Hearty turmeric lentils

This one is very flexible, so just omit what you don’t have or don’t like. This is a very hearty but still bright tasting soup. Nice and filling in the winter.

Ingredients

• 1 cup split red lentils
• 4 medium yellow potatoes, diced small
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 4 cups liquid (e.g. 3 chicken stock + 1 water)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 4 cups frozen spinach
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• splash of red wine vinegar for serving

Steps

1. Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add onions and saute about 5 minutes. Add potato and saute about 5 minutes.
2. Add tomato paste. Fill can with water and let it sit for a minute, stir and add to dutch oven. Cook for a couple of minutes and add seasonings (turmeric, curry powder, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, ginger, garlic powder, salt and pepper).
3. Add a total of four cups of liquid. In my case I used a cup of water and three cups of frozen chicken stock. Substitute wine for the cup of water, whatever. Add lentils and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir often.
4. Add coconut milk and simmer another 20 minutes or until lentils and tomatoes are cooked through. Stir often.
5. Add frozen spinanch and stir. Cook until all of the frozen spinach has cooked, just a few minutes. Serve with a splash of vinegar.

Notes

1. Stir the lentils often; they really seem to settle on the bottom and burn easily.
2. This really thickens up, so you could probably add more than 4 cups of stock, or add more when you reheat it.