Minoo prepared four recipes for the South Arm Community Kitchen held at the Bethel Church. It looks like that we will continue to meet at the Bethel Church until the summer break in July. We appreciate very much for Bethel Church’s generosity to allow us to use their well equipped kitchen for free.
For the starter, Minoo selected a lentil soup recipe. Lentils require soaking (some overnight) before cooking due to the presence of anti-nutrients such as phytic acid and tannins. Lentils can be used to make soup, salad or cook with rice to add protein to the vegetarian diet.
Here are some recipes that I had blogged before about lentil:
- Indian Lentil Soup (Khatti Dal)
- Arabic Lentil Soup
- Herbed Lentil and Barley Soup
- Curried Red Lentil Soup
- Carrot and Red Lentil Soup
- Mushroom, Barley and Lentil Soup
- Marinated Lentil Salad
- French Lentil Salad
This soup gets a gentle heat from jalapeno pepper and a burst of added flavours from freshly squeezed lemon juice and freshly roasted spices. The addition of tomatoes and spinach also adds freshness to the soup.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons oil or butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
- 1 1/2 cups yellow lentils, washed and drained
- 6 cups water
- 2 plum tomatoes, peel and dice
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- salt to taste
Source: Minoo
The spinach can be substituted with other green vegetables like kale.
Instructions
Whenever i try to make something like this, the soup ends up to be kind of sandy. Does that mean I haven’t soaked the lentils long enough? Is it possible to make this with other beans?
Hi emmy, some lentils do not need soaking. For those recipes that we did in the community kitchens, we only soak them for 10 minutes. You can cook it longer if you like your lentil mushy and soft. You can surely substitute the lentils with other beans but dry beans need soaking overnight unless you can beans.