- Lunch
- Main Meal
- Soup
- Dinner
Sri Lankan lentil soup
- 15 mins
- 30 mins
- Serves 4
- Gluten Free
- Super Easy
- One Pot
- Oil Free
- Refined Sugar Free
- Nut Free
- Soy Free
- Entertaining
The key to this fragrant soup is the delicious spices: building on this base, you can adapt it in all kinds of ways.
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 chopped fresh red chilli (optional)
- 2-3 cm thumb of fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 medium carrot, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 4 medium potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 litres of homemade vegetable stock
- 3 curry leaves
- 2 sticks lemongrass, halved lengthwise (optional)
- 2-3 large handfuls of kale, de-stemmed and chopped roughly (optional)
To serve (optional):
- 4-8 slices toasted wholemeal bread
Directions
- Sauté the onion, garlic, chilli, ginger and spices in a large saucepan over medium heat for around 3 minutes, using splashes of water to avoid sticking.
- Add the carrot and potatoes.
- Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. Add them to the pan along with the vegetable stock.
- Add the curry leaves and lemongrass, and simmer gently with the lid on for 20-30 mins until the lentils are soft.
- Put the kale in about five minutes before the end.
- Remove the lemongrass and curry leaves, and blend with a hand-held stick blender until you reach the desired consistency.
- Serve as is or with crusty wholemeal bread.
Chef's Tips
- You can also add the fruit or toppings to the blender at step 2 (or 2 tablespoons cocoa) to create different nice cream flavours such as strawberry, peanut or chocolate.
- This tastes just as good as regular ice cream but is super healthy; I love it!
- Best eaten immediately as sadly it does not freeze well once blended.
- This is delicious served on wholemeal pancakes for breakfast!
Dr Chau Tran
