As you may have noticed I am a huge fan of soup. It ticks so many boxes for me – easy to prepare, healthy, purse-friendly and, above all, delicious. I am always on the look out for new soup recipes and when I stumbled across this recipe for African sweet potato soup I was very intrigued. Turns out it is one of the most flavour-packed soups ever… To the tune of ‘Everything is AWESOME!!’ from the Lego movie, altogether now, ♬♬ This soup is AWESOME….. ♬♬
It might sound completely ridiculous, but food bloggers are often simply surrounded by food, yet still have nothing to eat for lunch. And by ‘nothing’ I mean nothing sensible and nutritious. I have days where I am surrounded by dozens of churros because I have been testing a new recipe… I frequently have a choice of cake, cupcakes or pie for dessert, but literally nothing savoury other than toast to eat.
And while I would probably be happy to munch away on toast while I am baking, photographing recipes or updating the blog, I do try to make an effort to eat better. Hence soup. Soup is my every day, too busy to cook, saviour. I could, and do, eat soup almost daily in the winter. My spinach soup is a firm favourite, or if I need something more filling, I opt for minestrone or ribolita. This African sweet potato soup is definitely quite filling – must be the peanut butter! – and it will also wake up your taste buds with a spicy kick.
Can’t get enough of soup? Are you a lover of all things spicy? Here’s some more tasty inspiration from the blogosphere…
- Thai roasted squash and sweet potato soup from Vikalinka
- Spiced roast pumpkin soup from Domestic Gothess
- Warmly spiced peanut sweet potato and black eye pea stew from Kellie’s food to glow.
- Spicy parsnip and sweet potato soup from Kitchen Sanctuary.
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes plus more to garnish
- 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 large parsnip peeled and cubed
- 1 red pepper de-seeded and roughly chopped
- 400 g | 14oz can chopped tomatoes
- 900 ml | 4 cups hot vegetable stock
- 2-3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
- salt and pepper to season
- handful finely chopped roasted peanuts to garnish optional
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil to fry
- Heat the oil in a large pot and add the cumin seeds, chilli flakes and ginger. Fry for a minute then add the onion, garlic and sugar stirring for a few minutes over medium-low heat until onion is soft.
- Add the sweet potato, parsnip and tomatoes and stir for a couple of minutes.
- Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Pulse the soup in a blender (or use an immersion blender) until smooth.
- Return to the pot then stir in the peanut butter.
- Check the seasoning and serve with a sprinkling of chilli flakes, a handful of chopped roasted peanuts, and a drizzle of oil.
Chava says
I just made this for the first time. Delicious! But my diabetic husband is keeping a food diary and would like the nutrient values (carbs, proteins, fats) please.
Lucy Parissi says
I will do my best to look this up for you and add it to the recipe x
kellie@foodtoglow says
You’ve made one of my favourite soups so beautiful! My husband is from Zambia and his Mum used to make this soup (but with chicken, as is the usual way), and I have done the vegan version for many years for home and work. Anyone reading the recipe and wondering what the heck it tastes like should just make it. It is indescribably gorgeous.