Wonderful Curried Sweet Potato Soup

tigerduck's Note:

This IS a WONDERFUL SOUP. And look at the list, just a few ingredients! I came up with lots of GREAT ideas for the contest, but when I asked my friends what they liked best, they always mentioned this humble soup! How funny is that? The rum really makes a difference. It is added at the very end, so if you have kids at the table and you're worried about it, just serve them first and add the rum later. You may want to leave it out altogether, but just let me tell you one more time that the RUM IS a LOVELY ADDITION. I use Patak's curry paste which is available in Asian stores where I live. Madras is labelled as a hot paste and Korma as mild. I've also tried a Patak's paste called HOT/TRES EPICE which I do NOT RECOMMEND.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 7.0 cups

Soup

• 1 tablespoon oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped onion (1-2 onions)
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry paste (levelled tbsp, preferably Madras, Korma or another Indian or Caribbean curry paste you like)
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (levelled tbsp)
• 4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (not yams)
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 3 1/2 cups chicken stock or 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons rum (optional but recommended, I use white rum)
• salt

recommended topping

• 4 -6 tablespoons sour cream (any fat content)
• sweet paprika

Directions:

1. SOUP:.
2. In a soup pot, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add curry paste and onions and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat if necessary. Add garlic clove and ginger and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add sweet potatoes and pepper. Mix. Add stock. Cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are very soft.
4. Puree the ingredients in batches in a blender or puree the whole amount directly in the pot with a hand blender (if pot is high enough).
5. Check if you like the consistency of the soup. Add more stock or water if desired and adjust the seasonings (check if salt is needed). You can add more curry paste if desired, but most pastes need to be cooked first before adding to a dish. Add rum if using.
6. Serve:.
7. Serve in individual bowls and top each with a tablespoon of sour cream and a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

Reviews

[Chef #1550889]

This is one of the best soups I've ever made. Friends raved. Made a few changes - I quadrupled the ginger and garlic, because we love the stuff; used coconut rum - highly recommended! - and 2% low fat Greek-style yogurt instead of sour cream. Worked great. Will make this soup again and again!

[jbb]

Excellent soup -- absolutely fabulous. The perfect balance of sweet and spicy, with the full flavors of the sweet potatoes. Easy Easy EASY to make too. I use a little less broth to make it a little thicker, and we've found that a night in the 'fridge before reheating makes it even better in terms of flavors balancing.

This is the fine wine of soups.

[Chef #1549354]

Another review.... I made this and increased the spices slightly. However, another reviewer suggested serving this cold with the sour cream mixed in. This sounds like a wonderful idea, but I wonder if it would best be made specifically for serving cold, with the spices increased SIGNIFICANTLY for serving that way? I used spiced rum, which I think added much to the finished dish, although I may take several other reviewers' suggestions and use coconut rum the next time. One departure I made from the recipe was to use coconut oil in place of the recommended oil, both for the extra nutritional value the coconut adds, as well as for the added depth of flavour. One caveat I have for this and any other sweet potato recipe: I made this twice, and it didn't come out very good at all the second time. I believe the difference was that the first time the sweet potatoes I used were quite ripe and sweet; the second time they were pale and not as rich or sweet -perhaps not quite as ripe. I ended up adding some raw sugar to the end product, which helped, but it didn't help completely, as it didn't add the real, rich "sweet potato-ness" that the first batch had. All things considered, I would highly recommend this soup and have added it to my (considerable!) soup repertoire!