(Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free)

The box was unexpectedly heavy.

It was sitting there, on my front porch, too big to cram into the oversized mailbox so accustomed to accepting bulky shipments of books and eccentric culinary products. I hadn’t ordered anything lately. What could it be?

I have to admit, when the box’s folds lifted, to shrieking like a girl who’d just been asked to prom by the hot guy with the motorcycle.

It was a box brimming with beautiful beans. Overflowing with them. Tiger Eye beans, Christmas Limas, Jacob’s Cattle Gasless, Calypso. One gorgeous bag of every eating bean available from Seed Saver’s Exchange.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had met Diane Whealy, the organization’s co-founder. She was in St. Louis to give a presentation on the genetic heritage in our food supply, and she’d brought seeds, slides, and so much information and passion that being in her presence was truly inspiring. I’d had the chance to talk with her, and when she got back to Decorah she spent some time on this site, and sent me the beans in response.

It was the greatest mail day I‘ve had in a long time. Thank you, Diane. Recipe possibilities are tumbling around in my head, and this inspiration will spill over into these pages over the next many weeks. (Not to mention that the SSE bean seeds I’ve planted will be bearing fruit in a few months). Those beans will be well used.

Now, that said, I had earnest intentions to cheat this week. Though the days have seemed long the week itself has flown by, and without me doing much of anything in the kitchen (truth is, I’ve spent every minute possible in the garden, in the hopes of spending the autumn in the kitchen). So I was panicked to suddenly find that the week was ending, my cupboard was overflowing with a fresh supply of heirloom beans, and I hadn’t thought much at all about a recipe.

Happily, my friend Amy unwittingly saved the day. She forwarded me a recipe from Dr. Weil. Go ahead, say what you will about his supplement habit — his advice is often sound and his recipes are good! I thought I’d recycle this recipe whole-sale for my blog this week. I knew Amy would approve – she’s the voice behind Resourceful Living, after all. In the end though, I used Weil’s recipe as a launch pad.

His recipe was for a pink lentil curry. The lentils came from my local international foods store. I have read that the less common lentils – that is, the non-brown ones – generally have not been cross bred, at least not recently. Because there isn’t a lot of demand for these unusual varieties, they have pretty well been left as they were found.

The pink lentils appealed to me – I’ve already used red ones for this project, and I’m a big fan of how quickly they cook into a protein-rich meal. So I started out on a pink lentil curry trajectory, tweaking Weil’s recipe here and there, turning up the dial on the spices just a tad.

But I was in need of comfort today. I was in need of soup.

I don’t think I’ve ever had curry soup. Does curry soup show up on menus? The idea seemed novel to me. Surely it’s a common dish? But when I searched for existing recipes, I didn’t find a lot.

Left to my own devices, and, as aforementioned, in pursuit of some easy comfort food, I went as simple as possible. Whatever veggies I had on hand, (plus I convinced Simon to make a broccoli run, as I’ve had an insatiable appetite for all things crunchy and cruciferous lately), the lentils, and some curry paste. A dash of coriander. Pestle-ground Chinese peppercorns. Salt. Some warmed pita bread for dipping. Yum.

In slow motion this time:

The recipe

Pink Lentil Curry Soup

Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 small yellow onion
Sprinkle of soy sauce
3 cups chopped vegetables – I used broccoli, mushrooms, shelled sugar snap peas, and a potato for good measure
6 cups vegetable stock (you can also use water)
2 cups uncooked pink lentils
1 tablespoon curry paste – I used Patak’s Garam Masala, which is mildly spicy
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 knuckle of fresh ginger, grated
½ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper – I used Chinese Szechuan peppercorns from Penzey’s, but black will do

Heat olive oil in a stock pot, then add chopped onion and garlic. Saute till translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the veggies, douse with soy sauce, and stir until heated through. Add vegetable stock and turn up heat to medium high.

Place lentils in a colander and rinse well. Add them to the soup. When stock reaches a boil, turn down the heat to medium low and let simmer until lentils are soft, 15-20 minutes. Add ginger, coriander, curry paste, salt and pepper, and let simmer another few minutes. Serve with warmed pita or na’an bread.

Thanks, Amy, for the link that inspired a recipe! (And coming up: I’ve been challenged to incorporate heirloom beans and Marshmallow Peeps into the same recipe. Can I do it? Tune in and see…)

Tags: curry soup, pink lentils, vegan soup

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.