Peanut buttered carrot soup 🌱

I love the idea of how talented chefs invent new dishes by combining tastes they store in their flavor memory. Once in a while, I venture that kind of creative cooking myself. I’m limited by my personal flavor memory, though. And one flavor that seems to be missing is peanut butter. The reason is probably that we didn’t consume any peanut butter in my childhood home and that I learned to like it only as an adult. So when it comes to combining peanut butter, I need inspiration. A couple of weeks ago, on a cold autumn evening, I enjoyed a warming carrot peanut butter soup. It was so delicious that I decided to cook it at home. This is my take on it.

Peel and chop 1 kg carrots. Roast them in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°C. In the meantime, peel and chop 1 onion. Sauté it in some olive oil. Season with salt and paprika powder. Add 200 g red lentils and season with 1 bay leaf, grated ginger and 2 garlic cloves. Cover with water and simmer until soft. Add the carrots and more water and continue simmering until everything turns into a mash. Remove from the heat and blend until really, really smooth. Add 3 tbsp peanut butter and 250 ml coconut milk as well as more water, if necessary. Bring to a boil under constant stirring.