Posted in FaceBook 4/22/15.
Lunch! I thought I might make myself a bowl of Green Lentil Curry Soup. Had my heart set on it, actually, after I bought some beautiful organic green lentils this morning. Then I decided I wanted to try making that in the crock pot, and it would be hours before it would be ready, so maybe that’s tomorrow’s lunch.
In the meantime, I made this – left to right: mini-summer squash sauteed in extra virgin olive oil with a little basil and salt – beautiful avocado on sale at Meijer’s dressed with evoo, lemon juice, salt and a touch of hot paprika – Israeli green olives, yummmm – and tempeh, sauteed with…
Well, it was supposed to have been umeboshi plum sauce. I wondered how it would taste that way – but I think it was Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce instead. They look pretty similar in the storage container, and it was definitely spicy. Tasted pretty good, tho. I might make that mistake again.
Clementines for dessert.
4/23/15
And here’s the Green Lentil Curry Soup:
And I did enjoy the soup a day later. I had some of my spelt challah with it – almost a week old, but still ok, especially dipped in the soup.
This isn’t my regular lentil soup that I make. I usually have carrots and celery in mine and add some spinach toward the end of the cooking time. Mine is also a little more spicy.
This soup is a different spice profile and uses coconut milk. I’d probably step up the spices a bit next time — although I must have liked it pretty well because I ate three large bowls!
I greatly simplified the directions. I just put it all in the crockpot and cooked it.
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil, 3 TB
- Spanish onion, 1 finely diced
- Garlic cloves, 2 finely minced
- Thyme, fresh, 1 TB finely chopped (halve the amount if using dried)
- Turmeric, 1-1/2 tsp. ground
- Cardamom, 1/2 tsp. ground
- Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ground
- Cloves, 1/4 tsp. ground
- Nutmeg, 1 tsp. ground
- Hot paprika, 1/2 tsp. to taste
- Salt, 1-1/2 tsp. to taste
- Green lentils, dried, 1-1/2 cups
- Water, 5-6 cups
- Coconut milk, 1 cup full fat
- Coconut oil, 2 TB
Directions
- Put all ingredients into a crockpot reserving one cup of the water, the coconut milk and the coconut oil.
- Turn crockpot on high and cook 8-10 hours or overnight.
- At some point after 5 or 6 hours, mash some of the lentils.
- Add the reserved water as needed depending on the thickness you prefer.
- Add the coconut milk during the last hour or two of cooking along with the coconut oil if you like more richness. I did not add it to mine.
- Check the seasoning and adjust to your taste. I would bump up most of the seasonings in this, I believe. I also squeezed a few drops of lemon into my bowl, which always brightens food.
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