Oh my gosh, I loved this soup!! You have to try it. Perfect for fall/winter. And healthy - just don't add all the butter, or use olive oil instead. Even with the butter it's still really healthy. Changes: I thought recipe said THREE sweet potatoes and TWO carrots, so I did that. I ended up loving all the sweet potatoes in it though. Didn't have any apples, so that was omitted. Didn't have chili powder, so that was omitted. Used smoked paprika instead of regular - YUM. Used water with chicken bouillon instead of vegetable broth. Added some chopped sauteed chicken so Stephen would feel like it was a complete meal :) And finally, I did not puree it. I put a little in the blender to try it and didn't like the texture. I prefer chunks.
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 cups vegetable broth
plain yogurt
Directions
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. Stir and cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, 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.
Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. 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.
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.
Footnotes
Cook's Note
This soup is also great served with crumbled feta cheese instead of yogurt as garnish.
