Leeks and Daikon Soup

This is a mild vegetable soup, loaded with earthy veggies and gentle spices.  Daikon is an asian root vegetable, like a very mild radish. It takes on the flavors of the broth and spices.  Leeks are vegetables with a very mild onion flavor. This is a vegetable soup anyone can love (as long as you don't tell them the mysterious names of these ingredients).

Ingredient list (amounts are flexible):  1 qt vegetable broth, 1 cup baby carrots, 1/2 cup shredded carrots,  1 leeks root, 1 daikon, 4 medium potatoes, 1/2 stick of butter, 3/4 cup sour cream (optional), 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 bay leaf, 5 garlic cloves, 2 sticks of celery, 1 large onion

First things first: chop it up!  To prepare the daikon, an asian root vegetable, treat it like a giant carrot. Wash it and peel away the outer layer.  To prepare the leeks, trim off the root end and the green leaves. Cut the white part length wise, then chop up into bit size bits.  Cut the potatoes and the daikon in half, then into thin slices. Cut the baby carrots into thirds.  Oh yeah, looks like I also tossed in a summer squash today - but that's optional.

Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Chop the celery and shredded carrots.  Put these items into your large soup pot, over low heat, with the half stick of butter.  This creates your flavor base for the soup. Saute 5 or more minutes until onions become translucent.
Next we add our spices. Coriander, thyme and bay leaf, in small doses, help to make this mild soup lightly flavorful. Allow the spices to simmer with your flavor base for a few minutes before going on to the next step.
Next add your vegetable stock and all remaining vegetables. If your stock does not cover the vegetables, add enough water to cover them. I ended up adding 2 cups of water today, to my one quart of stock. You can also use chicken stock of course, but the vegetable stock is in keeping with the mild veggie flavors that gives this soup it's charm.
If you are in a hurry, you can bring the soup to a boil and cook until the vegetables are tender.

If you are not in a hurry, let the soup simmer away for hours over low heat, until the vegetables are tender. Today was rainy and I had nowhere to go so I let the soup simmer all afternoon, filling the house with warmth, humidity, and the gentle scent of this soup's good flavors.
The soup can be served like this with the vegetables chunky, or you can use an emersion blender to make a cream soup.  Before eating, mix in the sour cream. You can also use milk or half-and-half.