Curried Lentil, Tomato, and Coconut Soup

Whether you like your lentil soup with a rough texture and the lentils still holding their shape, or smooth like I do, then just blitz this soup away to your liking, and enjoy it. We used leftover coriander roots and stalks in this soup, and the earthy unique coriander flavour with the texture of chives,  along with the other aromatic ingredients make this soup memorable, and one bowl just isn't enough. It's also a cinch to make.

It was a surprisingly cold day in Cairns, in Far North Queensland,  when Shannon and I decided to make lentil soup in her kitchen. Shannon did the bulk of the preparation, Mr. HRK chopped potatoes and carrots, I stirred and hovered, took photos and generally enjoyed the experience of cooking with my wonderful daughter, wishing I could be with her more to do that. She is such a good cook, but life is so busy for young working people, and soups like this one with inexpensive ingredients on hand, are perfect to make on days off and freeze for later. Or make a double batch, half to eat now, and freeze the rest. This recipe is based on one by Yotam Ottolenghi, in his book SIMPLE. I discovered when we went to Cairns that Shannon also has a copy, so there's no need to take mine up there for visits. We added a few more vegetables to this one. It is such a versatile soup in that way.

We are just back from a holiday in Cairns, and my friends you will be hearing more about that in the future. I've come back with a sniffle,  and I'm hoping it won't eventuate into anything too debilitating, however for now, let's make some healthy, warming and delicious soup.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

150 g red lentils, rinsed and drained

1 x 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon medium curry powder (or sunflower oil)

2 tablespoons Coconut Oil

25 g coriander stalks

1 onion, finely chopped (160g )

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped (optional)

4 cm piece of ginger,  peeled and finely chopped (30 g)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 x 400 ml tin of coconut milk

salt and black pepper

2 potatoes, diced

2 carrots, diced

Method:

Fry the onion and celery in the oil in a medium saucepan on a medium high heat., for 8 minutes and stir frequently until onion is soft and caramelised.

Add the spices, the curry powder, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger and continue frying this mixture for 2 minutes, stirring continuously to prevent burning.

Add the lentils, stir through the spice mixture

Add the tomatoes, the potatoes, the carrots, coriander and roots, 600 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of salt and a generous grinding of black pepper.

Take your coconut milk, pour into a bowl, and gently whisk until smooth and creamy. Take a smaller bowl, and add 4 tablespoons of your coconut milk to the bowl, this will be used later for serving.

Add all the remaining coconut milk to the soup mixture. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer gently for 25 minutes. The lentils by then should be soft but still holding their shape. 

If your soup is too thick for your tastes, add some more water, about 100-150 ml should do it. Blitz the soup if you would like it smoother in texture.

Ladle out the soup into four bowls, drizzle over the reserved coconut milk, sprinkle with coriander leaves, and serve and enjoy.

What a Winter warmer this soup is, however if it is thinned own, also very palatable on a summers evening with the lovely Middle Eastern flavours. You will also have noticed that we were missing extra coriander for garnish when we made this, and it was late Sunday afternoon, so we didn't go out shopping for some more. However if you are serving up to friends or family, I'm sure you will have some extra on hand. 

NEWS: This is probably my last cooking blog post before some changes are made to Google blogger, which my blogging friends will be aware of. Google is ceasing support of its email subscription software, Feedburner on our blogs and I have had to spend some time working with Follow It, the company through which you, my readers, will now receive your emails. Support for thee Feedburner system finishes on the 30th June, yikes two days to go, and I am still waiting for the finishing touches to my blog to ensure that you keep receiving your emails. Follow It have been very supportive. If something happens and you haven't received anything from me by the end of this week, please just search for my blog on Google and sign up again to receive your emails. 

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This has all been a little bit nerve wracking and I needed to do a lot of the technical work with Follow it while I was on holidays in Cairns, to ensure this deadline was met. Thankfully I took my laptop with me. I am  hoping it will all work out, but I have learned over the years that technology never stays the same and there are always lots of changes to deal with. I really value being part of a friendly blogging community for the support in dealing with these issues, and I also really value those of you, dear readers, who read my blog each time. Some of you make very kind comments which I really love, some of you who I know personally give me verbal comments,  and the statistics also show that many of you are reading my blog and enjoying the recipes and other topics I write about. You can also send me an email from the box in the side column which I would love to receive. Fingers crossed.

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Best wishes,

 Pauline