Carrot sour cream soup with caramelized scallops on lemongrass skewer

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g carrot(s)
• 2 onions
• 40 g butter
• 1 garlic clove(s) (Thai garlic clove)
• 750 ml vegetable stock
• 1 tsp paprika powder, smoked
• 125 g sour cream
• 4 tsp sour cream
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp Thai basil, chopped
• 12 scallops
• 3 stalks of lemongrass
• some powdered sugar
• extra butter, for frying

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 25 minutes

Peel the carrots and dice them. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Melt the butter in a saucepan, sauté the diced carrots with the chopped onions and garlic. Break up a stalk of lemongrass and add it to the carrots along with the paprika. Then deglaze with the stock and simmer for about 20 minutes until tender. Remove the lemongrass, puree the vegetables, stir in the sour cream, and season with pepper and salt. Cut the remaining two lemongrass stalks into two pieces. Place three mussels on each stalk, lightly dust with powdered sugar, and fry the four skewers on both sides in a little butter, adding a little salt. Ladle the soup into mugs, top each with a teaspoon of sour cream, sprinkle with chopped Thai basil, and place a skewer on the rim of each mug.