Let me officially introduce my new [Loaded!] Recipe Series with this delicious soup.
Studying more and more latest trends of the ages old “super-food” powers (those that we are just now rediscovering), I also love to put it right into practice. I try new recipes and combinations that will load my food with these super healing nutrients as much as possible. As always, the taste is as big the factor for me, as the benefit to one’s health. Combine that with the fact that we are big soup obsessed family, I must say that when I made this soup recently, we just couldn’t get enough of it.
Kick the flu in the butt with this delicious super food soup!
I never made just 2 or 4 portions of soup – but a pot that we can eat for few days, so I kept adding another possible combinations of flavors when serving it next day. At the end, we settled on splash of Sriracha sauce in each portion, because my initial ½ seeded jalapeno didn’t bring the desired, (if any) heat to the meal. If you’re not a fan of spicy food, you can omit using hot peppers all together, but to me, the heat just finished the umami process.
Please don’t get discouraged with the list of ingredients. If you follow healthy guidelines, preparing smoothies, salads and meals at home at least sometimes, you probably have most of them already in your pantry and fridge.
Coconut – lentil soup
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
This recipe is for: 6 people
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of red lentils
- 1 small onion or 1/4 red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 large carrot, minced
- 1/2 cup of minced celery root
- 1 tablespoon minced turmeric root
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger root
- ½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (I hardly tasted any heat, so next time whole jalapeno w seeds for me)
- 2 x 4 tablespoons of organic coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons powdered curry
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1-2 zucchini
- 1 lemon grass, smashed
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of chili powdered
- Juice from ½ lemon
- Pinch of chili and curry for serving
- Sriracha sauce (optional)
- Cilantro to decorate each portion (optional)
Pick lentils for unknown objects. Place in fine colander and wash under the running water. Let it sit in the colander until you need it. Peel garlic and onion and finely chop. Peel and chop your root vegetables.
If you’re not familiar with celery root (my favorite stuff), you can cut just about 1/4 of root (cover the rest of the unused root with plastic foil and keep in refrigerated for the next use).
Peel the outer tough skin with small knife (sometimes you must go deeper into the root, especially if it was kept dry in the store). You don’t want any tough, woody pieces in your soup. Finely chop as desired. I tried to cut each component into a similar size with lentils.
In the large soup pot heat up coconut oil, add onion, garlic with root vegetables and cook on medium low heat until translucent, about 2 – 3 minutes. Add curry powder and stir, until fragrant.
Add smashed lemon grass, and jalapeno and keep stirring for another 30 seconds.
Throw in washed lentils, and cover with coconut milk and stock. Bring up the heat so the liquids are brought to the boil, and then turn down the heat again, letting it simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are cooked and soft.
In the meantime, wash and slice zucchini – I cut it longwise, then again to a quarter lengths and then sliced into half-moons. The thickness depends on you – if you like it crunchier, leave it thicker, and if you like the zucchini nice and soft, slice it thinner. Whatever you decide, keep it as similar size pieces as possible. I originally saute just one medium size zucchini, but liked it so much, next time I may make 2-3.
Heat coconut oil in the large frying pan and saute zucchini, seasoned by salt and pepper, for few minutes, moving, until browned on all edges. Depending on the heat of the pan, it can happen quickly. Set aside.
When the soup is cooked to your liking, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, chili and lemon juice. Remove the lemon grass before serving, and discard. Ladle the soup to plates or cups, arrange roasted zucchini in the middle, sprinkle with curry and chili, add sprig of cilantro, final splash of coconut milk and serve.
The soup wasn’t originally as hot as I expected, and we ate almost all the zucchini on the first round, so for the next serving I sauteed an additional zucchini, mixed them into the soup, and injected a dollop of Sriracha sauce to each plate. It added a nice color and most importantly, the missing heat! Overall, this soup, loaded with superb stuff for your health, is our new staple in the kitchen. Both my husband and I gave it ♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5.
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