Pain smells like spices. It adds flavors to life.
How did this recipe come to life? I no longer had normal potatoes in the house, only the sweet ones, and I said to add some to the soup. And with lentils... I thought I'd add a pinch of protein to this soup to keep me full for longer. Spices? They created a madness! When I tasted it I had a pleasant surprise, initially not having high expectations from this combination.
Why should we eat sweet potatoes frequently?
Sweet potatoes are special because they are… sweet (as you probably already guessed). They come in different shapes and colors: orange, purple or white. But what makes them so special? I have often heard that they are healthier than the normal potatoes we are used to.
Sweet potatoes belong to the category of starches, which contain fiber (3g per 100g), vitamins : carotenes - precursors of vitamin A in plants that give that orange color to the potato (284% of the recommended daily dose per 100g of sweet potato), vitamin C, B6 and minerals : manganese, potassium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus. Other items are in smaller quantities, but see more details here .
Moreover, sweet potatoes, especially orange and purple (so colored ones), contain antioxidants that fight free radicals in the body and inflammation. Being rich in soluble and insoluble fibers, they are extremely good for digestion : heals it in case of constipation, restores balance in the intestinal microbiota, being a prebiotoc for the good bacteria in the colon, and is believed to protect the digestive tract of cancer (especially colon, stomach and gallbladder). Because they are rich in beta-carotene, precursors of vitamin A (which the body turns into vitamin A as much as it needs), it helps vision (so not only is carrot good for this 😉) and immune system.
I used them in soup, but they can be prepared in different ways: baked, boiled, steamed, made in the form of chips, french fries, in cakes (I will come soon with such a recipe). But the best option for cooking sweet potatoes remain boiling , which retain most of the antioxidants, vitamins do not degrade as much as in the case of baking, and the bioavailability of nutrients in potatoes to be absorbed by the body grows. And don't forget to keep the peel, if possible, washed very well beforehand, because it contains 10 times more antioxidants than the pulp itself.
Recipe
Indian flavored lentil and sweet potatoe soup
Ingredients
- 2 red onions or white
- 2 tbsp olive oil or a little water
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 zucchini
- 2 medium sweet potatoes or a large one
- 1 cup red lentils washed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Sauté the onion in some water/olive oil, over which add the cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and let it on low-medium heat for around 2min in order for the onions to take the flavours. If needed, deglaze the saucepan with some more water.
- Add the cut vegetables and lentils over the onion and stir for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add water over the veggies. I didn't measure, but it should be around 2 fingers 🤏 over the level of veggies from the saucepan. Better add more later, than making the soup too liquid.
- Let them boil for around 20 min, but try the veggies with a fork before taking the soup off the heat.
- Blend them with a vertical mixer, add more water and salt if necessary.
I served it with a little parsley, wholemeal bread and baked sweet potatoes. But I also tried it with pieces of pan-cooked tofu, or croutons, and it's just as good (but I think tofu remains my favorite: D).
Enjoy! Don't forget to subscribe and follow my Instagram account, where I post more delicious recipes! 🙂
Sources:
- The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-the-best-way-to-cook-sweet-potatoes/
- 6 Surprising Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sweet-potato-benefits
- Sweet potato, raw, unprepared [Includes USDA commodity food A230, Sweetpotato]: https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2666/2
- Role of Anthocyanin-Enriched Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potato p40 in Colorectal Cancer Prevention: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23784800/
Lavinia Dinca
Nutritionist
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Română