Red Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

The ingredients for this recipe went into our slow cooker in less than five minutes, just after breakfast. It was ready by lunch time, and perfect for the cold, rainy day.

Because of the curry paste, it's not vegetarian. However, it's a super low-meat meal, and both hearty and flavorful. It's got a little bit of spice to it--the kind that leaves your mouth gently smoldering--so if you're sensitive to heat, consider halving the curry paste.

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Red Coconut Curry Lentil Soup
serves 3-4


2.5c red lentils
4.5c water
1 15oz can light coconut milk
2T thai red curry paste [ours was from Mae Ploy, but Thai Kitchen has a version, too]


1. Mix all of the ingredients together in the slow cooker, breaking up any large chunks of curry paste.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours. For a heartier meal, serve with rice.

All soups are better with a garnish. Try toasted, unsweetened coconut or strips of homemade naan.
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Slow Cooker: Lentil Soup

When we moved into our own apartment, we quickly realized how great slow cookers are. We have a 2.5 quart super basic model--it has four settings: high, low, keep warm and off. It's a little bit small for two people, but a soup recipe will usually give us two generous dinner servings and one lunch serving.

When we moved out, my parents gave us a collection of beans as a moving out present. Slow cookers and beans are best friends. We use our slow cooker to make batches of garbanzos and black beans for use in salads, salsas and dips. Lentil soup is also one of the first things we made in our slow cooker.

This recipe can be as simple or complicated as you desire. We like to brown all of the aromatics in a big frying pan and then add them to the slow cooker. That takes time, but makes the house smell delicious. For the quick and easy route, chop everything in a big food processor, dump it in the slow cooker and go.

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Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
makes 2.5 servings

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
0.5 onion
3 cloves garlic
2t cumin seed {optional}
3c water or broth
1c green/brown lentils
1 28oz can tomatoes
2-3t cumin

1. {Optional} Chop/mince the carrots, celery, onion and garlic and saute in a pan over low heat until the onions are translucent. (You are trying to mingle flavors first.) Add the cumin seed. Turn the heat up to high and briefly brown the ingredients until things are just about to burn.
2. Dump all of the ingredients into the slow cooker. Turn on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
3. Garnish with cilantro or parsley, and more cumin seeds.
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Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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