Day 39: Coriander-Orange-Scented Red Lentil Soup

I thought it was weird at first, but now I am finding it positively endearing, the use-of-hyphens-in-nearly-every-recipe-title!

Coriander-Orange-Scented Red Lentil Soup

This isn't just orange-scented, it's got all sorts of orange tasting going on as well. And it isn't a bad thing, not at all.

This soup looked interesting because it contains all sorts of my favorite things: cilantro, red lentils, garlic, ginger, yum yum. And it did not disappoint.

This is very easy to make and uses the unique ingredient of cilantro stems.

First, wash a bunch of cilantro. Cut off the bottom 3-4" of stems and chop these fine. Set the rest of the cilantro aside for now.

Next dice up 3 medium onions, setting aside about 1/3 of them.

Film a nice big soup pot with oil over medium to high heat. Stir in your 2/3's of onions along with salt and pepper. Saute until those onions start to brown. Add you cilantro stems, 4 cloves garlic- fine chopped (I used 6), 1/2" chunk of peeled ginger- fine chopped, 2 teas ground coriander, and zest of 1 orange. Stir that in for just about 20 seconds until nice and fragrant and scrape out entire contents of pot onto a plate for now.Back into the now empty pot on the stove, add one 14 oz. can of chicken broth, 2 /2 cups water, 3/4 cups of lentils, and the uncooked onions you set aside. Bring that to a boil, ok, a gentle bubble (I call that a simmer), and cook, partially covered for about 10 minutes, no more.

Add back your cooked onion/cilantro stem mixture with more salt and pepper if you wish and then cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Then add in the juice from the orange you zested plus the juice from 1 lemon and additional orange juice, up to one cup. Cook til warm and bubbly. Serve with some of the cilantro leaves you set aside. I also added a heaping tablespoon of lowfat yogurt to each bowl when I served it.
Melt some parmigiano on some whole grain bread and a fabulous feast you have. The orange wasn't as overwhelming as you might think, but I could definitely taste it as well as smell it. My husband couldn't even put his finger on it at first that it was orange because it is a little unexpected. I also loved how much onion was in the soup.

65 recipes down in How to Eat Supper.