Some say that lentils are to India as meatloaf is to America, it’s the ultimate comfort food. I’ve been Vegan since 1992, I haven’t eaten meatloaf since the late 80’s, however, I’ve made numerous dishes that included lentils.
For the past few days I’ve been craving lentils. I prepare Lentils in creamy Dhal. They make an appearance in sauces, and occasionally you’ll see them popping up in salads too. Regardless of how I prepare them, lentils usually have the starring role in dishes I prepare, and for good reason.
Despite their small size, lentils are a nutritional powerhouse. Serving up a variety of healthy and tasty, nutritional options that will keep you (and your loved ones) clamoring for more. Over 80 nutrients can be found in this tiny bean. Important minerals like iron, manganese, copper, phosphorus, folate, and molybdenum. It also boasts two types of B vitamins. Let’s not forget about fiber, just like most legumes you’ll find lentils far ahead of the pack serving up a healthy dose of soluble and insoluble fiber.
Yesterday, after my daughter’s piano practice was over, we stopped by the store and I purchased some dry lentils. I prefer purchasing my beans dry, unlike other dried beans it lentils don’t take as long to cook. So if you don’t have a pressure cooker, your beans won’t take hours to prepare.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon Pig in the Kitchen’s truly delightful virtual community. Although many posts caught my eye, I couldn’t help but to chuckle at her latest post. In that post, she wrote about her competitive nature (I can completely relate) and at the end of her post she shared a recipe for a truly delightful lentil salad. Although I had every intention of making some type of salad, my lentils had a mind of their own and I found myself making a savory lentil soup. Ahh, no worries, I haven’t made lentil soup in a long time.
Savory Lentil Soup
- 2 cups of dried lentils
- 8 cups of water
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1.5 cups of corn
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice (I used freshly squeezed lemon juice)
- 1 tbsp curry
- 1 bay leaf
- organic sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- In a large stock pot, add lentils, water, garlic, onions, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour.
- Add the corn, tomatoes, lemon juice, and curry.
- let simmer for two – three minutes
- Add salt and pepper, season to taste
- Serve and enjoy
I tend to add my vegetables towards the end of the cooking time because I like the fresh taste of vegetables. They’re so flavorful. The good news is, there are so many different vegetables you can add to this dish. I had every intention of adding carrots, but checking my vegetable crisper I realized I didn’t have any. Although I love my dark leafy greens, I chose not to add them to this soup. It didn’t stop me from munching on them throughout the day.
Oh, I did add about six leaves of fresh lemon balm to this dish. We have it growing in our yard; it’s right next to the bee balm. I wanted to see how it turned out. I liked it, but think I should have added more leaves. There’s always next time, right? Cumin was purposely left out of the dish, simply because I wanted to see how I liked the soup with curry, it still tasted great and my daughter wanted more.
I had no intentions of making soup on an extremely hot day, but I really enjoyed the results, and we have leftovers!
By the way with the exception of the seasonings, lemon and garlic, everything else came from our garden. Now how’s that for fresh?
Technorati Tags:
Moondancer, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food
That looks yummy! I’ve been looking for ways to incorporate more beans into my diet as I cut (further) down on dairy, and unlike some recipes, this one actually uses things I already have in my kitchen. It will be duly filed away for cooler weather. By the way, thanks so much for stopping by my blog!
@Jennifer – Hello, I hope you like it, and thank so much for stopping by. I found you via twitter. One of my tweet pals retweeted one of your blog posts, so I had to check it out. I really enjoyed my stay, so your website has been added to my feed.
Regarding the lentils, we still have some leftovers today. I like the eating the soup hot or cold. I’m a big fan of lentils and tend to use it a lot in my recipes. You would think as much as I prepare them I would have tried growing them in my garden. I never thought about that, until I replied to your comment. Next year, I’m definitely going to try growing them.
When I post a recipe online, I try to use ingredients that most people have, or can easily pick up at the grocery store. I’m getting better at actually measuring the ingredients I use. I’m used to not measuring anything, but if I’m to post recipes on my websites I need to get back into the practice of measuring what I use. 😉
Yes it’s definitely a cooler weather meal. What possessed me to make it yesterday, I have no clue. 😉
It can be tough eliminating dairy from your diet, good for you making steps to cut back on doing so.
That does look like a yummy dose of comfort food! Wow it’s been a long time since you had meatloaf! I love.. love..love meatloaf I don’t think I could ever give it up lol.
Lentils are delicious,I think the soup sounds more filling than salad though,I would have had to do the same!
Very nice that you guys use a lot of things out of your garden, I bet your daughter loves that.
@kaozz – It was very good, and we have leftovers which is even better.
Oh there’s a lot of things I thought I couldn’t give up, I did. It’s a mind thing, all about switching the ‘I can’t’ to ‘I can’.
I’m definitely grateful we have access to so much fresh produce. 🙂
YUM!!! It’s mid winter here in Australia – the only opportunity we have for winter comfort foods. I’m going to give this one a try.
Mxx
@Megan from Australia – That’s right, it’s winter in your neck of the woods. I almost forgot that. Let me know how you like it, if your like me you’ll tweak it to suit yourself, heh.
Bookmarked on delicious! Love lentil soup but didn’t have a recipe handy. This will definitely be a start.
Heya @ashok, I love lentil soup too, so many ways you can make lentils at times I feel like I don’t have enough time to prepare them. 😉