Spicy Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup

This is a wonderful soup with a bit of spice and a hint of sweetness from the sweet potatoes. You can make it in the instant pot or the stove but I like to can it so I have several pints in the pantry for quick meals.

​INGREDIENTS (6 servings)

• 2 lbs sweet potato
• 1 cup diced onion (white or yellow)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 15.5 oz canned chickpeas  or canned navy beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 can green chilies
• 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
• 2 TBSP harissa paste ( I used garlic chili paste) adjust to your tastes
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• fresh cilantro leaves for topping

OPTIONAL EXRAS

• crushed red pepper flakes
• ground cinnamon
• lime wedges

INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS 

• Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Dice onion and mince garlic. Drain and rinse chickpeas and set all your veggies aside separately.
• Switch Instant Pot to SAUTE function and add a little cooking oil to the inner pot. Once hot, sauté onions until slightly tender, adding garlic at the very end and mixing well. 
• Turn OFF Instant Pot and add vegetable broth. Mix well or scrape to deglaze the pot and make sure no browned bits of onion are left stuck to the bottom.
• Add sweet potato cubes, chickpeas, harissa paste, cumin, salt, and pepper.
• Lock lid with valve in the sealing position. Set to 3 minutes HIGH pressure. Soup may take 15-18 minutes to come to pressure before starting 3 min cook time. When the IP beeps, allow to naturally depressurize for 5 minutes then quick release the remaining pressure by flipping valve to venting position.
• Allow a spoonful or so to cool and give it a taste! Adjust spice level to taste (I added extra harissa and red pepper flakes) and add any additional seasoning desired.
• Spoon into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro and lime wedges that can be squeezed into the soup for a burst of citrus flavor! A little cinnamon, Greek yogurt, or coconut milk also make tasty additions to this soup.  Enjoy!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESSURE CANNING
This is what you put into each pint jar or double if you are using quart jars. I put the ingredients for each jar in a bowl mix then put into the jar. The jars are room temperature and ingredients are not cooked. 

Recipe for 1 pint jar:
135g chopped 3/4 inch pieces of sweet potatoes
35g chopped onions
12g dry great northern beans
23g green chilies (can has 198g)

• The jars will be almost full (look at the picture below)
• Add 1/8 -1/4 tsp garlic chili paste to each jar on top of ingredient

• Make as many jars as you like adding the exact same ingredients.
• Heat chicken stock and top all of the jars to 1 1/4 inch head space
• Place in pressure canner and heat the jars
• Once the jars are hot remove one at a time, wipe the rims with warm vinegar and place the lid and ring on. Put back into the canner. Repeat on each jar.
• Pressure can 1 hour 15 minutes

When I open the jars to serve I used my stick hand blender and give the soup a few blends to cream the potatoes. It may be thick, adjust the taste with extra salt, chili or what ever you like. Add a bit of Greek yogurt, or coconut milk if you need to thin it down.