Vegetarian Curried Soup

Ok so this one is a made up one but I have seen lots of similar variations out there.

This came from a time when my friend Maia came to stay and we decided to use whatever we had on hand in the fridge to cook something for all of us one night. Vegetable soup it was.

I'm sorry if you want exact measurements. I can't really give those to you as it varies with how much I am making. I'll go for what I normally make though which serves about five large bowls.

The Ingredients

1 leek finely chopped (or one large onion finely chopped)
2 carrots chopped
1 zucchini chopped
2 medium sized potatoes chopped
half(???) a sweet potatoe chopped - perhaps two or three cups worth at a guess
one cup worth of chopped pumpkin.
One large carton of vegetable stock (or chicken if you don't mind that)
Cummin - ground 1/2 teaspoon to a full teaspoon
Coriander - ground - as above
Indian curry powder - 1 teaspoon
Tumeric - ground - 1 teaspoon
Fennel - ground - I/4 teaspoon (but that's because I'm not huge on fennel)
Black mustard seeds - teaspoon or so
2 Fresh red chillies finely chopped or a teaspoon of Chillie flakes (which gives it a greater kick)
Soy Sauce - just a splash or two
Small can of coconut milk or coconut cream depending how naughty you feel.
Crusty bread rolls to serve on the side.

The How To:
Gently fry the leek and then add your spices and fry until the aroma is rich and tickles your nose :-)
Add the vegetables and stir that around for a few minutes. Add the stock and soy sauce, bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are cooked - 10 minutes or so. I like to add my zucchini a few minutes after the other veggies as they take less time to cook.
Grab your stick blender and mush it all up until it's nice and smooth.
Return to a low heat and add the coconut milk. Heat gently. Salt and Pepper to taste. You won't need much salt though if you add the soy sauce. I use quite a decent amount of pepper because that's how we roll here.

The other day, I used korma curry paste that I needed to use up instead of all the other spices and the soy and it was equally as yummy so that is a good alternative. So is adding red lentils to it..though you will need more stock if you're going to do that.

This is one of my most requested soups from the family (except fussy britches Tara who only eats her vegetables raw and when forced to).