Saturday, February 16, 2008

Spicy Lentil Soup

I came up with this soup purely by experimentation. It was a crowd pleaser and super easy to make. I had a guest coming over and I had to work with ingredients I had in the house.

Cook 1 cup of dried lentils in a sauce pan. (I usually add 2 cups at first and then add more water as needed. It generally takes around 25-30 minutes to cook the lentils. Let nearly all of the water dry out. 

In the meantime....saute the following in a soup pot until the veggies are soft and start to caramelize: 
1/2 sweet onion - chopped
1 red bell pepper - chopped
1 jalepeno pepper (remove seeds) - chopped
2 heaping tablespoons of crushed garlic
a few good shakes of coarse ground pepper
a couple of good shakes of seasoning salt
a few good shakes of red pepper flakes
a few good shakes of extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor add the following and blend until creamy: 
the cooked lentils
the sauteed mixture
2 cups of water
three shakes of cumin
1 good size pinch of turmeric
3 or 4 good size pinches of curry masala
2 teaspoons of vegan chicken bouillon powder
a couple of dashes of tamari
a few more shakes of coarse ground pepper

Pour the blended mixture into the soup pot and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Serve in a bowl with slices of avocado on top. Makes 4 good-size bowls. 

3 comments:

Heather Z said...

Cool! I checked out your site and it looks like fun. Thanks for the invite.

jd said...

Mmmm! This sounds delish!

I love lentil soup, but I never thought about putting avocado on top of it... I can't wait to try this.

Thanks!

Heather Z said...

I love using raw, sliced avocado as a compliment to spicy foods. It sort of cools the palette and adds a richer texture.