Curried lentil and sweet potato soup
Lentils and sweet potato simmered with curry spices and coconut milk into a golden, gently spiced soup that fills you up for about two dollars.
- 55 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.33 a serving
- 420 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 sweet potato, about 1 lb, peeled and diced
- 1 cup lentils, brown or green, rinsed
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 3 vegetable bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 can light coconut milk
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 5 cups water
Each serving has about 420 calories, 16 g protein, 57 g carbs and 16 g fat, and costs about $2.33 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the garlic, the ginger, and and dice the sweet potato. Rinse the lentils and pick out any tiny stones.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic, ginger, curry powder and cumin for 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Warming the curry powder in the oil is what makes it taste rich instead of dusty.Add the sweet potato, lentils, tomatoes, water and bouillon cubes and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, set the and for 30 minutes, until the lentils and sweet potato are soft.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 30 min
Stir in the coconut milk and spinach and cook for 2 minutes, until the spinach .
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Turn off the heat, squeeze in the lime, taste for salt, and serve with cilantro.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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