Squash & Red Lentil Curried Soup

I am so impressed with people who come up with recipes! It seems that there is always something new & delicious in my ‘inbox’ from various food websites This soup is sooooooo good. As it turns out, I love curry!! Whether it is Indian Madras type of curries or Thai curries… I am finding that I pretty much like them all. Although….I do not like a curry that is too spicy.

I could not eat enough of this delicious soup…really! I am not a lover of left-overs unless they are from a holiday meal…like turkey, stuffing etc… Thankfully, Murray loves leftovers! My feelings about left-overs NEVER relate to baking…. :))) I love those left-overs….!!!!  I will usually have soup the filling day or two, but this soup…I wish I could have had it day after day after day, but it got all eaten up! So, I will make it again for sure.

The recipe has a cilantro oil that you make, which is drizzled on top of the soup. It is good without so if you HATE cilantro, & you look at recipe with it & just disregard the recipe….DON’T!  Just don’t make the cilantro oil! Simple as that!

The recipe is from epicurious..by Ruth Cousineau/ Gourmet February 2009.   I just saw it for the first time last week… I think…mayve I saw it then but did not pay any attention to it>>>>

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

For the Soup

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter…. I used oil

1 1/2 pound  butternut squash

1 large onion

1 carrot

1 celery rib

2 cloves of garlic *** I used pre-minced garlic from a jar

2 tbsp minced ginger, peeled *** I used pre-minced ginger from a jar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder … preferably Madras

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup red lentils

8 cups water

1 tsp fresh lemon juice or to taste

For the cilantro oil   OPTIONAL if you don’t like cilantro leave this out!

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

Optional:  basmati rice to accompany the soup

Method

For the Soup

1. Prepare all of the ingredients to get them ready to add to the soup.
2. Peel & cut the butternut squash into cubes
3. Chop the onion
4. Peel & dice the carrot
5. Dice the celery
6. Mince the garlic
7. Mince the ginger
8. Rinse & pick over the red lentils
9. Heat the oil & the butter if using in a pot large enough to hold 8 cups of water.
10. Cook the squash, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger & salt until the vegetables are softened & they are beginning to brown, Stir often so the vegetables do not stick to the bottom of the pot, this takes about 15 to 20 minutes or so
11. Stir in the curry powder & pepper & cook for about 2 minutes… stir lots!
12. Add the lentils & the water, stir
13. Cook now until the lentils are soft, could take about 40 minutes…
14. Stir in the lemon juice & season with salt & pepper to taste
15. This soup is thin & I prefer a thicker soup, so after the soup was cooked I used my immersion blender & just blended it quickly… I left most of the soup un-blended… so if you want to do this, just use your own judgement & taste as to how much blending you are going to do!

To Make the Cilantro Oil – OPTIONAL 

1. Put the cilantro, oil & salt into a blender or I am sure you could use a food processor & blend until smooth

To Serve the Soup

You can drizzle the Cilantro Oil on the soup if you are using it, It was very delicious & made the soup look very ‘fancy’… the soup is good without the oil as well.

You can add some cooked basmati rice to the soup to make it more of a full meal deal…

ENJOY!