African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

Today's featured recipe is NOT for anyone ridden with peanut allergies: I must warn you upfront.

This is such a fun little soup to make; the aroma transports you right to Morocco or somewhere in that part of the world. It's different. It's healthy. And it is RICH with flavor. I loved every bite of it.

I also recommend, if you have young children, that you make it during naps or when they are preoccupied playing with their toys. It requires a bit more elbow grease then I expected and I learned the hard way that making this while juggling the necessities such as, eh, nursing an infant and getting a toddler dinner isn't what I consider to be an optimal time for such things like this:).

Many thanks to my friend Danielle D. who emailed me this recipe- she always is finding such good and interesting recipes to try.

Hope you enjoy it! We served this with oven-roasted asparagus spears as well as bacon-Parmesan cheese toast thingies.

African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 t. ginger, minced

1 1/2 t. cumin

1 1/2 t. coriander

1/2 t. cinnamon

pinch ground cloves

3 medium tomatoes, chopped (I omitted this)

1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (I used yams)

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

4 1/2 c. water

1 t. salt

pinch cayenne

1/4 c. unsalted dry roasted peanuts

2 tbsp creamy peanut butter ( I find that natural PB works exceptionally well-melts better)

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in saucepan over medium high heat. Saute onion 10 minutes until lightly browned. Mix in garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cloves.

Stir in tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrot and continue to cook and stir about 5 minutes.

Pour water into the saucepan and season the mixture with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Remove mixture from heat.

In blender, process the soup and peanuts until almost smooth. Season with cayenne. Return to saucepan. Whisk in the peanut butter and cook until heated through.

Serve warm topped with fresh cilantro..