Sunday 2 June 2013

Red Lentil Soup

Poor Mr Duncan, after going to all the effort of making a lamb chop dinner last night, he wasn't able to eat it.  It turned out he had a fever and no appetite.  Today he's been in bed sleeping for most of the day (when he's not coughing his lungs out).  I made him chicken noodle soup for lunch, but he just sipped some of the broth and went back to bed.

For dinner I made red lentil soup - nourishing, easy to digest with protein and iron. I normally make a Turkish kırmızı mercimek çorbası recipe when I make red lentil soup, but had no root veg and wanted something a little less spicy and more warming so went for a bit of a morroccan feel with the addition of cinnamon and turmeric.


Fertility focus
Lentils are a good source of folic acid, full of iron and provide a non-meat form of protein.
Home made Chicken Stock (I basically follow the same method as Naturally Knocked Up) is recommended in The Baby Making Bible by Emma Cannon for nurturing fertility and was also suggested by my acupuncturist for building my blood, as I eat little red meat.
Turmeric is good for stabilising blood sugar levels which helps with managing weight and hormone balance.
Cumin is considered good for uterine health in Ayurvedic medicine.


Ingredients
  • coconut oil
  • cumin seeds
  • ground coriander, tumeric, smoked paprika, cinnamon, salt, pepper
  • 1 diced onion
  • approx cup red split lentils
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 500 mls home made chicken stock
  • additional water
  • red chilli flakes
  • lemon juice
  • chopped parsley
Method
In your soup pot, toast the cumin seeds over a low heat, melt the coconut oil and add the remaining spices.  When the spices are aromatic, sweat the onion until soft.  Add lentils, tomato and chicken stock (I just add mine stlll frozen), bring to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Stir in red chilli flakes and chopped parsley.

Blend with a stick blender until almost smooth (I like a bit of texture), garnish of natural yoghurt and parsley sprigs and serve with pide.

Enjoy!

L.x

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