Broad Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

Saturday 3.05pm

The broad beans are here still going strong, so how about a broad bean soup? Broad beans often have quite a floury texture when cooked and so do sweet potatoes so I have put them together in this mildly spiced soup.

- Put some olive oil on to heat gently and add in an onion, a clove of garlic and a piece of ginger root about the size of your thumb. All peeled and chopped as appropriate.
- While they cook gently peel and roughly chop half a sweet potato and pod about the same amount of beans.
- When the onions are translucent and beginning to turn golden pop in the beans, the potato and a teaspoon of ground cumin seeds.
- Stir around to mix everything, turning the heat up so that the potato begins to brown at the edges.
- Pour in a pint and a quarter of vegetable stock, lower the heat and leave to cook until the sweet potato is soft and can be squashed easily against the side of the pan with your wooden spoon.
- Liquidise it.
- Now broad beans have a sort of skin that comes off when cooked and will now be in little bits all through the soup. Whilst probably great for roughage I think best removed, so put a sieve over a bowl, pur in the soup and stir around with a wooden spoon to force the soup through leaving the bits behind.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper if necessary, tasting it until it is right for you. (some ground black pepper never goes amiss in my book)
- Reheat and serve with lots of chopped coriander leaves.

Try serving this to someone who thinks they do not like broad beans, there are a few of them out there, then stand back and watch them change their minds!