CARROT COCONUT GINGER SOUP

One of the most annoying things about the Paleo diet, for me, is the lack of readily available soups.  All prepared soups seem to have pasta, rice, potatoes, dairy, legumes or high fructose corn syrup in them.  I love to eat soup in the winter time and now I have to make my own.  This recipe for tomato soup is very good: http://everydaypaleo.com/answering-questions-with-robb-andy-of-the-paleo-solution-and-a-recipe/.

The subject of this post is a recipe that I got back in 2002 from the now defunct Global Village Cafe in Mountain View, CA.  They were ahead of their time.  I didn't have to adjust this at all to make it Paleo.  It is, however, a restaurant sized recipe, so it makes a lot!  Be prepared to share with all your friends and family.

Ingredients:

5 pounds peeled carrots (I used bags of peeled baby carrots, but big ones work, too, if you like peeling.)
2 large pieces of peeled ginger diced into 1/2 inch cubes  (By "large" I mean 3-4 inches.)
3 Tablespoons pureed lemon grass (You can use three stalks of lemon grass, but you will need to take them    out before you puree the soup or your soup will have pieces of wood in it.  Pureed lemon grass comes in      tubes and you can find it in the produce section of the grocery store.)
1 Tablespoon of chili garlic sauce (Sambal Olek works well)
6 cans of coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 bunch cilantro

Directions:

Put all ingredients into an extra large stock pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the carrots are fully cooked. Run everything (except the lemon grass if you use whole stalks) through a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.  You will probably have to do this in batches and then mix them back together to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Adjust the seasoning to taste with honey and chili garlic sauce.
Garnish with cilantro and serve.  Goes great with Thai food.