Monday 24 October 2016

White Sweet Potato, Lentil & Rainbow Chard Soup (vegan & gluten-free)

Rocket & Roses Kitchen Play List:

Santana ~ (Da Le) Yaleo
The Zutons ~ Little Red Door
The Union ~ The Remedy
Nickelback ~ Because Of You
Brandi Carlile ~ Things I Regret
Nerina Pallot ~ When Did I Become Such A Bitch
Def Leppard ~ Turn To Dust
Colour Of Noise ~ Medicine Man
Shakira ~ La Tortura 
Mr Buble ~ All Of Me
Muse ~Psycho
Beth Hart ~ Missing You
The Dead Daisies ~ Sleep
KT Tunstall ~ Suddenly I See           


Wow, has it really been seven months since I last posted a blog? I'm really sorry about that but in all honesty I wouldn't be posting this one today unless I had found this recipe draft and attached photo in my archives. Its enough to say that my ailments have been winning quite a few battles of late but not the war! Which for me is the most important part. Anyway....

This recipe is one I made when on my bliss filled holiday in Kent last November. Goodness me, how I wish I was headed that way again in a couple of weeks. Good memories...even the bittersweet ones. As you can imagine two weeks living by the raging sea of Birchington was at times quite chilly. (Especially if you had all doors and windows open to listen to the waves! 24/7 Ahem! Righto...) So I was enjoying warm salads like my previous post and hot glorious soups for my lunches.

This one is an adapted version of a soup from the fantastic vegan cook Linda Majzlik and her inspiring A Vegan Taste Of Series. In particular A Vegan Taste Of Mexico. Its a deeply satisfying soup with a kick of heat from the chillies and paprika but the stars of this beautiful soup are the wholesome sweet potatoes and the red lentils. In the original recipe its the splendid orange jewels of sweet potato but my friend had found some white fleshed sweet potatoes and they worked equally as well. I also had a stash of beautifully coloured rainbow chard which I'd picked up from a Kent grocers that had an abundance of magnificent fruits and veggies for sale. 

This recipe is not hard work and greatly enjoyable as the aromas take over your home. The white sweet potatoes have a slightly reduced amount of natural sugars which really worked for me and the addition of the ribbons of chard made it a complete meal in a bowl. Spoil yourself and give this one a try...I haven't served it up to anyone who hasn't devoured it yet!

White Sweet Potato, Lentil & Rainbow Chard Soup (vegan & gluten-free)

White Sweet Potato, Lentil & Rainbow Chard Soup
(Adapted recipe from A Vegan Taste of Mexico/Majzilk) 

12oz/350g white sweet potato, peeled and diced
4oz/100g split red lentils
4oz/100g tomato, skinned and chopped
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, micro-grated
1 dsp rapeseed oil
30 fl oz/900 ml veggie stock
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
6 rainbow chard leaves, heavy stalks removed and chopped, leaves cut into ribbons, set separately to one side
freshly ground black pepper 
fresh coriander leaves

In a soup pan gently heat the oil and add the onion, chilli and garlic. Saute until soft. Add the tomato and cook until pulpy. Stir in the paprika and evenly distribute before adding the lentils and stock. Season with black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes then add the potato and chard stalks. Continue simmering for another 20 minutes or so until the potato is cooked. Then stir in the chard leaves and cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve with a generous amount of chopped fresh coriander over the top. Serves 4

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is being kind...

~Red~

NB: This is not my recipe, I simply adapted Linda Majzilks fabulous recipe from her fantastic cookbook A Vegan Taste of Mexico. I send out thanks to her for sharing such great recipes. If using this recipe please give credit where it is due and thank the lady. Many thanks...~R~