Sweet Potato and Fennel Curry

October 17, 2012 By Leanne Vogel December 14, 2018

India has been on my brain for the past few weeks. It feels like ages since I got on that plane and headed to Mumbai earlier this year. The waterfalls, the beach, the ashram… I returned home with a strong sense of self, a free soul and a happy heart.

Maybe this yearning has been sparked by all the yoga I’ve been doing, the Indian food I’ve started to eat again, or the calm I’ve been injecting into my life. Either way, my heart longs to go back.

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With each day that passes, I get more rooted in Montreal and more interested in going back to India a second time. In fact, I spent most of yesterday evening planning out a second, more extensive, trip for the new year. A girl can dream, right? Heck… with all of the crazy things that have happened in our lives this year I’ve learned to believe that anything is possible if you will it to be so.

Until I figure out how to get myself there, I’ll just continue to eat my weight in Indian food, practice yoga, and stay true to myself.

Oh yes, and go on grand adventures in this new city of ours!

We checked out Montreal’s underground city a couple of days ago and boy, was it something. The underground city is a collection of malls all connected underground. Crazy right? I hadn’t even known this place existed until a friend told me about it.

Kevin and I spent 4 hours trying to visit each and every mall, barely stopping for anything, and we still couldn’t see it all.

That’s insane.

What’s even more insane is how much I love this curry recipe. It was one of the dishes served at the potluck we attended for Thanksgiving and the culprit to my over-stuffed Thanksgiving belly. I just couldn’t get enough of it! When I asked for the recipe, Dominique, my cousin’s, wife’s, best friend (try saying that five times), told me that there were sweet potato cubes, fennel, fresh coriander leaves, fresh mint or Italian parsley leaves but didn’t have the recipe. So, I tested out a couple of variations, adding chickpeas, onion, cranberries, and voila, a new and improved version was born.

Oh I do so much enjoy recreating dishes… and then gobbling them up!

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4.8 from 5 reviews

Sweet Potato and Fennel Curry

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Sugar-free, Yeast-free, Corn-free, Grain-free, Nut-free

Recipe type: Indian

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4

Ridiculously delicious curry filled with roasted sweet potato, fennel, red onion and fresh mint with a curry sauce that's out of this world!

Ingredients

4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato (~3 medium)
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup diced fennel
1 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons Homemade Curry Powder
2 teaspoons virgin coconut oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup cooked chickpeas
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons sweetened dried cranberries (optional, not to be added on a cleanse)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice from half a lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F.
Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Toss in olive oil and lay out on a baking sheet. Roast in prepared oven for 30-40 until the sweet potatoes are soft, but not mushy. Set aside.
Meanwhile, add diced fennel, red onion, curry powder, coconut oil and salt to a medium-sized cast iron pan. Saute on medium heat for 5-8 minutes, until onion and fennel or soft, but not over cooked.
Add fennel mixture to a bowl with remaining ingredients, including roasted sweet potatoes.
Stir to coat and serve.

I had a bunch of leftover homemade curry powder from my cauliflower & apple soup that was begging to be used up. It’s as if this curry was meant to be!

Begin by peeling and chopped your sweet potatoes. You can leave the skin on, or take it off for a prettier presentation. When I make this again I’m going to leave the skin on to fully rake in the benefits of this impressive vegetable.

When you come across a sweet potato that has a woody inside like this one, discard it. Or better yet, steam it and feed it to your puppies with a bit of coconut oil. It’s Pebbles’ favorite treat!

For the fennel, follow this 6-step guide to chopped it up.

Easy peasy, right?

While the sweet potatoes are roasting, add remaining ingredients to a large bowl, and saute the onions and fennel in a cast iron pan.

Don’t skip out on the lemon juice. It makes this dish.

Once complete, and cooled slightly, add everything together and stir to coat.

Steal a couple of nibbles… no one’s watching. Plus, I’ve been told by many that the calories from the samples you snack on while preparing your meal don’t count ;)

Pure deliciousness. Really. I’ve eaten a lot of Indian food and this is by far my absolute favorite curry. It’s sweet, spicy, colorful, and has a slight kick to it at the end from the lemon juice. Serve alongside cooked brown basmati rice, or with a piece of gluten-free naan and you’re set!