Curry Carrot Soup to (not have to) Trick Yourself

January is the time of resolutions, and I think everyone in Pittsburgh has resolved to lose weight. I know this because my gym is so busy that there aren’t even lockers. Imho, an unfortunate number of weight loss gurus and program counsel dieters to eat highly processed, reduced calorie pseudofoods. The ingredients in many frozen entrees, energy bars, low-calorie snack foods and meals in a can aren’t much different than the ingredients in Twinkies. I’m of at least half a mind that the obesity epidemic in this country has been caused by processed foods.

But enough ranting. If you are hoping to shed a few inches – and seriously, who isn’t right now? – it’s hard to find advice that doesn’t involve compromising one’s food snob tendencies commitment to eating real food. We must chart our own path.

To that end, may I suggest curry carrot soup.

I know that my personal dietary downfalls are an intermittent lack of vegetables, a tendency to eat more than a prudent share of cheese, and a soul-crushing addiction to pasta. Curried vegetable soup answers this in three ways. First of all, it’s made almost entirely of vegetables, so you can eat until you’re full without loading up on calories. Asian flavors are among the few in the world that wouldn’t be better with a giant mound of shredded cheddar on top, so there’s no feeling of deprivation. And finally, because of the low calorie count, you can add a few tablespoons of real sour cream* without blowing the meal into the realm of overindulgence. The texture, with or without a little tangy sour cream, is ridiculously luxurious. Puréed soups are, after all, the bomb.

But for me, the best part of this soup – which I make at least once a month during the winter – is that it’s a really delicious recipe that just happens to be very healthy. You don’t have to be on a diet to eat it; you just have to like yummy things. And I believe that recipes like this are the real road to weight loss and healthy living.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Curry Carrot Soup
A Burghilicious Original
(based on something I saw on an old Rachael Ray** show)

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb peeled, roughly chopped carrots, or a bag of baby carrots
2 cups diced squash of any kind OR 1 15 ounce can puréed pumpkin
1 tablespoon your favorite curry powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
Pinch of ground cayenne pepper or a dash of Tabasco, to taste
1 quart (four cups) chicken stock***, plus maybe some more if you want to thin it out
Sour cream, to garnish

Melt butter with olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, until onion is somewhat translucent. Add carrots and diced squash, season with salt and pepper, and cook an additional 5 minutes to “sweat” the vegetables. Add curry powder, ground cumin and cayenne pepper and cook one minute more. Pour the chicken stock into the pot – along with the puréed pumpkin, if you are using that – and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until carrots are easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.

Using a blender, purée in batches until smooth. I prefer thick, but if you want to thin your soup, add more stock (or plain water) as you blend. Garnish with a nice dollop of real sour cream and a few cracks of fresh ground pepper.

*2 tablespoons of real sour cream is only 2 points in Weight Watchers, for instance. Use them points where they count for flavor!
**Don’t hate me. I got backup. We all gotta start cooking somewhere.
***Feel free to sub in vegetable stock or even water to make a vegetarian version.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.