Lentil Sweet Potato Salad

Today, we are mixing a few of my favourite ingredients to make the most delicious lentil sweet potato salad ever. There will be all sorts of colours, textures, flavours, and nutrients in this nourishing bowl of food. And the best part is the recipe is quick and really affordable. 

Salads can come in many forms and there are no restrictions on what you can put in or leave out of a salad. We can just mix ingredients as we please, add some dressing, and call it a salad. The idea is to get as many vegetables in your bowl and in your belly as possible. 

For that exact reason, I came up with this quick recipe. The lentil sweet potato salad we are about to make has all kinds of vegetables. I wanted a lot of colours so I used carrots, tomatoes, rocket and, sweet potatoes. All the vegetables are easy to find and incredibly affordable. 

Salads are light and served as a side dish most of the time. Regardless, I still like to add something that will make the dish more filling and I like to have some protein in there as well. The best and easiest way to do this is simply by adding legumes. 

Legumes are filling, incredibly nourishing, and a great source of plant-based protein. Among the many good things legumes do for you here are just a few:

• Provide energy. 
• Help regulate glucose level in the blood.
• Improve insulin sensitivity.
• Reduce blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases.
• Help grow healthy nails and hair.
• Helps regulate blood pressure. 

As you can see, legumes are a great way to pack on nutrients and stay healthy. In addition, they come in many different shapes and sizes that give you a lot of options. 

I'm using brown lentils in our sweet potato salad for a few different reasons. First of all, they have the perfect size to be mixed with the other ingredients I'm using. Secondly, lentils are really easy and quick to cook. And lastly, brown lentils have an earthy flavour but a bit more subtle than other types of lentils. I don't want them to overpower the taste of the rest of the ingredients I'm using and brown lentils give me the perfect balance. 

The dressing, as many of my other dressing recipes, is quite simple. I just mixed balsamic vinegar, chilli flakes, and olive oil. It is simple but it's really delicious. You don't need much for this sweet potato salad, there are a few flavours already in it. However we do need a little something to bring all the ingredients together that also, adds a bit of a kick since we have the contrasting flavours of chilli flakes and the vinegar. 

The last thing I add to this sweet potato salad is crushed walnuts. I always like to mix textures and add a bit of a crunch to my salads. It's a small detail but takes your salad game to another level that will have everyone coming back for more!