October 23rd, 2014
Curried Carrot & Apple Soup, Tostones (Fried Plantains), Rehoboth Beach Eats!!, Meatless!! Delaware Beaches, Southern Delaware
I love the title my Mother in Law gave to a family cookbook of recipes: Begged, Borrow, & Stolen. That’s how I feel when I use recipes. The good thing is that I usually change them with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I make the recipes my own.
So, being that it is cooler, rainy, windy…and Fall, I think that the Curried & Apple Soup could be a keeper. Served with a side dish of tostones or fried plantains and Mojito….it is even better. The word Mojito has been around for such a long time. In Puertorican cooking it means a sauce made for dipping certain local delicacies.
Carrots are so healthy and the saying of “an apple a day, keep the doctors away”, is probably so true, as well. Hope you like it.
CURRIED CARROT & APPLE SOUP
2 tablespoons margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 small fennel bulb, cored and chopped
salt and pepper
1 pound carrots, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
3/4 pounds celery root, chopped (regular celery will do)
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
4 gingersnaps cookies
1/2 tablespoon yellow curry powder (more if you like curry)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 teaspoon of finely grated fresh ginger
2 thyme sprigs (1/4 tsp. ground thyme will do)
3 cups chicken stock (I used unsalted chicken stock)
1 cup Apple Cider
1/2 cup sour cream (I used non-fat)
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Garnish: Toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped mint, fresh cilantro or cilantro paste, and favorite hot sauce; optional. The pumpkin seeds were toasted on the stove in a frying pan. Make sure they do not burn. So good!!
In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onion, leek, fennel, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook stirring here or there until softened and veggies are browning.
Add carrots, celery, apple, gingersnaps, curry powder, garlic, ginger, and thyme. Cook until the carrots and celery soften somewhat.
Add chicken stock and apple cider. Bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat for about 15 minutes until the veggies are very soft. If using thyme sprigs, remove, otherwise, continue with the next step.
Working in small batches, depending on the size of your blender, puree the soup with the sour cream and vinegar until smooth. What I did was mixed the sour cream with the vinegar and added a tablespoon with each batch. This is a creamy soup so, make sure there are no lumps.
You can reheat the soup and seasoned it with salt and pepper, if necessary. Laddle the soup into bowls and top it with the garnish above mentioned. ENJOY!
I decided that Tostones or Fried Plantains would be great with this soup. A meatless meal, no less! Plantains are a starch. If you let them ripen, then, they are sweet and if green you can make Fried Plantains. For the longest time I used to mashed them with a plate, but now I have my Tostonera from Puerto Rico. The Tostonera and the Pilon are a necessity when cooking Puertorican food. The Pilon is very versatile…use it to mash garlic, make mojito, and other PR dishes.
The plantain was peeled, cut, and ready for the next step of frying.
Fry the chunks of plantain in oil until lightly browned. Then, place on the tostonera, or between wax paper.
The tostonera is going to make it so much easier to mash. Otherwise, while between the wax paper, mash with a plate. 2 plantains were used on that evening. Finish mashing them and keep on paper towels until the next step.
Heat the oil back again and place the mashed plantains in batches once again. They will rise to the surface. Let them get nice and light brown. Take them out and place on paper towels again to drain the oil.
You can serve them on a platter with just butter and garlic salt. Or you can make the mojito by placing in the Pilon or Mortar 1 garlic clove, a pinch of salt. Then with the pestle, crush garlic and salt together. Add a bit of olive oil, a tablespoon or so, a small can of tomato sauce, tabasco and cilantro. Then squeeze half a lime and add it, as well. That’s it.
Note: This recipe is gluten free. Make sure you check the tomato sauce, the chicken stock, and apple cider. Have a good one!!
Tags: AboutMyBeaches, Activities, Curried Carrot & Apple Soup, DE Beaches, Delaware Beaches, Events, Fried Plantains, Gluten free awareness, gluten free recipe, Meatless Recipe, Puerto Rico, Puertorican Fried Plantains, Puertorican Tostones, Recipes, rehoboth beach, Rehoboth Beach Eats, Southern Delaware, Things to do at the beach, tostones, Tostones or Fried Plantains, Visit Southern Delaware, Visiting Rehoboth Beach, What to do at the beaches
This looks yummy, I never knew the secret was to fry, smash and fry again! Thank you Gloria.
Yes first the chunks, mash them and then fry again.