Tarascan-Style Sweet Potato Soup
It's warming, it’s creamy, a little spicy, and it’s delicious.Another new favorite at our house!This soup is a marriage of two recipes I love. The first is Patti Jinich’s Tarascan Soup, a simple, blended pinto bean soup which takes its name from the Purépecha culture in the mountains of Mexico. From Patti I borrowed the idea of boiling the tomatoes, garlic, and onions, then blending them, shocking them in oil and simmering the base until rich and dark. The second is Tieghan Gerard’s recipe for Baked Chipotle Cheddar Sweet Potato Chowder where I borrowed the sweet potatoes, the canned chipotles in adobo sauce instead of the dried ancho chili, and the cheddar cheese. You could make all sorts of variations on this, including using rendered bacon fat to shock the sauce, and adding a variety of toppings in addition to the homemade crema and crushed tortillas I used. Try chopped avocado, cilantro, chopped fresh tomatoes, red onion, bacon bits if you eat them, and maybe toasted pepitas.Instead of adding the flour to the blender, you might make a roux with additional oil, the flour, and 2 cups of the stock. If you do this, make the roux while the tomatoes and onions are cooking, then set it aside and add it when you add the blended sweet potatoes. I may try that the next time I make it.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb. tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
- 1 large white or sweet onion, peeled and quartered
- water
- 2 – 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I used 4 and it was spicy)
- 2 - 3 T adobo sauce (I used 3; again, use less if you don’t like heat)
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 t smoked paprika
- 2 T olive oil
- 6 cups sweet potato chunks, about 2 large
- 4 cups stock, chicken or vegetable (I use Better than Bouillon)
- 3 Tbsp. flour
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Tortilla chips and crema to serve.
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes, peel the garlic and onion, and cut the onion into quarters. Put them in a small saucepan, cover with water and boil for about 10 minutes.
- Put the tomatoes, garlic, onions, and 2 cups of their cooking water into a blender. Add the paprika, chili powder, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. (If you are heat averse, add less chipotle and adobo.) Blend until smooth.
- Shock the sauce. Place a stockpot over medium high heat and add 2 T olive oil. When the oil is hot, pour in the tomato mixture. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit and the oil is incorporated.
- Turn the heat to high and add the cubed sweet potatoes, the stock, and the cider vinegar. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium-low. Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft.
- Transfer the sweet potatoes and a cup or so of the broth to a blender, Add the flour and blend until smooth. Return the blended sweet potato mixture to the stock pot and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes until the soup is creamy. Add the cheese and continue to simmer until the cheese melts.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupCalories: 295kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 10gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 1350mgPotassium: 620mgFiber: 5gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 15705IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 252mgIron: 1mg
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