Spiced Red Lentil Soup

I spent my first winter Sunday cooking up some Spiced Red Lentil Soup. This soup ticks all of the boxes – it is easy to make, healthy and tasty. As an added bonus it also very thrifty – a very important factor given that I am trying to convince The Brooding Architect that ‘thrift is the new black’ in an effort to save for some very frivolous spending on our upcoming trip to France!  I like to dress it up with a big dollop of natural yoghurt and some fresh continental parsley just before serving and toast up some thinly sliced sourdough on the side, which serve as a rustic (if somewhat over sized) crouton. If you like things extra hot and spicy, I also recommend sprinkling some extra cayenne pepper on top of the soup just before serving.

Ingredients

• 375 grams red lentils, rinsed and soaked for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight)
• 1 large brown onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced (leaves and all)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
• 1 X 425 gram canned diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon cayene pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar (I used raw sugar, but whatever you have in the pantry is fine)
• A generous glug of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Litres water
• 3 Massell Reduced Salt Vegetable Stock Cubes – you can pick these up at any supermarket (or, if you can’t bring yourself to use stock cubes, use 2 Litres of vegetable stock in place of water)
• Fresh cracked salt and black pepper to taste
• Fresh continental parsley and natural yoghurt to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the glug of olive oil and the onion, carrots and celery. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until soft and starting to change colour. Add the  garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, paprika, dried chilli flakes and cayenne pepper. Cook stirring for 1 – 2 minutes until the garlic and ginger have softened and the spiced are fragrant.
2. Drain the lentils. Add the drained lentils, canned tomatoes, stock cubes, sugar and water to the saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat. Cover the saucepan and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Take off the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
3. In batches, place the mixture into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer soup to a clean saucepan. Repeat with the remaining mixture. (Alternatively, you may wish to use a stick blender to blend the mixture in the cooking saucepan).
4. Place the soup over low heat and stir until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the soup among serving bowls. Top with yoghurt, continental parsley and (if desired) a sprinkle of cayenne pepper to serve.

Curry Puffs

It is very easy to make the curry puff filling, however rolling out the puffs is time consuming. I promise you though that the end result is well worth the effort.  Since I don’t have any children I can coerce with Disney films, I ask (force)  The Brooding Architect to help me.

My recipe is for vegetarian curry puffs. However, you can also add 500 grams of pork or chicken mince to the mix to satisfy your inner carnivore.

Curry Puffs

(Makes between 60  and 80 – depending on how big you roll your curry puff – perfect for parties.  Halve the recipe if you want less – or freeze leftovers and bake as required for a lazy dinner in front of the TV)

Ingredients

• 8 large potatoes, washed (I used red skinned Pontiac potatoes)
• 1 large brown onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
• A small (3cm) knob of ginger, peeled and finely grated (to yield around 1 Tablespoon of grated ginger)
• 2 red chillies, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 8 even sized pieces
• 2 heaped Tablespoons good quality curry powder (I buy a pre-made curry powder mix from my local Indian grocery store, or you could make your own spice blend)
• 2 green shallots, sliced finely
• 3 Tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 Teaspoon sugar (I used raw sugar)
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon sesame oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 10 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (I used Borg’s puff pastry)

Step-By-Step Guide to Rolling Curry Puffs

Step 1: Prepare the filling

Step 2: Cut out circles of pastry

Step 3: Fill the pastry with filling and crimp the edges together to seal

Step 4: Keep rolling for a long time. You have 80 of these things to make!

Method

1. Place the washed potatoes (with skin still on) in a large pot of cold water. Bring the pot to the boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. This should take about 20 minutes.
2. Once cooked, drain the potatoes in a colander. Once cool enough to handle, use a small paring knife and peel off the skin.  Cut each potato in half lenghtways and cut each half into 8 even sized pieces.
3. In a separate large pot, heat the vegetable oil and sesame oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and carrot and cook until soft.  (You do not want the onion and carrot to turn brown, as this will result in a bitter taste). Add the garlic and ginger, cook until soft. (Again, you do not want the garlic and ginger to brown).  Add the curry powder and, if using, the chillies. Stir constantly to ensure the onions, carrot, garlic and ginger are evenly coated and continue to stir for 1-2 minutes, until the curry powder becomes fragrant.
4. Add the diced potatoes, frozen peas, green shallots, hard boiled eggs, soy sauce, sugar, pepper and salt. Stir gently until the ingredients are evenly combined. (You need to combine the mixture gently, as you don’t want to break up the hard boiled eggs too much).  Put the filling aside until cool.
5. Using a round cutter (I use a 6cm one), cut out circles of puff pastry. Place a Tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the puff pastry round, fold the pastry in half (forming a half moon shape) and crimp the edges of the pastry to seal the curry puff.
6. Repeat the process until you have used up all of the filling.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with greaseproof baking paper, space out a single layer of curry puffs on the baking tray. You will need to leave a small gap between each curry puff as the pasty will ‘puff up’ during baking.  Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of each curry puff with a small amount of vegetable oil. Bake until golden brown – this will take about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of your curry puffs. Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the baking tray for 5 minutes. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.
8. Any excess curry puffs can be frozen while still raw (that is, before you bake the pastry). Frozen curry puffs can be placed straight into the oven from the freezer and will take around 35 minutes to bake.

Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce