Curry Lentil Soup

Author: Kerry L. Stakeman

My family loves to eat and we all love to cook. Holidays and family get-togethers are always well stocked with freshly made, perfectly tried and true foods as my mother and sisters and I all try to out-do each other. In fact, our family even has an annual "Pie Night" where my older sister makes everyone's favorite and we all share our pies and gorge ourselves to the popping point. Who can pass up butterscotch, cherry, blackberry, key lime, peanut butter and fresh apple pie, even if it is all on the same night? Needless to say, we're not a thin family.

Although not dangerously obese, we are rather "sturdy" as I like to say and we often try to conquer the pounds by choosing healthier foods. Unfortunately, although healthy foods such as vegetables are delicious, often times, recipes for healthy meals leave a lot to be desired, especially for chubby girls who love food and get immense joy from cooking. "Its just not natural to use margarine," claims my sister who gets all her dairy products fresh from a local dairy and raises her own free range chickens. So in order to reach a compromise between tasting good and being hearty as well as being healthy, we are always trying to tinker with various combinations of food.

This recipe is one I got from my mother, affectionately known as "Big MamaJama" who after years of being our meat and potatoes, cookies and cake mentor, decided to take a healthier route and by cutting her fats, sugars and carbohydrates and increasing her fiber and veggie intake, lost a bunch of weight and now is a very slim MamaJama.

She wanted a good hearty soup with lots of flavor, veggies, and fiber. Alas, curry lentil soup was born. My sisters and I were skeptical about a healthy soup that was tasty, filling AND healthy, not to mention we rarely cooked with curry and had no particular fondness for the semi-obscure spice.

Boy, were we pleasantly surprised. I promise, this soup is delicious and it is so easy, you will be amazed something with so few seasonings has such a tremendous flavor. The most effort involved is chopping the four vegetables. Also, if you use vegetable broth, it can be a vegetarian recipe as well, with no complaints from meat-eaters, as the smashed tomatoes have the texture of meat when you're eating them. There are no extra seasonings, just the salt in the broth and the curry are all you need.

Everyone that's had this soup raves about it and, despite the odds against a healthy recipe, MamaJama keeps her crown as the all-time Queen of the kitchen with this one.

Now if only she could make an equally delicious healthy version of homemade pie crust!

Big MamaJama's Curry Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1 Medium onion, diced
1 Tb Olive oil
1 C chopped carrots
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1-2 medium squash, diced
4 Tsp Curry powder
1 large can (32 oz) Chicken or Vegetable broth
1 - 15 oz bag of Lentils (Red are prettiest, but green work just fine.)
2 cans (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions

Prepare your vegetables by peeling, chopping, and slicing.
In a large pot, over medium heat, sauté onion, carrots and potatoes in oil until onions are cooked and slightly translucent.
Add curry powder and mix with vegetables until they are well coated.
Pour in broth and add diced squash and lentils.
Smash canned tomatoes with hands before adding them and the remaining sauce to the soup.
Add cayenne pepper for a spicier soup.
Lower heat and simmer for 30-50 minutes.

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