Nothing beats a one pot, no fuss meal, for some spur of the moment deliciousness. I enjoy this as a well rounded, nurturing evening meal.
This soup contains a fabulous blend of nutrients, protein, essential fats and nurturing spices – a whole, complete dinner.
It also sits nicely in the pan for days, ideal if you want to make a batch to enjoy over a week. Allowing it to sit for a few days (ideally in the fridge), means that the flavours continue to dance and bring out the best in each other.
Fascinating sweet potato facts
Sweet potatoes are one of the oldest vegetables known to humankind.
These power-packed gems belong to a completely different family to regular potatoes, with a very different nutritional line-up.
Health benefits of sweet potato
They are especially high in vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene)… in fact, one sweet potato is said to carry at least 400% of your RDA!
They also have high levels of Vitamin C & the B vitamins, manganese, potassium, copper, phosphorus, antioxidants – to name a few.
Who’d have thought that one of the most delicious vegetables could be such a nutritional powerhouse? As if that’s not enough, they’ve also been shown to help regulate blood sugar levels (even in people with type 2 diabetes).
Alternatives for coconut cream
If you don’t have coconut cream, then use coconut milk. Consistency and quality vary. Personally, I would remove about 300ml (just over 1 cup) of the water from the ingredient list and substitute with a whole can (about 400ml) of coconut milk.
You can also substitute with creamed coconut block (if you don’t know what creamed coconut block is and how it compares to coconut cream, please read here: https://www.kindearth.net/what-is-creamed-coconut-versus-coconut-butter-and-coconut-cream).
If I used creamed coconut block instead, I’d use 50g (about 1/4 of a block) and then I’d add a little more water, as required at the end.

Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup with warming spices
A delicious, easy soup using sweet potatoes, lentils and coconut. Packed with nutritional goodness, especially vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene).
Ingredients
- 500g sweet potatoes (3 small/medium sized)
- 1 leek (medium sized)
- 50g red lentils (1/4 cup)
- 500ml water ( 2 cups)
- 500ml passata (2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Pinch black pepper
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 150ml coconut cream (see notes below for substitute)
Instructions
- Make sure the skin of the sweet potato is clean (ideally buy organic too), scrub if needed. Then chop into small cubes. Toss in the pan.
- Slice up the leek. Toss in the pan.
- Add the lentils, water, passata, sea salt, pepper, ground coriander and cumin to the pan. Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for about twenty minutes. Stir every now and again.
- Add the coconut cream near the end of the cooking period.
- Mash through with a potato masher, or take a hand blender and pulse several times. You are looking for a part-blended - part-rustic soup.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Alternatives for coconut cream If you don't have coconut cream, then use coconut milk. Consistency and quality varies. Personally, I would removed about 300ml (just over 1 cup) of the water from the ingredient list, and substitute with a whole can (about 400ml) of coconut milk.
You can also substitute with creamed coconut block (if you don't know what creamed coconut block is and how it compares to coconut cream, please read here: https://www.kindearth.net/what-is-creamed-coconut-versus-coconut-butter-and-coconut-cream/ ). If I used creamed coconut block instead, I'd use 50g (about 1/4 of a block) and then I'd add a little more water, as required at the end.
This looks so perfectly creamy and delicious! I can’t get enough of sweet potatoes 🙂
Oh yes, me too Aimee – can’t get enough sweet potatoes… and coconut.
Your recipes are fabulous!! I am in the U.S., and it is difficult finding vegan and gluten free recipes that are nit full of poor substitutes. Your dishes are amazing. I especially love the banana nut bread and cashew cardamon shortbread cookies! So excited to try several of your delish dishes! Are all of your vegan and gluten free recipes in your book?
Oh how wonderful to hear that. Everything I do is totally vegan. Angelicious is 100% gluten-free too – you can find it here: https://www.kindearth.net/shop/angelicious-food-for-a-new-paradigm-by-trinity-bourne/ There are loads of delicious recipes in there. I do international shipping too.
Thanks for tuning in.
This looks really good. But what is passata?
Good question Anita – I forget that my friends around the world use different names for this. In the USA it is often called sieved or strained tomatoes. Thank you for asking.
Passata is originally from Italy and we are quite familiar with it here in Britain and most of Europe. It is essentially uncooked tomatoes with the seeds strained out and turned into a puree. It usually comes in glass bottles or in those tetra pack/boxes.
Tomato puree is different, much more condensed down, so it is concentrated and thicker. You can also use canned tomatoes and blend them up as an alternative (not quite the same quality, but works as a good substitute).
This looks delicious! Does it freeze well? I want this soup on demand..
I’ve not frozen this myself, but I am pretty sure it would freeze just fine.
Good morning,
I’m so looking forward to cook this delicious soup! I bought red dry lentils in a packet not in a can. I believe they will cook well, am I right? It is necessary to soak them before?
Thanks for such wonderful recipes
xxx
Hi Elisa,
Red lentils cook quickly, so it’s always great using dried ones.
French lentils and brown and green always take longer though.
Kind blessings