Lentil-Veggie Curry Soup

LENTIL-VEGGIE CURRY SOUP

(Laura Theodore, Jazzy Vegetarian, 10th Anniv. Ed.)

When you need curry in a hurry, this snazzy soup will truly satisfy. Creamy red lentils combined with butternut squash, carrots, baby potatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, cabbage, and curry powder makes a flavorful potage. Serve this delicious dish for an easy and nutritious weeknight meal..

3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage

2½ cups cubed baby red and/or white potatoes (leave peels on)

2 1⁄3 cups sliced carrots (peeling is optional)

2 cups peeled, seeded, and cubed butternut squash or sweet potatoes

1 1⁄3 cups chopped celery, with leaves

1 cup red lentils, sorted and rinsed (see note)

1 can (28 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes, with juice

2 teaspoons curry powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 large vegan bouillon cube, crumbled

9 cups water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Put all of the ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, decrease the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the lentils are soft. Serve hot.

NOTE: To sort the lentils, spread them out in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Remove any stones, dirt, broken lentils, or other debris. The lentils are now ready to be rinsed and used in your recipe. You may also sort split peas or dried beans in this manner.

___________________________________

This was a Recipe Challenge recipe, and I made it one cold wintry Saturday night. It was a big hit!

A couple of comments: I added some chopped fresh onion and garlic with the other veggies because I thought it was strange that there wasn’t any. And I used red/purple cabbage because when I am at the store, I hear Dr. Greger saying that red onions and cabbage have more anti-oxidants than their yellow/green counterparts. However, I think green cabbage might have been prettier for this dish.

Also, this makes a huge amount of soup, almost topped out my soup pot, so when it came to adding the 28-oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes, I only added about 2/3 and saved the rest for another dish (I love fire-roasted tomatoes, and they add a flavor boost to whatever you add them to).

Finally, I served some chopped dry-roasted peanuts as garnish to this dish, my own idea. It’s delicious either way. Enjoy!

_______________________________

Jazzy Vegetarian is the website of Laura Theodore. She writes: “All of the dishes I share on this website are prepared with easily accessible ingredients, or can be adapted to use items from your pantry or freezer. My mission is to share nutritiously dense, plant-based recipes to prepare for yourself, your family, and your friends in your own home kitchen!” In addition to the website, the Jazzy Vegetarian has a podcast, and a television series on Create TV which can be viewed on YouTube. Laura Theodore has 5 cookbooks: Jazzy Vegetarian (original and 10th Anniversary Edition); Vegan for Everyone; Deliciously Vegan; Easy Vegan Home Cooking; and Jazzy Vegetarian Classics as well as a 6th book: Vegan Ease: An Easy Guide to Enjoying a Plant-Based Diet.

Even though Laura Theodore is vegan and her recipes are completely plant-based, the site is called “Vegetarian.” Laura T explains this by saying that, when she started out, hardly anyone knew what vegan was. For many people, the word “vegetarian” is less provocative and more welcoming than the word “vegan.” Also, Laura points out that the word vegetarian is derived from the Latin “vegetus” which means “invigorating, lively, vivid, active, or energetic … so the original meaning of the word implies a lot more than just a diet of vegetables and fruit.” In any case, the recipes at Jazzy Vegetarian are all completely plant-based! Please enjoy the recipe for Lentil-Veggie Curry Soup.