Rod Benson, 7 June 2026
It’s early winter in Sydney, and the end of a busy weekend for us, and there were some potatoes and crème fraiche left over from a dinner party last night. So I cooked up this wonderful soup based on a taro root and peanut soup recipe in Madelaine Váquez Gálvez & Imogene Tondre, Cuba: The Cookbook (London: Phaidon, 2018), page 90. We ate it while watching the Masterchef Australia season 18 episode featuring the pie and ice cream challenge. Good times.
I like the taste of the potato skins in this soup, but you can peel the potatoes if you wish.
Serves 6
Ingredients
600g potatoes (Désirée or Spunta if available), cut into 2.5cm pieces
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2.5cm ginger root, coarsely grated
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon black pepper, ground
2 tablespoons passata or tomato sauce
100ml white wine
½ cup salted and roasted peanuts
100g crème fraiche
milk, to taste
chives, finely chopped, for garnish
Method
Place the potatoes and salt in a medium saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid, and return the potatoes to the saucepan.
In a medium frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, and garlic and sauté until softened but not browned, about three minutes.
Add the four spices and the passata and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces to a paste. Add the spice mixture to the potatoes, deglaze the pan with the wine, and add the wine mixture to the potatoes.
Add the peanuts, pour in enough of the reserved cooking liquid to cover the ingredients, and simmer for five minutes.
Add the crème fraiche and stir to combine. Using a stick mix, blend to a fine consistency, adding a little milk if the mixture is too thick. Remove saucepan from heat.
Garnish with chives and serve immediately, accompanied by buttered sourdough toast.
iDigress 