Recipe: Winter Lentil Soup with Avocado

On Sunday night, girlfriends and I had plans to go out to dinner, but I was able to persuade them to come over to my place as I was feeling a strong need for some home-cooked food. I tempted them with the idea of soup and salad, and so I found this lentil soup recipe by googling "lentil soup alice waters". Really any food google with 'Alice Waters' at the end of it turns out well. I modified the recipe while cooking (as always) and the soup turned out fairly nice, but the following day when sprucing up some leftover soup for lunch, I really perfected it. For my friends I served it with roasted yams and salad with this ginger salad dressing. Perhaps you too will share this meal with friends! :)

Serves 6+ as a main course.

1 onion, diced small

4 carrots, diced small

4 stalks of celery, diced small
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 c green lentils, rinsed and picked over to discard small stones
1/2 a bunch of parsley, leaves chopped fine
1/2 head garlic
1/2 small fresh chili pepper
8 c water
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
Lemon juice
1/4 avocado per serving cut into cubes


In a soup pot over medium heat, sauté the onion, carrot & celery in olive oil until the onions are gilded and translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wrap the 1/2 garlic head and chili in cheesecloth and add it to the pot. Add the lentils and water and bring to a boil. Simmer until the lentils are tender, but not mushy, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the cumin and fennel in a dry skillet over low heat until fragrant. Crush the toasted spiced with a mortar and pestle, or by using the bottom of a heavy skillet. When the lentils are done cooking, remove the cheesecloth (Do not squeeze cheesecloth as you remove or it will be too spicy!) and add the crushed spices. Taste for seasoning, add lemon juice, chopped parsley, and additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve soup in bowls with chopped avocado on top.

• Vata: Excellent! 
• Pitta: Omit chili and reduce garlic to 1/4 head. Double amount of cumin & fennel seeds. Substitute cilantro for parsley. 
• Kapha: Very Good! Omit avocado. Increase lemon juice to taste.