Sweet Potato Lentil Stoup

Borrowing a Rachel Ray term, this is more like a "stoup" (soup/stew). Soup is difficult for my two year old to eat and since this cooks up nice and thick, I like to serve it over rice. In our house it's called "orange rice" - and, for whatever reason, the kid loves it! So do the adults.

Sweet Potato Lentil Stoup

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or olive oil

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

3/4 cup red lentils or yellow split peas

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon red curry paste or 1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon tomato paste

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

plain yogurt for garnish

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion in the pot. Sprinkle with salt and stir to cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a minute.

2. Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, tomato paste, curry paste, and vegetable broth into the pot with the apple and vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes (or longer if you are using split peas). Adjust seasoning as necessary.

3. Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot, or just leave as is.

4. Return the pureed soup to the cooking pot. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. Add water as needed to thin the soup to your preferred consistency. Serve with yogurt for garnish.

*Note: if it gets thick and the lentils are still "al dente", add boiling water a half cup at a time and cook until tender. You may need to adjust the seasoning.