Name: Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spice Crusted Shrimp
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Vanuatu
Ingredients: 1 ½ teaspoons cumin; 1 ½ teaspoons coriander; ¾ teaspoon ground ginger; ¼ teaspoon cayenne; ¼ teaspoon kosher salt; ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped; 6 cups low salt chicken broth broth (I recommend Swanson's); 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 9 cups cubed); 1 13½-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (shake can well before pouring); 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste; 1 ½ pounds medium shrimp (18-24) peeled, deveined, tails removed; 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 3 ounces fresh spinach leaves, slivered (stack leaves and slice them thin)

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This creamy sweet potato soup is made with coconut milk and flavored with lime juice and a kick of cayenne. The smooth citrusy tropical flavored broth pairs beautifully with the zesty spice-crusted shrimp that float on top. A sprinkle of fresh slivered spinach adds an elegant finishing touch.

This sweet potato soup recipe is inspired by a small island nation in the South Pacific called Vanuatu. When people ask me what my food blog is about, I tell them that my mission is to find great recipes from every country in the world, and their next question is usually: "how do you find the recipes?" There's no simple answer to that question. Sometimes I'll share one of my long-time favorite recipes. Other times, I get inspired by a recipe I find in a cookbook or a magazines or on another blog.

Occasionally I get out of the house and actually travel somewhere and discover an exciting dish in a restaurant. Often I look at a list of all the 196 countries of the world, pick one randomly, and start researching it. That was the case with Vanuatu.

Sometimes a country's national dish will interest me. But Vanuatu's national dish, called Lap Lap, is way too labor intensive. It starts with the difficult task of pounding taro root into a paste, and that's just the beginning - the rest involves layers of cabbage and meat and a banana leaf - and my research tells me that Lap Lap is not a dish that everybody loves.

What got me excited about Vanuatu cuisine was thinking about how to combine the popular local ingredients to come up with something fun and tropical. Coconuts are their largest agricultural commodity. Coconut milk is used to cook almost everything. Sweet potatoes and yams are also an abundant and popular year-round crop. Since Vanuatu is an archipelago, consisting of over 80 islands, there's no shortage of fish and seafood available. So there you have it - the inspiration for Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spicy Shrimp from Vanuatu.

The people of Vanuatu are called Ni-Vanuatu. It is an extremely diverse culture with over 112 different languages spoken on the islands. In fact Vanuatu is the most language-dense country in the world. But in addition to their unique languages, the majority of the Ni-Vanuatu share a common language called Bislama. It's a form of Pidgin, based on English vocabulary. But the language has taken on a life of its own, due to traders traveling around the Pacific, picking up bits and pieces of dialect and grammar from here and there. TripAdvisor has a good explanation of the language with some interesting examples.

Here's a phrase of the language to give you a sense of it: I am very happy in Bislama is mi glad tumas (me glad too much). That's how I'm feeling about this soup!

Here's the recipe for Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spice Crusted Shrimp. If you try this recipe, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!

Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spice Crusted Shrimp

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 3 reviews

Author: Lisa
Total Time: 40 mins
Yield: 6-8 1x

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Description

The creamy coconut and sweet potato soup pairs beautifully with zesty spice-crusted shrimp. Delicious and company-worthy. (dairy-free)

Ingredients

Units Scale

For The Spice Mix

1 ½ teaspoons cumin
1 ½ teaspoons coriander
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

For The Soup

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
6 cups low salt chicken broth broth (I recommend Swanson's)
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 9 cups cubed)
1 13 ½-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (shake can well before pouring)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

For The Shrimp

1 ½ pounds medium shrimp (18-24) peeled, deveined, tails removed
2 tablespoons cooking oil

Final Garnish

3 ounces fresh spinach leaves, slivered (stack leaves and slice them thin)

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Instructions

Mix spices in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a soup kettle or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until translucent. Add sweet potatoes and broth, bring to a boil and quickly lower the heat a simmer. Simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
Puree the soup using an immersion blender or puree the soup in batches using a food processor or blender. Once the soup is pureed and in the pot, add the coconut milk, lime juice, salt and cayenne. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside, covered, while you sauté the shrimp.
Put shrimp in a mixing bowl, pour the spice on top and toss to coat. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large skillet until hot but not smoking. Cook shrimp for a minutes or two per side over medium-high heat, or until there's a nice brown spice crust on the outside and the shrimp is just cooked through.
Heat the soup gently, if need be, until it's hot. Ladle soup into shallow bowls. Place 3-4 shrimp in each bowl and add a small pile of shredded spinach to the center of each bowl. Serve hot.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Category: Soup
Method: Simmer
Cuisine: Vanuatu

Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spicy Shrimp