Root Chakra Soup with Sweet Potatoes, Red Onion and Red Lentils

True to its moniker, this soup will ground you right where you are. It’s also responsible for getting me back into the swing of things; trying to posting with intention. I keep getting urged here. So, here I am. Hi!

I have been making this on the regular and either sharing the recipe, hastily texted to friends who want ingredients while they’re grocery shopping, or sharing the actual physical soup itself with friends or as a thank you. Because, soup. It comes together fast, it’s plant-based, loaded with protein and fiber and vitamins and all kinds of good stuff. I am partial to red lentils in soup because I am impatient; they cook faster than green ones and don’t taste like dirt no matter what you do to them. They also explode on purpose when you cook them, releasing their starches (and naturally thickening the soup). I’m down with anything that’s allowed to express itself, food included.

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Root Chakra Soup with Sweet Potatoes, Red Onion and Red Lentils

The past few years have been difficult, rootless, and unsettled, irrespective of the pandemic. I named this soup, admittedly a little bit as a tongue-in-cheek, as a gesture to food and healing. Root veggies are grounding foods for the winter, and everything in this soup is red or reddish-orange, or orange. It’s definitely a soup for the first two chakras, which are responsible for our sense of security (home, jobs, cars, etc.) and creativity, and so forth. After making it for several months on a regular basis, I realized recently that this soup does indeed possess some magic.

I was recently contacted by a friend who was passing through town. I hadn’t seen him in a while since he moved out west but we keep in touch regularly. He needed a pit stop, and that included food. (No, I didn’t serve him this, but wouldn’t that have been oh-so poetic!) I realized after he left that I’d created a situation in which I could help a friend feel rooted and recharged. Soup for the win!

So, I urge you, when you’re feeling restless, unsettled, rootless, anxious, not sure what’s next, make some food. Make soup. Make this soup, if you can. You never know who will show up at your doorstep, or what great stability may befall you.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or ghee, coconut oil, butter)

• 1 small red onion, diced fine

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 1 tablespoon fresh turmeric, grated

• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained

• 2 sweet potatoes, 1-inch diced

• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes

• 2 cups water, stock, or canned coconut milk (or some combination thereof)

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the olive oil or ghee (etc.) over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it softens, about five minutes. (Most people undercook onions! Don’t be most people!)

Add the salt and pepper, cumin, coriander, turmerics, ginger, and garlic, and coat the onions with it. Add the red lentils, and do the same, again.

Add the sweet potatoes, diced tomatoes and water, stock, or coconut milk. Turn the heat up to medium-high, bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn it down to a simmer, cover it askew (i.e., leave the lid slightly cracked), and let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Test the potatoes (they should be tender but not too soft). Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro, if desired, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.

Soup will keep up to 5 days in the fridge and freezes well.