A Fall Soup to Eat Now: Red Lentil Coconut Curry

 A Fall Soup to Eat Now: Red Lentil Coconut Curry

A few days of cool weather this week reminded me of this wonderful curry soup that is generally on weekly repeat for dinner in the fall and winter months at our house.

I like it because it’s easy. And I always have everything on hand (except the toppings, which you can go without — and they’re hard for toddlers to eat, anyway). It fulfills the need for carbs, fats, and proteins-- those key constituents of a growing child's diet. You can serve it to anyone with pretty much any allergy, because it’s gluten free, dairy free, nut free, and vegan. 

Red Lentil Coconut Soup from scalingbackblog.com 

 Ingredients

• 2 cups red split lentils, uncooked
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper cut into ½ inch dice
• 1 fresh jalapeno or serrano chili, finely chopped, including seeds
• 1 tablespoon fresh peeled and minced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry powder or 1 tablespoon thai curry paste
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ⅓ cup tomato paste
• 7 cups water
• 1 can unsweetened light coconut milk
• 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• fresh cilantro and lime wedges for serving

The basics for this easy curry soup. 

Instructions

1. Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven or large soup pan and add the onions, bell pepper and jalapeno and cook for 5-7 minutes until the vegetables have softened and start to take on some color.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, spices and tomato paste and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes until the mixture is toasty and fragrant.
3. Add the water, coconut milk, lentils and chickpeas, bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes adding the lime juice at the end of cooking.
4. Taste and adjust with more salt or more lime juice if desired.
5. Serve the soup topped with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro and some extra limes on the side.

Mama Tips to Simplify This Recipe

• Keep diced onions and bell peppers in your freezer to save chopping time when you’re throwing the soup together.

• Again, pre-dice and freeze your own ginger, or use those handy ginger ice cubes or chopped-ginger-in-a-tube that you can find at your local grocery store. Enormous time saver!

• Both curry powder or paste work well, although a curry paste is less likely to char on the bottom of your pot when you’re heating it up. Watch the heat carefully in that step.

• Use bottled lime juice. Fresh limes are great, but it’s worth the time saved to use something like this. (You can get it much cheaper than Amazon is selling it at your local grocery store.)

• Skip the jalapeño and let the adults add heat with sriracha in their own dish later.