Loaded with lentils, vegetables, chicken and plenty of spices, this crowded Curried Lentil Soup makes a satisfying meal by itself. Recipe below.
Broth is all well and good in soups, but I like my soups crowded. Even as a kid, I would scarf down all the noodles and little cubes of chicken in my Campbell’s Chicken Noodle and leave a bowlful of broth, aggravating my mom and missing out on the liquid benefits of soup. Now that I’m all grown up, I can appreciate a nice slurpy bowl of miso soup on occasion. But crowded soups—soups packed with vegetables and chunks of meat and maybe some noodles—are still what I really crave.
This soup fits the bill perfectly, a true meal in a bowl. It’s got lentils and a whole host of vegetables, including spinach. It’s got nice chunky bites of chicken. And it’s got spices—curry powder, cumin, red pepper and fresh ginger—to fire it up a bit and make it as interesting as it is satisfying. For the curry, I used Hot Curry Powder from The Spice House. Any Madras curry is a good choice for its heat.
It’s easy to make this vegetarian too. Just leave out the chicken and use all water or vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock.
Speaking of chicken stock, I lucked out big time. Marion made some homemade stock recently to freeze and I nabbed some of that. Just before Thanksgiving, we’ll post her recipe for chicken stock as part of a cold sweet potato soup that has become a delicious tradition of our Thanksgiving dinner. If you don’t have homemade stock for this lentil soup, be sure to use low sodium chicken broth. You can always add salt later—you can’t take it out.
With soup season in full swing, this crowded lentil soup is a hearty, flavorful meal with enough heat for the chilliest night. It’s also relatively easy to get on the table after a busy day.
Curried Lentil Soup with Chicken
Makes 4 main-course servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped peeled carrots
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder, preferably hot
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
9 cups [or more] water [or stock and water]
1 16-ounce bag dried lentils
2 cups cooked chicken, cut/torn into bite-sized chunks
1 6-ounce bag baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add next onion, celery and carrots and sauté about 5 or 6 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid browning—you just want to sweat the vegetables. Stir in garlic, curry powder, ginger, cumin, bay leaf, and dried crushed red pepper.
Add 9 cups of liquid [I used 4 cups of chicken stock and 5 cups of water] and dried lentils. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until lentils are tender, adding more water by 1/2 cupfuls to thin soup, if desired, about 25 minutes—I ended up adding about two more cups of water total by the time I was ready to serve it. About halfway through this cooking process, add the cooked chicken to warm it through and let it pick up the flavor of the spices.
Add spinach and cilantro. Simmer until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper.
Ladle soup into bowls. Top each serving with spoonful of yogurt and serve immediately.
Also this week in Blue Kitchen
Loud punk music, small venues—Mmmm, mmmm, good. The Tyrades crank it up [complete with YouTube videos], at What’s on the kitchen boombox?
“WTF? I’ll tell you WTF!” Really bad language—good and bad—in the news, at WTF? Random food for thought.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, I just made lentil soup today too. And I also like my soup crowded! Love the idea of curry with lentils.
I, too, like my soup crowded — and spicy hot! I’m bookmarking this recipe to add to my winter soup repertoire.
I know the curry and red pepper are important but my kids might pass on it. I’ll try the recipe with just a pinch of the two spices because it looks so healthy. Thanks.
Wow, that photo is gorgeous! It’s literally making my tummy rumble. This is definitely bookmarked for the “to make SOON” list.
I love lentils, Terry, but have never had them in soup form.
And I tend to leave the broth in the end, too – I don’t think there’s much to be done with the soup after all the chicken, noodles and vegetables are gone.
Beautiful photo and a wonderful recipe. You know, I went through a phase where I kept a jar of lentils near my stove and threw them into everything—rice, soup, meatloaf—anything. And about the hot curry powder: hurray! I read that aging baby boomers, who are losing their youthful sense of taste, are driving the market for hotter and hotter spices. As one of those aging baby boomers, I’m delighted to see a “global warming” of the palate.
I’m the same as you – I like my soup packed full!! This sounds very good!
Kalyn, Lydia and Deborah—I’m glad crowded soups are so generally popular. A good stock or broth definitely ties everything together, but it’s all the “stuff” I go for in soups.
cyclepromo—You could try a sweet curry powder instead for flavor without fire.
Jennifer—Speaking of “to make SOON” lists, the swiss chard tart you made the other night is on mine.
Patricia—Now you’ve got me curious. I ONLY think of lentils in soup. What else do you do with them?
Carolyn—Thanks! One of the great things about lentils, unlike most dried beans and such, is that they cook up so quickly. So you can indeed just toss them in with just about anything.
I agree with you about soup. Loaded with goodies is most desirable. But I am a life time member of the ‘ I loathe coriander!’ club…so I will use something else to add some zip. ( I am sure I am the only one who hates it so much.)
WTF serves up another interesting topic. A good expletive, when well chosen for time and place, can be a purgative for the inner beast.
Melinda—Honestly, this soup has enough going on that if you just left the cilantro [coriander] out, it would still be quite flavorful.
Regarding good expletives, the English language seems to have cornered the market on the best ones. I remember once in Montreal I was awakened in my hotel room in the middle of the night by a HUGE screaming fight in the street outside my window, all in French except for a sprinkling of F-bombs in English scattered throughout. Turns out even French speakers understand that their language is too beautiful to deliver the proper shock value of good old English swearing.
Your’re just like mon mari – eat all the chunks and leave the broth!
We make a good pair – I love the broth so I can make normal soup and we even each other out!
Love spinach and lentils; any kind of soup actually. The best thing about winter!
Katie—I’d say it’s a guy thing, but Patricia admitted to the same. The nice thing about crowded soup like this is that the broth becomes part of the package, a little bit going down with each chunky spoonful. And it’s not that I don’t like broth—it’s just that it’s a little boring to me without something to chew.
This soup has so much going for it–can’t wait to try it! Oh, and please add me to the list of “crowded soup” lovers. Broth is great, sure, but you need something to chew on, too.
marion led me to your website and i’ve since passed it on to my sister in scotland who’s now a fan too! this looks delicious!
Thanks, Elle and Alison! Scotland, eh? I’ve been there in what they call summer and would have loved a good, hot bowl of soup even then! A hauntingly beautiful place, though.
Just discovered your blog and am loving it. Love soup that a spoon will stand up in.
Wendy (Another Scot – not sister of above Alison!)
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