Lentil Sweet Potato Stew from The Kind Diet
February 3, 2011
First we’d like to give another shout out to Alicia Silverstone and her amazing book, The Kind Diet. This is the one that really got us started and we can’t thank her enough for the role she has played in the vegan movement!
This stew is hearty and delicious and it’s one of our favorites from The Kind Diet. There are not a lot of ingredients, which makes it easy to prepare (it’s fairly “pantry-friendly”). All you need that’s perishable is an onion, fresh ginger and some sweet potatoes and all of those have a decent shelf life in the fridge. You can use fresh tomatoes if you have them, but canned work fine too. We like to serve this over brown rice (as pictured).
Here’s the recipe:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced (or one 14oz can diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Fine sea salt
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4″ cubes
5 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup brown lentils
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and ginger and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, and a small pinch of salt. Cook and stir for 2 minutes, then taste for seasonings; try to use only enough salt to heighten the flavors.
Add the sweet potatoes, broth, and lentils. Stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are soft. Serve alone or over rice and enjoy!
NOTE: We modified this slightly from the book. We use only 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead 1/4 cup of safflower oil. We found that we didn’t notice that there was less oil, and as for which oil to use, well, canola or any cooking oil would be fine as well. We also usually only use 5 cups of water instead of 7 cups of vegetable broth that the book called for. We like it thicker (as you can see in the photo) but if you like it with more liquid, then add more water or broth.
3 Comments to “Lentil Sweet Potato Stew from The Kind Diet”
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February 8th, 2011
This was good — thanks. I had to cook it almost 1-1/2 hours, not so much b/c it was liquidy but my lentils were really slow to cook.
It reminded me of “Lentil and Mushroom Tagine” in the Whole Foods cookbook. I did a quick search and found someone who wrote out the recipe:
http://whatsonmyplate.net/2009/07/25/lentil-and-mushroom-tagine/
February 9th, 2011
We have often cooked it a bit longer too, for the same reason, the lentils take awhile. It seems to vary (maybe based on the lentils we use??). Not sure. In any case, it never seems to overcook the sweet potatoes…they do ok in there for extra time, so I guess that’s ok! Maybe I should modify the cooking time in the recipe!
February 10th, 2012
After sending it on to my sister today, I decided to make this for dinner for us tonight as well. Might as well use an actual recipe for lentils sometimes 🙂 Still cooking, but oh smells so good! Had to substitute in regular potatoes b/c that’s what we have, but I’m cooking up some delicata squash and collards to complement.