Thai Sweet Potato Soup

I had a delicious soup at a Thai restaurant in Louisville. The problem is I forgot which one! I have been craving the soup lately so I decided to take a crack at it. The only ingredients which might be harder to find in the boonies are the curry pastes and the coconut milk. I have been pleasantly surprised by the increasing availability of Thai and Indian ingredients in most grocery stores. You should at least be able to find the coconut milk. Just remember that coconut milk is different from coconut cream. Coconut cream is sweet and you put it in pina coladas.


Coconut milk is not really sweet at all. If you can't find ready made Thai curry pastes there are loads of recipes all over the internet that are made from easy to find ingredients.

Thai Sweet Potato Soup

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Tofu, fried, or pieces of chicken, browned

1/2 cup diced shallots

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped

olive oil

Two 14 oz cans coconut milk

a 14 oz can chicken broth

1 T red Thai curry paste (add more if you want a hotter soup)

1 T green Thai curry paste (add more if you want a hotter soup)

1/2 cup fresh or frozen spinach

2 T soy sauce
a few T finely chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Saute the shallots, ginger and garlic for a couple minutes until starting to soften. Add all of the rest of the ingredients except the spinach cilantro. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft. Add the spinach and cook until heated through. Remove the pot from heat and stir in the cilantro. Soup should be served with some rice or noodles on the side in case people want to mix it in.

Some people don't like tofu. I didn't either until I ate it fried a bit to give it some texture.
I added just a little bit too much spinach to this batch so mine is a little greener than you want.