Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup – #3 Sweet Potatoes 8 Ways

This soup is just perfect to enjoy on a cold snowy day like the one we’re having right now.   From Fall to Spring we serve soup as the first course of our dinners at The White Oak Inn and this is one of our favorites.    This soup is hearty, healthy and can easily be made vegetarian or vegan simply by using vegetable stock and leaving out the meat.    With the addition of cooked diced chicken, turkey or pork it becomes a meal-in-a-bowl.    You can go ahead and double or triple it if you’re feeding a crowd, or just want to have leftovers for busy weeknight dinners.   We never have enough left to freeze it, but I don’t see why you couldn’t do that too.   And like chili, this soup tastes even better on the second and third days.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups diced celery

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated or chopped fine
2 – 4 teaspoons curry powder or paste
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
3 cups canned diced tomatoes
4 cups diced sweet potatoes (1/2 – 3/4 inch cubes)
1 cup dry lentils
Salt to taste
Optional Additions  – 3 cups chopped fresh spinach or kale
2- 3 cups cooked meat cut in cubes or strips

DIRECTIONS
Put olive oil over a medium heat in a large heavy soup pot.   Add onions and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent.   Add garlic and ginger and stir for about a minute.   Add the curry powder or paste, the vegetable stock, diced tomatoes, sweet potatoes and lentils.   Simmer over a medium to low heat for about 20 minutes until lentils are cooked and sweet potatoes are soft.  Taste and add salt and additional curry powder if you feel it needs it.     At this point add spinach, kale or meat and heat gently until greens are wilted and meat is heated.   At any point during the cooking process you can add water if the soup seems to be getting too thick.

The White Oak Inn
Yvonne Martin, The Broad from Ohio