Sweet Potato Soup

This warm and light sweet potato soup with carrots, cauliflower, red lentils, and red peppers was the perfect lunch dish now the winds are suddenly blowing cooler here and we are sleeping cozy under our duvets and wearing long sleeves. I haven't thought about hot soup for a while and this refreshing and tasty soup was a welcome return. The broth is very delicate, mostly water with bouillon and the spices included garlic, ginger, cumin and coriander.

I have been guilty of ignoring the sweet potato, despite its excellent nutritional reputation, because it makes me think of overly sweet dishes. This soup really showed off the potato's slightly sweet taste, along with fellow sweeties: carrots and red peppers. The white crunch of tiny cauliflower florettes provided a nice visual and textural contrast and topping the soup with snipped cilantro beautifully highlighted the delicate spices.

Sweet Potato Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1' piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 med. sweet potato, peeled and cubed
5 small thin carrots, sliced
1 med. red pepper, seeded and sliced into 1 " slivers
1 vegetable bouillon (I used Massel Vegetarian Chicken, an Australian brand)
4 cups water
2 tbsp red lentils
1/2 cup tiny cauliflower florettes
salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onion, covered, for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, sweet potato, carrots, and red pepper and cook for 4 minutes longer, covered. Dissolve the bouillon in 3/4 cup hot water and add to the other ingredients, along with the balance of the water. Add the red lentils and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt & pepper and cauliflower and cook an additional 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Check seasoning and serve with chopped cilantro.