Sweet potato carrot lentil soup

During my fellowship days Simha used to do these “liquid Wednesdays”, where he would only have liquids. To adjust to that diet, I would make soups for us so that he could have that and Om and I would have something to supplement the soup. That is when I started exploring making these soups from various recipes from friends, family and blogs. I saw this one on one of my favorite blogs “Green Kitchen Stories”. And just modified it to suit my cooking method and taste requirements.

You will need:

Oil:

1 tbsp olive/canola/vegetable oil

Veggies:

1/2 medium onion chopped

1 small sweet potato chopped

1 medium carrot chopped

fresh oregano (optional)- I had it from my Gardyn

greens (optional)- spinach/kale/green/red mustard

Protein:

3/4 cup red lentil (masoor dal)

Seasonings:

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp red Chilli powder (or red chilli flakes)

garlic powder

onion powder

oregano

thyme

rosemary

salt per taste

Soup base:

3-4 cups vegetable broth

Method:

As you may have already noticed I LOVE my Instant Pot (IP) and I tend to make most of my meals in that. Of course you can choose to cook in a different method or in a regular pressure cooker as well!

Heat oil in saute mode in IP. Saute the onion, carrot and sweet potato. Add the rinsed red lentils to this. Mix in the vegetable broth. Add in all the seasonings and fresh oregano (optional). Close the lid of IP and set valve to sealed position. Cook at manual high pressure for 3 minutes! Wait for natural pressure release.

Now time to blend this! I would really recommend an immersion blender (makes it so much easier to blend soups and gravy right in the pot). I took some time to buy it since I didn't want to add another gadget to my collection. But this saves me so much time and I don't have to go through the hassle of taking the content out, transferring it to a blender and transferring it back to the pot.

Mix in the optional greens (I LOVE greens in most of my meals). It cooks in that heat itself.

Garnish options:

more greens/

microgreens/

pepita seeds/

sunflower seeds/

pine nuts

ENJOY!