Ingredients:
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 bell pepper, diced (doesn’t matter what colour)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 can lentils (washed) or 1 c2up of dried lentils
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 2-3 tbsp of curry powder or paste (feel free to add more if you want more spice)
• 1-2 tsp of turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika
• 900mL chicken or vegetable broth (One Tetra Pak is 900mL)
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• Salt and pepper to taste
Another great recipe that can last you for a few days. Ingredients are interchangeable, particularly with the vegetables.
If you’re not fond of sweet potatoes, you can just as easily use regular potatoes. I used dried brown lentils for this recipe, because not only are they are cheaper than canned, they also don’t take long to cook. However, using canned will end up with the same result. If you wanted to include more vegetables, adding some frozen corn would complement it nicely.
For protein, chickpeas could also be a great substitute for lentils. If you wanted some meat in this, go ahead and throw in some diced chicken breast. Adding an extra can of lentils (or any legume) would be a great way to increase the protein and make the soup thicker.
The curry powder will add some spice in the flavour, but if you want a little more heat, you could dice up a serrano chili pepper or add in some red pepper flakes. I used Madras curry powder, but other curry powders or paste will work just fine.
Directions:
In a large pot, heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil or butter. Sautée the onions, celery, carrots, garlic and ginger over medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
Once that mixture has had time to sweat, add your spices. Cook the spices for 5-10 minutes to ripen the flavour before adding in your liquids. You can add some salt at this point, maybe a teaspoon or so. If the spices get dry and start to burn, add little amounts of water.
After the spices have a chance to cook off, add in your liquids, including the pumpkin puree. The amount I put ends up being more of a stew consistency, so if you were aiming for more of a thin soup, you can add in more broth. Bring this up to a boil.
Once at a boil, add the sweet potatoes and lentils. The lentils will cook in no time, but the sweet potatoes should take 10-15 minutes. You can reduce the heat and just let this gently boil for a while to develop more flavour. Once the sweet potatoes are done, you are good to go. Before you prepare it, you might want to taste it again near the end to see if you need more salt (you probably will).
