Ingredients
1 pumpkin or squash - cut into small chunks
1 onion - diced
1 cup of red or yellow lentils (mung dahl)
2 cm cubed of finely diced ginger
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 carton of coconut milk
2 litres of stock - vegetable or chicken tastes the best, preferably home made
1 tablespoon of oil - e.g. sunflower, soya, canola, mustard
4 teaspoons of garam masala - I prefer Mauritius grilled masala to a typical Indian garam masala in this soup. If using Indian garam masala use only 3 teaspoons plus a teaspoon of turmeric to avoid giving your soup a brown colour.
A handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves
Optional: plain yoghurt, juice of 1 lemon
- Heat the powdered spices in the bottom of a large saucepan, on the hob, to unlock their flavour and aroma - careful they don't burn!
- Add the oil, garlic, ginger and onion and stir fry until the onion starts to become translucent.
- Add the pumpkin cubes, reduce the heat a little and cover to sweat lightly for 2-3 minutes.
- Uncover the soup, and add the lentils. Stir around rapidly for about a minute to mix with the spices - you want to avoid the lentils sticking to the base of the pan.
- Pour in the stock, and turn up the heat to get the soup bubbling gently without reaching a full-on boil.
- Leave to simmer for at least 20 minutes.
Finish the soup with a grind of black pepper, sea salt and a liberal sprinkling of the chopped coriander. You can top it off with a bit of lemon juice per bowl, or even better, a spoon of thick natural yoghurt.
Serve with one of the following, lightly buttered:
- toasted pittas
- garlic and coriander naan bread
