Spicy Carrot Soup

This is my version of a recipe from a book by Anjum Anand called "Eat right for your body type" where all the recipes are inspired by Ayurveda principles.  An interesting read and full of healthy but tasty recipes.

Spicy Carrot Soup

1 tsp sunflower oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 piece of ginger root (about 5cm), peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

300g carrots, diced

2 tbsp red lentils

3/4 litre of veg stock

Gently fry onion until soft then add garlic and ginger.

Stir for 1 min and add spices.

Stir for 30 secs.

Add carrots, lentils and stock.

Simmer until carrots are soft then blitz with a stick blender.

It has a gentle warming spicy taste rather than a fiery kick.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Vodka

Not tried this combination before so it's a bit of an experiment.  Same method as Cranberry Gin.  Hey, it's alcohol, fruit and sugar.  Not much can go wrong!!  Love the deep purple colour already.

Cranberry Gin

I found a bag of cranberries at the bottom of my freezer and wondered what to do with them.  I've made strawberry gin and raspberry vodka in the past, so figured I'd have a go with the cranberries.  It can be drunk straight like sloe gin or a measure can be added to a glass of fizz to make a champagne cocktail.

Cranberry Gin

Put cranberries in a clean 1 litre jar (they filled it halfway)
Add enough sugar to fill in the gaps and cover by about 1 cm.
Pour in about 1 litre of gin and seal the jar.
Give it a good shake.

The above photo is the next day when the colour starts to leave the fruit and the sugar starts to dissolve

Day 2 shows there is still some sugar at the bottom of the jar but the colour is a lovely red now.  Give it a shake.

By day 3 the sugar is dissolved

Put the jar in a cupboard for a few weeks to let the cranberry flavour and colour develop.  It can be left for a while if you forget.  Then all you have to do is strain the mixture through some muslin into a clean bottle and enjoy!