African (?) Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup

My poor father is allergic to cinnamon (and many other yummy things). He bought 2 lbs. of prepared mashed sweet potatoes, but didn’t notice until he got home and opened them that they were sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon. Knowing my dislike of the orange tuber, he asked my husband if he wanted them. Of course husband did. “Great,” I thought, “these will be sitting in the fridge for months unless I do something with them. I hate sweet potatoes!”

Well, they sat there for a week or 2 until I remembered a recipe that my mother had made a couple of years ago. A quick Pinterest search and pantry inventory yielded this gem. Finally! A sweet potato preparation that I like. No, love. I question if it truly is an African recipe, but whatever, it’s excellent.  

If you make this from scratch, I bet you can use 2 lbs. raw sweet potatoes along with the other veg, and add brown sugar and more cinnamon to the soup.

2 lb. prepared mashed sweet potatoes, already sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon

2 carrots

2 celery stalks, including leaves

1 small onion

1 – 2 cloves garlic

1 – 1 ½ inch fresh ginger

3 or 4 parsley stems (cilantro probably would have been better, but I didn’t have any)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I used unsalted)

1 cup roasted, shelled peanuts (also unsalted)

tomato paste

dry sherry

bacon fat and/or vegetable oil

cumin

cinnamon

smoked paprika

freshly-grated nutmeg

garlic powder

ground ginger

2 large bay leaves

hot pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Cut the carrots, celery, onion, ginger and garlic into large chunks. Sauté over medium heat in a large pot in whatever fat you’re using until they start to soften and brown. Midway through this process, add a generous squeeze or half a spoonful of tomato paste, and a dose of salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika, nutmeg, the bay leaves and parsley stems.

When you get some browning on the bottom of the pot, add a few tablespoons of sherry and scrape it up. Add the diced tomatoes, a can full of water (or just enough to cover all of the veg in the pot), more sherry, and another dose of the dried herbs and spices you added previously. Bring to a boil for a minute or 2.

Reduce to medium low, and cook until the carrots are tender, probably 45 minutes. During this process stir frequently, add water as necessary, and taste for seasonings, correcting as needed. If you find it needs more garlic or ginger zinginess and you are lazy like me, add a few shakes of garlic powder or ground ginger, rather than breaking out the fresh stuff all over again.

While the veggie mixture cooks, grind up the peanuts in a small food processor and set aside.

When the carrots are quite tender, stir in the peanuts and the sweet potatoes.  Taste for seasonings again, and allow the 2 new additions to get comfortable in there for 10 minutes or so.

Remove the bay leaves and parsley stems. Add a pinch of hot pepper flake. You can serve this as it is, but I always enjoy using my immersion blender. This makes the texture even more silky.

Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, chopped parsley or cilantro, and a few peanuts on top.

-Elena