New Year - Winter Soup

It's a New Year on the calendar but still mid-winter outside. This warming soup will sustain the seasonal glow into 2026!

1/1/20262 min read

Chinese medicine advises that we vary our food and drink in accordance with the seasons and our state of health. Winter indicates warming and sustaining fare – roasted root vegetables, soups and stews and food infused with warming herbs and spices – ginger, cinnamon and cumin.

Years ago, I found this recipe online, and it has become a seasonal favourite – it probably has a proper name but for us it’s just Winter Soup.

1.25 kg sweet potato
1 large onion, finely chopped.
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
¼ cup fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
6 cups vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk.

Bake the sweet potatoes until soft (180 degrees, around 40 minutes, depending on the size of the tubers). Prick the skins before baking with a knife or cocktail stick or you may have an explosion!
Scrape out the flesh into a bowl and set aside.
Place the oil in a large pot and heat – I often mix in a splash of rapeseed oil as the Sesame oil smokes quite quickly. Gently fry the onions, garlic and ginger until the onions soften.
Add the spices and cook for a further minute.
Add the sweet potato and vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer and let the flavours combine for 20-30 minutes.
Use a hand blender to smooth out the soup and add the coconut milk.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve!

Recipes such as this can become part of your annual store cupboard, to keep you and your family happy and healthy throughout the year!

What you eat and drink can often make a big difference to how well you feel. Treatment according to Chinese medicine principles will often include some dietary pointers. To discuss whether tweaking your diet could help you feel better, get in touch to book an appointment at Four Gates Acupuncture.

Postscript: Wanting to give credit where credit is due, I’ve tried to track down the website where I originally found this recipe. Unfortunately, my (very faded) printout doesn’t record the site address. It was over ten years ago, but I think it might have been the good people at Mountain Rose Herbs (https://mountainroseherbs.com/). They’re in the US – which might explain some of the units in the recipe…