Ingredients

Soup

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• 200g yam. Peeled and diced
• 500ml vegetable or chicken stock or water
• 100g canned tomatoes (including juice)
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 100g peanuts ground (in a food processor or mortar and pestle or use peanut butter)
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• Maldon salt and ground pepper
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped

To Serve

• Deep fried strips of Plantain
• 6 tiger prawns, peeled
• 2 tsp chili oil
• Bread of your choice

Method

1. Soup: Sauté the onion in the oil in a saucepan over a moderate heat, until it is soft (1-2 minutes). Add the garlic, cumin powder and chili powder, cook them for 1 minute. Add the carrots, and yam, coat them in the spices, then add the tomatoes and stock and leave it to simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the peanuts, caster sugar and season it with a little salt an pepper. Leave the soup ingredients to cool slightly. When cooled puree the soup in a food processor or liquidieser until smooth, if it is to thick add a little more water or stock.
2. To Serve: Return the soup to the saucepan, stir in the spring onions and reheat it until hot. Toss the prawns in the olive oil season it with a little salt and pepper and cook them under the grill or in a grill pan for a couple of minutes until pink and cooked. Distribute the soup among 6 bowls and place a prawn in the centre of each one, drizzle a little chili oil around each soup and garnish with a few strips of plantain. Serve hot with bread of your choice (the bread pictured in the photograph is grilled pita bread).