Peanut-y Sweet Potato Soup

I’ve been promising and promising to start posting the recipes for the food I cook and so far, I haven’t kept my promises.  So beginning with this soup recipe, I’ll be posting the recipes, along with a pic or two of the food item (you’ll have to pardon my very rudimentary camera, though) and an interior shot of Li’l Homey (if I can get her to stand still long enough!) – and maybe we’ll call it Now We’re Cookin’ With Gas! or Recipes from a Teeny Tiny Trailer.  Or maybe Cooking in a Teeny Tiny Kitchen.  Or something like that.  I’ll have to think about it.  If you have any ideas, let me know!  In the meantime, enjoy this yummy here-comes-fall soup!

Dinner tonight was an African-inspired peanut-y soup with sweet potatoes, kidney beans, carrots and chopped spinach, all seasoned with onions, garlic, cinnamon, cumin and cayenne, and served over brown rice. All it needed was a garnish of some kind – maybe some chopped peanuts and a little fresh cilantro – but it was very yummy even without a garnish.  I hope you like it!

And it’s vegan 🙂

Peanut-y Sweet Potato Soup

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced thinly
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp. brown sugar or other sweetener such as agave syrup
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped in 1/2″ cubes
• 1-15-oz can kidney beans or garbanzos, drained & rinsed
• 1-8-oz can tomato sauce
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
• Salt & Pepper
• Garnish: chopped peanuts, chopped fresh cilantro, grated ginger
• Brown rice, cooked (could also use white rice, quinoa, or other grain)

In a large saucepan, add olive oil, chopped onions and sliced carrots.  Over medium heat, sauté until the onion is translucent and carrots begin to soften.  Add garlic and ginger, and continue sautéing, stirring once or twice, for a couple of minutes.  Add brown sugar, cinnamon, cumin and cayenne and cook, stirring, for another couple minutes.  Stir in the peanut butter until it is well blended in, and then add the sweet potatoes, kidney beans or garbanzos, tomato sauce and vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are cooked through, soft but not mushy.  Stir in the chopped spinach and allow to cook for another couple of minutes until the spinach is heated through.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (Other seasonings can be adjusted as well: I added a little more cinnamon and cumin.)

Serve over 1/2 cup brown rice (or other grain) garnished with chopped peanuts and/or cilantro and/or grated ginger.  Serves 6.

Enjoy!

My recipe was inspired by Amanda’s African-inspired Peanut and Vegetable Stew from Good, Clean Food.