Spicy Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup Recipe

I don’t know if it’s maybe just me, but there comes a time each year where I start to really crave soup for my breakfast lunch and dinner (complete with home-made seeded and all together wholesome bread). Perhaps it is the temperature, that smell of autumn in the air, or even just the idea of a warm and very easy meal.

I have been a really keen soup maker for about 4 years now. During my time working in a cafe, I would cover the chefs’ days off and have to make three big batches of soup a day. I tweaked each recipe to my satisfaction- I only served what I would like to eat myself!

What I have learned over that time is that improvising is really fun and can result in a gorgeous tasting end product to be proud of. (I also learned that celery is the special ingredient in ANY soup)

This soup was so random. I found what was in my cupboard and went ahead. So here is my recipe.

For a big batch that serves approx. 7

-Half a cup of lentils (not essential)

-Two large sweet potatoes (or 4 if no lentils)

-One branch of celery

- Three Knorr vegetable stock cubes

- Two white onions

- Half a red chili pepper

-Three table spoons of coconut milk

-Two cloves of garlic

I started the soup by softening the onions with a little light oil cooking spray. Once soft I then added the garlic, which I had flattened and cut up into little pieces. It is important not to burn the garlic! I then added the lentils and celery followed immediately by some freshly boiled water (personal preference how much to use, but I add gradually as to prevent the soup being too thin and runny). I then grated my sweet potato onto a plate. I grate it because it takes far less time to soften and cook and grating is easier than cutting it (for me anyway). After this I added two of the stock cubes. I add these gradually as well because there is nothing worse than an overly stocky soup!! Then I cut up half the chili and added.  After about ten minutes I blended, added another stock cube as well as the coconut milk. I blended  again and there we had the finished soup in as little as 15-20 minutes!

Best served hot with a cold class of water and a dash of cream.

Bon apetit!

  

Walkies and Fish Heads

After feeling more than a little guilty about our previous indulgences, We thought that we would attempt to make up for it (marginally) -not to mention the fact it was a beautiful day- and take my lovely dog  Mozel on a little walk. After waking him up from his blissful slumber we took a rather excited Mozel on his favorite walk. 

As you can see he is over the moon! It is a gorgeous walk and i like to make a point that exercise can be very enjoyable and can start with as little as a short hill walk. After all you need to start some where on your journey to fitness-and it needn't require kitting yourself out with waterproofs or walking boots!

Tonight I was feeling pretty bloated and sugar coated (not in a good way). For this reason I had a lovely healthy dinner which has made me feel far better! Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't cook it myself, I therefore got a rather nasty surprise when this landed on my plate!

A lovely whole sea-bass stuffed with red onion and pepper. Surprisingly it was extremely yummy but did require removing the spine and other small bones, which did take precision and mental exertion !!

I had this glorious fish with a yummy salad and it turned out a lovely, healthy meal! (and don't get me started on the benefits of oily fish).

I Hope you had a lovely day and enjoyed my pictures-particularly the one of Mozel galloping through the long grass!