Sweet Potato & Watercress Soup

This delicious soup of sweet potatoes, watercress, carrots, beans, corn, and coconut milk made a sweet and satisfying lunch for me and Sweetpea (age 6). Inspired by the drizzly and windy weather, I'll definitely be sending this "hot lunch" into school because its such an appealing and healthy soup for kids. I'd have used a lot more jalapeno if it had been just for me, but I loved it too!

This soup was also inspired by Karina's beautiful Purple Cabbage & Sweet Potato (combining sweet potatoes, beans, and coconut milk) and by a recipe from The Candle Cafe Cookbook for Sweet Potato & Watercress Soup (which gave me the idea to combine these two ingredients).

Sweet Potato & Watercress Soup:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 carrots, sliced into rounds
1 small potato, peeled and diced
3 cups water/vegetable stock ( I used 1 cup veg. stock and 2 cups water
1/3 fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 cup white navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp coconut milk
1 large cabbage leave, torn (optional)
1 ear corn, shaved from cob
1/3 bunch watercress, stalks removed
s & p


Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes. Add the sweet potato, carrots, and potato and cover. Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring 2-3 times. Add the vegetable stock/water, jalapeno, beans, and cumin. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Add the tomato paste. Simmer for 15 minutes and add the coconut milk, corn, and torn cabbage. Cook 5 more minutes and remove from heat. Add the watercress and stir gently. The watercress will wilt. Check seasonings and serve.

p.s. Our DSL has been down for a week now, which means my email is also down. I'm using Flickr to upload photos right now. They're small but you can click on them to see a larger version.