Curry Yam Soup with Roasted Corn

Ahhhh, nothing like warm, creamy soup during the summertime. But, those who know me well is that soup is one of the types of food that I do not care what time of year it is, I crave it regularly. 

This dish actually was one of those "when life gives you lemon..." situations. Originally, sweet potatoes are suppose to be the base of the soup, but when you show up at Whole Foods and there's only slim pickin's you go for the next best thing, yams! The addition of roasted corn was also astray from the original recipe, but I just thought it would  be perfect and beautiful and I'm addicted to corn, so whatever.

Ingredients:

• 5 yams
• 5 cups of water
• 1-2 ears of corn
• 1 white onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 t curry powder
• cilantro
• salt and pepper 

Six simple ingredients

1. Peel and cube 4 1/2 yams. Save the other 1/2 of yam for garnish. I cut the cubes into about 1/2-1 inch cubes. Nothing fancy. Everything will be blended, but you want them to cook evenly as well.

2. Chop the onion into even size pieces.

3. In a large pot combine the yams, onion, whole cloves of garlic, curry powder, and salt and pepper. Bring the water to a boil. Once at a boil, lower the heat to medium-high and cook for 8 minutes, or until the yams are soft.

4. While your yams are boiling away, take your corn and strip it from the cob (I cooked it prior to starting the soup [8 minutes in boiling water]) and your extra 1/2 yam and dice into small cubes, around the same size as the kernels.

5. In a pan with a touch of olive oil, add your diced yams first and let them get to a nice char, when the yams are about 2 minutes from being done, add the corn. I also added a little more salt, pepper, and some cayenne for a little heat. When done, remove from heat and set aside.

6. After 8 minutes, remove the soup from the heat.

6. In a blender, add about 1/3 of your soup mixture and 1/4 of your roasted corn and yam mixture. The blender should never be more than half filled. Put the lid on, and blend until smooth. I made sure to hold down the blender lid with a towel, as sometimes the steam and build up and end up putting soup on your ceiling.

7. Once all your soup is blended. Ladle into a bowl. Sprinkle the remaining roasted corn and yams on top and rip a few springs of cilantro to garnish. 

This soup is very creamy for having no dairy in it what-so-ever. The roasted corn and yam gives you something to bite into and chew. The cilantro just brings a bright freshness to the soup, and provides a slight surprise when it ends up in a bite.

This recipe yields about 10 cups of soup, and my bowl held about 2 cups. The rest I covered and placed in the fridge where it can last up to 4 days (or 2 months in the freezer). This recipe is so easy and I can see myself making many variations of this. 

Happy souping!

Kate