Ginger Carrot Soup with Coconut and Miso

I recently read somewhere that the health benefits of miso are reduced when cooked at a high temperature.  Although I'm not entirely sure what those healthy properties are, I decided not to add the miso directly into the soup while cooking and just add it afterwards.  The coconut milk and miso are blended together, so then I decided I'd swirl it around the top of the soup to make it look fancy. Then I had to swirl a few more times to make it look better because the first swirl was a bit pathetic (I know, it's still a bit on the lame side).  I need more practice.  Or maybe I should cut out the pretentious crap and just focus on the taste.  It can just as easily be mixed straight into the soup once the soup is off the heat. In fact, it really needs more than a swirl to get the flavour, so yeah, just mix it in.

The carrots were what was left of the harvest from a couple of weeks ago.  I really like these nutri-red carrots that I've been growing the past year or two ... they have a nice, bright colour but also taste
 great.  This is a super easy soup to make with very few ingredients needed.  You can totally leave out the coconut milk and miso, but seriously ... why would you?  It's delicious!!

Ingredients:
1/2 large white onion, chopped
2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 pounds carrots, chopped (about 4 1/2 cups)
1 litre chicken stock
165 ml can coconut milk
1 Tbsp miso



Cook onion and ginger in a small amount of vegetable oil until onion is softened.  Don't let it brown; if necessary, add a small amount of stock.  Add carrots and chicken (or veggie) stock.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until carrots are tender.  Puree with immersion blender.  Add salt to taste (remember miso is salty, so go light on the seasoning; you can fix it later if needed).  I can't imagine why anyone adds a potato to thicken carrot soup; it's thick enough already; I actually had to thin it out a bit with a cup of water (or another cup of stock).

In a separate bowl, combine coconut milk and miso paste.  Heat for 20 seconds in the microwave just to soften the miso so it blends easily with the milk. 

Bring soup back to temperature and ensure it is fully heated through.  Remove from heat and add coconut-miso mixture.  Garnish with cilanto and serve immediately.