VeganMoFo Day 12 - Festive Dal Soup

Here's another soup for you all. It comes from the March 2007 McDougall newsletter, and has been made at least once a month since it first appeared.

Festive Dal Soup

This soup is a beautiful red and green color and it is so delicious and easy to make that it has become a lunchtime favorite in our home.

Preparation Time:  10 minutes
Cooking Time:  60 minutes
Servings:  4 

3 ¼ cups water
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red lentils
1  15 ounce can garbanzos, drained and rinsed
1  14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon chili paste (Sambal Oelek)
2 cups fresh chopped spinach

Place ¼ cup of the water in a large soup pot.  Add the onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes, until softened.  Add the ginger, paprika, cumin and several twists of freshly ground pepper.  Mix in well, then add the remaining water, the lentils, garbanzos and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 minutes, until lentils are tender. Add lemon juice, chili paste and spinach.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Season with a bit of sea salt, if desired. Serve hot.

Let's see, what changes did I made for this one? Bottled minced ginger instead of fresh. Frozen instead of fresh spinach. I even used the sambal oelek as directed. I'm trying to get used to having foods with a little more "heat" to them. Maybe this way my husband won't be going through bottles of sriracha like water.

Out of all the McDougall soups I've made over the years, this one has to be our all-time favorite. I hope you people like it as much as we do.