Recipe: Coconut Red Lentil Soup

I'm going to be honest with you. There are no pictures to accompany this recipe post for a few reasons:

• I didn't have the ingredients for any coconut lentil soup I found online, so I read about 5 and just kind of made up my own. I was convinced it would be terrible and I'd never make it again.
• It is ugly food. There is nothing pretty about lumpy, reddish orange soup.
• Once we realized we loved it, we ate it too fast for me to stop and take a picture.

My recipe is mostly based off of this one more than any other one I found, so you can choose if you want to try my version or hers! It was a little too frou-frou for me, and I didn't want to send hubs back out for a lime when he had just brought me home an onion. 

Nomtastic Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

1-2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste, this is mildly spicy)

1 cup red lentils

2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoon cumin

1 14oz can of coconut milk (I used light and it tasted delicious.)

2 and 3/4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

1. Put the chopped onion in the pan with the coconut oil on medium heat and let the onion become slightly browned and tender.
2. While the onion cooks, use the side of a knife to mash and chop the garlic.
3. Put the ginger and chili powder on top of the garlic on the cutting board. Use the side of the knife (or your preferred kitchen utensil) to mix it all together. 
4. Place the garlic and spice mixture in the pan and turn to medium low heat.
5. Add rinsed lentils and the rest of the spices (nutmeg, paprika, cumin) to the pan . Stir.
6. Put the coconut milk and water in the pan and stir again. 
7. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it boils, lower the heat to medium low and stir frequently. Depending on your pan, you may need to lower it further if the lentils begin to stick.
8. Stir every 4-5 minutes for 30 minutes or until the lentils are mushy. 
9. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

You can add the step of using an immersion blender to get it really smooth and soupy, but we liked it the way it was out of the pan. The good part about this recipe is that it tastes amazing, is super healthy, and reheats well. The bad part is that you have to babysit it while it's on the stove. I think I will make a double batch next time since it reheats well. The first night we had it with red potatoes and it was way too heavy of a meal. Tonight we had it with green apples and grilled cheese which was filling and delicious!