What's up, Doc? Raw Carrot Tahini Soup

I love to try to convert cooked recipes to raw versions, and when I saw a recipe in the New York Times for Carrot Tahini soup the other day, I knew I had to try it out. Raw tahini has been one of my favorite ingredients lately, just tossed with a salad or in sprouted hummus, so my mouth was watering as soon as I read the article. The author herself had invented the recipe in an attempt to get her daughter to eat more veggies…the kid loved hummus, but typically just licked it off of her carrot sticks. The author’s version included fresh thyme, dried coriander, and tumeric, and since those are things I don’t typically have around, I omitted them and made some additions of my own.

Raw soups – just like all other raw food – can be tricky to convert because usually veggies taste different raw, and can be different from one day to the next depending on how fresh they are. And I added a couple of dates at the end, figuring one thing missing from the overall taste was the caramelized sweetness of sautéed carrots.

Not having made the original, I have no idea how mine compares, but I think it is pretty tasty:

In a large blender, combine:

½-3/4 cup leeks, chopped, depending on how leeky you think you’ll like it

1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on how many vampires you want to scare away

1 ½ cups celery, chopped

4 cups of carrots, chopped

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup raw tahini (I find this in the fridge at my local health food store)

1 -1 ½ teaspoons salt (start with one, add a little more if necessary)

2 cups of water (start with 1, add more as you go til you get to desired smoothness)

Pinch of cayenne

Pinch of black pepper

Handful of fresh cilantro (probably ½ cup loosely packed)

Handful of fresh parsley

2 dates

Blend to desired thickness and smoothness. This recipe will make 6-7 cups, so make sure your blender is large enough for all that. If not, halve the recipe (or make ¾ of it, if you are particularly mathy), or get a bigger blender! Serve chilled or lightly warmed from the action of your blender.

Raw appétit!