Scrub and roughly chop 400g of carrots. Cut 2 ribs of celery into short lengths. Peel and roughly chop an onion. Put the carrots, celery and onion into a deep pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and cook over a moderate heat for 10 minutes. Add a couple of bay leaves and 6 black peppercorns to the pan then crack open 6 cardamom pods, extract the seeds and grind them to a coarse powder, then add to the vegetables with a little salt and a litre of vegetable stock or water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the carrots are soft. Blitz the soup in a blender or food processor till quite smooth.
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