This is a very simple Yam recipe that makes a brightly colored, rich tasting soup. A great comfort food on a chilly day!

Yams!

You could use Sweet Potatoes instead of Yams, but you would lose the color.

Ingredients

• 4 medium size yams. (peeled and cut into 1.5 inch thick chucks)
• 1 medium onion. (chopped)
• 1 tbsp oil.
• Approx 2 litres (2 quarts) of chicken soup stock. (I use two of those 950 ml chicken soup stock tetra-packs)
• 1 tbsp of Maple Syrup.
• Optional: sour cream & chives or seasoned croutons.

Preparation

• Chop the onion and saute in a small pan with the oil.
• Peel and chop yams (cut into 1.5 inch thick chucks) then place in a large soup pot.
• Add just enough water to cover the yams and then cover and bring to boil.
• Reduce heat and let simmer until yams are soft, but not too mushy.
• Drain the “yam water”, leaving the yams in the soup pot.
• Add the chicken stock and the sauteed onions to the soup pot.
• Simmer soup mixture for an hour or so, then set aside and let it cool down a bit.
• Once cooler, use a hand blender to blend the soup.
• Once it looks nice and smooth and a bright orange color (a bit like tomato soup), add the syrup and return to heat until you’re ready to serve.
• Top with a dollop of sour cream and chives or seasoned croutons when ready to serve.

* This recipe makes a lot of soup, so cut the recipe in half for serving less than four.

** It freezes well too!

Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are starchier and drier. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae family. Sweet Potatoes, in parts of the world called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea family. See Yam on Wikipedia