A Taste of Home: Curry Lentil Cauliflower Soup

 

What are the fundamental or essential things in your life that reminds you of home? For many travelers or nomads the essential of their live are comfort home food.  The further they travel the more these comfort food absences become apparent. While I am not much of traveler or consider myself a nomad among the many essential in my life or comfort food that remains me of where I was born and raised for the early years of my childhood is lentil. Strange as it maybe, these essential food or comfort food have stories and deeper meaning; they are a part of who we are. Lentil brings me back to third grade in North Sudan; my holder cousin who is a year older than me waiting in line during lunchtime for both of us. While in class I can smell the lentil soup, its always-green lentil. Now, every time I have lentil or cook lentil it brings me back to that early childhood of being 8 years old, in all catholic middle school with my dark blue and white uniform; with my cousin always finishing class before me and waiting in line for both us during lunch time. The essential of our lives are never the big things, many time s they are the simple things, things that we don’t really look at as being potent. However, these essential of fundamental become potent when they are no longer accessible. But as far as we travel we can always remake the essential. What are the essential in your life?

Here is a take on my essential; this is a modification of Angela Liddon The Oh she Gloss Cookbook Indian Lentil-Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

• 1-tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons hot curry powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 ½ tablespoon cumin
• 1 ½ tablespoon black pepper
• ¾ tablespoon salt
• 3 cups of vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked red lentils  - rinsed and drained
• 1 medium cauliflower, chopped into bite-size florets
• 2 mediums size white potato, peeled and diced
• 2-handful spinach
• Pepitas seeds 

Direction:

1. In a large cooking pot hear the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and potato. Salute for 10 minutes until translucent
2.  Add curry, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Saute for another 5 minutes.
3.  Add both broth and lentil. Bring the mixture to low boil and let it cook for another 20 minutes
4. Stir in the cauliflower, cover and reduce heat to low medium and let it simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Add more spices as desired.
6. Add spinach and let it cook for another 5 minutes on low heat.
7.   Serve the soup in a bowl and top with pepitas seeds 

Also, check out Kinfolk IssueSixteen: The essentials Issue, in which Ellie Violet Bramley writes an interesting piece on A taste of home.