Pump up the Volume

I picked up a few Caribbean super sweet potatoes to make a Thai Sweet Potato Soup that Simon recommended to me yesterday. Either the "super" part is a marketing ploy or the rest of the flavors completely disguised the sweet potatoes because I did not actually taste sweet potato in a single bite. I modified the recipe a bit, adding shallots and garlic and a bit of turmeric (as well as a few more chilies), but more or less stayed true to the original.

I thought perhaps it would be too spicy for Shannon but she loved it. I even thought maybe I'd made it a little too spicy for myself; it definitely cleared the sinuses. I realized tonight just how potent dried red chili flakes are. I used 2 chopped dried red chilies and they equaled maybe a teaspoon of dried chili flakes. That hardly seems like a lot, but 2 dried peppers seems like a fair amount to me. Ah, volume.

I found it hard to resist adding coriander (both seeds and fresh) to this, I think it would've gave it more of an earthy lemon flavor. I couldn't resist adding a bit of lime juice and trying to do some fancy dots with some of the leftover coconut milk though. This would've been great with some chicken and rice for some texture contrast, but it's really good. He recommended it with my Buttermilk Biscuits, but I went the bread route. It's hard to go wrong with lemongrass and coconut milk!