Spicy Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup Recipe

I don’t know if it’s maybe just me, but there comes a time each year where I start to really crave soup for my breakfast lunch and dinner (complete with home-made seeded and all together wholesome bread). Perhaps it is the temperature, that smell of autumn in the air, or even just the idea of a warm and very easy meal.

I have been a really keen soup maker for about 4 years now. During my time working in a cafe, I would cover the chefs’ days off and have to make three big batches of soup a day. I tweaked each recipe to my satisfaction- I only served what I would like to eat myself!

What I have learned over that time is that improvising is really fun and can result in a gorgeous tasting end product to be proud of. (I also learned that celery is the special ingredient in ANY soup)

This soup was so random. I found what was in my cupboard and went ahead. So here is my recipe.

For a big batch that serves approx. 7

-Half a cup of lentils (not essential)

-Two large sweet potatoes (or 4 if no lentils)

-One branch of celery

- Three Knorr vegetable stock cubes

- Two white onions

- Half a red chili pepper

-Three table spoons of coconut milk

-Two cloves of garlic

I started the soup by softening the onions with a little light oil cooking spray. Once soft I then added the garlic, which I had flattened and cut up into little pieces. It is important not to burn the garlic! I then added the lentils and celery followed immediately by some freshly boiled water (personal preference how much to use, but I add gradually as to prevent the soup being too thin and runny). I then grated my sweet potato onto a plate. I grate it because it takes far less time to soften and cook and grating is easier than cutting it (for me anyway). After this I added two of the stock cubes. I add these gradually as well because there is nothing worse than an overly stocky soup!! Then I cut up half the chili and added.  After about ten minutes I blended, added another stock cube as well as the coconut milk. I blended  again and there we had the finished soup in as little as 15-20 minutes!

Best served hot with a cold class of water and a dash of cream.

Bon apetit!