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Curried Coconut Lentil Soup
This weekend I set out to recreate a delicious Curried Coconut Lentil Soup that I had while I was in Africa a couple weeks ago. While creating the recipe, I wanted to make sure that the soup had a distinct coconut flavor, lots of nutritious vegetables and grains, and a healthy dose of warm curry spices. This soup ticks all the boxes and makes for a delightful lunch or light dinner. It is full of flavor and thickens beautifully thanks to the red split lentils and creamy coconut. I added diced tomatoes and tomato paste for an extra flavor boost and bit of sweetness.
As you can imagine, the spices are extremely important for this soup, so make sure you use fresh and good-quality spices. For my spice mix, I used Daylesford Organic Curry Powder, which was a mix of Cumin, Coriander, Onion, Fenugreek, Turmeric, Garlic, Ginger, Yellow Mustard, Black Pepper, Chilli, Cinnamon, Cardamon, Cloves. It worked great, but you can certainly create your own curry spice mix as well if you have all of the ingredients!
Read on for the full recipe and step by step instructions for this warm and hearty soup…
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Layered Vegetable Bake
I hope everyone had a wonderful festive season and enjoyed a lot of delicious food with your loved ones! For those of you like myself who may have overindulged a little too much (see here), I am excited to introduce the first of several healthy recipes this month here on The Chic Brûlée. I refuse to sacrifice on taste, so all of my healthy recipes are not only low in calories and carbs, but delicious in their own right as well.
I recently picked up a copy of Honestly Healthy by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson, a cookbook that follows the trendy alkaline diet, beloved by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow (just sayin’). The diet discourages ‘very acid forming’ foods like starchy grains and vegetables (pasta, wheat, beans, etc.) as well as all dairy products, meat, and fish, because, in their opinion, these foods are bad for you. It also promises many health benefits and aims to reduce the amount of internal stress on the body. Although I am NOT following the diet in its entirety, I was excited to try out a few recipes in the book and add them to my healthy eating repertoire.
Last night I made a divine Layered Vegetable Bake. A sort of “lasagna,”
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Curried Dhal with Grilled Eggplant
I had some extra red lentils leftover from when I made my Red Lentil, Carrot & Cumin Soup, so I decided to make another dish featuring these much-loved legumes. Prior to this recent lentil kick, I didn’t realize how high in protein lentils are. In fact, they contain 26 grams of protein per 100 grams and are also low in fat and a good source of fiber. All the more reason to enjoy lentils more often. Anyway, this is a delightfully tasty recipe for curried lentils topped with grilled eggplant. The lentils are cooked in turmeric and tamarind paste and then finished off with a healthy dose of curry powder, onions, garlic and ginger. The result is a sweet and sour taste with plenty of kick. The lentils are good on their own, but adding some grilled eggplant slices on top makes it a nice light meal. Enjoy!!
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Red Lentil, Carrot & Cumin Soup
Here is a lovely recipe for a healthy Red Lentil, Carrot & Cumin Soup. This soup is full of warm, spicy flavors and quite simple to make. I always like to cook a few healthy dinners during the week to balance out some indulgent ones frequently consumed on the weekends (see here and here), and this fit the bill perfectly. The only (fairly) time consuming part is the shredding of the carrots, however, if you have a food processor with a grating attachment, the process is very quick! (Purchasing a high quality food processor is a life-changing addition to any kitchen as many of you know!) This soup doesn’t contain any butter, milk, or cream,
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Eggplant and Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses
I love recipes with a “secret ingredient.” I have been hearing a lot about the many uses for Pomegranate Molasses, an essential ingredient in traditional Middle Eastern cooking, so I had to give it a try. Pomegranate Molasses is a syrup-like reduction of pomegranate juice and sugar that has a really unique flavor and turns out to be the “secret ingredient” in this delicious vegetarian stew. This dish hails from Antakya, a coastal town in southern Turkey, where it is a summer staple for Turks in the region. If you haven’t heard, the coast of Turkey is full of quaint little beach towns with fabulous authentic restaurants along the shore.
This is one of those stews that gets better the longer you simmer it over the stove. With lentils, eggplant, onions and tomatoes, the stew is hearty and satisfying. A drizzle of pomegranate molasses over the top adds a surprising tartness that makes this dish so unique. Serve the stew on its own or over couscous for a tasty, light meal. Pomegranate Molasses can be found at Middle Eastern markets – I went to Kalustyan’s in NYC to pick up mine.
