Vegan sweet potato soup

Instructions

• Warm up the olive oil in a sizeable pot over a medium-high flame. Toss in the onion, carrot, celery, and bell pepper, and cook them until they soften, which should take about 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and bay leaf and continue cooking for an additional minute.
• Next, put the diced sweet potatoes and pour in the vegetable broth into the pot. Enhance the flavour with smoked paprika, coriander, thyme, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Place the lid on top of the pot, leaving it partially open, and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender enough to be pierced with a fork with ease.
• Blend the soup in the pot using an immersion blender until it is perfectly smooth. If preferred, you can cautiously move the soup to a standard blender to purée it. Remember to blend in two separate rounds to prevent overcrowding the blender and allow the soup to cool down for some minutes before blending to reduce the heat.
• Fold in the coconut milk after blending and adjust the seasoning with more salt and pepper as needed. Dish out the creamy soup into bowls while it's still hot.
• For an elegant finish, top each serving with a light drizzle of coconut milk, a sprinkling of smoked paprika, and some freshly chopped parsley, according to your preference.