Coconut curry lentil soup
Beyond quick (about 30 minutes), coconut curry lentil soup is filling, delicious and easy on the budget!
Equipment
- Soup pot or dutch oven.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 medium carrots chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 tsp oil (olive, avocado or coconut)
- 1 tsp garlic chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp curry powder (more or less to desired taste/spice level)
- ½ tsp ground ginger or 1 tsp fresh minced ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- salt & pepper
- 32 oz (4 cups) stock/broth veggie or chicken or plain water
- 15 oz can of coconut milk
- 1 cup dried red lentils
- 15 oz can garbanzo beans (aka chick peas)
- lime or lemon
- fresh herbs for garnish cilantro, parsley and chives all work great!
Instructions
- Chop onions, carrots and celery. Should roughly equal 2 cups of chopped veggies.
- Add veggies to a soup pot or dutch oven with 2 tsp oil over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with garlic and spices. Stir one minute. Doesn't that smell heavenly?!
- Deglaze the pot with 32 oz stock/broth. Stir in coconut milk, lentils, and garbanzo beans.
- Simmer 15 minutes until lentils are tender (*see note on different lentils and their cooking times.) I cover my pot and leave the lid vented.
- Give your soup one last taste and adjust any spices as necessary. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a squeeze of lemon or lime and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Ah! Enjoy! Wasn't that easy?
Notes
Cinnamon- It may seem weird or unnecessary but I assure you it is delicious and this recipe does not taste quite right without it. It is not over powering.
Ginger- I LOVE ginger but take caution that too much powdered ginger tends to taste bitter. If you want a more pronounced ginger flavor swap out the powdered with fresh! Tubes of fresh ginger from the produce section or pre portioned frozen ginger are great alternatives to buying a piece of ginger if you're not sure when you'll use it next.
Lentils- Red lentils cook the quickest at around 10-20 minutes and break down causing a creamier soup. Brown lentils take 20-30 minutes to cook and hold more of their shape. Green lentils take 35-45 minutes to cook and hold their shape quite well so if you're after a creamier soup I suggest blending a cup or two of your finished soup in the blender and stirring it back into your pot!
Need to soak your own garbanzo beans? No problem. Rinse and sort garbanzo beans/chick peas and add them to a large pot and cover with several inches of water. Bring to a boil for several minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let set about 1 hour. Drain and rise beans once more. Cover with several inches of water again, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer with a tilted lid for almost 2 hours or until the beans are tender. Drain. Now you can stir the beans into your favorite recipes.