red lentil and broccoli soup | soup dinners..




Lentil soups are my comfort food. Even the regular daals made the north Indian way are something I crave for every once in a while. The good thing is, the lentils are like good old friends, who will be there in all your moods. Yes, all seasons and all moods. You can spice them differently, veggie them up differently and you can have a refreshing meal every time. Like a good old comforting chat you had sitting on the sofa by the window. My friends would know what I am talking about.

I had bought 2 kilos of broccoli last week, one kilo being my regular stock for the week and another kilo got added because an old lady in the weekly vegetable market urged to me get all her stuff. I just couldn't say no to her. She had all baby broccoli with slender fresh stems and small florets on top. So there was more stems than broccoli florets. I thought of making this soup. In a pressure cooker of course.

I have posted another lentil and broccoli soup earlier, this one a different version of the same, ingredients mostly the same, procedure much simplified. Tastes as good, but quite different.

ingredients...
(3- 5 servings)

red lentils (massor daal) 3/4 cup
chopped stems of broccoli 3 cups
broccoli florets 2 cups
roughly chopped tomatoes 1 cup
roughly chopped red onion 1/2 cup
garlic cloves 12
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/4 tsp or to taste
ghee or butter 1 tsp per serving served on top

procedure..

Save the broccoli florets and ghee for later use and mix everything else in a pressure cooker pan along with 2 cups of water and pressure cook till the first whistle. Lower the flame after this and cook for 5 minutes more.

Let the pressure release by it's own and puree the contents of the pressure cooker with the help of a stick blender (hand held), or just transfer to a blender and puree.

Add a cup of water, more if required to the lentil and vegetables puree and start to simmer on low flame. Add the broccoli florets and cook just till they turn a deeper green and half cooked. You can stir fry the broccoli florets with butter and garlic before adding them to the simmering soup.

Pour the soup into serving cups or soup bowls and top with a tsp of ghee or butter.



You would be surprised to get such good taste in a soup cooked with such minimal effort. You can always have some chapati or garlic bread with this soup to make it a meal.

Or just add a few chicken pieces on bone to the boiling lentil mix, fish them out before blending the mixture and add them back once pureed. A wholesome meal in a soup bowl will be a convenience for you if you have just enough time to pressure cook a quick meal. Make it nutritious and tasty both.

Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I liked your earlier version too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Healthy soup, different by adding brocooli

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was waiting for this recipe ever since you posted the photo on your Facebook page :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Recipe sounds easy and looks great. I use an instant pot, what would be the setting for time?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment