Indian Almond Soup

Andrew and I were blessed to be able to travel to India a few years ago. We really enjoyed many new varieties of food. I have wanted to make some since our return but never got around to it. For our wedding some Indian friends from church gave us a Complete Guide to Indian Cooking. About a month ago I decided to try this dish. (I changed it to work for the crock pot.) It turned out to be very tasty and very different from your average soup so I thought I would share it. You can add 3/4 cup cubed chicken but I decided not to. Ingredients:

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp chicken granules (or 1 bouillon cube)

2 Cups Water

1 Carrot, sliced

4 Cilantro Sprigs

1 Cup milk

1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

1/4 to ½ tsp ground Ginger

6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Almonds

1 Med. Onion, chopped

1 tbsp Chopped Cilantro (or 1/2 Tbsp. dried cilantro)

1 fresh Green Chili, chopped

½ tsp crushed Black Peppercorns

Directions: Place one cup of whole almonds in your food processor or blender (I used my blender) and turn on grate setting until all almonds are in a fine powder. This takes little time at all. Place all ingredients except the Cilantro sprigs in your crock pot. Stir well. Turn on high for 4 hours. Use Cuisinart hand blender and blend until smooth. Stir occasionally. Serve with sprigs of Cilantro if so desired.