Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup, recipe

The final deliciousness

I made a big mistake. I bought two mega sweet potatoes at the local green market without a plan with what exactly to do with them. Weighing in at one and half pounds each (!), I needed to come up with something. Meanwhile, while I was furiously Googling some sweet potato recipes, I was whipping up a batch of lentil soup. I made the lentil soup very simply, using the recipe on the package as a guide, here’s a version on that recipe from Goya’s website. And then I further adapted it by adding elements of this recipe from a blogger that was new to me,  Eat Yourself Skinny. She’s not food allergy blog related, but vegan and adapted this recipe from "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. The result was a superfood-packed soup, lightly spiced and utterly delicious.  

Here  is the original recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny:

2 Tbsp safflower oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Pinch of sea salt
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
7 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup baby spinach or kale

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat and saute onion for about 2 minutes, until soft.  Stir in tomatoes and ginger, cooking an addition 3 minutes.  Stir in turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne and salt and cook for 2 minutes, tasting to make sure its to your liking.  Next add the sweet potatoes, broth and lentils.  Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and cover, allowing to simmer for about 30 minutes.  Then add spinach (or kale) and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

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My adaptations were that I added the following to a few cups of already made plain green lentil soup. I found that this soup is very forgiving and you kind of can’t make a mistake.

1, 15 ounce can of organic diced tomatoes
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Pinch of sea salt
¾ of pound of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 large handful of ribboned curly kale


I toasted the spices in some olive oil, added the sweet potatoes and the can of tomatoes and gave that a good stir to blend the spices and then added the already made green lentil soup. I simmered all of the ingredients together until the sweet potatoes were soft. Here’s my special trick, only when I was ready to eat a portion did I add the kale and then let it cook for about 2-3 minutes until it was wilted but not soggy. I like my greens bright. Such a happy soup. Give it a try and let me know what you think.