Today was a super fun day.  We had friends visiting for the weekend and we all decided to head downtown for a yummy breakfast and a walk around St. Patricks Island.  It was a tad brisk out there as we were walking along the water so as soon as we got home I knew it was time to bring back SUNDAY SOUPS!!

As a kid, my mom used to always make a massive cauldron of soup every Sunday throughout the winter months.  Truthfully, there were many Sunday’s where I was an ungrateful little punk and would groan after finding out we were having soup for supper.  Now, I look back on those times and think…WHAAAAT???  Soup is awesome and in the winter months, there is nothing like coming home to a little cup of cozy after being outside in the cold.  Even better, buy an awesome loaf of bread and you are ready to warm up and beat those winter chills.

Today when I gazed in to my fridge and my pantry to find inspiration, I decided to make a curried lentil soup.  I had pretty much everything I needed to get in done.  This soup is super simple and takes no time at all.  It’s not one of those soups that takes hours upon hours to make in order to get amazing flavour.  The spices in this soup are simple things that most people have in their pantry so it’s not too complicated.

Let’s start!  First I chopped all of my vegetables (Carrots, Celery and Onion).  I just did a rough chop because we are going to blitz this in a blender later so who cares about the chopping mechanism? If you want it to be a more textured soup with chunks it…go for it.  Choose your own adventure.   I also got all my ingredients out and ready to go…because, well…i’m like that.

This is where I discovered that I only had a small can of coconut milk…normally I add the larger sized one.  Instead of running out to the store and grabbing another…I got over myself and decided to just stick with what I had.  *Disclaimer, my recipe listed below does call for the larger can.

Next, I got out my soup pot and heated up 1 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Then I through in the vegetables and minced garlic in to the pot and sauteed them until they were translucent.

Then I added my spices, ground ginger, ground coriander, curry powder and tomato paste to the vegetable mixture and stirred it around for another minute.  All of the spices will combine with the veggies and will be super fragrant.

I added 8 cups of vegetable broth, a can of coconut milk and the lentils and stirred everything together.  Bring the entire mixture to a boil and then reduce temperature to let everything cook until the vegetables and lentils are soft.  This will probably take about 20 minutes until everything is soft.

I let the mixture cool a bit (not much) and then use my immersion blender to blitz it so that I don’t have big chunks of vegetables in it.  I like it a bit on the smoother side.  If you think its a bit too thick, just add another little bit of water or coconut milk to thin it out.

Next I added a bunch of chopped spinach and stirred it through.  I think it adds a nice little touch and its another way to get more vegetables in to my kids belly.

This soup is not spicy but super fragrant and a little bit sweet from the coconut milk.   It’s seriously like putting on a warm sweater that is guaranteed to give you the feels.

Curried Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 Carrots
• 3 Celery Stalks
• 1 White Onion
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger
• 2 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups of red lentils
• 1.5 cups of chopped spinach
• Salt and Pepper (optional to taste)

Directions

1. Roughly chop your carrots, onion and celery (it’s going to get blended anyway)
2. Heat olive oil in a soup pot and sautee your vegetables for 3-5 minutes until translucent
3. Add spices and tomato paste and stir everything together for a minute
4. Stir in your vegetable broth, coconut milk and lentils and bring to a boil
5. Let the mixture cook on a rolling boil for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the lentils are fully cooked.
6. Next use an immersion blender right in the pot to blend the soup and make sure you don’t have big chunks of vegetables.  *If you do not have an immersion blender, transfer in batches to your blender until you have the consistency you desire.
7. If you think the soup is too thick, add a bit more coconut milk or water to thin it out a bit
8. At the end, right before serving add your chopped spinach and stir through.
9. Give yourself a high five because you just made an amazing soup!

I hope you enjoy this soup because it’s seriously a hug in a bowl!!  It’s so easy to make and packs a big punch.  I love to make this for Sunday Soup and then have plenty of leftovers for work lunches throughout the week.  It takes the annoyance out of wondering what to pack.  This soup is also freezer friendly so go ahead an freeze a batch for another time when all you want to do is heat something up and have dinner on the table in under 15 minutes.

This soup is also vegan so it can be enjoyed by many.  Even if you aren’t vegan, it’s a tasty soup that packs a big punch and is very inexpensive to make.