Asian Crunchy Leek and Sweet Potato Soup

January 14, 2018 Leave a Comment Recipe

When it comes to soup, I’m facing an interesting challenge. In our family of five, everyone has different preferences. My older daughter likes only clear Asian broth with some veggies and protein, the middle one needs everything pureed, and the little boy absolutely loves soup, any kind, every day! I hope it will stay that way. Of course, this means every time I prepare soup, someone will skip it. Well, I guess that’s a challenge many of you are familiar with. 😉

Are you wondering why I named this soup “crunchy”? The soup itself is creamy and (optionally) slightly spicy due to the ginger and the red curry paste. I used a 30% fat reduced coconut cream and my Homemade Vegetable Broth to keep it light. The crunchy part is the dehydrated leek I add just before serving. This crunchy leek gives the soup an awesome kick.

You need the following ingredients:

For the soup:

350 g / 0.77 lbs leek
500 g / 1.1 lbs sweet potatoes
1 carrot
40 g / 1 1/2 oz ginger root, 5 – 6 cm (about 2.5 inches)
1 l / 4 1/3 cups Homemade Vegetable Broth or organic bought broth
240 ml / 1 cup reduced fat coconut cream or coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp red curry paste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

For the dehydrated leek:

250 g / 0.55 lbs leek
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper

To make the soup:

Trim and wash the leek, then slice it into small slices. Peel the sweet potatoes, carrot, and ginger and cut everything into small pieces. You don’t have to be super accurate, you won’t see any of the pieces by the time the soup is done.

Heat the coconut oil in a medium size pot and add all the ingredients except for the coconut cream and the broth.

Stir continually until the leek starts to soften, then pour in the broth and coconut cream. Give it a good stir, reduce the heat, and let it simmer for about 30 – 40 minutes or until everything is soft. Puree the soup with a hand blender or high power blender until smooth. Add some water or vegetable stock if the soup is too thick. As needed, season again with salt and pepper to your liking.

To make the dehydrated leek:

Wash the leek and cut it into equal-sized slices (about 0.5 cm / 0.2 inch thick). Divide the leek slices into two portions. One portion you will add to your dehydrator as is. Add the other portion into a bowl and add the olive oil, cumin, paprika powder, chili powder, and salt. Combine everything thoroughly.

Spread out the leek evenly on your trays, make sure not to layer the leek on top of each other. Put the trays into the dehydrator and dehydrate on 70 °C / 160 °F for about 4-5 h, or until crunchy. Store in a Tupperware container until serving. You can do the same by using your oven. Layer the leek evenly on your oven trays and heat the oven to about 70 °C / 160 °F. Place the trays in the oven for about 4 – 5 hours or until crispy, don’t close the oven all the way, you have to leave it open just a little bit so that the leek can dry properly.