Even More Soup!

Hi All,

I know it's been over a year since my last post, and anyone who reads my blog (all 10 of you) has probaby given up on me, but I'm still here and still cooking.

This post is not about a recent meal, but about one from a month or so ago.  I used to make this amazing red lentil soup with garam malasa from a recipe I got from Epicurious. I made it a lot, every couple of months probably.

The soup is really good made according to the recipe. The wonderful mixture of spices make it a very flavorful soup.  I've made it many times in the past exactly according to the recipe, though sometimes adding chicken or chopped up veggies like peas, celery, or summer squash to the soup to make it a bit heartier.

I haven't made this soup in several years, and when I went to make it a couple of months ago, I was surprised that it didn't turn out like I'd remembered. It was much soupier than I remembered--more brothy, not as thick. Also the flavors were a bit flat.  I'm not sure why.  So I doctored it up a bit by adding some more spices, a little maple syrup (it needed some sweeteness to balance out the spices), and a can of coconut cream (like coconut milk but thicker--I got mine from Trader Joe's).  The result was so good!  It was even better than I remember the original being.

I think next time I might add one or two additional carrots, grated, to the soup. This would add some sweetness, and I could leave out the maple syrup.  This soup is delicious just plain, but it would also be very good with some chopped-up, leftover veggies and/or chicken thrown in.

Here's my version:

Red Lentil Soup with Garam Masala and Coconut Cream
Adapted from Epicurious
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/red-lentil-soup-with-garam-masala-14125

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ cups dried red lentils (about 1 pound), picked over and rinsed
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium carrot, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon mild Madras curry (I used Williams Sonoma's coarse Madras curry)
6 cups water
1 Tablespoon Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base dissolved in 2 cups hot water (or 2 cups vegetable broth)
1 can (13 oz.) coconut cream or coconut milk (if using coconut milk, reduce water by 1 cup)
1 - 2 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup

PREPARATION

In a bowl soak lentils in water to cover by 2 inches for 1 hour and then drain well.

In a 4-quart heavy saucepan cook onion and carrot in oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden and carrots have softened. Stir in salt and spices and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in lentils, water, and broth and simmer until lentils fall apart, about 20 minutes. (Old lentils may take longer to cook.) Let soup cool slightly.

Transfer soup to a blender in batches and purée ½ to ¾ of the soup then add back to pan (or use an immersion blender). Pureeing thickens the soup, but you still want some of the texture of the lentils. In pan heat soup over moderate heat, stirring, until hot. Add coconut cream and stir until well combined--do not let the soup boil. Add honey or maple syrup to taste. Adjust salt & seasonings if necessary. Best the next day.

Some notes:

• You definitely want to use red lentils. These are quite different tasting than regular brown or green lentils. Red lentils are much more common than they used to be, so you should be able to find them in your regular grocery store. If not, try a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or a natural foods store.
• I usually use yellow onions, but white are also fine.
• The recipe doesn't specify the type of chili powder, so I used what I had, which was Spice Islands Chili Powder. I've used Gebhardt's in the past.
• I love Better than Bouillon! I usually have the chicken base on hand, but since I was going to be sharing this will my friend who is a vegetarian, I made it with the vegetable base instead. BtB vegetable base is so much better than regular vegetable broth! If you don't have vegetable broth or BtB, you can use chicken broth instead. I would not recommend beef broth as it is too strongly-flavored.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Next time we'll continue the curry theme with Sweet and Spicy Curried Nuts!

P.S. I'm sorry there are no pictures, though this isn't the most picturesque soup being a sort of orangey-brown color, but it is delicious!

More Soup!

     Today it finally feels like fall here--sort of.  The temperature is in the 60s, and it's overcast and a bit rainy. In my last post I made soup, but I've been craving more soup, especially something creamy. A thick, hearty soup just seems perfect for the weather today.

     I'm trying to keep up with my goal of (eventually) trying all of the recipes on my Cooking board on Pinterest.  I pinned this recipe for White Chicken Chili from the Cooking Classy blog a couple of weeks ago when I was looking at soup recipes after I made the Quick Chicken Meatball Soup.  It was an interesting recipe, using Neufchatel cheese and pureed beans to thicken the soup instead of a roux and cream or milk.  The cheese gives it a little creaminess and a slight tang that a dollop of sour cream gives a bowl of traditional chili.  A little lime juice adds a bit more tang and balances out the heat from the chili and paprika and the richness of the cheese and beans.

     I made the recipe pretty close to the original, but you know I had to tweak it a little, right?  Actually, the only changes I made were to increase the garlic and other spices.  I also used 1 can of cannellini beans and 1 can of small white beans because that's what I had in the house.  I added the extra spices after adding the beans because when I tasted the soup, it was a little light flavor-wise. I think it ended up being twice the garlic (because I love garlic) and one quarter to one half again as much of the other spices. The extra spices made it just right.  I served it as suggested with chopped cilantro and a little grated jack cheese.

Quick Chicken Meatball Soup

     It's fall!  That means soup weather must be here soon, right?  It is cooler--at work at least.  My office has been so chilly lately that I've been craving hot tea, cocoa, coffee, and, you guessed it, soup!  I wanted soup so much that I came home today and made a quick and easy soup.

     I heated up chicken broth in a saucepan and added a finely chopped yellow onion and two, large, finely-chopped garlic cloves.  I made chicken meatballs with ground chicken, a small amount of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, parsley, and salt & pepper.  I brought the broth up to a boil and added the uncooked meatballs.  I reduced the broth to a simmer and let the meatballs cook for 15 minutes.  Then I added a package of Kale Salad from the grocery store.  It was mostly chopped kale with a little copped purple cabbage.  I let the soup simmer for another 15 minutes until the meatballs were cooked through and the veggies were cooked but still firm.

     The soup turned out well, and I really enjoyed the broth and veggies especially.  The meatballs were tasty, but the texture was a little dense.  It made 4 servings so I'll have more to enjoy over the next few days.  Even if the outdoor temps aren't soup weather, at least I know my soup will warm me up in my chilly office.

Soup's On

     I made soup tonight. The only soup I'd made before was ham & bean, and I'd only made that a couple of times. Making soup is kind of a long process, and you end up with this huge amount of soup. When you live alone, you can end up eating soup for days and still have a bunch to freeze. A few weeks ago, I got an email from Borders saying they were giving me free $10 in Borders bucks, but the offer expired just a few days later. I ended up using it to buy a copy of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. It's a fun book, full of recipes for food mentioned in the books and also some typical and traditional British dishes. There are recipes for cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, pork pies, and even homemade marshmallows.

     As I was looking through the book, I came across a recipe for Scotch Broth. My mom used to love Campbell's Scotch Broth, but they stopped carrying it in any of the local grocery stores. When I saw the recipe, I thought that it might be a treat for her if I made it. I made it the first time on Thanksgiving. My mom had to work, and so I went over to the hospital at lunchtime and had turkey dinner with her. I knew she'd be hungry when she got home and though soup would be good for dinner. It turned out really well. My mom really liked it, though she said it didn't taste like the one made by Campbell's.

     This is one recipe I followed strictly. As I mentioned, I don't have much experience making soup, so I wanted to make sure I followed the recipe (that way if it didn't turn out, I could blame the recipe, lol). The recipe calls for lamb or beef chuck, but it's traditionally made with lamb or mutton, and since we like lamb in our family, I deboned some lamb chops and cubed the meat. Also in the recipe are barley, onions, carrots, celery, turnip, leeks, garlic, cabbage, and fresh parsley. The base is chicken broth. The process was to brown the lamb on high heat then remove it to a plate, and then cook the onions in the same pan. Then you add the broth, barley, salt, and add the meat back in. That has to cook for an hour and a half. Then you add the vegetables (except for the cabbage and parsley) and the garlic and simmer for another hour. Finally, add the cabbage and parsley and cook for an additional 30 minutes. This is not a quick soup. Cooking time alone is 3+ hours, and that doesn't count the initial prep of the meat (I think the deboning took me almost half an hour.) and onions. The rest of the veggies can be prepped during the first stage of cooking.

     However, all the work is worth it. The soup turns out thick and creamy with a great mix of vegetable flavors. The barley adds an interesting texture and helps thicken the soup, and the meat ends up fork tender. The first time I made it, I made some biscuits to go along with it. They didn't turn out so well. They didn't taste bad, but I think my baking powder is old because they didn't rise; they ended up pretty flat. My mom suggested letting them rise on the baking sheet for a while before baking them. I think I'll try that next time. I don't really have a biscuit recipe I regularly use. In the past, I've mostly used Bisquick. If anyone has a good biscuit recipe, let me know. Thanks.

     Sorry for the long delay between the last post and this one. I have been cooking, but not a whole lot, and nothing too exciting--mostly things I've mentioned before in the blog or on facebook posts. Over the next several days, though, I'll be making some new dishes. I got a copy of the Raley's 75th anniversary cookbook, which had some tasty-looking recipes. I'll be making a winter squash gratin and a quinoa salad as well as blackened fish, which is a favorite of my mom and me.