My yummy soup

Mmmmm Do I love a lentil soup. I can't get enough of different kids of lentil soups. I am making more of a smooth lentil soup than one with a lot of veggies (I will add carrots). Anyways the lentil soup I make often goes great with naan and it is soooo filling. One bowl is usually enough. I don't measure my ingredients, I just add by taste. If it tastes like it needs more cumin, I add some.

I posted a lentil soup recipe on here somewhere but I find this one is more to my taste. Lentil soups can be changed up so much. Lentils are a great thing to cook with (I find).


My lentil soup:

• 2 cups of lentils (any kind you like, I like yellow the most. For my package of lentils it's 3 cups of water per cup of lentil)
• Chicken stock (I just throw the cube in, get the reduced sodium)
• Cumin
• Corriander
• Kashmiri Mirch
• Turmeric
• Red chili powder
• Cardomon
• Curry Powder
• 2tbsp Mustard Seeds
• Fresh minced garlic (as much as you like)
• 2tbsp of Ghee
• Carrots (sliced) are optional

I boil the lentils, chicken stock in the water for a few minutes. As the lentils boil I add all the spices, it's anywhere from a tablespoon to a teaspoon. I use less cumin because it has a strong taste, the Kashmiri Mirch I use a teaspoon about (I use it mostly for the colour). The rest of the spices I go by taste. As the soup cooks I do constant taste tests and add what I think it needs. If I am adding carrots I boil them first and then add them to the soup at the same time as the spices

Once the spices are mixed in I turn the heat down and let the soup cook until the lentils are really soft. At that point I take it off the burner and use my hand mixer to smooth out the soup. I leave a little chunks. Once the soup is smooth I put it back on the burner and turn the heat on very low. If it's too thick you can always add milk or water until it's the consistency you like.

Once the soup is at your desired consistency you can start cooking the garlic and mustard seeds. Put the 2tbsp of ghee in a frying pan with mustard seeds and the fresh minced garlic. Fry it up until the seeds start popping (careful they fly all over the place!!) and the garlic looks a little cooked. Add everything in the frying pan to the soup and stir it up. Cook for as long as you want and serve with some hot naan!

This is a great meal for cold days. It takes me about 40min or so to make the soup, it can be less or more depending on the person. The idea for the mustard seeds and garlic came from a lentil soup recipe I saw (I can't remember where) and I like the idea so I tried it out. You can also add some fresh coriander to the soup when ready to serve.

Enjoy!!! ( I am having a bowl of this tonight!!)