Sweet and Spicy Peanut Soup

This is a great version of a west African soup called "groundut stew".  Traditionally, it is made with peanuts (known in Africa as groundnuts), tomatoes, a variety of vegetables and chicken and served over rice, couscous, millet or sweet potatoes.  This version takes almost all of those components and combines them into an extremely well balanced sweet (honey, carrot, sweet potato) and spicy (black pepper and cayenne pepper) soup.  Feel free to add cooked and diced chicken if desired and serve it over rice or couscous as suggested above.  I kept this one vegetarian but I may try it with chicken next time!  The peanut butter, swirled in at the end, gives this soup a nutty and creamy texture.  Enjoy!

Sweet and Spicy Peanut Soup (adapted from "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger)

1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. black pepper
2 t. salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. ground ginger
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
6 c. low sodium vegetable broth
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes with their juice
2/3 c. creamy natural peanut butter
2 t. honey
3 green onions, sliced, for garnish

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add the cayenne, black pepper, salt, garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute more.  Stir in the sweet potato, broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or in a regular blender in two batches and return to the soup pot.  Add the peanut butter and honey and stir over low heat until the peanut butter melts.  Serve warm garnished with scallions.

6 servings (275 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com