Ginger Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Soup

Soup, SOUP, soup.  If you are like me and have a chronic medical condition that requires you to be on a restricted diet (like interstitial cystitis, aka IC), this is the WORST time of year for you.  It is cold outside and all you want is a bowl of nice, warm soup.  You are at the mall doing your Christmas shopping and you get hungry.  You decide to make a trip to your local Panera.  Standing inside, you ask yourself what sounds good.  Soup.  Soup sounds good, but you sigh.  You can't have their soup.  Because it has onions, because it has pepper, because every body seems to think it is necessary to put tomatoes in their soup.  Or what about the infamous "spices", which could be any spice fr
om cayenne pepper to basil.  Why, oh why, can't they just list out what spices they are using?  You want to cry, but you realize, it is just a bowl of soup, so in my case you go down to the Subway to get a $5.00 footlong because all you can have at Panera is a ham and cheese sandwich from the kid's menu.  And at least Subway has fresh toppings that you can add to your sandwich without up-charging you.

If you can't already tell, I love soup.  I used to take chicken noodle soup every day for lunch for about three years while I was working, before I was diagnosed with IC.  It didn't matter what time of year it was.  There is nothing I loved more than a bowl of hot soup for lunch.  I would also add a half can of green beans for nutritional value.  I was a creature of habit.  When I was diagnosed with IC I had to give up my prepackaged soup habit, which in retrospect is probably a lot healthier but very inconvenient.  At the time I was working so I had little time to experiment with making homemade soup.  There are very little prepackaged soups that are IC friendly (because of the reasons stated above).  However, now that I am a stay at home mom I have been able dabble a bit in the soup making business.  I have not perfected it by any means, but there were a few little girls who gobbled my "Ginger Sweet Potato Coconut Milk Soup" right up.  In my humble opinion it is a lot better than the Pacific Foods Sweet Potato Soup, which I tried recently.  Theirs is very watery, but my recipe is flavorful and creamy.  

Sprinkle some cinnamon and chives on top, if you can tolerate them, to give this soup the WOW factor.  It is perfect by itself as a meal or as a side dish to any dinner. 

Cute Kid Alert (Her Mama, Who is Pregnant Loved the Soup as Well)

Alexandria Ventured Out Adding Chives and Cinnamon to Her Soup.

It Was So Good She Decided to Wear It.

Ginger Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Soup

Ingredients

• 3 TBSP (tablespoon) of olive oil
• 1 Whole head of garlic, minced
• 4 Cups of pureed sweet potato
• 1 TBSP of sweet paprika
• 1 TBSP of cumin
• 1 TBSP of onion powder
• 1 Teaspoon of ground ginger
• 4 Cups of chicken stock (I use Aldi Fit and Active or Kroger's Simple Truth Organic)
• 1 Can (13.5 oz.) of Light Coconut Milk from the Hispanic section at your grocery store.  You can also use regular unsweetened coconut milk.

Yum.

Directions

1.  Peel and slice 3-4 large sweet potatoes into one inch pieces. (You will need approximately 4 cups of pureed sweet potato.  Any extra you have you can use in muffins or pancakes, ect).  Place in a large soup pot full of boiling water.  Boil until they smash easily with a fork.

2.  Drain sweet potatoes in a colander and set aside to cool.

3.  Add three tablespoons of olive oil (you can also use coconut oil) to the same large pot (I always rinse mine out with warm water so that there isn't any leftover sweet potato residue all over the pot.  Sometimes it can be hard to get off later).  Set the temperature to medium.

4.  Throw in minced garlic.

Pureed Sweet Potato.  The Food Processor Did Leave Some Chunks.

5.  While your garlic is cooking, if you have a food processor, puree your sweet potatoes.  You can also use an immersion blender or a potato masher.  

6.  Once the garlic is slightly browned, add four cups of pureed sweet potato.

7.  Mix in sweet paprika, cumin, onion powder and ginger.  I prefer using a wooden spoon for this as I don't feel most of my plastic spoons mix as well.

It Always Helps to Have Someone Stir Your Soup for You.

8.  Slowly add the chicken stock and continue to mix your soup.  Set your temperature to a low medium high (if you have numbers on a scale of 1-10 that would be a 7).  You are basically warming the soup up, but the longer it cooks, the more flavor it will have.  Allow to cook for 20-30 minutes.

9.  Slowly add the can of coconut milk and mix it in.  Allow the coconut milk to get hot in the pot for another 10 minutes and the soup should be ready.  

10.  Once you have determined the soup is done, use your immersion blender (or you can use a regular blender or food processor once it is cooled) to blend your soup even more.  This way the garlic and other spices you added will be sure to meld more evenly.  I prefer extremely smooth soup without any chunks the food processor might have left over.  You can just skip this step all together if you prefer.

**Tip**This can easily be made ahead of time.  Soup is usually better the second or third day so that the spices can really marinate with the rest of the ingredients.   

**My crock pot has recently broken, but once I replace it I will try this soup out (omitting the milk) cooking on low for 8 hours or high for 3 hours.  Once it has cooked for the allotted time, use your immersion blender to blend until smooth.  Slowly mix in the coconut milk and wa-la!!  Dinner!!

I Couldn't Resist Sharing This Happy Face.  She Loves to Help Me Cook.