Roasted Sweet Potato, Roasted Garlic & Sumac Soup
Today’s Sweet Potato Soup flavoured with roasted garlic and sumac, exotic flavours for an impressive soup. There are tons of sweet potatoes soups out there, but not many have such sophisticated combination involving so many elements. This one will really blow your mind. It wasn’t so long ago I haven’t had a soup soooo good! Tasty, fulfilling and comforting.
Not doubt we are in soup season, and the thing is that soups are one of the most comforting dishes you can prepare. They are great for when you are busy, stressed or just need something quick and warm.
I love to make big batches so I can freeze them for later use. An amazing tip is freezing them in individual bag portions, so you can defrost quickly over the heat in a pot.
You can make soups with nearly any vegetable. The traditional base is made with onion, carrots and leeks, and then any veggie you like, water or homemade stock and that’s it. although, I many times don’t follow this rule.
To make soups more thrilling I love to add them different spices, herbs and seeds, they make that normal and not so special soup in something exciting and sexy! Add a bit of fennel to your zucchini soup, some apple to your pumpkin soup or curry powder to your carrot soup, you will enjoy your soups in a different way!! You can also play with the toppings to make it more nourishing, add crunchy quinoa, roasted lentils or even some crumbled cheese.
Ground Sumac is a spice used long ago in Europe to add tartness and sour to the dishes, it could be substituted for lemon juice but is really worthy to use the real sumac. Ground sumac is available in Middle Eastern markets and little by little it’s making its way into the spice aisle of grocery stores. It’s one of the main components in the spice mix za’atar and it’s essential in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking.
Garlic is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties to help fight against infection. When roasting garlic, we are transforming a raw, crunchy and astringent ingredient, into a soft and caramelized with a gentler flavour that borders on sweetness. It’s a wonderful way of eating garlic, spread roasted garlic on toast, mash it into salad dressing or add it to your hummus. You will experience the incredible change of flavour.
Sweet potatoes are a healthy low GI carb source. High in beta carotene, important for eye health. A study in Africa showed how eating a sweet potato instead a normal white potato a day could change drastically the health of their people, they could get the amount of vitamin A needed daily with just one sweet potato.
- 500 grams sweet potato whole
- a whole head of garlic we will use only a couple of cloves
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- salt & black pepper
- 2 sticks celery sliced
- 1/2 onion diced
- 2 teaspoons sumac
- 1 litres water homemade vegetable stock
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Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
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Place the whole sweet potatoes on a try, prick it with a fork and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Place a whole head of garlic beside the sweet potato.
Roast for 40-50 minutes until the potato is soft and the garlic is caramelized. Let them cool down a bit and peel the potato.
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To make the soup, heat the other tablespoon of oil in a pot over a medium heat. Sautée the onion and celery for about 15 minutes.
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Add the roasted sweet potato, two cloves of roasted garlic (you can use the rest for salad dressings or as butter for garlic bread), the sumac and the water. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes.
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Blend in a food processor or with a hand blender. Check seasoning.
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Serve with a spoonful of yogurt and a dusting of sumac