Lately we have been missing home more than usual. I think more than home, it is food that we miss. Yesterday while watching a show featuring US fast food giants, we realized how much we were missing junk processed food. Yeah, you heard me right! I always preach about eating healthy and so much so that some days I go over board when it comes to makes healthy choices. BUT not so much lately. After being totally deprived of so called taco bell, cheesy pizza, panda express and if I have the permission to say that everything consisting of unhealthy-heart-stopping goodness, I am craving overall unhealthy food.
These days I make excuses and pick the worst food I can get in sight. This is not me in true sense.Yesterday, we realized that it was time to change our eating habits and to put some more thought into what we were feeding our bellies. We had whole brown lentils in our cupboard and instantly I thought of making a big batch of soup which would last us for dinner and lunch and might help in distracting me for a while from my junk food craze.You know, these lentils are my favourite when cooked in Indian way while on the other hand Jerry has almost no taste for these. So keeping both the situations in mind, soup sounded perfect as Jerry will eat any soup as long as he has a nice grilled cheese along with it.
This recipe was born from the simple dal I grew up eating with rice and chapati. To make it more nutritious as a soup, I added some vegetables and pureed it all for smoother texture. If you like your soup with lots of texture, you are free to leave the blending part out.
- Brown lentils, ½ cup dry, rinsed and cleaned
- Olive oil, ½ tsp
- garlic, 6 cloves
- green chillies, 1-2 chopped
- Onion, 1 chopped in big chunks
- Carrot, 1 chopped
- Tomatoes, 2 chopped
- Bay leaf, 1-2
- Water, 3-4 cups
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- Lemon juice to taste
- Cilantro, freshly chopped
- In a big pot, add oil. Once hot, add garlic and green chillies and saute for few minutes until fragrant. Add onions, carrots and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, water, bay leaf, salt, lentils and bring it to a roaring boil. Let it simmer for almost 30 minutes. Blend it to get a smooth puree. Taste and adjust salt, black pepper and lemon. Serve hot garnished with freshly chopped cilantro.
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