Sunday, January 17, 2010

Dim Sum Sunday: Snow Days


Seems a lot of us are getting the ol' leather glove to the face from Mother Nature this winter. I know I am: Weekly snowstorms, sub freezing temps, a sun that's playing hide and seek, and a lot of snow, ice, sand, and salt.

No doubt, keeping warm is Numero Uno priority these days when it comes to what's on my body and what goes in it. Like soup. Lots and lots of soup. This one is a favorite. It comes from a cookbook my MIL gifted me one Christmas a few years back called Best of the Best From Louisiana II.

In the book, this particular soup is made with pumpkin, although I've always used sweet potatoes. I also increase the onions to a half cup, the brown sugar to one tablespoon, and add a tablespoon of red chile powder. Other than those alterations, the recipe is straight out of the book as follows:


SWEET POTATO SOUP
Serves six.

What:
2 tablespoons oleo (I use olive oil)
1/2 cup chopped yellow onions
1-1/4 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon white flour
1 tablespoon red chile powder
1 16-ounce can sweet potatoes (or pumpkin), liquid included (or the equivalent of fresh sweet potatoes/pumpkin, cooked until soft)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (omit if you want a more savory soup)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3-1/2 cups chicken broth (add an additional cup if using fresh pumpkin or sweet potatoes)
2 cups cream or half and half
Sour cream or plain yogurt (optional)
Chopped green chile (optional)

How:
Heat olive oil in large 4- to 5-quart dutch oven or stock pot. Saute onion until soft. Add curry powder, flour, and red chile powder and cook a couple minutes. Add sweet potatoes, sugar, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and, using a hand held mixer, puree mixture until smooth (you can also transfer to a blender or Cuisinart). Stir in cream or half and half and bring back to a simmer for a few minutes, stirring, to reheat. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and bits of chopped green chile.


Want to see what other folks are Dim Summing this Sunday?
Head over to Shamu's Blog and find out.

9 comments:

Making Space said...

I'm slippin' on my crocs, firing up the show tunes on my ITouch, and headed to your place - as soon as I polish off my chili and Shamy's soup. Yum!

Big Shamu said...

I'll have to try this since I don't think I've made sweet potato soup but I'm always up for putting vegetables to a good use. Sweet potato, curry and chili sounds wonderful. Do you have a favorite brand of curry you use?

Happy Dim Sum Sunday!!!!

moi said...

Making Space: La, la, la, la, la on the Crocs. But yay to your chile!

Shamu: To me, nothing beats Sun Brand Madras curry powder. It's what my mom used always and is also the choice of several East Indian folks I know who, when not making their own, choose Madras.

Aunty Belle said...

Oh gracious that looks luscious!

An' which pair of shoes was ya wearin' when ya whipped this up?

Dani said...

I would have never thought of making sweet potato soup! It looks FANTASTIC!

Big Shamu said...

I'm pretty sure I could bet the mortgage payment that Moi was NOT wearing orange crocs while she made this luscious soup.

Buzz Kill said...

I've never made sweet potato soup either but I have made pumkin soup with curry. I imagine the 2 are similar but I don't recall using brown sugar (it was years ago). I guess if you were to use fresh sweet potatoes, you would have to roast (rather than boil) and puree them, but I bet that would add depth of flavor much like Shamu's roast tomatoes in her soup. This looks and sounds relatively easy to do. Your plating picture is excellent. I will definitely try this one.

Happy DSS!

LaDivaCucina said...

Holy Moly, OLEO?! How old is that cookbook?! haha! I think I would make the soup with fresh sweet potatoes too...perhaps when this recipe was invented it was from a time when you couldn't get fresh pumpkin as easily and had to depend on canned? Interesting!

This is a soup that is served in restaurants all over Sydney all year long because it's so cost effective to make. I also make it regular, with Indian curry spice and also a Thai coconut curry version. Great to make when funds are low and serve with fresh bread rolls and cream cheese!

I agree with you about the Madras curry powder, the only one I use too.

Great job, Moi, I'm feeling under the weather and wish I had a bowl right now!

moi said...

Aunty: My running shoes :o)

Dani: It's very hearty and so, so easy to make.

Shamu: And, you'd bet correctly.

Buzz: I'm definitely going to try this with roasted sweet potatoes. Make a soup a little less sweet. I like sweet, but S.B. doesn't.

La Diva: I read somewhere that Oleo was considered a generic term in the south for cooking oil. Not sure if that's correct or not, but I hope so :o) There's nothing worse on this great good earth than margarine. Shudder. Oooooo . . . great idea, turning this into something Thai-ish with the addition of coconut milk. It's not only an easy soup to make, but you can do so much to it.