Sweet Potato (Yam) Soup

Sweet Potato Soup is a hearty, comforting and nutritious soup aromatic with herbs, spices, and soffrito.The aromatic vegetable mixture known as soffrito is a melange of coarsely chopped onion, celery and carrots enrich the soup with flavor and color. 

Baked, roasted, boiled - sweet potatoes/yams are good and good for you whichever way they are prepared. Here is a wonderful way to eat them in a soup. Leftover plain roasted/baked sweet potatoes can also be used to make this soup - if using leftovers, stir in after the dal is cooked.

Mung dal adds body and protein to the soup and cooks quickly too. Blanch the tomatoes by immersing them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, cool, peel and strain out the seeds for a luxurious touch. The red pepper, sambar powder and lemon/lime juice perfectly balance the sweetness of the yams.

6 - 8 Servings

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Red Pepper flakes
1 Onion
2 ribs Celery
1 medium Carrot
1 cup Split, skinless Mung beans (yellow Mung Dal)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Sea Salt or to taste
2 large tomatoes, chopped
4 cups water or Vegetable Broth1 Tbsp Sambar Powder or to taste
5 medium Sweet Potatoes (yams), peeled and cubed
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
Plain Yogurt/Sour Cream to serve
Lemon/Lime wedges/juice to serve
Freshly ground Black Pepper to serve

Method:

Sort the mung dal for any debris; wash well.

Wash all the veggies and drain well.

Prepare soffrito: Finely chop the onion, celery and carrot.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot and add the red pepper flakes and soffrito veggies with a healthy pinch of salt and cook stirring often over low heat for about 10 minutes, until they are golden. Sprinkle a few tsp of water if the veggies dry out.

When the soffrito is golden, add the mung dal, salt, tomatoes and stock/water and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes with the sambar powder and simmer gently until the dal and sweet potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.

Add extra broth or boiling water if the soup is too thick.

Remove from heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Stir in the cilantro and add lemon/lime juice if you like.

Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt/sour cream if you wish.

Pass lemon/lime wedges and freshly ground pepper to season according to individual taste.

Enjoy!!