Roasted Carrot and Cumin Soup

With an early British spring there's a glut of carrots here - so, carrot soup! Roasting root vegetables brings out a sumptuous sweetness and depth of flavour, and pairing it with warm spices like ginger, cumin and paprika makes a luscious warming soup.

Makes about 6-8 bowls, depending on greed levels.

• 1 kg carrots, quartered lengthways
• 2 onions, cut into wedges
• 2 parsnips, quartered lengthways
• 2 medium potato, quartered
• 3 tsp cumin
• 3 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 8 dates, stoned and chopped (optional)
• 1 litre vegetable stock (Swiss Marigold)
• 4 dried birdseye chillies, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Chop the vegetables and place in a large bowl. Pour in a splash of olive oil and mix with your hands until they're all coated.
3. Spread on a baking tray, or probably two trays, and pop into the hot oven for about half an hour until they're roasted and slightly caramelised.
4. Meanwhile, heat a small dry frying pan on the hob and toast the coriander seeds for a few minutes, remove, and then do the same with the cumin. (The cumin seeds toast quicker, so do them separately.)
5. Put in a pestle and mortar and grind.
6. Remove the veg from the oven, tip into a
   
   large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients, and cover with the stock. Add extra stock or water if they're not quite covered.
7. Bring up to a gentle simmer and cook for about 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are soft
8. Remove from the heat and blitz with a hand blender or liquidiser.
9. Check the seasoning and add more salt, pepper and chilli as you like.
10. Serve in bowls with a dollop of yoghurt or sour cream, a sprinkling of paprika and maybe a dash of chilli oil.

Variations

The parsnips and dates aren't essential but they bring out the sweetness of the carrots.

Grated fresh ginger adds an extra dimension but ground is more likely to be in your cupboards.

Personally I loathe green coriander leaves, to me they turn a lovely soup into foul bath water. But carrot and coriander seems a popular combination, add a sprig of chopped leaves if you insist :)