Red Lentil Soup (Dahl)

Ingredients 

Red Lentils

1½ cups small red lentils

3 onions

Fresh ginger root peeled

1 medium sized green chili

3 large potatoes cubed

3 tablespoons oil

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 carrot

4 peeled fresh tomatoes

1 tablespoon chicken soup or vegetable powder

Salt to taste

1 400 ml (14 fl oz) can of coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh chopped coriander

How to do it

1. Place in a large pot the lentils, potatoes, crushed ginger (I use a piece of ginger that’s a little bigger than the size of a walnut) one of the onions diced, and the chili (remove the seeds and the white parts, and work with gloves on for this part).

2. Cover with water (till about 2-3cm/1 inch above the lentils) and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked (they will pretty much disintegrate – don’t worry, that’s the point). Turn off the heat.

3. In a non-stick pan, heat the oil and brown the remaining two onions that you have quartered and sliced. Add another helping of fresh ginger (same quantity as before) and then the garlic. Once the garlic is slightly colored, remove from the heat and add to the lentils.

4. Peel the tomatoes by soaking them in boiling water for about 5 minutes and then the skins should slide off easily. If the skins don’t split open by themselves, poke a sharp knife into the tomato and that should start the process. Remove the core (hard part in the middle) and mash. Add them to the pot.

5. Peel the carrot. Once you have peeled the outside layer off, keep peeling the carrot from halfway up the carrot to the end, going around the carrot. This way you will get very thin short slices of carrot. Keep going until you reach the core and then stop and peel the other half of the carrot in the same way. Add the carrot slices to the pot.

6. Add the soup powder, coriander and coconut milk to the pot and bring to the boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Tip: You can add extra water if it is too think and you want to serve as a soup.

Serve hot as a soup or over rice as a side dish.