This soup is a family favourite. It is healthy, easy and quick to make, delicious, satisfying and freezes well too. I love making extra to take for lunch for the working week.

The vibrant orange colour is down to the high vitamin A content in the sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are also good sources of the B group vitamins, minerals (esp. iron and magnesium) and fibre.

The natural sweetness of the sweet potato is balanced with heat from the chilli, freshness from the spring onions and parsley and there is also a satisfying crunch from the sweet corn, spring onions and sliced pepper.

To transform this soup into a chowder, you have options! You can add regular dairy cream, or to keep this soup vegan, coconut cream, cashew cream or silken tofu. All work well!

An optional extra to make this soup creamier and to boost the protein content is to add protein powder. Whey, pea and soya bean varieties all work well. Another optional extra are milled chia seeds, to boost the omega-3 and fibre content.

Serves: 5-6 as a hearty main meal

Preparation time: 10-15 mins. Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 medium red onion, finely diced
• 5 large sweet potatoes (approx. 1kg), roughly chopped into 2-2.5cm chunks
• 3 litres vegetable stock
• 200g sweet corn kernels
• 2 large red peppers, finely sliced into 2 cm bite-size slices
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced. Reserve some for the garnish
• 1-2 red chillies sliced finely (depending how hot you you’re your soup! Reserve a few slices for the garnish)
• 3 tbsp cream; dairy cream, cashew cream or coconut cream. Alternatively, 30g of silken tofu.
• Optional: 2 tbsp protein powder (soya bean,  pea or whey varieties work well), 1 tbsp milled chia seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste

To garnish: freshly chopped parsley and a few slices of red chilli

Method

• In a deep-bottomed pot, melt the coconut oil. Add the crushed garlic, chopped onions and sweet potato chunks and sauté for 5 mins.

• Add the stock and bring to the boil.

• Simmer the soup for approx. 13 mins until the vegetables are all soft (you can check this by poking a fork through a couple of the sweet potato chunks).

• Remove from the heat. If using silken tofu or protein powder add this now and blend to make a creamy soup. (A hand-blender is great for this!)

• Return the blended soup to the hob and on a low heat stir in the sweet corn, sliced peppers, most of the chopped chilli and spring onions. Stir for about 3-4 mins until cooked through.

• Stir in the dairy cream/ cashew cream or coconut cream, if using.

• Stir in the milled chia seeds if using.

• Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt.

• Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped spring onion, a few slices of chopped chilli and some finely chopped parsley. Enjoy!

Don’t forget you can find my favourite recipes in my FREE eBook here.