Sweet potato and ginger soup with mint and lime crème fraîche recipe

Think this sounds complicated? I can make it after work in 30 minutes, most of which time taken to cook on the hob. Unlike pumpkin, you don’t have to peel sweet potatoes for soup; unlike carrots, they cook really quickly.

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 30 minutes

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

• 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes

• 15g butter

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, grated to a puree

• 2.5cm cube ginger root, peeled and grated

• 2 red chillis, halved, deseeded and chopped (keep the seeds from one of them)

• 3 lime leaves, if you can find them (don’t worry if not)

• 1.7l chicken or vegetable stock

• 2 tsp pickled ginger plus ½ tbsp vinegar from jar

• Juice of ½ lime

For the crème fraîche

• 150g crème fraîche

• Finely grated zest of 1 lime

• Juice of ½ lime

• About 14 mint leaves, very finely chopped

• A little milk, if needed

METHOD

1. Wash the sweet potatoes and remove any tufty bits on the skin. Chop into big chunks.

2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, then add the sweet potatoes, chilli and seeds, and the lime leaves (if using).

3. Add a splash of water, turn the heat right down, cover and sweat for about 15 minutes.

4. To make the cream just mix everything together. If the mixture is a bit thick add some milk to let it down.

5. Add the stock to the sweet potato along with pickled ginger and vinegar from the jar, season, bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Everything should be completely soft.

6. Puree in batches in a blender. Add the lime juice, reheat and check the seasoning. Serve with the cream.