Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

So what did you get for Christmas? Wait, don't actually tell me. As with so many conversations that begin this way, I don't care. I just want to tell you what I got.

I got this fancy hand blender!

I used to have one of those cheap, plastic stick blenders that was pretty useful as a milk frother, but required serious time and attention if you wanted to actually blend something. It disappeared after one of my many house moves (I think between Coventry and Leamington, so logically it should be in Kenilworth somewhere), and since then I've managed to get by without it by using a potato masher instead. It doesn't exactly make soup smooth, but it's at least a little less lumpy.

But now I have this guy! He is powerful. I don't know exactly how powerful, but I think it should be measured in horses. In his dormant state he is known as Prince Adam (geddit?), and he can blend like billy-o. What an odd phrase.

So that's basically what I've been up to for the last month. Blending. Blending all the things. Also taking popular songs and replacing the word 'pimping' with 'blending'. Blending ain't easy. Etc.

This is a spicy, wintery soup I've made a few times which allows me to blend to my heart's content, but by adding kidney beans post-blending it gives a bit of texture for the lumpy soup lovers out there. They are a powerful faction.

You will need:

2 sweet potatoes
1 large white onion
2 carrots
oil
1 can of kidney beans
1 1/2 - 2 pints beef stock
salt and pepper
a pinch of chilli powder or chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 - 2 tsp worcestershire sauce

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes, carrots and onion, and start cooking in a large saucepan with a little oil. Add the spices and salt and pepper, and stir thoroughly. Add enough stock to cover the veg, but keep a little back in case you want to thin it out later. You can use chicken or veg stock instead (the beef certainly makes the whole thing a little brown), but I prefer beef for this soup.

Bring to a slow simmer, cover, and cook until the veg is soft - maybe 30 minutes. Once the veg is soft, blend the shit out of it. Yeah. Really blend the balls off it. Cool.

Add the worcestershire sauce, more seasoning if you need it, and more stock if the mixture feels a bit thick. Drain, wash and add the kidney beans to the soup, then cover and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Of all the things I have blended recently (there have been a few), this soup is my favourite.