Carrot Ginger Lime Soup with Sweet Potato Hummus (& What to do with leftover roasted sweet potatoes)

Some people hate leftovers. (hi Mom!)

Personally, I love them. I enjoy freshly cooked food, but I love not cooking after work even more.

This is how to re-purpose leftovers into something new. The best of both worlds?

Pre-roasted sweet potatoes can be integrated into different meals.

They can easily be added to your salad of the week, but for something a bit more different, add them into a curry-flavoured sweet potato hummus for a filling dip or sandwich spread. Even though I added lemon juice to Gena’s recipe, I found it lacking the tang and bite I associate with traditional hummus. In retrospect I probably should have added some garlic, too. Still a nice dip for crackers and veggies and it travelled well while snowshoeing.

Tired of hummus leftovers? Run out of crackers and veggies? Already added it to your sandwich/wrap?  Trust me, there was a time when I couldn’t finish a batch of hummus within a week, so I understand. But now, I make a batch nearly every week. Carrots and hummus were my dessert of choice on my sweetener-free challenge.

In a land of plenty (and deficiency), you become creative. We had run out of roasted sweet potatoes but still wanted to make this carrot ginger lime soup. Of course, the reason we ran out of sweet potatoes is because I put them in the sweet potato hummus. So why not use the sweet potato hummus instead of the sweet potato? My only qualms about Tess’ original recipe for the soup is that it isn’t a meal-in-a-bowl. I prefer filling soups. Hummus, with the additional beans and tahini, adds the much needed protein and fat. A few crumbled Mary’s crackers and I had a delicious meal. One I wanted to remake hummus just to slurp the soup again when I returned home. Because it was that good and I wanted a photo to share, too.

Either way you make it, this is a simple soup. Boil nondairy milk with carrots until they are soft. Bake your sweet potato or go all out and make some sweet potato hummus. Then combine it along with ginger and lime in your blender. The cilantro topping is completely optional. Creamy, flavourful. A new way to enjoy hummus. Boo-yah! 🙂

Here are some other carrot soups that I’ve had my eye on:

Roasted Carrot and Lentil Soup with Harissa and Mint
Carrot and Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Miso and Thyme
Moroccan Carrot Soup
Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon
Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame at Smitten Kitchen
Carrot Soup with Tahini and Crisped Chickpeas at Smitten Kitchen
Carrot and Tahini Soup at Joanne Eats Well With Others
Carrot Ginger Soup with Tahini at Cara’s Cravings
Creamy Orange Sunshine Soup (Carrot/Orange/Ginger/Cashew) at Oh She Glows
Curried Carrot Parsnip Soup at Eating Appalachia

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays, to this week’s Weekend Wellness, to this month’s Credit Crunch Munch hosted by Helen and Camilla, to this month’s No Croutons Required with soups/salads featuring leftovers and to this month’s Herbs on Saturday.

Carrot Ginger Lime  Soup with Sweet Potato Hummus
Adapted from Radiance 4 Life (recipe also posted here)

1 cup sweet potato hummus (see below) or 1-2 cups sweet potato, chopped (and consider adding 1 tbsp tahini, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, 1/4 tsp curry powder, 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas for a more filling soup)
2.5 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
2-3 cups nondairy milk (plain and unsweetened – I have used soy and almond milk with good results)
2 tbsp ginger root
1 tbsp fresh lime juice (half a lime)
2 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1.25 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Make the sweet potato hummus or bake the sweet potato if you haven’t already done so (400F for 25-30 minutes). Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium pot, place the carrots in 2 cups of the nondairy milk. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the carrots are tender, around 20 minutes.

3. Place the sweet potato hummus (or baked sweet potato) in a blender along with the carrots and milk. Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the cilantro). Blend well, until very smooth. Add additional nondairy milk until you obtain the consistency you desire. If desired, top with cilantro prior to serving.

Serves 4.

Sweet Potato Hummus
Adapted from Choosing Raw

1 cup leftover baked sweet potato
2 cups cooked chickpeas, with reserved cooking liquid
1 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp tahini
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp salt, or salt to taste (depends on saltiness of your beans)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
garlic cloves, consider adding to taste

1. Warm up your chickpeas. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add reserved bean cooking liquid to achieve desired consistency.

Makes 3 cups.