Carrot “Risotto”

This weeks spotlight: carrots. They’ve always been one of my favorite root vegetables. I snack on them raw sprinkled with a little salt, juice them, and add them to most of the soups I make.

Carrots are one of the more popular root vegetables and for good reason. They are filled with antioxidants and vitamin A, which is known to help boost your vision & bone growth. I have been finding it super easy to find organic carrots in the market during this time, hopefully you can too!

I originally wanted to make a big batch of carrot ginger soup and freeze half of it. I add ginger whenever I can to my soups. I find that it always adds a healing, powerful, fresh element to everything! If you’re looking for more ways to add it to your recipes, try this red lentil ginger soup.

Instead of sticking with the soup route, I poured half of the mixture over brown rice to make a creamy make-shift risotto. I added roasted pumpkin seeds for crunch and Parmesan cheese for a nutty flavor. The improvisation was a hit.

Improvising in the kitchen has been a blessing for me. I used to have an extremely rigid set of “rules” that I would swear by when it came to how I prepared and ate my foods. During quarantine, I have been embracing the beauty of improvising more than ever! Hopefully you can too.

I hope you’re all enjoying this time to step back, and have fun improvising. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or feedback whatever that may be!

Let’s talk about c a r r o t s. I have been finding them super easy to find during quarantine, so I’ve been trying to incorporate them into lots of my meals. I’ve always loved carrots. I snack on them, juice with them, and love adding them to my soups. For this soup, I decided to use them as the main ingredient.

They’re rich in antioxidants, Vitamin A, and potassium. One of my favorite root vegetables, and the star of these two delicious dishes!

I originally made this as a soup! The texture was so velvety and creamy from the coconut cream so I decided to try using it as a risotto. I loved it both ways!

Quarantine has forced me to get creative with my meals and start improvising! I encourage you to do the same, because you never know what you’ll come up with :)

This soup recipe made about 8 servings, so I decided to use it over rice as a risotto to switch it up!

Ingredients you’ll need:

For the soup

10 medium sized carrots (washed and peeled)

2 inch nub of ginger (peeled with a spoon)

3 tablespoons of coconut cream (you can also use coconut milk if that’s all you have)

1 yellow onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon on cinnamon

3 cups of vegetable broth

Salt and Pepper

Immersion or regular blender (If you don’t already have an immersion blender, it is the best kitchen tool you’ll ever buy. I have this one.)

Additional delicious toppings: pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, parsley, or cilantro.

To make into risotto

Brown Rice

Parmesan Cheese (1/4-1/2 cup)

Pumpkin Seeds (a handful)

1. First, cut, wash, peel, and chop your carrots. Peel and chop the yellow onion (doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s going to be blended up anyways)! Peel and mince garlic, store bought minced garlic is also fine! Use a grater to grate the garlic.

2. In a large pot, heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat. Add chopped onions, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, cumin, and saute for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Turn down the heat to low, add carrots, and cook for another 10 minutes stirring often.

4. Add vegetable broth, bay leaves, coconut cream, cinnamon, and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrots are soft (you can poke them with a fork to test)

5. Get out your immersion blender and blend ingredients together! You can also transfer this mixture into a blender. Then, your soup is complete! I garnished mine with parsley and toasted pumpkin seeds.

This soup was delicious. It was creamy, velvety, and light. The pumpkin seeds added great crunch, and the parsley added a great fresh flavor!

To make this into a risotto, add it to your favorite rice with a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds, and a little Parmesan cheese! I used a long grain brown rice.

The color of this risotto was my favorite thing about this meal…such a beautiful color orange from the carrots!