Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup

I loathe winter but I make do as I don't have the necessary funds to jet around the world following warm weather. So I make do and take advantage of one of the few benefits of Winter-Soup. Whenever I think of cold weather, I think of this soup. It's spices and fragrant lemongrass are perfect to give it a lift above a plain sweet potato soup.

Whatever you do, only use the tender parts of the lemongrass. The first time I made this, I had no idea about lemongrass and my dinner guests were left with grassy pieces of lemongrass in their soup.

Sweet potato & coconut soup

• 1kg sweet potato, peeled and chopped

• 1 teaspoons oil

• 2 tablespoons grated ginger

• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds

• 2 red chillies, chopped

• 2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped (do not used stringy green part)

• 2 cups vegetable stock

• 2 cups coconut milk

• 1 tablespoon palm or brown sugar

Step 1 - Steam sweet potato for 10 minutes until tender and soft. Drain and set aside.

Step 2 - Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, add ginger, cumin seeds, chiles and lemongrass and cook for 3 minutes.

Step 3 - Place sweet potato and cooked spice mixture ina food processor or blender with 1 cup of hte stock and process until smooth. Add the other cup of stock and process again.

Step 4 - Place puree in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add coconut milk and palm sugar and stir until soup is simmering and hot.

Serves 4