thai sweet potato and carrot soup

I don't know about you, but I always seem to have things lurking in my fridge that have been bought with great plans in mind, and the best of intentions, but that, nevertheless, seem to get overlooked while life happens! Anyway, so it was that while hunting around in the fridge and pondering on some inspiration for dinner tonight, I came across quite a few things that needed using up; among them a sweet potato, carrots and a huge bunch of coriander. Hmmmmm - the Prawn Laksa I made at the weekend gave me an idea!...........I would use up the vegetables and make it into a veggie version of the lovely Laksa.

Spring hasn't quite arrived yet and the yellowy soup would be comforting, and lift my spirits too.

The spicy, creamy sweet, taste of Laksa is one of my favourite things, and I thought the sweet potato and carrot would work really well with all of the spices and the coconut without overpowering them. So, I based this soup on all of the things I love in a laksa, the spices, the fragrant coconut and coriander, and last, but not least, the chewy noodles to slurp the wonderful and warming spicy liquid through!

Thai Sweet potato and Carrot Soup

Recipe (by Alfie)

2 medium onions (roughly chopped)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

25g butter

Red thai curry paste to taste (I used 2 teaspoons because I don't like mine too hot!)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

200g carrots (cut into chunks)

1 large sweet potato (also cut into chunks)

2 litres of vegetable stock

100g creamed coconut (grated)

4 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

medium bunch of coriander

250g thick rice noodles (or substitute your favourite noodles)

Start by sweating the onions in the oil and butter until they are soft and golden. Stir in the thai curry paste and spices and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the chopped sweet potato and carrot (there's no need to chop them really finely for this recipe as they will be blended later) and cook in the spicy oil for five minutes so they are lovely and coated.

Next, pour in the stock and then add the crushed garlic, coconut and soy. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer for 30 minutes or so until the potato and carrot are soft. Just before the end of the cooking time for the vegetables cook your noodles separately, according to the pack instructions.

When the vegetables are soft, add the coriander and blend the soup to a smooth velvety consistency. Add the noodles to the soup and serve. Alternatively you can put the noodles straight into the bowls and pour the soup over the top.

This is such an easy soup to make, and packed with flavour.

One word of warning though - when making this, don't even attempt to cook, or eat this, in your best white T.......I got off lightly though; now I just have a lovely yellow blender!