Power Immunity Booster - Watercress, sweet potato and coconut cream soup

This soup has to be one of the most powerful immunity booster remipes of mine.

Weight for weight, watercress contains more vitamin C than an orange, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach and more folate than bananas. The health benefits of watercress include providing nutrition, boosting immunity, cancer preventive and thyroid support (it helps you have more energy and boost your metabolism). This soup enables you to eat so much watercress with pleasure since the slightly bitter tangy taste of watercress beautifully complements with the sweetness of coconut cream and sweet potatoes.

Not only are sweet potatoes a treat for you due to the higher amount of slow-digesting carbs they contain (compared to regular potatoes), but they also help strengthen immune system function. Sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene as well as vitamin C, two nutrients known to help strengthen immune response. This dynamic nutrient duo can be found in other good food choices such as oranges, grapefruits and tomatoes.

Coconut cream is high in fatty acids that are effective fighters against viruses that cause flu, hepatitis C, measles, herpes, AIDS etc. They also kill bacteria that cause throat infections, food poisoning, pneumonia, urinary tract infections etc. Having fatty acids doesn't mean it'll make you fat. Most of the fatty acids in coconut cream are fat-burning, which is one of the greatest health benefits of coconut.

Serve 4

Ingredients

30 g coconut oil

1 onion, finely chopped

250 g sweet potato, diced

600 ml water

1 kg watercress, trimmed and chopped

125 ml light coconut cream

125 ml light coconut milk

Method

Melt coconut oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Cover the pan and cook over low heat until the onion is soften but not browned.

Add the sweet potato and water and simmer for 12 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender.

Add the watercress and cook for 1 minute (keep them bright dark green). Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut cream and milk. Blend with a Bamix until smooth.

Reheat gently without boiling and serve.