Instructions: Saute onions in your favorite sauteing liquid, until soft, but not brown.

Add carrots, 4 cups broth, rice,and seasonings. Stir and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover and cook about 30 minutes or until carrots and rice are very tender. Discard bay leaf. Let soup cool 5 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender and puree until very smooth. Return to saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring often.

Add about 1 1/4 cups broth, or enough to bring soup to desired consistency. Bring to a boil, stirring. Taste and adjust seasoning; add pinch of sugar if desired. Soup can now be kept, covered for 2 days in refrigerator; reheat over medium low heat before serving.

Matzo balls:
Chop the parsley in food processor. Combine the eggs, oil, and salt in a bowl. Lightly beat until blended. Add matzo meal and bat until batter is well blended. Beat in water, then the chopped parsley. transfer the batter to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. With wet hands, take about 1 tsp matzo-ball mixture and roll it between your palms to a ball; mixture will be soft. Set balls on a plate.

Reduce heat so water simmers. With a rubber spatula, carefully slide balls 1 by 1 into the simmering water. Cover and simmer over low heat about 30 minutes or until matzo balls are firm. Cover and keep them warm until ready to serve.

Add 3-6 matzo balls to each bowl of soup.

I made this soup for tonights dinner. I used 1 Tbsp. olive oil to saute the onions. Also, after pureeing the soup, I did not add the additional 1 1/4 cups of chicken broth because the soup was at the consistency that I prefer (adding the broth would have made it to thin and diluted the taste more). The soup has a pleasing and very mild carrot taste. The parsley matzo balls are wonderful, they add the necessary flavor to "complete" the soup. They also cook up firm. When making these, be sure to keep your hands moist to keep them from sticking. Also, I would not put them on a plate (they probably would be difficult to slide off); just form the balls and drop them directly into the boiling water. I did not use a food processor to chop the parsley, I used a knife and that was fine. This soup is a nice change from the typical chicken soup with matzo balls, and a little more filling-makes a nice comfort food. [Elaine Pawelko

NOTES : This sweet carrot (comfort) soup with matzo! pure comfort -

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