Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup

Well, I was hoping to have this fantastic soup recipe and a garlic puree recipe that would be to add to the hummus I made to the other day, but then my sweet husband came home from work and started sniffing at my pots and pans.  He asked about the pan that was the puree and within a couple minutes, he looked like Remy from Ratatouille, throwing all sorts of spices around.  He's an amazing cook, but he likes to dirty every dish in my kitchen so I don't give him leash too often.  All that is to say we had this awesome garlic sun-dried tomato hummus tastiness with our fresh vegetables and curry soup and all I have to show for it is a soup recipe.

I had high hopes for this recipe.  I'm a HUGE fan of massaman curry and need to go diving through some old recipes to find the print-off of it.  It's a lot of work, but SO worth every minute. But unfortunately the soup just didn't stand up to my flavor expectations, though it was quite good (and got thumbs-up form the other adults; I think the flavors were too strong for the kiddos, even my inhales-everything kid took a while to get through his bowl of soup).

Just a note real fast on my chickpeas or any bean that I use really: I go through a soaking marathon every once in a while where I soak a type of bean that I use on a regular basis for a day, the next day they cook on low in the crock pot, the following morning I bag them up in freezer bags in 14.5 oz can proportions so that my home-made, healthy beans are recipe ready and I don't have to plan my meals as closely (provided I keep a good variety in my freezer.  My favorites are kidney, black, pinto, great white northern, and now chickpeas have joined the group!)!

Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup
Ingredients:
Soup:
-2 medium white onions, diced
-8 cloves garlic, minced
-1-3 Tablespoons coconut oil (butter or EVOO could be substituted)
-2 large sweet potatoes, cubed (about 1/2")
-3 Tablespoons yellow curry powder
-1/4 teaspoon cayenne
-1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Roasted chickpeas!

-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
-6 cups coconut milk (I got the organic SO Delicious 1/2 gallon carton and it was wonderful)
Chickpeas:
-2 cans chickpeas
-6 Tablespoons EVOO
-1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon ginger
-1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Melt 1 Tablespoon coconut oil in large sauce pot on medium heat. Add onions, cook for a few minutes, add garlic, and stir.
3. Add sweet potato, curry powder cayenne, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, and adding coconut oil as needed to keep the pan from getting too dry.
4. Add coconut milk and cover.  Bring to a simmer and the reduce to low (Simmer for 25 minutes more).
5. To prep the chickpeas, in medium-sized bowl, combine the olive oil, curry powder, salt, garlic, ginger, and cayenne.  Add chickpeas and stir to coat.
6. Spread chickpeas evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes
7. When chickpeas are finished, add them to the soup pot, blend mixture with an immersion blender, and serve.

If you are looking to change it up a bit from your normal soup and salad or soup and bread sticks, I served the soup with fresh chopped veggies and the hummus and it went really well together!  Enjoy!