Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Indian Lentil Soup


I love indian food. I love lentils. I love soup. So when I found this recipe on Green Kitchen Stories, I added it to my never ending list of things I want to make. Mama Wendy informed me she had red lentils she wanted to get rid of, so immediately I decided to make this soup for family dinner.

Indian Lentil Soup
I feel like when I describe any food I make, I describe it as yummy. Once again, this soup was so good. I mean, I love the three main parts of it, so it was a for sure win. Even my little sister liked it; she even went back for seconds! 

The soup got pretty thick, so if you want it more soupy feel free to add more vegetable stock, or let it simmer less. It had just the right amount of spice in it, enough to give it a kick, but nowhere near enough to leave you needing to wash down every bite with water. For the most part, this soup is pretty easy and quick to make. Chopping the vegetables is the only timely task,and since my chopping skills are still a working progress, it took me some time.


Serves 6 large servings

Indian Lentil SoupIngredients:

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, very finely chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground chili
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
200g red lentils, rinsed
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
a pinch of sea salt
2 tomatoes, diced (roma work well)


Directions:

1. Prepare the vegetables. Finely chop the onion and ginger. Peel and slice the carrots. Peel and dice the potatoes about 1/2-inch big. Dice the tomato.
2. Heat the olive oil in a big soup pot on low heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and all the spices. After about a minute add the potatoes, carrots and the lentils, stir it around another minute before adding the broth. 
3. Let it boil on low-medium heat for 30 minutes, stir occasionally, taste the soup and add more salt and spices if needed. Add the tomatoes and let it boil for 5-10 more minutes.

**Feel free to place pot on simmer plate on low heat if you need to keep it warm for an hour or so. Wait to add the tomatoes until 10 minutes before serving.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Blueberry and Lemon-Poppyseed Cake



I have become the unofficial dessert maker every time my mom's side of the family comes together. This year, I have once again been in the kitchen whipping up desserts for Easter. I tend to make two desserts, lately they've consisted of one "healthy" one and one "non-healthy" one. I chose this Blueberry and Lemon-Poppyseed Cake as the "healthy" one, and an Apple and Blackberry Cobbler was the dessert for the normal-folk of the family. Both equally delicious in my opinion.




This cake was amazing. It was a nice texture from the almond meal, with a light hint of lemon. The blueberries add a nice pop of sweetness with every bite too. The greek yogurt topping was the perfect addition and added a little extra moisture and lemon flavor. The cake was so easy to make, and didn't call for anything too special, which is always nice.


Serves 8-10

Recipe Adapted from Green Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:


Cake:

4 cups almond flour
3 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 medium lemons + zest
3 large eggs*
1/2 cup honey
2 cups blueberries (save half for topping)

Topping:

1 cup Greek yogurt, drained
juice from 1/2 lemon (leftover)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract



Directions:



1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8 or 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper and grease.
2. Combine almond flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Heat oil and honey, stirring occasionally, but do not boil. Grate the zest from the 2 lemons and add it to the honey/oil batter. Squeeze the juice from three of the halves of the lemons into the mixture, saving one half for the glazing. Add the batter to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
4. Beat the eggs and then fold them into the batter together with 1 cup of the blueberries until just combined. Poor batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, I recommend covering the pan with tin foil after 25 minutes to prevent the top from burning. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before removing the sides.
6. Meanwhile, start making the glazing. Drain yogurt in a milk cloth or coffee filter for about 10 minutes. This is to make the yogurt less runny. Discard the water and combine the thick yogurt with honey vanilla extract and the juice from the remaining lemon half. Leave to chill in the fridge.
7. When the cake has cooled completely, cover it with glazing, top with the remaining blueberries and serve. You could also just serve the cake with blueberries and yogurt on the side.


* You can replace three eggs with 3 tbsp chia seeds and 9 tbsp water that you combine and let sit for 15 minutes.