Dennys Hot Curry Red Lentil Soup

Just in time for the cold winter season - though this easy cooking is wonderful all year! Lentils are great for helping you to lose weight and feel satisfied.

Lentils also help lower your cholesterol and pull fat out of your body as well as excess water.

Lots of flavor here and those wonderful vegetables that act as digestives: celery and carrots. The spice curry acts as a digestive as well. Lentils provide lots of protein that digests faster and easier than meat since it is plant based. Why not make something so healthy taste good as well? My husband the meat eater loves this soup as it is thick, hearty and yet low calorie. Good for colds too when you have the sniffles as the hot curry will give you a few hours of relief.

It takes about 20 minutes to assemble and cooks, covered, for another 45 minutes to an hour. Stir from time to time (about every 15 minutes) to make sure the lentils don’t clump up or stick to the bottom and eventually scorch.

An hour and 30 minutes cooking time is even better because it gives the potatoes time to absorb the seasonings. The potatoes do start to dissolve when cooked longer, creating a stew quality which we prefer at our house.

Servings: 8 – 10 or more. Inexpensive and easy to make. Reheats well.

In large soup pot, bringing pot up to medium high heat, then add:

3 Tablespoons canola oil

½ package (16 oz.) baby carrots, sliced

½ large sweet onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, sliced

Let these sauté a bit before adding:

2 Tablespoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama seasoning

*** (consists of salt, black pepper, red pepper and garlic powder – if you can’t find this just adjust those seasonings to your comfort level – for this recipe that would be about ½ teaspoon of each – go easy on the salt as there are other seasonings with salt in it to follow.)

1 Tablespoon dried basil

2 cups dried red lentils (that turn brown when cooked)

1 Tablespoon beef base concentrate (can use chicken or vegetable base instead)

2 Tablespoons Patak’s Hot Curry paste concentrate (2 T. gives a medium heat at the back of your throat, 1 T. if you want it to be a milder hot)

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (good without it but this really makes it more exotic)

4 – 5 cups diced new red potatoes

8 cups water

Cover the soup pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium to medium low heat and cook for at least 45 minutes. Before serving make sure the lentils are soft and thoroughly cooked. I like to cook this an hour and 30 minutes to give the potatoes time to absorb all the seasonings.

If anyone finds the soup too hot in spice just add a dollop of sour cream to cool off!

Serve with buttered French bread croutons and a side of sour cream (no/low fat is fine).

***

Fun Food Blogs by Denny Lyon:

Romancing The Chocolate – yummy photos, recipes and just plain fun.  Quotes illustrated with chocolate photos to make you laugh!

Comfort Food From Louisiana – yummy easy comfort food recipes, photos of New Orleans, history and cultural traditions of south Louisiana. 

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