Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup
Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup Recipe

“Winter in Mumbai” is probably the biggest oxymoron of all. Here in Mumbai, we get our woolies out when the mercury touches
20o Celsius. After the wretched October heat, we start looking forward to November, which brings with it cool and pleasant climate. And what better food than soups to welcome the winter, right? I am a big…BIG soup fan. But I don’t make much soup at home; primarily because I still have this silly notion that soup will not be filling enough for Devansh; that I will need to give him something solid soon after he has his soup. I decided to test my preconceived notion by making a sweet potato soup, which I wanted to make for quite a while now.

Sweet potatoes are definitely one of the top superfoods as they are nutrient-rich—calcium, potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, to name a “few” nutrients. But I wanted use something more than only sweet potatoes to make the soup interesting. I thought of using carrots—another healthy vegetable with high nutritional value. I searched for sweet potato and carrot soup recipes on the Internet; there were plenty to choose from. I liked one particular recipe that used curry powder to make the soup spicy. Of course, since I was making this soup for a toddler, I couldn’t make it too spicy. I decided to use khada masala instead of using a readymade masala. The original recipe requires you to bring the mixture to a boil and then cook for another 20 minutes. I really hate babysitting my food for long, so I decided to use a pressure cooker. What you see below is a recipe modified as per my requirements, namely, cooking healthy food for a toddler and a shortcut phataphat method. ;-) You can view the original recipe here.

I fed Devansh this sweet potato and carrot soup in the evening. He ate all of this thick soup, so I’m guessing he liked it. I’m saying “guessing” because he ate half his soup without a fuss; for the remaining half Kalpesh and I had to entertain him with some kiddie videos on iPad. This has become a routine with all his meals lately. Smart Alec has realized that we’ll do anything to entertain him so that he finishes his meal. He is not very interested in TV otherwise; he will definitely not watch it when I want to get some work done and want him out of my hair for some time. But come meal time, he wants to watch some cartoon on TV or some video of a nursery rhyme on YouTube…”Wheels on a bus go lound and lound…” 8 out of 10 times. It is not enough to just play the cartoons or videos, we have to give running commentary. “Haww…look Nobita is going into run into Gian now…MY GOD!!” Only if the commentary is interspersed with adequate number of gasps and exclamations will the kiddo finish his meal. But finish the soup he did. Thank heavens…how life changes as your kid grows up. “My son eats everything I feed him without a fuss”, I used to boast once upon a time…SIGH…Can’t wait to see how things will be when he grows up to be a teenager. (Don’t know how to insert “rolling my eyes” smiley…)Although I made this soup for Devansh, who is now a toddler, I can recommend this soup even for younger babies. You can reduce the quantity of spices used if you want. As I’ve mentioned in my recipe, you can even remove the spices (khada masala) from the mixture before blending it. This will just add flavor without making it spicy. To enhance flavor, I used to add jeera powder (powdered cumin seeds) in Devansh’s food even when he had just started having solids. If you are not sure as to when is the right time to introduce spices in your baby’s diet, you might find this link very useful.

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Ingredients
Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Ingredients

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup Recipe

Print Recipe
Are you looking for healthy soup recipes for babies and toddlers? Try this nutrient-rich sweet potato and carrot soup recipe.
Author Mukta Tikekar

Ingredients

  • 1 medium-sized sweet potato
  • 2-3 carrots
  • Half small-sized onion
  • Small piece of cinnamon approx. half cm
  • 2-3 black peppercorns
  • Half tsp cumin seeds
  • 1-2 cloves
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • Chop sweet potato and carrots into small pieces. (Chopped sweet potato and chopped carrots should be of equal quantity. So you can decide how many carrots you need depending on the size of the carrots.)
  • Chop the onion finely. (Onion shouldn’t overpower the flavor of the soup. So it’s better to use a small onion, that too half.)
  • Coarsely grind the cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, and peppercorns using a pestle. Decide on the number of peppercorns and cloves depending on your child’s age. If you haven’t introduced spices in your baby’s diet yet, you can add the spices without grinding them. You can later remove them from the mixture before blending it in a blender/mixer. You won’t be able to remove the cumin seeds of course.
  • Heat a small pressure cooker and add olive oil.
  • Add the ground spices, sauté for 10-15 seconds, and then add chopped onion.
  • Sauté till the onion turns soft. (This won’t take more than 4-5 minutes since we’re using very little onion.)
  • Add chopped sweet potato and carrots, and sauté for a minute.
  • Add salt and give the mixture a good stir. (Note: It is recommended to avoid adding salt in babies’ food till they turn one. However, in my case I found that Devansh just wouldn’t eat his food without salt. Hence, I started adding little bit of salt in his food. You can decide whether you want to add salt or not after talking to your child’s pediatrician.)
  • Add one cup water and then cover the lid of the cooker.
  • Cook the mixture on medium-high heat till the first whistle, and then lower the flame.
  • Turn off heat after the second whistle.
  • Allow the mixture to cool, and then blend it to a smooth paste in a mixer. (If you’re not keen on adding spices in your baby’s diet, you can remove the peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves before blending the mixture. Cumin seeds should be fine but they need to powdered finely, so it’s better to use jeera powder instead of whole cumin seeds. As I’ve mentioned above, I had started adding powdered cumin seeds in Devansh’s food since he was 6-7 months old. Consult your child’s pediatrician if you are not sure.)
  • Heat the soup before serving it. (I wanted to feed Devansh thick soup so I didn’t add any water. If you want, you can add some water or even milk to the soup at the time of heating it again.)

15 thoughts on “Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup”

  1. Hi mukta,
    My daughter will turn 7 months of age in next couple of days. I have gone through your blog receipes and they are very informative.
    But I need some help from you.
    I would be thankful to you, if you could provide me the list of healthy breakfast and dinner receipes for 7 months old babies.
    My daughter is little underweight side. I am very concerned for her, so I need food ideas for her.

    Thanks…..

    Reply
  2. Hi Meena. Eggs and bananas are good for increasing weight. Also adding homemade ghee to food helps. Make sure your baby's paed has given you a go-ahead for egg before feeding it to her. I don't know if you are still breastfeeding your baby but if you continue to BF her along with meals, she will get the required nutrients through BM.

    For b'fast you can give her: Ragi Porridge, Spinach Poha, Fried bananas, Vegetable Upma.

    For dinner you can give her: Moong daal khichdi, Dalia, Moong Daal-Rice

    Ensure that she has heavy dinner, so make whatever she likes the most. Devnash used to and still likes moong-daal rice so I used to make that for dinner practically everyday.

    I didn't introduce cow/buffalo milk in Devansh's diet till he turned one. But if you have and your daughter has no problem digesting it, you can give her sheera or kheers as one the meals during the day. Hope this helps. :)

    Reply
  3. Thanks mukta for giving suggestions. :)
    I give my daughter eggs and banana. Also I make broken wheat sheera and sometimes dalia. She has constipation and many times she pushes hard to pass the bowel. Suggest me some remedies.
    Even I Haven't introduced cow's milk in her diet yet.
    Thanks…

    Reply
  4. Meena here again… I forgot to mention few more points.
    I breastfeed my daughter along with meals. I have introduced vegetables in his khichdi and dalia. She is now 6 months 3 weeks old.
    Is it fine to give her ragi porridge now?
    For babies, generally which rice should we use? I give her long grain and basmati rice. Is it heavy for baby to digest?

    Reply
  5. Meena here again… I forgot to mention few more points.
    I breastfeed my daughter along with meals. I have introduced vegetables in his khichdi and dalia. She is now 6 months 3 weeks old.
    Is it fine to give her ragi porridge now?
    For babies, generally which rice should we use? I give her long grain and basmati rice. Is it heavy for baby to digest?

    Reply
  6. Yes Meena, you can give her ragi porridge (one with water, not milk). Rice go for one that's not too polished, if you can buy organic nothing like it. If you're using regular one then after washing it thoroughly soak it in water for 10 minutes to get rid of water soluble pesticides. Avoid basmati for your baby, it's too polished and therefore less nutritious. I used to give Devansh Kolam rice but in hindsight I feel I should have opted for brown rice it's more nutritious.

    Reply
  7. Please admin, my baby is going to be 7 months February 8, and I am in sierra Leone. Please help me with breakfast, lunch and dinner… Want my son to be healthy and he is not breastfeeding anymore.

    Reply
    • Hi. Give your LO food that’ll cover all food groups: grains, veggies/fruits, fats, and proteins.

      For b’fast you can give your LO: Mashed banana, sweet potato, ragi, poha, or oats porridge (cooked in water not milk, you can add BM or formula to the cooked porridge), upma (you can add mashed veggies to upma)

      For lunch you can give dalia, dal-rice, khichdi. Add veggies in this as well. Some people don’t recommend giving wheat to babies early. It was one of the suggested foods in the chart I got, so I had given and Devansh was able to digest it alright.

      For evening snack, you can given mashed fruit like apple, pear, soup of your choice (check soup recipes on my blog), pureed carrots, peas.

      For dinner again khichdi, dal-rice variation. Figure out what your LO likes and give that to him/her as dinner because dinner should be heavy if you want your LO to sleep properly.

      Give him formula till one year since he isn’t breastfeeding now.

      Reply
    • Hi Joy. What does her pediatrician have to say about her weight? Get him/her to rule out any underlying health concern and if s/he says all is fine don’t worry about the weight too much if your daughter’s active. Include bananas and eggs in her diet as these foods will help with weight gain. We Indians use clarified butter (ghee) in our cooking, see if you can use that while cooking for your daughter. Homemade ghee is healthy but you must use it in moderation. Give her breast milk or formula along with solids till she is one at least. Ensure she has meals at regular intervals and include food from all food groups.

      Nuts/dry fruits also are good for weight gain and can be given in powdered form but please check with your pediatrician if you can start giving now as your daughter is less than one. Some kids seem to have no problem having it early. While you’re giving her ghee, banana, eggs etc just monitor that she’s able to digest all the heavy food. Good luck. :)

      Reply

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