Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

Serves 4 to 8

Ingredients:
4 cups vegetable stock
8 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup coconut milk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon stemmed, chopped fresh cilantro
Dash of white pepper

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to a boil.
2. Add the carrots, onion, ginger, thyme, bay leaves, garlic, and potatoes. Simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are very soft.
3. Remove the bay leaves. Then, using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.
4. Stir in the coconut milk, and season with salt and pepper. Strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieve china cap.
5. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream with the lemon juice, cilantro, and white pepper. When well mixed, transfer to a bottle with a squeeze top. Chill for at least an hour.
6. About 15 minutes before you plan to serve the soup, remove the bottle of sour cream from the refrigerator. Ladle the soup into large soup bowls. Garnish each serving by squeezing some of the sour cream in a zigzag pattern onto the soup.