I’ve made this soup twice now – once almost directly as written, and once with a few modifications. I prefer the slightly modified version but both turned out great.
The recipe as written is light and simple, but the very faint bite from the garlic, ginger and jalapeño makes for a distantly complex flavor profile. Like you don’t realize how good it is until you’ve had several spoonfuls and you have some time to reflect on the subtleties. The texture is perfect and the final touches of the lime/cilantro crème fraiche or sour cream really help freshen it up. Overall, a solid carrot-based autumn soup to mix things up from the typical butternut squash route.
For my modified version, I doubled the jalapeños, added an extra garlic clove, bumped up the ginger, and seasoned the vegetables with nutmeg and cumin before adding the broth. These adjustments really brought the soup to life for me. Bringing the jalapeños closer to the spotlight helped to highlight what I think is the most interesting aspect of the recipe, and then the additional nuances of the nutmeg and cumin gave it some more quintessential autumn soup personality.
I could totally see myself returning to this recipe as written for large parties (especially for groups with low spice tolerance), but my modified version will see more personal use.
