Is it normal that I sleep with my iPhone under my pillow? Or that when I immediately wake up I check all of my SEVEN email accounts? Um, probably not.
I need to figure out a way to unplug from all of the communication sometimes. Or just find a balance. When I’m not working on my site, I’m constantly plugged in for my other job. As much as I tell myself that I need to take a break and relax, it’s hard to step away from the chaos of work and the business of life; I’m sure many of you can relate!
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Usually the only thing that gets me away from all of it is the chaos of my own kitchen — my own little sweet happy spot. As soon as I put on a little music and begin to dice and chop, my creative energy pours into pots and pans, creating good food for loved ones.
This stew was made during an evening when my mind was cluttered and I needed a release. I had a busy day full of meetings. Okay and I was also dreaming about when I would actually get those girl scout cookies I ordered — like how long it would take for me to destroy 5 boxes this year? Whattttttt? Girl scout cookies are stressful to think about.
Anyway there was a jar of lentils that had been sitting in my cupboard along with gorgeous organic sweet potatoes from Whole Foods. It was time to put the iPhone down. A lovely pot of stew was an adventure I was ready to take on.
Mmmmm how I love the flavor profile of this stew! The coconut milk, curry, sweet potatoes, and a touch of cinnamon give it a slightly sweet flavor that’s both light and delicious. The coconut milk is pureed with some of the sweet potatoes, then added to the broth to give it a creamy, velvety texture.
Ohhhh and who could forget about the lentils? They’re the star here! Lentils are perfectly healthy, low in calories, packed with vitamins and minerals, and full of fiber!
I almost forgot to tell you that this is both vegan and gluten-free (the greek yogurt is used as a garnish, so simply omit if vegan)! Even if you don’t have dietary restrictions, I think you’ll enjoy this comfort stew, plus it’ll help you to forget about thin mints and emails. Double win!
More healthy soups & stews to try:
Healing Thai Butternut Squash Lentil soup (with a slow cooker option!)
Vegan White Bean & Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut Squash, Chickpea & Lentil Moroccan Stew
Coconut Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 5-6 medium sweet potatoes), peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups green lentils (or whatever you have on hand)
- 1/2 cup light canned coconut milk (I get mine from Trader Joe's)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and half of the diced sweet potatoes and saute until the onions begin to soften and turn translucent, about 4-5 minutes. (Note: the other half of the diced sweet potatoes will be reserved for later use.)
- Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder, tumeric, and salt and saute for 2 minutes longer; stirring frequently.
- Add the vegetable broth and lentils, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover the pot, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until lentils are tender.
- While stew is simmering, make the coconut-sweet potato broth: Place a medium pot over high heat and fill with water, bring water to a boil and add in the rest of your diced sweet potatoes that you had set aside. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and continue to cook for about 8 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender and nearly falling apart. This may take more time depending on how small you cut your sweet potatoes.
- Once tender, drain water from sweet potatoes, and place them into a food processor. Add coconut milk and cinnamon and puree until it forms a somewhat smooth consistency. Next add the sweet potato coconut puree to the stew, and continue to cook to thicken broth a bit.
- The stew is done when all of the lentils are tender, and the broth has thickened. Season soup to taste with additional salt and/or pepper. Scoop into bowls, and garnish with fresh herbs and greek yogurt if desired.
61 comments
This looks so healthy and tasty and wonderful. I have a coconut recipe coming. It’s not lentils 🙂 I need to do what you’re doing..lol Seriously coconut milk can do no wrong, especially in soups! And I love sweet taters, in soups, too! I have a few coconut milk + sweet potato soups I make. Love yours!
I have so many coconut recipes coming, it’s unreal! Can’t wait to see yours.
This looks so good! I’m assuming you mean the canned coconut milk, is that correct?
Ugh, I totally empathize with the “plugged in all the time” feeling (though SEVEN emails, girly? Wowza :)). If this stew can help me take my mind off of things for even a few minutes, then I’m SO in. Though I doubt anything could take my mind off Girl Scout cookies. 😉
DAMN those cookies! 🙂
In the UK we don’t get those cookies! 🙁
Probably a good thing – I shouldn’t be allowed alone with cookies anyway…
Recipe is amazing, than you! Was really quick and easy to do, Tastes ike it should have been much harder. Made enough for dinner for four and lunches too 🙂
Lentil soup is so amazing but adding in curried sweet potato probably makes this AH-MAZ-ING!
Oh my – you’ve managed to fit just about all of my favorite (savory) ingredients into one dish – I absolutely love coconut milk in anything. Girl Scout Cookies – is there anything more dangerous? I’d rather pretend that I don’t realize just how many thin mints are packed into one of those little sleeves!
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious… although I accidentally put about twice the amount of coconut milk in! I just wasn’t paying attention… turned out ok though, just a bit more soup-like! Thanks for the recipe!
Do you think I could put this in my Crock?
Hmmm I’d think so, although I’m not sure if the sweet potatoes would break down entirely. Try it — either way it’s sure to be good!
Made this last night and it was delicious! Looking forward to checking out more of your recipes on your blog.
I don’t have a food processor, but I have an electric hand mixer. Do you think that would work for the sweet potato and coconut milk?
That should work!
Maybe I’m totally missing it but…how many people does this serve?
Hi Rachael! This makes about 8 servings. 🙂
Made it tonight and added some chili powder to give it a little kick. It's tasty! Thank you for sharing
looks so good….wish I had the oomph to go get these ingrediants!:) looks like something to look forward too…..
Suggestion? What about roasting the second half of the sweet potatoes while cutting and prepping all the other stuff? It adds such a yummy flavor, and that way it's done by the time you're ready to deal with step 3….
Just made this for my lunches this week. I didn’t have Greek yogurt so I topped with a tablespoon of goat cheese. So yummy! I have a smaller serving set aside to give my 18 month old tonight. I think he’s going to love it too!
Can this be frozen for later or would it be too mushy defrosted?
Hmmm. My guess is on the mushy side….
Thank you… we will enjoy tonight!
I didn't have coconut milk. I did have coconut oil (organic, extra virgin); so, I used that and skipped the olive oil. I also threw all he ingredients in a crock-pot and 4 hrs later returned home to an apartment smelling like a divine restaurant.
Best lentil dish EVER!
This looks like yet again another amazing recipe! thanks for sharing.
All I can say is WOW! This is so delicious! I did not have canned coconut milk, but had the 45 calorie kind in the carton. I added a little more of this and also I added kale for some green. You have created a delicious recipe that includes so many healthy, anti-inflammatory foods. Thanks for sharing!
We love this recipe, it's now a regular at our house. It's comfort food with an "exotic" flavor. Healthy too.
Oh great idea. I am making this tonight and I think I am going to roast the other half of the potatoes.
Just tried this in a slow cooker and it turned out great! Only had 1 sweet potato and lots of carrots so mine was more like lentil carrot stew. I did pre-cook the carrots, sweet potato and onions before throwing them in the slow cooker. After 4 hours in the slow cooker, everything tasted fabulous!
This was awesome! I’ve been wanting to make this since I first saw it here, but most of the ingredients aren’t things I have readily on hand. I finally got around to it tonight and it was such a hit. I pre-chopped everything the night before (because I knew I wouldn’t want to mess with it when I got home from work), so it was pretty quick for me to make. I had to add some extra vegetable broth (mine got way thick) and I doubled the curry powder (at least). Towards the end, I added just a touch of coconut milk to the stew to thin it out just a little more. I made spicy sautéed shrimp to go with this and the flavor combinations were to die for. I might have some of the leftovers with a Greek yogurt garnish. Thanks for this one!
So glad you liked it – and made it your own, too! 🙂
'think I will try that, it looks delicious !
This is absolutely amazing.
Just made this it was MINDBLOWINGGGGG and I don't know how but I manahed to get it down to 6 servings of 265 calories each, so I'm dead pleased =] thanks!!
I made this tonight, and loved it! Used red lentils instead. Thanks for the share–delicious!
This is very good but we found it a bit too sweet. I’m planning to try it again using butternut squash – will report back. I also added 1/2 lb of defrosted chopped spinach with the liquid squeezed out. Did you know that 2016 is The Year of the Pulse?
This was absolutely delicious and simple to make. Thank you!
Made this last night in the crock pot. Cut recipe in half. Added coconut milk last hour of cooking. Soups and stews always taste better after sitting overnight so I warmed up for lunch today, added some red pepper for a kick and baby spinach for some green. All I can say is WOW! This is one of the tastiest stews I have ever tried. Thanks so much for this recipe!!!
Hi have stumbled across your blog and love your recipes can’t wait to try them.
They all sound delicious. Thankyou
I know this recipe is from 2013, but it’s still amazing! I stumbled upon this recipe when I was looking for soft but filling soups to prepare for gum surgery. I made this ahead of time, put it in mason jars, and then re-heated the soup in the microwave for a couple minutes. The flavors and textures are great! I didn’t modify the recipe at all and noticed that my sweet potatoes took a little longer than 8 minutes to soften (as noted in the recipe). I will definitely be making this again : )
Hi Amanda! I’m so glad you were able to enjoy this (especially with your gum surgery!) I have a bunch of other delicious recipes you might enjoy under “Soups & Stews” here, too 🙂
In order to save a little time, could I use canned sweet potato puree or pumpkin?
Hi Sadie! You could use canned sweet potato puree for the coconut-sweet potato broth, but I would recommend using the cubed sweet potatoes for the first half of the stew (where you cook them with onion, carrot, lentils, etc.)
We made a few versions of these before, so I’m oooking forward to this! One quick question though: am I totally missing it, or do you have the serving size stated somewhere? Or, what is your recommended serving with these if they are meant to be a main dish? Thanks :]
I hope you get a chance to try this one! The serving size is about 1/8th of the entire recipe (I’d say it’s about 1 heaping cup). Enjoy!
I made this last night and am so glad I did! It is thick, filling, and so good. I absolutely love sweet potatoes, and especially enjoyed the flavor combination with the spices and the coconut milk. The coconut mile and sweet potatoe puree was like a dessert! I would make that again as a stand alone! Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe!
I’m so happy you loved this one! A little sweet, a little savory 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and am going to use the rest to pack for lunches this week. SO delicious. I didn’t have ginger or turmeric so I skipped those two ingredients but I think it still turned out great! Even my husband liked it and he pretty much rejects all things vegan 😉 .
So glad you both loved it! Perfect for leftovers, too 🙂
such a great recipe!
I made this dish this evening, along with basmati rice.
It turned out well – tasty and the puree of sweet potato and coconut milk adds to the subtle flavours.
My family are a big fan of garlic so I ended up adding more. Actually, in the end, I added more of everything so that the flavour was stronger .
I’d definitely make it again.
Thank you for sharing.
Great – glad everyone enjoyed!
This soup is amazing! Quick and easy to make and the best flavors! Highly recommend
I loved the combo of coconut and sweet potato-this was really good. The ginger really adds a nice flavor too. Thanks for a great soup recipe!
Absolutely! Such a great dinner 🙂
This meal was absolutely delicious & very easy to make. I was looking for a reasonably high protein lenten (no meat) meal that was also nutritious & I hit the jackpot! This will be a staple in my house far beyond lent.
A couple of differences that I did: 1) used the whole bag of lentils. 2) used the whole container of vegetable broth. 3) used the whole can of coconut milk 4) used double the amount of tumeric (freshly grated)
I also forgot to say that to save time, I skipped the separate sweet potato cooking & added all the potatoes at the beginning.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
This was delicious – I made it exactly as is with no changes and it was PERFECT although mine turned out a little more yellow than the picture.
I was worried 1 inch sweet potato cubes would be too big to leave whole in the curry but it ended up being a nice contrast to the little lentils. Thanks for creating this recipe, I’ll be playing this one on repeat in the winter!
(also, a quick topping of sour cream or Greek yogurt and fresh herbs is a delicious addition) 🙂
Oh yay! I’m so happy you loved this one, Alyssa! And YES to those toppings–yummmm 🙂