#16 Curried Lentil and Vegetable Soup--total flop.

The freezer waffles and freezer breakfast burritos I put together this weekend are paying off--big time.  This week is starting out way better than last week, and though I've been running like a rabid energizer bunny today, I'm feeling like things are kinda starting to come together for fall.  Kinda.  At least we have food. So that's good.

Right now I'm doing a temporary stint filling in for someone I know who is on vacation.  So part of the day I get to play the part of a delivery driver. :)  Something about that feels kinda strong and athletic to me.  It's like an obstacle-course event:  drive, hop out, run in places, carry stuff into buildings, quick exchange of chit-chat with whoever crosses my path, run back out, hop in vehicle, and repeat.  It's like cross-fit; real-life edition.  Move fast in short bursts.  Lift heavy stuff.  Except I don't have to pay to do it; instead they pay me!  Can't beat that deal.  A little boost for the cookbook fund.

Anyhoo.  So I have to be pretty organized this week.

I made "Curried Lentil and Vegetable Soup", from Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook.  But...I had problems.

One thing I liked about this recipe is that it is super-frugal, and totally "gathers up the fragments".  I had veggies already cleaned and chopped, leftover from last week, so those were done, just had to dice them up a bit smaller.  The lentils; I went ahead and soaked them overnight in filtered water with a bit of lemon juice, (which is what is recommended in Nourishing Traditions). The recipe calls for canned tomatoes, and some yummy stuff like curry powder and cumin.  It smelled scrumptious when I got home.

However, something interesting happened: this soup was supposed to cook 8 hrs on low, but even after 9 hrs the lentils were still somewhat "crunchy".  Thankfully, I had a chicken I had roasted, so we just had chicken sandwiches for dinner. 

Here's what I found out, to save you some frustration:

• Greenish colored lentils take forever to cook.  WAY longer than brown or red lentils.

• I knew this, but forgot, and added salt to this dish right from the get-go, as the recipe said to...don't add salt to legumes while you cook them.  It toughens them.

• Also, acidic ingredients such as tomatoes and vinegar, lemon juice, wine...these things drastically lengthen your cooking time in regards to all legumes, not just lentils.  And yes, there were tomatoes in this dish.

• I don't know...maybe the overnight soak in water with lemon (I used 1 T. lemon juice) toughened the lentils?

So there ya go...the perfect storm of problems with this recipe, in terms of getting the lentils cooked in a timely manner.  Next time I will use red lentils, wait on the salt until serving time, and I don't know...wait on the tomtoes until the lentils are soft?  Just cook them in the broth and water first?  I would also soak the lentils overnight in water only...and not use the lemon juice.   Also, I would omit the cumin from this recipe.  LOVE the curry, but the cumin was distracting, in my opinion.  And it was kinda "hot", like spicy, not in a good way.  I don't know, it just wasn't working for me.  I ended up giving up on it and throwing it out.

Bottom line...I don't think this recipe was worth the frustration of attempting it again. 

However, I do have a recipe that I will link for you, that is the BEST soup ever, in my opinion, and has a similar flavor profile.  Oh my goodness; it is so, so good.  Strangely, my family disagrees with me on it though...they are not huge curry fans.  But read it and see what you think.  As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best things I've ever tasted coming out of a crockpot.  It's "Mulligatawny", by Stephanie O'Dea at "A Year of Slow Cooking".  Here is the link for you.