Sweet Potato Soup

MY FIRST FOOD POST 

I love food, I have been travelling for almost 4 years and all my favourite places are based on my appreciation of the food available. You could say I am a food traveler (Gourmet Traveler was taken). As a kid I was always experimenting in the kicthen, wasting all mum's flour, covering dads kitchen in melted chocolate - it's a wonder I never became a chef. I experimented with everything, baking, roasting, soups, salads, wraps, you name it. Adam and I lived in New Zealand for a little over a year and we realised about 8 months in that I hadn't actually cooked the same dish twice, with the exception of burgers, Adam loves burgers.

Instead of being a chef, at 26, I'm still the one out the front, serving the food. I said to someone the other day, I just love to cook, I have to spend at least half an hour in the kitchen everyday, just to feel like me. That really surprised me, I knew I loved to cook, but it's true, I cook something everyday. It's a wonder Adam and I aren't fat. (It's actually all down to being Paleo- more on that later).

Living with mum during uni, I used to (and still do) love it when she has people over for dinner, I would create a little menu and spend all afternoon in the kitchen, and then serve the food and disappear. (or more recently join in the festivities).  In the last few years however, traveling so much it's hard to really get into cooking. One of the jobs we had in New Zealand was so remote, the chefs prepared lunch and dinner everyday and breakfast was toast. So not only was I unable to cook for 3 months, but we were also subjected to whatever food the chef's felt like cooking.

When we are in a situation where I can cook for others I go mad. In a good way. Whether it is a dinner party, a weekend away with friends, or in the case of early last year when Adam's parents joined us in Melbourne for a month, my focus is food. I can spend hours planning menus and working out how much of each product we need to buy and so on. I realised that this is what I should be doing. To quote mum's dad find out what it is that you love to do, and work out how to get paid for it. I am sorry to say, that after 10 years as a waitress, it is not what I love to do. I don't hate it, but I certainly don't love it.

Now, back to the point of this post. I have never written out a recipe before, so here goes.

SWEET POTATO SOUP (Paleo, Vegetarian, good for you etc)

Ingredients 
8 medium sized sweet potatoes (or 4 large) pealed and chopped
1 brown onion
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 stick of fresh ginger grated approx 1.5cm x 1.5 cm
1 cm small red chilli - depending on how much you like chilli
2 tbs coconut oil - or enough to keep the pot wet until all the ingredients are coated
1 tbs tumeric
1 ltr water (approx) you made need to add more water as the sweet potato cooks and the water evaporates.

Method

• Melt coconut oil in a big pot. (Coconut oil comes in solid form- so it needs to be melted and coat the bottom of the pot before adding any other ingredients.) 
• Add diced onion, and brown slightly then add the grated ginger, thinly sliced chilli and crushed garlic. 
• Make sure all ingredients are coated in the oil, then add the tumeric and diced sweet potatoes and coat in oil. 
• Add water and bring to the boil. 
• Turn heat down and simmer until the sweet potato is soft. 

This soup is best blended but Adam prefers chunky soups, so in this case I compromised and mashed the soup using a potato masher, so it's still chunky. (It's so much better smooth though).

Serving suggestion - add a cup of (rinsed) red lentils just before adding the water. Previously I would add lentils but as they are not Paleo - no more lentils. 

More recipes (and adventures) to come :)