Curried Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup

Last night I prepared a wonderful soup recipe for the first time.  I had eaten this soup, last weekend, at a restaurant called "3 Guys and a Stove".  One of the owners, Jeff Suddaby, also has a cooking show and I was able to find the recipe through his website:  Jeff Cooking

Curried Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup

by Jeff Suddaby

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp chopped garlic 

1 cup finely chopped red onion

2 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped

2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin (this can be found in the baking  aisle of the grocery store)

***1/2 tsp curry powder (see below)

1/2 tsp chopped cilantro (plus 5 stems reserved for garnish)

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cup 2% evaporated milk

Directions:

Heat non-stick fry pan; add oil; follow with onion and garlic and saute until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Add stock, sweet potato, pumpkin, curry, cilantro, honey, and ginger.  Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 40 minutes.  Puree in blender in small batches until smooth.  At this point the soup can be kept in the refrigerator up to 4 days.   To serve:  heat the soup slowly adding enough condensed milk to achieve desired consistency.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream and additional chopped cilantro as garnish.

***I added about 1 1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste to the soup because the soup seemed to lack the heat (spiciness) that I remembered it having at the restaurant.   After I added the curry paste the soup had this lovely sweet and yet spicy taste.