Spicy Lentil & Coconut Soup

Spicy Lentil & Coconut Soup is creamy, warming but with fresh, vibrant flavours.

In this easy but satifsfying soup, red lentils are simmered with tomatoes, vegetables and spices then made creamy with coconut milk.

To finish, whole spices are fried and stirred through the soup, adding even more flavour and some crunchy texture.

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As I write, much of Britain is in what certain newspapers, television and radio pundits like to call ‘a cold snap’. For the more sensible among us, this is known as ‘winter’.

Where I live, on the edge of the Peak District in the Staffordshire Moorlands, snow is not uncommon. Even if there’s none actually lying in our village, I’ve only to look out the front windows of the house and see snow on the Roaches. Beyond is Derbyshire and Buxton, but if there’s heavy snow then don’t bother trying to get there. The high, winding road will almost certainly be impassable.

We’ve had snow for the last week or so now. From the window I can see the snowy moors rising up, seemingly just at the end of the street where there’s a break in the line of houses.

So, obviously, we’re smack bang in the middle of soup season. And for me that means homemade soups.

SOUPS: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE NASTY

I’ve never been a fan of shop-bought soups. Growing up, my family usually had packet, powdered soups and only occasionally the tinned variety. But I’ve never understood the popularity of the latter either. I think it tastes, perhaps not unsurprisingly, ‘tinny’.

Nor do I get why people seem to love these so-called ‘fresh’ soups in tubs and cartons. How fresh can they really be? They’re transported all over the country and sit on the shelves lord knows how long before they’re bought, let alone eaten.

Personally, I learned to make soup at quite a young age as I left home early. To be honest, it helped that I had next to no money so couldn’t afford processed stuff anyway.

Added to that, I was also vegetarian, then vegan. It then being the 1980s, you were hard pushed to find vegetarian, let alone vegan-friendly, processed food except in ‘health food’ shops. But even those were still very rare and prohibitively expensive for me anyway.

RED LENTILS

In those days, much of the protein element of my diet consisted of red lentils. They were (and still are) cheap, readily available, quick to cook and extremely versatile.

I’d eat them in all sorts of ways. Lentil and tomato sauce with pasta, shepherd’s pie, made into a sandwich spread, as a filling for pies and flans, with or without nuts in a ‘roast’.

And or course there were soups, including spicy ones, as well as curries. Known in Indian cooking as masoor, the bland flavour of red lentils marries very well with spices.

In the west, the best known Indian pulse dish is probably tarka dal. This mildly spiced soup or thin curry is often made with chana dal or yellow split peas.

Actually dal is the generic name for all members of the pea and bean family, as well as the dishes that are made from them. A tarka (sometimes called a tadka or chaunk) is a blend of spices which have been fried and tempered in oil. It’s added to a dish usually (but not exclusively) at the end, as in tarka dal.

SPICY LENTIL & COCONUT SOUP

I think of my Spicy Lentil & Coconut Soup as being inspired by tarka dal. My version, however, is more highly spiced than any I’ve tried in Indian restaurants.

It includes ground spices (like coriander, garam masala and turmeric) in the first cooking of the lentils and the vegetables. Whole spices (mustard seeds, curry leaves and more) along with onion, garlic and chilli are fried and the tarka added later.

For the soup itself, I like a consistency somewhere between a thick soup and a curry. But feel free to add or decrease the amount of lentils or water so that it’s as thin or thick as you want.

Traditionally, dal is beaten rigorously with a whisk after the initial cooking to break up the lentils. But I use a stick blender. I don’t make the soup completely smooth, but just whizz it for a few seconds.

Actually, besides the lentils, there’s a decent amount of vitamin-packed veg in this soup too. Onions, grated carrot, tomatoes and cavolo nero (literally ‘black cabbage’).

I use lots of cavolo nero as we grow it in the garden: it’s currently looking beautiful in the frost and snow.

But you could use any greens you like such as spinach, chard or regular kale. Adjust the cooking time accordingly.

SERVING SPICY LENTIL & COCONUT SOUP

For me, a dish isn’t complete if there aren’t different textures to add interest. In this soup, the whole spices not only add more flavour but some crunch too.

I sometimes hold back a little of the tarka for garnishing the bowls along with sliced chillies and coriander leaf.

Update: since writing this post I’ve discovered chewy coconut shavings, toasted or not, are great scattered over the top as well.

This delicious, warming soup is so simple to make and tastes really vibrant and fresh. Give it a go, and I promise you’ll get nothing like it from a tin, packet or carton.

Serve this soup on its own or with bread such as chapati. You could even increase the amount of lentils and serve as a curry over brown rice.

If you want to make a batch for freezing in smaller portions, I suggest you get to the stage of making the soup base, blend to your preferred consistency and then freeze. This will give you the convenience of having some ready-made in the freezer, but you’ll still have the freshness that comes from adding the coconut, tarka spices, greens and lemon as you reheat it.

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Spicy Lentil & Coconut Soup

An easy but so satifsfying plant-based soup. Just before serving, whole spices are fried & stirred in for extra flavour & texture.

Course Soup, Main Course

Cuisine Indian, Vegetarian, Vegan, Indian inspired

Keyword dal

Servings 4 at least

Ingredients

For the soup base:

• 200 g red lentils washed and drained
• 400 g tin tomatoes chopped
• 2 large onions roughly chopped
• 2 large carrots grated
• 8 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• 1 thumb sized piece ginger root peeled & grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground fenugreek
• ½-1 tsp chilli powder
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 litre boiling water
• salt to taste
• 400 ml tinned coconut milk reserve 1 tbsp per serving
• 4 tbsp coriander leaf and stems roughly chopped
• 4 handfuls cavolo nero (or kale, chard, spinach etc.) tough stems removed, leaves shredded

For the tarka:

• 2 tbsp coconut oil or butter, ghee, other oil
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 handful curry leaves
• 1 small red onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1-3 red chillies sliced
• salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp garam masala

To serve

• Half a lemon juice only
• 2 tbsp coriander leaf roughly torn
• 4-6 tbsp tinned coconut milk reserved from the tin used in the soup base
• coconut shavings, toasted/untoasted optional
• slices of red chilli optional

Instructions

For the soup base:

1. Put all the ingredients for the soup base EXCEPT the salt, coconut milk, coriander and cavolo nero in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.

   Turn down the heat, half covering the saucepan with a lid, and simmer until the lentils are soft (20-25 minutes). Stir occasionally to make sure it isn't sticking or boiling dry.
   

2. When the lentils are soft, season to taste with salt.

3. Off the heat, use a stick blender to puree all or half the soup to your desired consistency.
   

4. Stir in the coconut milk (keeping back approx 1 tbsp per serving for the garnish) and leave the soup on a low simmer while you make the tarka.

For the tarka:

1. In a small, deep frying pan heat the oil/ghee/butter over a medium heat.

   Add all of the seeds and the curry leaves. Cook until the seeds start to brown and sputter then turn down the heat.

2. Add the onion, garlic, chillies, a little salt and pepper and cook until the onion is soft.

   Add the garam masala for the final 2 minutes.

To finish and serve the soup:

1. When the onion in the tarka is soft, pour the contents of the frying pan (including the oil/ghee/butter) into the saucepan containing the soup. Reserve a little of the tarka if you want to use it as a garnish.

2. Add the coriander leaf and stems and the cavolo nero or other greens to the soup saucepan.

   Simmer until the greens are done to your liking (5-10 min).

3. Stir in the lemon juice, check the seasoning and add more garam masala if liked.
   

4. Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with coriander leaf, a swirl of the reserved coconut milk and, if liked, the reserved tarka, coconut shavings and red chilli.