Ingredients:
2 small onions (or 1 large onion)
4-5 large carrots
250g (1/2 a bag) of black or brown lentils
250g (1/2 a bag) bag of soup mix. (In SA its IMBO soup mix with barley, split peas, brown lentils and red lentils)
300g of mutton flank steak. (any mutton should work but for extra flavor try get with lots of fat, you can always remove the excess fat when cold, but you want that flavor)
1 sachet of brown onion soup
1 chicken stock cube

Method:
1. Chop up the onions and slice the meat into bite size pieces and put it into the slow cooker. Cook this for about 10 to 15 min while getting everything else ready. You just want to cook it a little.
2. Empty your lentils and soup mix into the slow cooker.
3. Grate the carrots and put it into the slow cooker.
4. Dissolve the chicken stock and brown onion soup in about 250ml of boiling water and pour this into the slow cooker.
5. Add enough water to the slow cooker until it is level with the contents. If you don’t have enough water your soup will dry up and burn.
5. Mix it all up and cook for 4-6 hours. It may be quite thick when done as the lentils and soup mix absorb a lot of the water. Feel free to add water until it is of a consistency that you are happy with.

So I came home from work one fine day and I received a text from my sister Zeena demanding (jokingly) that I make her dinner. Well I was feeling creative and so that is just what I did.

I came up with a recipe for a delicious Sweet Potato Turmeric Soup! I had extra sweet potatoes hanging around and I have been looking to incorporate more Turmeric into my diet as it has soo many health benefits!

The soup came out thick & creamy, not to mention yummy!

Note: This recipe only makes a about 2 servings so just double it if you are looking to feed more!

Sweet Potato Turmeric Soup! (Dairy-Free!)

1 cup water
1 vegetable bullion cube
1 cup soy milk
1 cup mashed Sweet potato, Yams, pumpkin purée, or Butternut Squash. (You could even do a combination of white potatoes & carrots
1 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp crushed basil
Black pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste (I like it spicy!)

Directions:

1. Fill a pot about ½ to ⅔ of the way with water & set to boil. Take your sweet potatoes, wash, peel, then chop them into cubes. Add them to your boiling water & cook until soft.
2. Remove sweet potatoes from water & place in bowl to be mashed. You can use a manual masher or an electric beater. Save about 1 cup of the water you boiled your sweet potatoes in & pour out the rest. Add your bullion cube to this water & boil until the cube dissolves. Now add the mashed sweet potatoes to the pot & stir. Turn your heat on medium to low just to let your soup simmer as you continue to cook.
3. Whisk in 1 cup of soy milk (next time I make this I want to try using coconut milk!)
4. Now add 1 tbsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp crushed basil, a few dashes of crushed red pepper flakes, & ground black pepper
5. Let simmer together for 1 – 2 minutes then remove from heat. Let sit for another 1-2 minutes to let the flavors really combine.
6. Serve and enjoy!
7. I topped the soup off with a garnish of coconut flakes & crushed red pepper.

Variations:

• Use any of these vegetables in place of the sweet potato! (Recipe & Directions stay the same)
  • Pumpkin
  • Butternut Squash
  • White Potatoes
  • Carrots

Quick Nutritional Facts:
Makes 2 Servings

• Calories (per serving): 193
• Carbohydrates: 36 grams
• Fat: 3 grams
• Protein: 6 grams
• Sodium: 596 mg (a little high so you could try using reduced sodium vegetable bullion)
• Sugar: 12 grams (2 grams from the soy milk & the rest is naturally occurring from the sweet potato)

Bon Appétit

- Letisha

Let me know what you guys think! Would love your feedback!

P.S: Don’t forget to ‘LIKE’ Brown & Coconut on Facebook!

I invite you all to celebrate with me by cooking The Soupstache’s first-ever recipe: Simple “Estrellita” (Star) Soup.

Happy anniversary, Soupstache, and many more to come! Cheers!

Here’s a mid-week quicky.

I have been eating soups for lunch for many months now and I am tiring of the same old, same old.

So, inspired by my friend L-Mac, I created a lovely little soup that you might like to try.

It is LOW fat, LOW GI and vegetarian.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 smallish sweet potato

half a butternut pumpkin

1 carrot

1 cup of dry red lentils (or so)

2 leeks

2 stalks of celery

2 tsp minced garlic/ or 2 cloves

2 tsp minced ginger

1 large carton, or 4 cups of vegetable stock

1 large tin of evaporated skim milk

Method:

Chop everything smallish.

Saute leeks, garlic and ginger

Add all the vegetables and fry off for a minute or so

Add lentils and stock and simmer until all components are cooked.

Add water as necessary, during cooking.

Puree with stick blender or blender.

Add skinny tinny milk and season to taste. Lots of pepper in this one!

Notes on the recipe

The beauty of this soup is that it goes well with corriander, or even a dash of sweet chilli, or fresh chilli for an asian lilt. Or it also goes nice with some freshly chopped chives (or dried, packet ones, like I was forced to use) and some sour cream.

It goes pretty much like a pumpkin soup but is packed with more vegetables and lentils and sweet potato which makes it more nutritious and will keep you fuller for longer.

When you re-heat, add some water as it can get a little thick sitting in the fridge.

You can play around with spices and maybe add some cumin, or paprika or cayenne pepper when simmering.