Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Continuing with the Donna Hay theme (and the soup theme since it is soooo cold in Canberra!!) I decided to make this sweet potato soup. It was one of those things where I looked at the name of the recipe and though "Yep that sounds good, sold!" and I didn't read any further. Then when I was actually making it and came to the instruction to grate the sweet potato and thought "Who grates sweet potato?" and then looked at the picture of the dish on the previous page to find a very gross looking broth with grated sweet potato pieces hanging around limply in it I decided that some adjustments needed to be made. I think the basic ingredients are the same (with a few additions) but the method I used is completely different. My version gives a lovely, creamy and thick soup. Perfect for mopping up with some tasty bread! Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1-2tsp ground cumin (too taste really - I like a lot)
• 1/2 long red chilli, finely sliced
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 tsp chilli out of a jar (you could use fresh but I ran out)
• 1 kg sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 500mL litre vegetable stock 
• 500mL water
• sea salt
• cracked black pepper
• coriander to serve
• greek yoghurt to serve

To Cook

• Preheat the oven to 200 deg C.
• Place the sweet potato cubes in a single layer on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and bake until tender (the amount of time will depend on how big/small your pieces are).
• Heat the olive oil in a large soup pan. Add the fresh chilli, spring onions and cumin and fry until fragrant. 
• Add the stock and bring to a simmer. When the sweet potato is ready add to the pot and allow to simmer for another 2-3mins. 
• Remove the pot from the heat and puree the soup with a stick blender (you could use an actual blender but then you have to transfer out of the pot into the blender and this can be messy!)
• Once the soup is pureed put it back on the heat. It will probably be extremely thick at this stage. 
• Stir in water about 1 cup at a time to thin the soup out to the desired consistency. 
• Once you have the consistency right season with salt, pepper and more chilli until it tastes just the way you like it. 
• Make sure it is hot enough you may want to heat with the lid on so it doesn't spray everywhere like mine did whilst I was doing this step)
• Serve with yoghurt and coriander. This is enough for 4 people, or 2 and leftovers for lunch (which is always my plan when I cook!)