Chicken Peanut Soup with Mashed Yams

Winter is dragging on.  This week, we needed a dinner to warm us up, just to get us through.  Soup was the perfect choice, but sometimes, it needs a little something extra.  I thought, how about mashed potatoes?  Better yet, how about buttered, mashed sweet potatoes?  With every spoonful, you can get a little bit of the velvety soup and a little bit of the rich, sweet yams.  Perfection on a spoon!

Begin by making the mashed yams.  I happened to have the largest yam I've ever seen in my pantry, but if you have normal sized ones, I would use two.

Chop them up into nice small (about 1") pieces so they cook quickly.

Take a sauce pan and add a teaspoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil

before adding the yams. 

Cook for about 15 minutes, until each piece is nice and soft, easily pierced with a fork.  I'm salivating writing this, which is odd, because up until about six months ago, I thought I hated yams.  Turns out, I'm embarrassed to admit, I hadn't really tried them.  It all started one night with savory sweet potato fries and these days, I'm watering my keyboard while blogging about sweet potatoes late at night...

When the yams are nice and soft, drain them and then add 1/3 cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of butter to the pan.

Dump the yams back in, skin and all.  If you don't like the texture the skins add, you should peel the yam before you cut it up, so hopefully you aren't reading this sentence, mid preparation, for the first time.

Add salt, to taste.  That looks like an empty grinder doesn't it?  I must have fetched a new one to finish the recipe, but that just looks goofy.  My apologies.  Cover up the yams to keep them warm and set the pan aside.

The base of the soup is 4 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup of shredded chicken.  I happen to have this chicken in my freezer from the last time I made stock and it is perfect for this application, but you can also boil some chicken breasts or use the meat from a rotisserie chicken.

We also need lots of vegetables.  I used 2 carrots, 1/2 cup of roasted red bell peppers, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 an onion, 3 green onions, 2 stalks of celery and a bunch of cilantro.

I cut the carrots into fourths lengthwise and then sliced.

The green onions were sliced,

as was the celery.

The cilantro was roughly chopped.

The garlic minced and the onion diced.

Such pretty colors, and the kitchen should now smell wonderful.

To start the soup, place the chicken stock and chicken into an enameled roasting pan.  Mine was frozen, so I let it come to a simmer

before adding the carrots. 

Stir this all together and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

Once the carrots are tender, add one 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with their juice.

Next, add the celery,

onion,

green onions,

roasted pepper,

and garlic.

For a little extra kick, I like to add about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  Omit or adjust this amount depending on how much heat you want in the soup.

Season with salt (ah, see the new salt grinder) and pepper and let simmer for another 20 minutes.

Now, for the surprise ingredient.  You should recognize this label, if your choosy....  Which I am.

I know, it sounds crazy, but it makes the soup. 

You want to add one big dollop, about 1/3 a cup, of creamy peanut butter and stir until it is nice and smooth.

Finally, add about three quarters of the cilantro, reserving the remainder for garnish.

Ladle some soup into a bowl

and then, using an ice cream scoop, add a scoop of the mashed yams.  Garnish with the remaining cilantro. 

The trick is to get a little bit of the buttery mashed yams and a little bit of the soup in each bite.  It takes practice to measure it out just right.  You might have to have several bowls! Enjoy!

Chicken Peanut Soup with Mashed Yams
serves: 4  (Recipe also on Tasty Kitchen)

• 2 medium yams, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 t salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 T butter
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt
• pepper
  
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  
• 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped and divided
  

Begin by preparing the mashed yams. Add a teaspoon of salt to a pan of boiling water before adding the yams.  Cook for 15 minutes, until yams are easily pierced with a fork, and then drain.  Add milk and butter to the pan with the yams and mash.  Add salt, to taste.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.

For the soup, heat the chicken stock and shredded chicken to a simmer in a large enameled roasting pan or stock pot.  Add the carrots and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

Once the carrots are tender, add diced tomatoes with their juice, celery, onions, green onions, roasted pepper and garlic.  Add red pepper flakes to taste.Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for another 20 minutes. 

Add peanut butter to the pan and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat and add three quarters of the cilantro.  Ladle soup into a bowl and add a scoop of mashed yams.  Garnish with remaining cilantro.