I'm gonna have a miniature rant. Cool? I'm convinced that we live in THE apartment with the worst lighting, ever. You might think your apartment has the worst lighting. Nope, it's mine. Our kitchen is the darkest dungeon-est hole with a window which you would think would help but somehow the terribleness of the rest trumps the window even being there. And the boob lights. SO MANY boob lights. OH, and don't even get me started on the yellow light bulbs inside the boobs. I'm so ready to say "it's been real, apartment" and get the flock out of here. We are sooooo close to moving into the bright, naturally lit, clean and pretty House on Kelsey Hill which, by the way, only has one boob light which is getting replaced immediately upon moving in. Whew, I'm glad I got that out. Thanks. Onto the soup.
My husband is such an extrovert. I love it because he balances out my tendency to recoil in social situations. Because he's so outgoing, we often have last minute dinner plans that involve me cooking (I'd never complain about that) -- but we grocery shop on Thursday or Friday. So, much of the time, what we have in the house has to work, even if we're feeding a crowd, even if I wasn't expecting it. Enter this crock pot sweet potato and red lentil curry. I was already planning to make some version of this soup for my own family that week. The friends that were coming over this particular night, Sean and Erin, are vegetarian -- no big deal, I just made some minor adjustments (swapped out the fish sauce for a homemade vegetarian version and used veggie stock instead of chicken stock). Also, it was one of the busiest days of our week and I didn't get much time in the kitchen, so I made it crock-pot friendly. I think it ended up being a hit!
A note on spices: I absolutely love Penzey's spices and their sweet curry powder is no exception. Cheap curry powder is usually flavorless and lacks the depth I like in a higher-quality spice. You must also make sure the curry powder you use is fresh (not fresh, like curry leaves fresh... fresh, as in it hasn't been sitting in your spice cabinet forever). I've seen suggestions that curry CAN last for a couple of years and while I'm sure that's true, it's not going to be something you want to use. I love Penzey's because you can buy spices in bulk and store them air-tight, keeping only a small amount at-the-ready in your spice jar. Galangal is a rhizome, like fresh ginger root. It tastes different from ginger in that it's more citrusy and piney, which gives a sweet earthiness to this curry, complementing the coconut milk and lemon beautifully.
Crock Pot Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Curry Soup with Garlic Croutons
Ingredients:
1 Medium onion, diced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Carrot, diced
1/2 Inch piece of fresh ginger, minced or grated
4 Cloves of garlic, peeled -- one minced, the others left whole
Kosher salt
Black pepper
1 1/2 Tsp. high quality curry powder
1/2 Tsp ground coriander
1 Tsp galangal (available at Penzey's)
1/4 Tsp cayenne (or more, to taste)
1-32 oz. Box organic vegetable stock
2 Sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 Can full fat coconut milk
1/3 Cup vegetarian substitute for fish sauce. See the recipe on Cook's Illustrated. (I have not tried this recipe non-vegan, using traditional fish sauce so please slowly add by the tablespoon if doing so.)
2 Lemons (one cut into wedges for serving)
Crusty baguette
For the soup:
Set a decent-sized pan on the burner at medium. Add 2 Tbs of the olive oil. When it loosens up more like a liquid and easily swirls around the pan, you know it's hot enough to add in the onions and carrots. Season with a Sauté them, stirring frequently until the onions are translucent and softer. Add the ginger and minced garlic and sauté another minute or two, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the curry, coriander, galangal, and cayenne and stir together with the veggies just to toast them a bit. Splash a little of the vegetable stock into the pan to loosen everything from the bottom. Transfer all the contents of the pan to the slow cooker and turn on low.
Add in the lentils, sweet potatoes, and the rest of the vegetable stock, along with 2 Tbs of the fish sauce substitute and a good squeeze of lemon. Cook for about 6 hours, checking the sweet potatoes for doneness periodically, if you can. They're fine if they become very soft, cooking longer if you need them to while you're at work or away from the house. We're going to blend the soup so that texture won't make a difference.
When the potatoes and lentils are cooked and everything looks stew-like, pour in the coconut milk, fat and all. Stir to combine. Now, adjust the seasoning as you wish using more of the fish sauce substitute and lemon, to taste.
Using an immersion blender (or transfer to a regular blender, in batches), puree everything together.
For the croutons:
Heat oven to 400.
Heat the remaining 1Tbs of oil in a clean pan on medium-low. Add in the three remaining cloves of whole, peeled garlic. Slowly and gently, sauté the garlic in the oil until very fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic (brown garlic becomes bitter and yucky).
Using a serrated bread knife, cut the baguette into 1" cubes. Toss the bread with a little salt and the garlic oil. Spread the cubes out on a sheet pan and cook until toasty and brown, about 7 minutes (keep a close eye on 'em!).
To serve:
Ladle the soup into wide, shallow bowls and top with a hefty handful of the croutons. Serve each bowl with a lemon wedge for squeezing over the top.
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