Melon and carrot soup with spicy coconut foam and fried fennel

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 melon(s) , (Galia-)
• 200 g carrot(s)
• 1 bulb(s) of fennel
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 1 chili pepper(s), if you like it hotter more
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch(s) of sugar
• 1 tsp butter
• Oil for frying
• possibly cream stiffener

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

Peel the carrots and cut into small pieces. Cook in vegetable stock for about 10 minutes. The carrots will still have a bit of bite. Strain and reserve the vegetable stock. Meanwhile, peel and deseed the melon, and cut into finger-thick pieces. Caramelize the sugar and a hazelnut-sized piece of butter in a saucepan. Then add the melon pieces and mix everything gently. Next, add the carrot pieces and pour in the stock. Then simmer for about 5 minutes. Cut the chili pepper lengthwise, deseed it, and add it to the coconut milk. Heat gently and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the chili pepper from the coconut milk and season the warm coconut milk with sugar and salt. Wash the fennel and pat dry. Finely slice it lengthwise, season with salt, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Then deep-fry it in hot oil and keep warm. Blend the melon and carrot mixture with a hand blender until smooth, then pour into heatproof jars. Finally, blend the coconut milk until frothy and add the foam to the soup. Add the fried fennel. Tip: Add a little cream stabilizer—or a 1:1 ratio of powdered sugar to cornstarch—to the coconut milk to make it a little more frothy.