw it into the stock. Squeeze the orange and add the juice to the stock too, then top it up to one litre with water. Chop the onion finely and fry it in a little oil but don't let it go brown. Just cook it until it begins to soften and add the coriander powder. Stir it around for a minute, then add the carrot puree and stock. Bring it to the boil and add the stock cube. Simmer very gently until the stock cube has dissolved and remove from the heat. Add some salt if you think it's necessary, stir in the chopped green coriander and serve immediately. Alternatively, especially if you have only a little green coriander or you want to serve the soup later, use it to garnish the soup when you put it in bowls.