Spicy sweet potato coconut soup

This recipe is spicy-sweet, ridiculously nutrient dense, and is easy  but takes time, so it’s a great soup if you are hanging around the house for a half-day. It entails making a base of sautéed vegetables and spice, then cooking and blending the base with sweet potatoes, and stirring in a blended cream of coconut, cashews and fresh ginger. Yum – sweet and spicy and creamy and healthy.

Ingredients

4 medium carrots, chopped
4 large stalks celery, chopped
7 scallions, some separated whites from greens, diced
1 large red pepper, seeded, chopped
3 tsp (heaping!) turmeric
1 Tbsp coconut oil or cream
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
5 cups clean water
2 sizable (med-large) sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 – 15 oz cn coconut milk
1 cup raw cashews
3 Tbsp fresh ginger (about 4 thumb-sized pieces)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste
sprig or two of fresh cilantro

Directions

In a heavy soup pot, melt coconut cream or oil, and add carrots, celery, and 4 chopped scallions. Sauté over medium heat until soft. Add turmeric, a few twists of the mill of black pepper, and continue sauté until this ‘base’ is soft and smells flavorfully roasty.
 

Add sesame oil, water, and sweet potato to the vegetable mixture. Simmer over medium heat until sweet potatoes are soft, 30-40 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine coconut milk, cashews and ginger in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour this delicious mixture into a small bowl or cup.

Then blend sweet potato mixture – use a blender on the cooled soup, or use an immersion blender. Return to pot. Top with chopped scallion greens and sprigs of cilantro.
Stir the coconut mixture into the sweet potato soup. Season with cayenne pepper to desired heat. Top with chopped scallions and cilantro.

• Serves 4.
• Freezes well.
• Takes about 2 1/2 hours start to finish.