Creamy lentil soup for women’s day

What would you say if you I gave you my recipe for the slurpiest soup possible? And what would you say if I showed you how to remove too spicy indian flavours with a quick and healthy tip. And what if I showed you a clever way to get creamy soup with texture, no butter, and still pass the taste winner test.

This soup has all that and much much more.

True. I got the idea to prepare it to share with my yoga class today for a women’s day special class. But it took all the effort on my part to stop slurping down this soup after the 4th helping. Literally I had to cover up the soup and get away from the kitchen to stop finishing it up completely.

½ cup whole indian black lentils(urad dal) not to be confused with small black lentils ¼ cup red kidney beans ½ cup red onions, sliced ½ cup tomatoes, cubed 1 tbsp fresh garlic, chopped 1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped

Spice Mix 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ½ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp turmeric Pinch hing Salt to taste 2 tbsp coconut oil

Method
• Wash lentils thoroughly several times in water. Soak black lentils and red kidney beans separately in 1 cup water each overnight.

• 12 hours later, wash and rinse lentils again.

• Soak black lentils and red kidney beans separately in 1 cup water each.

Apsara tip – This step is really important as you will see later how the black lentils are pureed but the red kidney beans stay whole adding cream & texture to this amazing soup without any butter . Cook till soft. I bring out my pressure cooker anytime there are lentils on the horizon. Set aside to cool.

• In pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add cumin, turmeric, cayenne and hing. Then quickly add the onions, ginger and garlic. Saute till soft. toss in tomatoes. When tomatoes are cooked and water separates from the tomato spice mix, you know this is done. Add ¾ of the cooked black lentils to the spice mix. Take off stove. Let cool and then puree in food processor.

• Return pureed tomato onion ginger garlic puree to pan. Add remaining cooked lentils, and kidney beans and salt to taste. Add 2 cups of water. Let everything come to a boil.

• I simply love the swirls and texture in this soup and yes, no butter.

• Garnish with chopped cilantro. I served it with multigrain crackers. You can serve it with any crusty bread.

Apsara tip – this cayenne was really hot. That’s why I typically hesitate when someone asks me for exact measures. It all depends! On where you get your spices from and how fresh they are. My cayenne was really fresh and pretty hot. My taming tip – I added a dollop of coconut oil to the soup at the end.. Coconut oil has been doing the health rounds for a while now. I am a complete convert and really loved to see little slivers of coconut oil floating on the top of my soup. Gave me huge joy to see this healthy soup become healthier still 🙂

On the topic of international women’s day, I’ve decided to post daily all week long. So watch out for more interesting posts. As well as yoga posts.

I’m also working on getting my website design re-hauled to make it easy to navigate. You know my day job is in technology, so I have to make sure you are getting the most user friendly experience when you visit my website. Hint: my colours are deep fuschia, black, charcoal grey and white. Do you like them.. I can’t wait to share my logo with you. And lots of freebies that I want to start giving out. As I love to share as you all know.

I took this lentil soup as a treat for my yoga class today. Along with my favourite indian dessert. I love it as Its not too sweet. See if you can take a guess. hint: its main ingredient is a seductive fruit!! Get it right and I’ll send you a little treat.

–charuyoga–

 

 

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