Moroccan Soup with Chickpeas, Lentils and Sweet Potato

This was my first shot at coming up with this recipe, and my tastebuds were having a little dance after the first mouthful. All the ingredients in this soup are ingredients most people will have in the cupboards, which makes it effortless and easy. You can even throw all the ingredients in a slow cooker if you’re really lazy and let it take care of itself.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 x medium red onion
• 1 x large sweet potato
• 2 x garlic cloves
• ½ x large red capsicum
• 1 x large ripe tomato
• ½ can lentils
• 1 can chickpeas (drained)
• 8 x cups vegetable stock
• 1 x cup organic pearl barley
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• 2 ½ tbsp. Moroccan spice mix
• ¼ tbsp. cayenne pepper
• ¼ tbsp. ground fennel seeds
• ½ tbsp. paprika
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a spoonful of coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until soft.

2. Add diced sweet potato and cook until soft.

3. Add dried oregano, Moroccan spice mix, cayenne pepper, paprika and ground fennel seeds and stir.

4. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Add diced capsicum and tomato – let it simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Scoop out ¾ of the vegetables and transfer to a bowl.

7. Take your stick-mixer and blend the soup until it’s smooth.

8. Transfer back the vegetables to the soup and bring to the boil.

9. Add pearl barley and rest of the vegetable stock (4 cups).

10. Let it simmer until the pearl barley is soft but still has a bite to it.

11. Add chickpeas and lentils and simmer for 4 minutes.

12. Taste with salt & pepper.

13. Ladle into bowls and enjoy.

Ingredients Spotlight:

This is a lovely fragrant soup with so many different tastes and textures.

Sweet potatoes are a fantastic source of vitamins B6, Vitamin D and Vitamin C which, for example, helps to prevent heart attacks, produce collagen for beautiful, youthful skin, helps to level our moods and energy levels and more. It’s also a great source of fiber, especially if you leave the skin on the potato.

Another great source of fiber in this soup is pearl barley. Pearl barley is really making a comeback and gaining its popularity again especially because of its numerous nutritional benefits. Pearl barley is high in anti-oxidants and has been proven to help lower cholesterol, control blood sugar levels because of its low-GI properties and helping to manage weight loss easier because of its slow digestion and greater satiety response.

These are just two of the many ingredients in this soup that packs a punch on the ‘nutrient-value’ scale. – not to mention, it’s a fantastic winter warmer!