Another winner from CI's Best International Recipe, I first made this soup in November---memorably, because that was the day our sink disposal clogged horribly as I was washing the many sweet potato peelings down it---without feeling much affection towards it. It was okay but had a taste in the background that I wasn't a huge fan of. I thought I'd try it again this weekend for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised at how much better it turned out with just a couple of changes.
All I had in my "allium basket" (where I keep onions, shallots, and garlic) today were shallots, so I had to sub two medium in place of half an onion. (I was halving the recipe. As an aside, I have gotten so much better at doing this: if the consequences of messing up would be enormous and/or I'm feeling like it's a blonde day, I'll write out the new proportions in pencil or on a separate sheet of paper before I start cooking, but usually I do it in my head and have no problem remembering that I am changing the amounts. That used to be SO not the case.) I sauteed the shallots with a little salt and brown sugar just til soft, then added a large minced clove of garlic with coriander and and a pinch cayenne (not even enough that I could taste it). Once that's fragrant, you add 1 3/4 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water, plus a mere 1 1/2 Tbsp. of peanut butter (the flavor comes through nevertheless) and a 1-lb. sweet potato, quartered and sliced thin. This is supposed to simmer on low, partially covered, for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, but I apparently sliced them thinner than CI did---with a rare lack of precision, they didn't specify slice width down to 1/8 of an inch, so I was guessing what they meant by "thin"---so this soup was almost a 30-minute ordeal all told. I pureed it in two batches and added a little fresh ground pepper and cinnamon, which I find irresistible in all things sweet potato, and much more agreeble than the suggested cilantro. This was a tasty, and quite filling, sweet potato soup.
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