Lentil are a well known favorite legume used in cultures around the world for soups, stews and dahl. Here’s a delicious coconut curry lentil soup recipe that’s soothing, creamy and warming.
Good eaten alone, over rice, or as a dip for Indian bread or other flat breads. Coconut curry lentil soup also goes well with a side of fried green tomatoes or green tomato chutney!
Add Seasonal Vegetables for an Even Healthier Balanced Meal
We have a garden and grow our own food, so naturally we like to add in-season vegetables to ours, especially in fall and winter when we’re harvesting winter squash. But you can add any of your favorites from the store or garden as well.
Adding additional vegetables to this recipe is also a great way to use up veggies on hand that may need to be eaten.
Just add three cups of chopped or diced vegetables and double all other ingredients to account for the extra.
Additional Vegetables That Work Great in this Coconut Curry Lentil Soup
- Carrots – slices or half rounds
- Eggplant – (we like this grated in the largest shred blade of a food processor, or else cut into matchstick size pieces)
- Greens – chopped or shredded in ribbons
- chard
- kale
- longevity spinach
- Mushrooms – sliced (your favorite; we like portobello)
- Peas – English peas are our favorite combination in this recipe
- Peppers – we like to add our garden-fresh Marconi peppers
- Potatoes – chopped small or diced
- red, russet, golden or purple potatoes
- sweet potatoes
- Squash – sliced or half-rounds
- summer squash – zucchini and yellow crookneck
- tromboncino squash
- winter squash, especially butternut
- Tomatoes – chopped
If you end up adding extra veggies to your recipe, we’d love to hear what other vegetables you added and how it turned out.
Creamy Curry Lentil Soup with Coconut
Creamy Coconut Curry Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked brown lentils
- 3 cup veg stock
- 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
- 1 carrot diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp fresh minced ginger (or 1 tsp. ginger powder)
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
- 2 spring onions chopped small
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 Tbsp. fresh)
- 1 pepper chopped (hot or sweet according to preference. Hot – fresh jalapeno or serrano.or 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes; Mild – use bell or marconi pepper)
- 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup raisins or substitute with sultanas (golden raisins), dried cranberries or currants
- 1/4 cup tomato puree
- salt & black pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1.5 cups veg stock if needed to thin for desired consistency
- 1 mandarin orange for juice (or substitute 1/4 cup orange or tangerine juice)
- fresh coriander chopped for garnish
- Greek yogurt to swirl on top or sour cream
Instructions
- RINSE the lentils well and put them in a large saucepan with the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add the carrot, celery & half the ginger, cover and simmer for about 20- 30 minutes, until the lentils are cooked.
- TOAST SPICES – in a small dry frying pan dry toast the curry powder & spices over a low heat until fragrant, and don’t let it burn. Tip this into a small bowl and set aside.
- COOK – In the same pan heat the butter, ghee or oil over a medium heat, add spring onions, the rest of the ginger, garlic, chilli, vinegar and raisins. Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.
- ADD – the tomato puree and cook for another minute. Add the toasted spices to the tomato mixture along with the thyme and oregano. Mix well and add this to the simmering lentils along with the coconut milk, seasoning generously with salt and black pepper.
- SIMMER uncovered for ~20 minutes, then remove from heat, and puree with a hand held blender until smooth. Add more broth slowly, if needed to reach desired consistency, to be more or less soupy according to your preference.
- ADD in mandarin juice and check for seasoning.
- SERVE in warmed bowls topped with a swirl of Greek yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche
For more like this, see creamy carrot curry soup… oh so sweet and soothing!