Hot, Sweet and Sour Orange, Carrot and Ginger Soup

I've always liked orange carrot soup much more conceptionaly than in practice. I've even had a Covent Garden Soups version with carrot, orange and ginger, which I thought I would love, but didn't. To me, the flavours needs balancing and more punch, and what I love about Chinese food is the concept of balancing all the taste dimensions: sweet, sour, salty and acid.

A cold has been doing the rounds at work and in this little abode, so while I'll write up the 'Feed-a-cold Chicken Fusion Soup for Him' soup that we did on over the weekend later, today will be about my 'feed-a-cold soup for Her', which is the above.

Just a heads up: we'll be roasting the carrots first to get them nice and sweet.

This soup makes just enough for two bowls with leftovers for next day lunch. Double up if you want more.

Ingredients:

• half a red onion
• 2 cloves, ground
• 2 'petals' of star anise, ground
• quarter teaspoon powdered ginger
• half an inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine
• quarter teaspoon nutmeg
• kallo (or other gluten free brand) vegetable stock cube
• 100 ml orange juice
• 3 cloves garlic - chopped. oh yeah, this cold is going down!
• 3 carrots, sliced in half
• 1 potato, diced.
• 1/4 cup of pink lentils, washed and rinsed very well
• sprig rosemary

After soup is made:

• Balsamic vinegar - to taste
• honey- to taste
• Tabasco sauce or scotch bonnet pepper sauce, to taste

Method:
First, toss the sliced carrots in olive oil in a metal tray and place in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees to roast.

When the carrots are ready: fry the onion, garlic and ginger gently in a frying pan in a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Into a pot add this and the diced potato, rosemary, and other ingredients except the vinegar, honey and Tabasco sauce. Add a cup of boiled water and cook for 20-30 minutes of medium-low heat.

After the time is up, let the soup cool a little, then use a hand blender to get everything smooth.
Now add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and a little honey to taste, then pepper sauce. The result is a beautifully deep soup that hits your taste bugs in all their erogenous zones!

(I did this in my thermomix for 20 mins at 100C, then blended at speed 7 for about a minute)