For the past week, Derika has been traveling in South Africa for a Pepsi Corps project. When I am home by myself; I like to make something earlier in the week that I can recreate into new and exciting dishes as the week goes on. When I cook for Derika and I, I always make too much food. So when I am cooking for myself, you can’t even imagine how many leftovers I have. Good thing I like leftovers, but I have to admit that eating soup for 5 days in a row does not make me a happy camper. So while Derika was traveling, I decided to make a hearty lentil soup that I could sass up a bit as the week went on. Lentils are a great source of protein, and they go great with almost anything. What I really liked about this soup is that I could really get creative with it as the week went on. The base for this soup is a ton of veggies, coconut milk to add a creamy flavor and some black beluga lentils that I had left over from the Dal Makhani that I made. I was actually craving Dal Makhani, but I did not have all of the ingredients, nor did I have the time to soak the beans. So instead of these beans hanging out in a slow cooker all day, I whipped up this simple soup in an hour. The best thing about this soup is that you can add a hard-boiled egg to it and call it breakfast. You can dump this soup over a ton of chopped kale, and top it with avocado and call it lunch. I don’t care what you call it, just enjoy it and let me know the creative ways that you ate it.
Ingredients
- 2 TBS Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Large Sweet Onion, diced
- 1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 Celery Stalk, diced
- 1 Green Pepper, diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
- Half of a Jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1 Tsp. Ground Coriander
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Pinch Chile Flakes
- 2 TBS Tomato Paste
- 1 Can Light Coconut Milk
- 3/4 cup black Beluga Lentils
- 2 Cups Veggie Broth
- Salt & Pepper
Directions
1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot add the onion, carrot, celery and green pepper, jalapeno along with a pinch of salt. Sauté until the vegetables are tender and lightly golden, about 7 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, coriander, bay leaves, chile flakes and a few grinds of black pepper. Continue to sauté for 3 minutes until fragrant and the garlic softens.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and coconut milk. Scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and then stir in the lentils.
4. Add the veggie broth and 1-teaspoon salt, bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to low.
5. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!
I made this soup on a Monday and I ate the heck out of it all week.
I have had it for breakfast over kale and with a hard-boiled egg…
If you decide to eat it for breakfast, it needs to come with a warning label. Warning…If you eat this for breakfast, you will be full the rest of the day. No joke! On Saturday Derika and I ate this for breakfast and then we went out for a day of fun in the city. We stumbled across so many cute restaurants that we wanted to try. Unfortunately, we could not eat any of the tasty snacks we saw along the way, because we were still full from breakfast! I need to remember this so that I can eat this meal before I get on a long flight.
The possibilities are endless. I feel like I was channeling Popeye when I came up with the idea to pour this soup over kale. Don’t cook the kale, just chop it up and dump the hot soup over it…magic!
