Carrot Peanut Soup for Crazy Ingredient Challenge January

 

Were I writing this 3 nights ago, I would be telling you that I made a soup for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge but I really didn't think this was a wise choice. It was hot - the weather, not the soup. Well, soup is hot too. Granted, while living in Jamaica we drank soup almost weekly, not caring about the temperature outside. But there seems to be something criminal about drinking soup on a hot day in Miami.

However, here we are, a mere three nights later and I am glad that I made soup because it is FREEZING. Oh sure, I am exaggerating a tad. But 45 F in Miami qualifies as freezing. This soup is perfect for nights just like this. Our challenge ingredients this month were peanut butter and ketchup. I thought of doing an African Peanut Chicken stew that I really love or a satay sauce but then my mind drifted to soup - carrot soup. I love carrots but had never had a carrot soup before. It was time to try. And oh am I glad that I did.

The peanut butter lends a roasted flavour to this soup while the ketchup adds just a touch of acid. Curry powder and red pepper flakes help to round out the soup and make it a lip smacking delicious soup to drink on a cold night. My only regret is that I had not made a loaf of crusty sourdough bread to have with this soup.

Carrot Peanut Soup

Recipe by:    Kelster

Yield:  2 servings

Ingredients 1 tablespoon oil ½ small onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves 1lb carrots, washed, peeled & cut into chunks 3 cups of chicken broth, divided 2 tablespoons peanut butter 1 tablespoon ketchup ½ teaspoon curry powder Red pepper flakes Salt & pepper

Directions In a medium saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in oil until they have softened and the onions are translucent.  Add the carrots, 1 cup of chicken broth, peanut butter, ketchup, curry powder and red pepper flakes. Cook until the carrots have softened.   After the carrots have softened, carefully transfer to a blender, add the remaining chicken broth and blend to desired consistency. If necessary, add more water or chicken broth. Return to saucepan, add salt and pepper and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Notes I used a chunky peanut butter but a creamy peanut butter would be great too. You can increase the peanut butter if you want a stronger peanut taste. You can use all water instead chicken broth or both. I cooked the carrots in only a cup of broth at first so that I would have less hot liquid to transfer to my blender. Blending hot liquids can be dangerous.