#MakeAhead Recipe: Very Green Lentils Soup

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Lentils or Daal goes well with anything, and combining them with variations of greens makes a perfect healthy dinner. The cumin and coriander add a gentle spicy note to this recipe, makes it a nice comfort food on a cool day.  Another plus is the high protein content. This recipe can be frozen up to 3 days.

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
  • 2 large yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, divided
  • 2 tablespoons plus 4 cups water, divided
  • 1 cup lentils
  • 8 large green chard leaves
  • 1 medium potato, scrubbed
  • 12 cups gently packed spinach
  • 4 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups chopped broccoli
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • ½ tablespoon ground coriander
  • Pepper to taste
  • 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
  • ½ jalapeno pepper, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or more to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onions and ¼ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown. Reduce the heat, add 2 tablespoons water and cover. Cook, stirring frequently until the pan cools down until the onions are greatly reduced and have a deep caramel color
  2. In the mean time, rinse lentils. Combine the lentils with remaining 4 cups water in a soup pot or Dutch oven, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Trim the white ribs out of the chard, chop the greens and slice the ribs. Cut potato into ½ inch dice, and chop spinach; set aside.
  3. When the lentils have cooked for around 20 minutes, stir in the chard ribs, potato, scallions, broth and the remaining salt. Cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes.
  4. Stir in the chard leaves, broccoli, cumin and coriander. When the onions are caramelized, stir a little of the simmering liquid into them, add them to the soup. Return to a simmer, cover and cook 5 minutes more. Stir in the reserved spinach, cilantro, mint, jalapeno, and pepper; return to a simmer, cover and cook until the spinach is tender. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
  5. Remove from the heat. This recipe can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

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