Thursday, January 3

New Years Red Lentil Curry Soup Happiness!!!

Once a year I make new resolutions that last a week or two and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do it again this year!  I promise to post at least one new recipe on this blog weekly this year!  In spite of all my new adventures and excitement in life, that is my goal.

We dropped in at the winter house for a day or two in the midst of all the travel adventures this December.  
While Mr. Darcey unpacked and sparked the home fires burning hotly, I scavenged for dinner.  We landed there after the  grocery store (one only) closed, so there was no food--no fresh food anyway. But tucked away in the depths of the pantry, (who knows how it go there, or how long it's been there, I like to think that while the house may be 80 years old, but the food can't top five or so,) there was a paper canister, pull-top variety, of red lentil curry soup.  The label stated gluten-free (which is most likely why some loving someone found it and dropped it off,) and so I popped the top, heated it up and we loved it!

It was an obscure brand, and without doing an in-depth and onerous search into origin, I'm going to attempt to duplicate it.  Here's hoping!  

RED  LENTIL CURRY SOUP
1 cup red lentils, (believe it or not, I had a package of masoor matki in the larder--proof of Mr. Darcey's claim that our pantry may be overstocked.)
Rinsed well and set to soak in
3 cups hot water  Soaked awhile and then dumped the water off and brought to a boil in two more cups of water.

Saute  the following in a
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced fine.  While cooking add
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon red curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen brand)
1 tablespoon curry powder ( I use hot curry from an India store)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fennel powder (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp. minced ginger root (I use ginger paste)
1 small (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

After it all simmers and the onion turns translucent, about 3 minutes, add to lentils and simmer gently about 30-40 minutes until lentils are soft.

Use an immersion blender or place in blender and  blend until smooth.

Add 1/2 cup  coconut milk or almond milk or  milk powder and stir.

Today I added three chicken breast halves during the simmering and then diced it up and served the whole thing over rice.

Could serve with cheese and gf croutons (leftover from the wedding food) or sour cream sauce (also leftover) and chives atop.


2 comments:

Sabeys said...

Is there a trick that I'm missing? Maybe it's the curry powder, oops, but mine is sorely lacking in taste. I like adding tofu instead of chicken at the last minute, though!

Terina Dee said...

Did you salt?