What do you do when you buy too many carrots? You could roast them. You can eat a single carrot. You could stew them (eh, gross). But I made soup. For this soup, you’ll have to do two separate processes: roasting the carrots and then the base. 

What you’ll need:

• 2 kg of carrots
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the soup base:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup of chopped onions 
• 1tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cilantro seed powder 
• 1/2 cup sliced fennel
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 1 can unsweetened coconut oil 
• 1 lemon
• chopped cilantro (for garnishing) 
• olive oil (for garnishing)
• crumbled queso fresco (for garnishing) 
• 4 cups vegetable stock 

Method: 🥄
Preheat your oven at 162C / 325F. Chop the carrots into chunks and season them with olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes. Bake the carrots for about 20 minutes until they are tender. 

In a large pot over medium heat add the oil. Once it’s hot add the onions and fennel followed by the cumin and cilantro seed powder. Cook the onions and fennel down until they’re translucent and start to smell very fragrant. When the carrots are done, add them to the onions and continue to cook. When the carrots are soft and mushy add the vegetable stock. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the 2 cloves of garlic. By using a hand blender, blitz everything together until it’s very smooth. Add the coconut oil and stir until everything is combined. Simmer for 10 minutes more. Before serving, grate some lemon zest and squeeze about a teaspoon of lemon juice. 

Serve the soup into a bowl, garnish with more lemon zest, juice, cilantro and cheese, and enjoy!  Not into carrots? Try this butternut squash soup recipe.