Recipe: Coconut and Red Curry Lentil Soup

I love the idea of lentils because they are so healthy and very inexpensive.  However, I tend to shy away from lentils because the few times I have cooked them, they have either been quite bland or taken a lot of work to make not so bland. 

Earlier this week I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner, and honestly we didn't have a lot on hand.  We did have lentils though, so I decided it was time to give them another chance.


One of my go-to websites for healthy and delicious recipes is 101Cookbooks. I hit the lentils section and the very first post was for a Coconut and Red Curry Soup.  That doesn't sound boring at all!  I didn't have everything on hand, so I made a few revisions.   The weather was still cloudy and cool, so I figured this was my last chance for a while to enjoy a good pot of soup.


Be sure to check out the original recipe. Heidi provides international measurements and includes split peas, carrots, and cilantro--none of which I had on hand.  Here is my adaptation.


Coconut and Red Curry Lentil Soup 

1 cup  black lentils
1 cup red (?) lentils
7 cups  water
2 +1 teaspoon tablespoons minced ginger, divided
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or butter)
3 medium spring onions, thinly sliced, divided (these are the small ones you buy at the farmers market)
1/2 cup  raisins
1/3 cup organic, no-salt-added tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
goat cheese (skip this if you want a vegan meal)

cooked brown rice, for serving 

If you're making brown rice, go ahead and start it first.  The soup and rice will finish close to the same time.  Also, most of the directions are from the original recipe.
 
Rinse the lentils well and place them in a large stock pot with the water.  Cover and bring the lentils & water to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low--just enough to let it simmer--and add 1 tablespoon of ginger.  Let simmer about 25 minutes, until the lentils are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don't want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside.

Place the coconut oil in a pan over medium heat, add half of the onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like.

Serve the soup over the brown rice.  Sprinkle with some goat cheese and onions.  

Serves 6.

This made for and absolutely delicious and fairly easy meal.  Brandon liked it and didn't even ask where the bread was I think that is a good thing. You can play around with some of the ingredients like I did, and just use what you have on hand. I bet that greek yogurt would be good on top. Enjoy!