Carrot Coconut Soup

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous winter break. The kids head back to school today, which means I get to be productive again! Wheeeee! I feel a little bit like the parents in this back to school Staples ad. I loved getting to spend extra time with the boys…but boy am I ready to actually get things accomplished again. Exciting (ha!) stuff like going to the Post Office or getting an eye exam. Anything that requires me to stand in line (or generally stand still at all) does not happen when the boys are with me!

But now that I'm back let's get on to the food, shall we?

I've been holding out on you with this soup. I made it immediately after seeing it on Tracy's blog Shutterbean and it was a huge hit with the family-including the kids. It's been part of our regular dinner rotation ever since. It's creamy and filling but not rich, and I love the sweetness of the carrots paired with the spice.

So why did I wait so long to share it? Well…we never had leftovers. Not once. I never got my act together to take pictures of it before we ate, and after there was nothing left to photograph! It wasn't until I decided to double the recipe to use it for lunches that I could finally get a picture.

The original calls for a chile paste that I can't find here in the middle of nowhere, so I adjusted the recipe to work with sriracha. Since every member of our family prefers a different level of spice I made the base soup very mild. It has all the flavor from the sriracha but not so much of a kick that the boys will refuse to eat it. Then my husband and I drizzle our bowls with extra sriracha and get the spice that we prefer. If you have a houseful of spice lovers, you can just go ahead and add more sriracha right into the pan of soup.


Carrot Coconut Soup
Adapted from Shutterbean (originally appeared in Bon Appetit Magazine)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp coconut butter (or olive oil)
2 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced
salt
black pepper
2 cans coconut milk
1 large onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth
2 tsp sriracha (plus more for serving)
fresh cilantro, to garnish


Warm a saucepan over medium-high heat and add in coconut butter. Once it melts, add in the chopped onion and carrots. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper to your taste and sauté until the carrots and onions have softened. (About 20 minutes).
Next, add in the chicken broth, coconut milk and sriracha and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down so it can simmer for about 40 minutes. At this point the carrots will be really soft and the soup will have very slightly reduced.
Blend the soup until smooth, using either an immersion blender (best kitchen invention EVER) or moving batches of the soup to a food processor or blender and adding back to the pot. Be very careful if you use the latter method!
Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and pepper if desired, then serve in bowls garnished with cilantro and a drizzle of sriracha.