What Gets Me Through February
Indian-spiced Easy-as-heck Lentil Soup
1 or 2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (substituting the powdered kind doesn't hurt)
1 cup red lentils
1/2 cup or so chopped carrots (also celery if you like; I don't)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can other beans (I use kidney, but trust me, it doesn't matter)
1 can diced or other tomatoes (I use whole so I can pick them out)
1 tsp. garam masala
1.5 tsp ground cardamom
0.5 tsp cayenne pepper (more for extra hotness)
0.5 tsp cumin (more for extra indian-spiciness)
Directions: Heat big pot w/ a little olive oil in the bottom. Add onions & garlic and cook until not raw. Add six cups of water and everything else. Bring to a boil for a few minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer until you don't feel like simmering anymore, and the lentils are soft.
Dump half the soup into a food-processor or blender and decimate it. (If there's an ingredient you don't like to eat in chunks, like carrots or tomatoes, just leave them big for the cooking part, and then put them all in the food processor during this part. I put all the whole tomatoes in the blender.) Mix the halves back together and away you go.
Benefits: Spicy, cheap, filling, vegetarian, high in fiber and protein, gets tastier the longer it sits in the fridge/freezer.
Spicy food helps clear the sinuses and keep away colds, too. This soup is how I survive the cold months.
May it bring you some warmth as well!
(Unless it's already warm where you are, in which case c'mere, I've got a snowball for you.)
6 comments
I'm in Australia. HA!
Also, here's a random awesome link for a random awesome person.
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-total-perspective-vortex
If you haven't already seen this website, it is home to the most fascinating articles I've ever read. This one's on Irrational Optimism, which I think you've touched on in your blog before.
The book makes for excellent toilet reading ^^
Hi, im trying to get in touch with you about a documentary i am doing based around the sleep schedule you coined yourself.
If you could email me at adam@adlee.gb.com that would be fantastic!
Thanks Adam
You got it, Adam. Sounds interesting!
::throws snowball as hard as humanly possible::
;)
And thanks for the link! it does indeed look awesome, and I’ve been looking for something nifty to peruse lately. Woot!
That's an awesome recipe. My wife and I make something ridiculously similar. We call it 'magic soup'. It's basically the same red lentils, sometimes with the oil-cooked onions. However, I tend to clean out the vegetable drawer with it. Turnips? Diced and in there. Kale? What the hell. The most important bit (for me) is the red chile powder and fire roasted green chiles.
Sounds randomly delicious, Chad! I agree that for winter soup, it’s the heat that matters, and everything else…eh, if you’ve got it, throw it in! ;)