Packed full of leeks, onions, and carrots, this sweet potato soup is enhanced by a whole variety of flavors from roasted garlic to cilantro to lime juice, curry powder, and jalapeno. The garnishes make it extra special. Thanks to Luna Cafe for the idea.
Ingredients
For the soup:
1 head garlic
2 # sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
spray olive or canola cooking oil
5-6 cups vegetable stock
1 can (or less) coconut milk- optional
2 cups yellow onion, chopped (2 small or 1 medium yellow onion.)
2 cups chopped leek (1 medium to large leek, about 7 oz.)
1 cup chopped carrot (2-3 small carrots, 4 oz.)
3 Tbs. ginger root, peeled, minced
2 jalapeno chiles, seeds removed, minced
3 Tbs. olive oil
3-4 Tbs lime juice, more to taste (juice of 1 large or 2 small limes)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 Tbs. curry powder
salt to taste
pepper to taste
For the cilantro lime garnish:
about ⅓ cup roughly chopped cilantro
the white section from a small bunch of scallions (green onions), about ⅓ cup
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the other garnishes:
3 Tbs. lime juice (juice of about one lime)
(optional ¼ can coconut milk)
cilantro, chopped
about ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
Cooking garlic and sweet potatoes.
Cut top off head of garlic removing top of bulb and the tip of most of the cloves of garlic. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into large chunks.
Place cubed sweet potatoes and head of garlic on a baking sheet on greased parchment paper and roast in oven at 375 for 35-45 minutes, checking for doneness starting at 35 minutes. Remove from oven, let garlic cool, and squeeze the bulb to extract the softened garlic cloves.
Add roasted garlic, cooked sweet potatoes, and some of the stock to your blender. If the stock is hot, be cautious. Your type of blender may require that you let it cool off some first. Blend until smooth.
Peel and chop yellow onions.
Trim, cut, wash and chop leek (see my post on how to clean leeks if you haven't done it before).
Peel and chop carrots.
Peel and mince ginger root.
Cut jalapeno peppers in half, remove seeds. Mince.
Add olive oil to large stockpot, heat.
Fry ginger root for a couple of minutes in the olive oil.
Add onions, carrots, and leeks. Fry until they have become soft but not brown.
Add curry, thyme, and jalapeno to pot and stirfry for another couple of minutes.
Add pureed sweet potato/garlic mixture and any remaining stock to the pot.
Add desired quantity of coconut milk (more, less or none).
Simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Starting with homemade vegetable stock, which has some sodium naturally, I only needed to add 1 tsp. of salt. If you use store-bought stock, which can be salty, you may not need to add any salt at all.
Prepare cilantro lime garnish.
Directions using a Vitamix or other high powered blender: add all ingredients to blender, blend, beginning with low speed and gradually increasing speed to high, running at high until completely smooth.
Directions using a food processor: Add scallions and cilantro to food processor, chop. While machine is running, drizzle olive oil in through the top. Stop the machine to scrape down occasionally as needed. Blend until smooth. Add lime juice, blend again briefly.
Prepare other garnishes:
Toast flaked coconut for a 2-3 minutes in a pan on the range on medium heat, stirring constantly until brown.
Chop cilantro.
Serve coconut milk, cilantro, toasted coconut, and cilantro lime garnish on the table, allowing diners to garnish their soup as they wish. The coconut milk should be added to the soup first so it can be stirred in while the soup is still hot.
Note: cook time will vary depending on which preparation method you choose.
Recipe by Fit and Fed at http://fitandfed.net/2012/02/29/sweet-potato-vegetable-soup-leek-ginger-coconut-cilantro-lime/