Turmeric ginger carrot and garbanzo soup

Inspired by Liz of DishingWell's recent shout out to turmeric and its healthful properties, I served a tasty bright orange soup tonight. (A jolt of color that was very welcome after a very rainy day.)

Turmeric Ginger Carrot and Garbanzo Soup

1/2 onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

small hunk of ginger root, peeled and cut in slivers

1 package of peeled baby carrots

water (about 4 cups)

turmeric (about 1 tsp?)

cumin (about the same)

ground cardamom (about 1/4 tsp)

a handful of frozen peas

salt

pepper

I sauteed the onions, garlic, and shallots in a pan with a touch of canola oil.

Then I added the rest of the ingredients (except the peas, salt, pepper) and simmered it up for a while. ("A while" translates to an hour plus-- I kind of lost track of time, but it was the time it took to read about 1/3 of the upcoming teen novel The Implosion of Aggie Winchester by Laura Zielin-- a fun goth girl/bass master prom romp.)

I added some salt and pepper. I checked to make sure all the sweet potato and carrots were smooshy. Then I used my wonder immersion blender-- but left a few hunks in the now brilliant orange bisque-like soup.

Then I added a handful of frozen peas because I wanted the color contrast of the bright green against the intense orange.

I served it with mini-ciabatta rolls stuffed with spinach leaves (tucked in while the rolls were still hot, so it wilted nicely) and slices of avocado with just a hint of salt.

(To be honest, I also gave us each a little serving of Jordy's leftover Mexican Mac & Cheese from dinner at the 5 Spot's vegetarian Wednesday last night, too. But if you were being all vegan-strict, you wouldn't have that in the house anyway, right?)