Delia Smith’s Secret Extra Step For The Best Carrot And Coriander Soup

I’ve tried a load of carrot cake recipes before finding the one I liked best (spoiler alter: I’m pretty fussy).

But when it comes to carrot and coriander soup, my search for perfection was blissfully short.

TV chef and culinary legend Delia Smith’s recipe begins by explaining that, “Coriander is said to have the flavour of roasted orange peel, which makes the two perfect partners,” – “the two” being carrot and orange.

Though she doesn’t actually use any orange in the recipe, I was already heartened ― I love the combo in cake. 

So, it’s no surprise her other tricks and secret added steps also helped to make the soup the best I’ve tried. 

What’s her secret?

Delia starts by dry-roasting coriander seeds in a pan before crushing them in a pestle and mortar. 

This is the same pan she fries onions, carrots, and garlic in later, imparting their zingy flavour to the whole meal. 

The crushed seeds are separate from the fresh coriander she also includes in the dish (she really wants to double down on the punchy taste). 

She saves some of the coriander seeds from the crush of the mortar, too, asking us to sprinkle them on top of the soup as a crunchy add-on alongside some verdant coriander leaf garnishes.

The recipe, which also involves almost a kilo of carrots, a clove of crushed garlic, some vegetable or chicken stock, and crème fraîche (to stir in at the end for a creamy finish). 

If you want to keep the soup over a couple of days, don’t add the diary directly to the soup. 

Instead, stir it into your bowl ― that way the creamy addition will be fresh when you eat it.

How long will the soup last?

Martha Stewart advises that most soups will last about three days in the fridge.

However keeping the highly perishable crème fraîche out of the mix until you need it may add an extra day or to its shelf life ― you can also freeze it for a very, very long time. 

When reheating it, Martha says: “As long as you trust that the soup doesn’t smell or taste ‘off’ when you take it out of the refrigerator, bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and stir as it simmers gently for three more minutes.”