Soup Swap 2008
Jan 16th, 2008 by ianandoana
I stumbled on the National Soup Swap Day blog a few weeks ago and was immediately intrigued. We’ve had some cold, cold weather in Vancouver lately and no one likes never-ending leftovers, so hosting a Soup Swap seemed like a great idea. The Soup Swap people have decreed Wednesday January 23rd as THE day, but we thought we’d host it a bit earlier on a Sunday afternoon.
I sent out an email, far and wide, inviting people to make their favourite soup, pack it into six one-quart containers and freeze the six containers before bringing them over.
We were very surprised when more than 20 people showed up, with 12 different soups! As you can see, our little coffee table could barely hold it all:
Some people went all out, with great stories behind their soups and recipes taped onto the containers. Some soups went really fast, but I wasn’t organized enough to have prizes for the popular ones. Everyone went home with a mini loaf of bread, and six different containers of soup for their freezer (and tummies! We’ve already enjoyed one of the soups - a delicious chicken tomato chickpea soup):
The nice Soup Swap blog people (person?) posted about our Soup Swap here. We didn’t mean to have a sneaky Soup Swap - just thought it’d be best to start small and see how it goes.
Although it was really well attended, quite a few people couldn’t make it, but I hope the idea takes off and maybe other people will want to host a Soup Swap, too. Although she couldn’t make it, Penny was kind enough to email her favourite recipe:
Peanut Sweet Potato Stew
4 large onions
1-4 med hot dried or fresh pepper (or 4 small thai chilis fresh not dried)
1 tablespoon cumin and coriander
pinch cloves
2-4 tsp salt
2 tsp or more of fresh garlic and ginger
2 litres of water
1 litre tomatoes crushed
3- 5 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup peanut butter
Sautee onion in oil for 10- 15 min. Add cumin, coriander, cloves, salt. Cook a few more minutes. Add ginger and garlic. Cook a few more minutes. Add remaiing ingredients and simmer for 2 hours. (hint-before you add the PB, mix it with some hot water so it is runny. This way it will mix better with the stew and not clump to the bottom and burn). Use a big soup pot, or 2 medium-sized ones, so you can stir it well.
Sounds yummy - can’t wait to try it!