Mrs BC's House of Chaos: Spicy Pumpkin Soup (with a secret ingredient)

I love a bit of magic in cooking, a bit of the unexpected that completes a dish and makes it amazing without alerting you to it's presence - a bit like the anchovies in the Lamb Chop recipe. I was playing around with different ingredients to make this soup, and although it was rich in colour and taste, it lacked a certain unctuousness, a particular richness of comforting umami. So I added a secret ingredient. I bet you are as surprised as everyone else when you find out what it is.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped roughly.
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
A large wodge of pumpkin, cut into pieces and pre roasted if you can.
4 large very ripe tomatoes (or two tins of chopped tomatoes)
1 medium potato, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
a knob of ginger as big as your thumb, peeled and chopped
half a teaspoon of chili paste, or as much as you like.
leaves from a large spring of rosemary
teaspoon of turmeric powder
about 1 to 1.5 litres of stock, made from stock powder is perfectly fine.
salt and pepper to taste.
The Secret Ingredient: A large tablespoon of smooth peanut butter. (Are you shocked?)

Method

Put everything except for the secret ingredient into the slow cooker or a large saucepan, and simmer all day. Jokes! 5 hours in the slow cooker, about 1 hour on the stove top. The heat should be low.
Just before you are ready to serve, puree the soup with a stab blender.
Taste the soup. It's delicious but a bit thin, yes? Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Stir through the peanut butter and let it rest for 10 minutes, to give the flavours a chance to kiss and co-mingle.
Taste again. Has the peanut butter elevated it to the next level of savoury richness? Most excellent!

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, and try to keep everyone guessing as long as you can.

Enjoy!