Carrot, coconut, and coriander soup

Our CSA box was groaning with carrots this week, and because we're away for the weekend, I needed to use them up fast. This recipe, improvised on the fly, picks up on a few themes that have been in play in our kitchen a lot recently.

• Coconut milk. I always thought of this in the context of Thai food, but since making the switch to veganism, I've come to really appreciate its fatty, smooth mouthfeel in other dishes - Indian food, desserts.
• The pressure cooker. I'm a convert. Once I'd sauteed the veg, soup was on the table in less than ten minutes. However, I don't like our current pressure cooker very much. It's a Denmark 5-quart pot and although it's available on eBay for $65, I bought it at Bed Bath & Bejaysys for about $16. It works, but it makes me anxious. The jiggler pressure regulator is an example of a really poor user feedback loop. I don't trust it. I never believe it's doing what it's meant to. However! Fast! Great for beans! Steams beets in a couple of minutes! BUT! Emotional rollercoaster!
• Herbs and zest. By the handful. We've got a lot of herbs growing on our fire escape (and in our attic, thanks to the Aerogarden) and I'm using them in profligate quantities. And as for lemons and limes - well, as Nigel Slater once said, even a tart has a lemon in her kitchen. I never had a zester before but now - well, if it doesn't move, I'm probably going to zest it.

Here's how the soup came together. The quantities are estimates, and based on what I had in my kitchen. A keeper.

• Sautee 1.5 onions in a tablespoon or so of oil (I used coconut) until soft. You could do this in the pressure cooker itself.
• Add 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and about 2 inches of ginger, minced. (You don't have to be too precise here, because the soup will be blended.) I also added about three small bay leaves.
• Add about 1.5 tsp ground coriander. I also added a small scattering of anise seeds, because I'm crazy.
• Add salt. For salt, I used tamari and a little sea salt. Taste, and remember that it will be diluted quite a bit when you add the liquid. So keep testing.
• Now add your carrots to the mix. I used a lot - I'd say 8-10 medium-large carrots. Sautee for a little bit to seal.
• Add 1 can of full-fat coconut milk.
• Add vegetable broth - or wine, or anything flavorful - to cover vegetables by maybe 1.5-2 inches.
• Test for salt.
• Add the soup to the pressure cooker (if it's not there already), then cook under high pressure for about five minutes.
• Fish out the bay leaves and blend. I used an immersion blender. 
• Add the zest and the juice of a lime.
• Scatter on a handful of herbs, chopped. I used basil, mint, Vietnamese cilantro, and Thai basil.
• Stir and serve to general applause.

Next time, I'd add a little chopped red chilli and lemongrass to the sauteed onions. Also, we were given a bottle of a delicious coconut sake that I think would work really well, but it seems to have - cough! - disappeared.

(edited because Blogger chewed up my text)