Sick day soup

Ah, the late-winter cold. Charming cousin to the Autumn and Christmas colds I’ve had this year. Despite me taking better care of myself than ever, a little bit of stress and enough germs in the workplace had me down for the weekend, plus yesterday. I felt indifferent to most food, but I wanted to make something healthy and filling, that wouldn’t upset my tummy.

Enter this soup. It’s packed with protein and carotenes, and makes enough to last for days. Think of it as the charming cousin of split pea soup and sweet potato soup. Also, it’s darn cheap to make, and tastes delicious with garlic toasts and plenty of cracked black pepper. Note that you can use a different mix of split lentils and beans, but for the best texture you should choose mostly ones that have their skins removed.

 

 

 

Sweet potato, lentil, and sun-dried tomato soup – An Agent Minty original recipe

Makes eight 1-cup servings.

Ingredients:

• One medium sweet potato, cubed
• Olive oil
• Herbs: parsley, sage, savoury
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3/4 cup moong dal
• 2/3 c green lentils
• 2 veggie bouillon cubes
• 1 small can of V-8
• 1.5 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Toss sweet potato cubes in enough oil to generously coat.
2. Toss with salt and herbs of choice.
3. Bake in a casserole dish at 400F for approximately 40 minutes, until very soft. 
4. Meanwhile, wash your lentils until the water runs clear.
5. Add the lentils to 8-10 cups of water, pus a generous amount of olive oil in a large pot and heat on medium-high.
6. Once the lentils have come to a boil, turn heat to a gentle simmer and add bouillon cubes and V-8. Partly cover with a lid.
7. Add more water as needed to prevent the lentils from sticking, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
8. Simmer lentils for 30-40 minutes until they are very soft and start to break apart.
9. Add in cooked sweet potato, sun-dried tomatoes, and nutritional yeast. 
10. Simmer for another 10 minutes to allow flavours to combine.
11. Using an immersion blender, puree soup until it is smooth.
12. Season with salt as needed.