Vegan Curried Lentil Soup

Wildly easy but in need of flavor, I made Vegan Curried Lentil Soup tonight.

Curried Lentil Soup

1 cup lentils, rinsed
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
8 cups water
1/2 cup couscous (or white basmati rice)
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1-1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/ 8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Bring the lentils, onion, celery, garlic, cumin seed, and water to a simmer in a large pot over medium heat. Cover and cook until the lentils are tender, about 50 minutes.

Stir in the couscous, chopped tomatoes, curry powder, and pepper. Continue cooking until the couscous is tender, about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

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I ended up adding cayenne pepper and parsley. If I make it in the future, I'll use either vegetable stock or chicken stock (which will negate the vegan part of the dish) to add flavor right out of the gate. I think carrots, chopped kale and coconut might work as well. Once the dish was made, I found it screaming for something green, which is why I added parsley at the last minute but I'd like to see more green than the parsley added.

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The day after, I ate leftover soup for lunch and added unsweetened, shredded coconut to the dish and it was fabulous.



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4/7/2011 update:
I added finely chopped kale (remove stem first) & 2 cups of homemade chicken stock when heating up the frozen leftovers. The kale was a great addition, adding just the right amount of green and the chicken stock gave it a more soup-like, vs stew, texture with some additional flavor. A win.