100% Vegan Spicy, Creamy Carrot, Tomato Basil Soup – Day 4, Soup 2

I love Italian soups with a lot of Italian herbs and fresh basil. Just the arma draws me in whenever I smell such flavours. Yet, as an Indian, I can hardly let go of my love for spices and all things spicy. So here’s an Italian soup with the Indian twist of spicy chillies.

This is a 100 percent vegan soup and the soup is made creamy with the use of carrots and potatoes, as it does not use any dairy ingredients whatsoever. Here’s what this beautiful soup looks like. If you’d like it to be a little redder, use a spoonful of canned tomato puree. Mine uses only fresh ingredients and this makes the colour slightly duller.

Carrot Tomato Basil Soup Ingredients

(Serves 2)

2 medium sized tomatoes (slightly unripe, for a bit of sourness), roughly chopped

4 medium sized carrots, roughly diced

1/2 a potato, roughly sliced

4 cups of vegetable stock

Slightly less than 1 tsp of Italian herbs, or dried oregano and dried thyme separately

12 to 13 fresh basil leaves

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp cooking oil of your choice

Salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste

Carrot Tomato Basil Soup Instructions

In a soup pot, heat some oil and stir fry the garlic till it is lightly browned. Add in the pieces of carrot and potatoes. Fry lightly for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes (and tomato puree if you’ve chosen to use some for the colour). Add in the salt to make the tomatoes soften faster.

Once the tomatoes have softened, add one-half of the basil leaves and sit well. Also, add the chilli flakes and then the vegetable stock/broth. I have used ready vegetable stock after dissolving bouillon cubes, but you can choose to make your own from scratch.

On medium-low flame, let the content cook till all the vegetables have softened completely. Remove from flame, let it cool a bit and then blend the contents using a hand blender. Once all ingredients have been perfectly pureed, you can add in a little water to give it a soupy consistency and put the put for boil once again.

Add the remaining basil leaves and let the soup come to boil once again. Serve hot. Check the seasoning before you serve. It may need a little more salt, pepper or chilli flakes before you dish it out.