Thai Curry Sweet Potato Soup

I've looked for a coconut thai soup recipe for 6 months. This is the best one I've found. The base is made of lentils (orange) and sweet potatoes. It's heart, filling, and can have a spicy kick if you want. The first time I made it I used green lentils so the soup came out looking like cat shit. A sad day, indeed. 

I give this a 7. I would pair it with any other Thai side dish like a meat or veggie stir fry. The recipe came from a Thai cooking book called Pok Pok. Pok Pok is a Portland restaurant with authentic stuff made by a white dude. He wrote the recipe book and it's considered some of the best Thai food in the PNW. Here's his restaurant: https://pokpokpdx.com/

Ingredients

·      1 Tbs olive oil

·      1 diced onion

·      3 garlic cloves, sliced

·      1 Tbs. galangal (white on the inside), peeled and diced or 1 Tbs. ginger, peeled and diced - you can get galangal and like leaves at a Chinese market store

·      1 Tbsp. red curry paste (Panang brand, I attached a photo)

·      1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes

·      2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

·      3 cups stock (veggie or chicken)

·      3/4 cup dried lentils (orange color)

·      1 Tbs. fish sauce (and brand will do)

·      1 Tbs. lime juice

After simmering:

·      1 can coconut milk (not fresh)

·      1 tsp lime juice

·      1 tsp. fish sauce

·      kaffir lime leaves

·      1-2 small red chili peppers (skip this step if you don't want any kick. I would recommend one chili pepper, though). 

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stir occasionally until see through. Add garlic and ginger, cook for one minutes. Add curry pastes and cook until everything is coated and you can smell the curry paste (30 seconds or more).

Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, stock, lentils, fish sauce and lime juice. Cover, bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 35 minutes until lentils and sweet potato are cooked through. Use an immersion blender and puree the soup until smooth and creamy. Stir in coconut milk. Add salt and lime juice. Add fish sauce to taste. Add lime leaves and full chili peppers. Simmer on low for another 15 minutes for the flavors to come out. Serve with the chili peppers and lime leaves on top, like a garnish.