Curried Sweet Potato Soup with a Honey Drizzle

Cold outside? Need to warm your belly? I have the perfect trick - a big ol hearty bowl of soup. Its sweet, savory and spicy all at the same time. I love soup, but I'm not a big fan of the kind with broth and stuff in it ... I like the pureed type, so you will begin to see a lot of these types of soup in the future! 

A really good thing about this soup is that it is extremely healthy for you! (Always a plus). In the past sweet potatoes may have been given a bad rap because they are a carb. You know, the whole "carbs are evil" thing that was floating around for awhile. However, sweet potatoes are actually extremely good for you and should be a part of everyone's diet. It is full of dietary fiber (apparently more than oatmeal) and Vitamin A and C and beta carotene (when eating with the skin on). Sweet potatoes also have a really low glycemic index score - wait what is that? Well all you need to know is that it means that sweet potatoes are digested slowly, which keeps you fuller, longer.  

I also just like to make a note that I chose to leave the skin on my sweet potatoes. Most of the antioxidants found in sweet potatoes are actually in skin. I just scrubbed them real well before using them. Plus... I am lazy and skipping the step of peeling was right up my alley. But if you choose to skin the potatoes, the color of your soup will be a lot more vibrant (just something to keep in mind). 

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

2 Sweet Potatoes (skinned or not)

1 Onion

2-4 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil

3 Tbsp of Curry Powder

4 Cups of Stock (chicken or vegetable) - about 1 box

Sour cream or plain yogurt for garnish

Honey for garnish

Wash and dice up your sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Set aside. 

Coat the bottom of a large pot with the vegetable oil and turn on to med-heat. Add onion and cook until soft. 

Once onions are soft, add garlic and add curry powder. Sounds weird adding the curry powder here, but you need to actually toast the spices, it brings out the flavour more (and in fact, sometimes if you skip this, it ends up tasting like sand!!!) You will know when to move to the next step when you can really start to smell the curry. But keep an eye on it and stir frequently so not to burn. 

Next, add the sweet potatoes and the stock (if you like a more viscous soup, add less stock, not so thick? add more stock or water even!) Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer, pop a lid on the pot and let cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. 

Use an immersion blender or normal blender to puree the soup until you have a smooth consistency. Becareful though because the soup will be extremely hot!!! So you can wait till it cools down and reheat later, or just be really careful. Seriously. 

Top with a big dollop of sour cream or yogurt and drizzle with honey. I don't recommend skipping this step really because the cool sour cream off-sets the heat from the curry and the honey adds just a touch of sweetness. 

Enjoy a bowl... or two!

Cooking Tip for 1: This is another one of those dishes where I'm glad I had extra so I can take for lunch the next day. It also freezes very well too.