Cooked Spicy Sweet Potato Leek Soup

It has been some time since I cooked a pot of soup (a really, really long time), but I do remember making delicious soups from simple healthy ingredients that were full bodied, creamy, and very good. When I made the switch to eating raw I didn't keep any of the old recipes . . . and here I am beginning anew but this time with a raw food perspective that I didn't have before.  

Adding cooked anything to my diet is a big change for me, but I have decided to include the odd pot of cooked soup while paying close attention to how I feel. My food ratios have been gradually shifting towards 80% raw and 20% cooked, as part of my Digestion Experiment, and so far all is good. 

Rather than using broth from a package, making my own broth was a simple and wholesome solution. Creating this soup was a fun process. I used fresh organic veggies, organic spices, purified water, and my own homemade organic sun-dried tomatoes. I am very pleased to share my first cooked soup creation with you . . . it is a keeper for me!  

Cooked Spicy Sweet Potato Leek Soup

Yield:  3 cups

 

Broth:

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup water

 

Soup:

2 cups water

2 small sweet potatoes, chopped

  (in Canada sweet potatoes are white inside, yams are orange)

1 leek, 1" thick, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes - from small Thai chili
  (red pepper flakes can be hot - you may want to start with 1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

1/2 tsp Rosemary, ground (or other seasoning)

• To make broth:  Soak sun-dried tomatoes for 10 minutes in 1/2 cup water. Pour soaked sun-dried tomatoes together with the soak water into a blender and blend until creamy (I use a Tribest mini blender).
• To make soup:  In a soup pot, combine the broth (from blended sun-dried tomatoes), 2 cups water, sweet potatoes, leek, carrot, pepper flakes, salt and seasoning
• Cook over medium heat for only 15-20 minutes, just until the veggies are softened a bit (sweet potatoes cook quickly)
• Pour 3/4 of the soup from the pot into a large blender and blend until smooth
• If you leave some whole pieces of sweet potato and carrot in the 1/4 of the soup that is not blended, you will have a thick creamy soup with chunks of veggies
• Pour the blended 3/4 of the soup from the blender back into the soup pot
• Stir to mix with the remaining 1/4 of the soup in the pot and serve!