Simplest Sweet Potato Soup

The Sweet Potato Risotto from my first ever post was delicious and all, but what to do with all those leftover sweet potatoes? My vote, soup. I’ve been wanting to try out a recipe from vegan yum yum for a while, so I decided to go for it. The only problem. I am not a fan of the nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, maple syrup sweetness with my sweet potatoes. I know. It’s crazy. And I love sweets. Love cinnamon. Love maple syrup. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to follow the recipe as is. Instead, I added onions and garlicy goodness and let the sweet potatoes sweeten themselves.

Simple sweet potato soup
adapted from veganyumyum.com/2006/12/stewart-my-sweet-potato-soup/

2 sweet potatoes, cubed (left the skins on and it worked fine)
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 cup soy milk
2 cups water or vegetable stock
1 bouillon cube (I like Edward and Sons Not-Chick’n)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp celery salt
Pinch cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
Additional spices you could add: curry powder, garam masala

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add chopped sweet potatoes and cook to caramelize on all sides for 3-4 minutes. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes more, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pot as you go. Once onion is translucent and potato starts to soften slightly, add water or broth and scrape any remaining brown bits from bottom of pan. Then add soy milk and bouillon cube. Stir to incorporate. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.

Remove from heat and blend using an immersion blender. Or transfer a little bit at a time to a food processor. Transfer back to pot and add spices, to taste. Simmer a few minutes more and then it’s ready to serve. I had a few leftover roasted sweet potatoes from the previous night’s risotto, so I added them back into the pureed soup for a little extra texture. Garnish with fresh cracked black pepper and add some croutons too, if desired.