Decadence

I am recovering from a weekend of gastronomic hedonism. Too much sushi, wine, 4 am pizza (incidentally, the best ever, even the next morning), poutine, more ethanol, maple syrupy French toast etc etc etc….so good, but 48 hours of indulgence leaves one feeling a bit….heavy. As would be expected, lethargy descended upon us on a cold and rainy spring Sunday night, and all I wanted to was to eat something filling, that was easy to make, and that was light. Because let’s face it, this squid’s diet can only take so much of a beating.

So I turned to my old stand-by, Madhur Jaffrey, the queen of vegetarian and Indian, cooking. She hold a special place in my culinarily-inclined heart, ever since I discovered her classic cookbook in my mother’s cupboard a few years ago, “An Introduction to Indian Cooking”, which is unfortunately now out of print. Her’s is one of the only cookbooks that my mom has that is not annotated to death – it’s as though every recipe she writes has been tested to perfection and was made to imitate my own grandmother’s cooking. I recently got her newest cookbook, “World Vegetarian”, in which she tackles recipes from so many cultures adds her own twist to them. I can truthfully say that every recipe that I have made from her books has been exquisite, the first time around.

This recipe is a perfect soup for any time between early fall and mid-spring (for summer, I prefer clear broth-based soups, but this is so delicious that you could break it out on the hottest day in July if you wished). The only changes that I made to the recipe were only due to a lack of certain ingredient (blame the lethargy). I find that pepper complements the soup better than chili powder, for a spicy kick, because it complements the tartness of the lemon, but it’s totally a matter of preference (my dinner guest preferred the latter). This soup also keeps very well, and can be easily doubled (we finished the whole pot in a sitting!). I would serve it with yogurt or sour cream on the side or as a garnish, and with a nice crisp toast or crusty bread, if you wanted some carbs on the side.

Curried Red Lentil Soup

Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s “World Vegetarian”

1 cup red lentils, rinsed

4 cups vegetable broth or water

1 small carrot, chopped

½ cup diced potatoes

1/4 cup onions, chopped

2 tbsp grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp cumin powder

2 tsp curry powder

½ tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper, to taste.

1.     In a large pot, heat oil and add ginger, onion and garlic. Saute for 5-7 minutes, or until onions start to become translucent

2.     Add curry powder, cumin and chili powder; mix for 10 seconds

3.     Add potato, carrot, red lentils and broth.

4.     Bring to a boil, stirring frequently

5.     Reduce temperature, partially cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes to 1 hr, or until lentils have reached the desired consistency, stirring occasionally

6.     Transfer soup to a blender and blend briefly, so that the soup is partially smooth but there are still whole pieces of carrot and potato

7.     Add salt and pepper to taste

Serve with lime or lemon wedges, sour cream and crusty bread, and get a good night’s sleep.