Vegetable soups are a great way to introduce more fibre into your diet. This simple-to-make sweet potato and orange soup recipe is a great introduction to soup making. It can have a garnish of toasted mixed seeds and finished with a swirl of tahini
Lentils are a type of pulse (an edible seed that grows in a pod). Pulses are an important food in the diet because they contain dietary fibre and galacto-oligosaccharides (a type of carbohydrate which acts as a prebiotic) where they travel through the gut and are fermented by the colon to provide the nutrients used by healthy gut bacteria. Healthy gut bacteria help to keep the immune system functioning efficiently and the cells lining the gut healthy and free from disease. [4]
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 15ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 stick celery, chopped
- 600g sweet potato, scrubbed, peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 700ml vegetable stock
- juice from ½ orange
- 50g red lentils, rinsed in cold water
- 250ml semi skimmed milk
To serve:
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, dry roasted in a pan
- zest from ½ orange
- 1 tsp chopped parsley
Sweet potato and orange soup – Method
- Warm the olive oil in a large pan and add the chopped onion and celery. Cook gently for three minutes until they are soft. Add the chopped sweet potato and stir around the pan until it is coated with a little oil. Add the ground coriander and cook for a minute stirring the vegetables in the saucepan to prevent them burning. Add the vegetable stock and orange juice followed by the red lentils. Bring the soup up to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the red lentils are beginning to soften and breakdown. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add 220 ml milk to the soup reserving 30ml to mix with the tahini. Liquidise the soup in batches.
- Add enough milk to the tahini to make it pouring consistency.
- Serve the soup in bowls scattered with a swirl of tahini, toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped parsley and the zest from the orange.
Alternative serving suggestion
Butternut squash is a good substitute for sweet potatoes.
Unsweetened plant milk such as oat, hemp or soya can be used instead of cows’ milk
Cooking tips
- For a more rustic soup liquidise half of the soup and add it back to the remaining soup.
- This soup freezes well and can be stored for up to two months.
- To add more fibre to the soup, leave one of the sweet potatoes unpeeled.
[4] Kadyan S, Sharma A, Arjmandi BH, Singh P, Nagpal R. Prebiotic Potential of Dietary Beans and Pulses and Their Resistant Starch for Aging-Associated Gut and Metabolic Health. Nutrients. 2022; 14(9):1726.
If you liked this recipe for sweet potato and orange soup, you’ll find more warming winter recipes on our Food and Drink channel.
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