Meatless Monday

Two posts today!  Next one coming...next.  Just at the moment, I wanted, in honor of Meatless Monday, to post a recipe that will please anyone -- believe me, this dish has been field tested!  It's very easy to assemble and adjusts for one to many servings.  I have the most experience making it for two people so the following recipe feeds two to three.  If you like a thicker soup, use more beans and quinoa.  Hey.  I saw that grimace.  This soup is great.  I'm Italian, I should know.

Valerie's Soup

(all quantities are flexible and organic)

6 cups water

1/8 cup dahl beans (I use half yellow split mung and half red lentils)

not quite a handful of quinoa

4 cups chopped leafy greens

1 clove garlic

2 cups chopped vegetables (your choice, but at least three different veggies)

1 tomato, chopped

2 Tablespoons ghee and/or sunflower oil

1 teaspoon fennel

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

6 - 12 curry leaves (get these at the Indian grocery, or skip)

a handful of chopped basil

salt and fresh ground pepper

Rinse the dahl and lentils.  In a heavy soup pan add the beans to the water and bring to a boil.  Once it's boiling, skim off the white stuff.  Add the garlic clove, quinoa and chopped leafy greens.  Cook until soft.

Now, you need a hand blender.  If you don't have one, there really isn't a substitute, so get one!  Don't try a regular blender, you'll be cleaning soup off your kitchen ceiling for weeks, not to mention gingerly dabbing salve on your face and hand burns.  

Blend the ingredients in the soup pan until the greens are liquified.

Add the chopped vegetables but NOT the tomato.

What I do at this point is bring the contents to a light boil, cover and turn off the heat.  Then I go meditate.

After meditation, turn the heat up under the soup and get out a little saute pan.  Into the saute pan go the ghee and/or sunflower oil, curry leaves (rinsed and dried), fennel seeds, salt and pepper.  Heat this up for just a bit (the fennel seeds should not turn brown). 

Then, add the turmeric, cumin and coriander.  Stir once and add the tomato.  Stir the tomato up with the spices and leave on the heat for about two minutes.  Add the basil, stir and take the saute pan off the heat.

Add the contents of the saute pan to the soup and stir.  You may need to rinse the saute pan with some of the soup water to get all the good stuff into the soup.

Scoop into bowls and drizzle some olive oil on the top.  We also like organic jalapeno oil....mmm.

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