Coconut Red Lentil Soup

This is another amazing recipe from Heidi Swanson and I am in love with it! It is pretty easy to make and the flavor is awesome. It is a great way to get all the flavor of a time consuming and labor intensive Indian curry in a hour with minimal effort. I like it served over brown rice and I love the sweet flavor bursts of the golden raisins so much that I recommend adding a little extra.

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow split peas
• 1 cup red split lentils (masoor dal)
• 7 cups liters water
• 1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
• 8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
• one small handful cilantro, chopped
• cooked brown rice for serving (optional)

Directions

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse - until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don't want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up.

Serves 6.

Recipe by Heidi Swanson from 101cookbooks.com