you may recall from my last post that i caught an ugly cold. well, friends, the cold is long gone, but i did catch something else: a fever for making soup. and the only cure? lentil curry soup.
before i started this blog, i had never made a soup from scratch. i had found my favorite canned soups (most are from amy’s), and i didn’t see a reason to mess with something that was working. besides, i thought soups would take hours of boiling, simmering, and chopping.
what i didn’t realize back then was that soups absolutely do not have to be difficult. they don’t have to simmer for hours, and there’s no more chopping than a regular stir fry. and homemade soups are SO amazing!
this soup is my current favorite – it is spicy, sweet, and creamy, plus it has a delicious texture of smoothness from the lentils and a little crunch from the carrots and green onions. and the smell of it cooking, oh the smell of it cooking! it’s amazing – the ginger, the curry powder – it’s enough to make someone burn their mouths, because waiting for the soup cool to a less-than-molten-lava temperature is nearly impossible.
so, as you can see, i feel slightly embarrassed that i rejected making homemade soup for this long. if you’re out there, reading this, and rejecting the idea of making soup from scratch, let this be your warning: you’re missing out!!
in case i have convinced you to make this, though, may i suggest a what to serve with it? we made fresh spring rolls – much like i wrote about here, but with roasted butternut squash, cilantro, pumpkin seeds, and noodles. fresh spring rolls are one of my favorite foods to make – they’re ridiculously easy to create, but this combo was a little bland. so that just means i’ll have to make more to pair with this soup the next time i make it…which will be soon, mark my words!
one year ago: banana black bean empanadas
lentil curry coconut soup
yields 6 servings
borrowed from 101cookbooks.com
- 1c yellow split lentils (moong dal), rinsed well
- 1c red split lentils (masoor dal), rinsed well
- 7c water
- 2T butter
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2T ginger, minced
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 1/3c raisins
- 2T curry powder (or 1T curry powder and 1T red curry paste – i ran out of curry powder while making this soup – oops!)
- 1/3c tomato paste
- 14 oz coconut milk
- 2t salt
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- put the rinsed lentils into a large pot, pour the 7c water over them, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20-30 mins
- meanwhile, prep the rest of the ingredients as per the directions above
- heat a frying pan over medium heat, then allow the butter to melt before adding the carrots, ginger, green onions, and raisins, and allowing to saute for about 2 minutes
- add the curry powder and tomato paste to the frying pan, stir well to combine, and saute for 2 more minutes
- add the frying pan mixture to the lentils along with the coconut milk and salt
- allow to simmer for another 15 minutes, adding more water if it gets too thick
- enjoy with spring rolls or rice or alone!