This powerfully spiced vegan beauty was the perfect start to Soupruary's 10th anniversary. See, it's been a little cold here in Cincinnati this week. I know intellectually that there are colder places on earth, but if you had told me that on Thursday I would have tried really hard to roll my eyes at you, and fully failed because my eye-juice was too frozen. The wind chill was some super negative number, and I'm like "Dude! Wind! Chill! I'm out here tryna stay positive!"
If I've said it once I've said it 138 times: for me, all weather is soup weather. But this is textbook other-people's-soup-weather. This is next level. This is soup weather goals. This is please-god-warm-me-from-the-inside-so-I-can-find-the-will-to-live-again kind of soup weather. And for that, you don't just need soup, you need spicy soup.
This one gets its kick from a high-quality curry powder (I get mine at Dean's at Findlay Market), way more than your typical pinch of crushed red pepper, and a full quarter cup of finely chopped fresh ginger.
I'm definitely going to turn to this recipe next time I feel a deficit in the wellness department. There's nothing like an aggressive jolt of ginger to knock out anything trying to curtail your general productivity.
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| Actual footage of this soup in action. |
If you're braced to get metaphorically zapped in the mouth by whatever that weapon Geri's using is (uhhh, giant projectile laser syringe?), feel free to ratchet down the spices - this is still going to be delicious. And that, my friend, is due to two perfect ingredients. What are they?
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| LOL JK no secrets in soup |
Ingredient number 1: Just the right amount of coconut stirred into the soup as it cooks means you've got a light creaminess throughout, particularly with the way red lentils tend to lose their integrity and melt into the soup. A drizzle of cold, thick coconut milk on top just before you eat it balances out the spice and feels lusciously decadent (which is most of why I come to the table).
But come on, we all know about coconut milk here.
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| TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW |
Ingredient number 2: The reason this recipe intrigued me in the first place was the large quantity of cilantro stems. Gasp! Did she say cilantro STEMS? Those things that go in the garbage? Yes! That very garbage is actually full of flavor (tastes like vanilla! ok I lied it tastes like cilantro) and has a lovely, tender texture when cooked - for me it really set this soup apart. Now to decide what to do with all these cilantro leaves. Hey, new rule, leaves: you're the garbage now!
Ok I lied again, food waste is wrong.
But I digress. Let's set the Soupruary 2019 stage. Over the last decade, I've grown my cookbook shelf by leaps and bounds. For my birthday each year, I pull all those titles that have been waiting in my Amazon cart and go on a little shopping spree. I then do my best Ron-Howard-in-the-Music-Man impression for two days until my package arrives. I rip it open, go directly to the couch, and gleefully read every page while salivating like a whole family of rabid raccoons. I then put them on my shelf never to attempt a single recipe.
This injustice ends today! This year, with a few exceptions most likely because nobody's perfect, I'll attempt to splash broth on each and every one of these lovingly collected and stupidly neglected tomes. I can't wait to see where it'll take me and what new habits I might form.
I started with one of my newer acquisitions: Ottolenghi Simple. Yotam has yet to let me down with his other books, and this lived up to his hype as a true vegetablista (did I just make that up? It's truly terrible).
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| It's like fashionista but for vegetables, get it? You get it. |
NB: To accompany, I made the cauliflower tabbouleh from this book (dill, mint, parsley, scallions, allspice, lemons, pomegranate seeds, pistachio, and love), and it was a hit. Book review: Very yes!
Our friends Kristin and John brought some gorgeous homemade bread to the table, and we dined and laughed, then went to see Trevor Noah perform (laughed some more), then went to the Bay Horse Cafe where we told stories and "played" soap opera trivia (laughed the most). So, IMHO, this recipe passed the most important test: laying the foundation for a night of real connection with some of your favorite people.
Oh, also:
I wore my best turtleneck and clicked my heels together three times while chuckling out warmly self-effacing one-liners, but for some reason that didn't make my kitchen turn into Diane Keaton's from Something's Gotta give. I'll make do.
Recipe time!
Curried Lentil, Tomato and Coconut Soup
From Ottolenghi Simple
Serves 4 or 5
Ingredients
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon curry powder (more or less to taste)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (ditto)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger (peel it first!)
3/4 cup red lentils
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/4 cups chopped cilantro stems (from about 1 1/2 bunches) plus a few leaves for garnish
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 13.5 oz can full-fat coconut milk
Method
Heat the coconut oil in your soup pot over medium-high. Add the onion and stir until it's soft and brown - the sign you've got some good caramelization going (about 8 minutes).
Add the curry powder, pepper flakes, garlic and ginger, and stir for 2 more minutes.
Add the lentils, tomatoes (with their liquid), cilantro stems, water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then decrease heat to medium.
When you open the can of coconut milk, it will likely be separated into the thick creamy part and the thin translucent part. It's important that these 2 become 1(last Spice Girls reference, I promise), so you'll dump it all into a bowl and then stir it up until you have one smooth, creamy liquid. Save 1/4 cup for topping your soup, and then add the rest to the simmering pot.
Simmer for 25 minutes, then serve topped with coconut milk and cilantro leaves.
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