Eggplant and Lentil Cream Curried Soup

Hi there "Mom What's for Dinner" fans!  My name is Ramona and I coming over to visit  today from a blog called Curry and Comfort.   My blog is not all about curry... but I do love it with a passion. I also do a lot of dishes from all around the world including American comfort foods.    One of the best parts about blogging is meeting so many fun and friendly people that share my same passion for cooking.  I have been lucky enough to be blogging buddies with Christie for a few years now.  She has always been such a wonderful and caring lady.  Christie and I bonded over one of my curry recipes she tried and it's been a wonderful recipe sharing friendship since then.  Today, I made an Eggplant and Lentil Creamed Curried Soup.  I hope you enjoy this gluten-free veggie and lentil based soup that is full of flavor and healthy protein.  It certainly is a full meal in a bowl.  If you are vegetarian or even vegan you can substitute vegetable stock as the soup base.  I ate a few bowls of this soup the first night I made it and the leftovers were just as tasty.  Hope you enjoy. 

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant cut into small dice

2-3 cloves garlic grated or minced

1 medium onion finely chopped

salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

red chili powder or cayenne to taste

1 tsp curry powder ( I used McCormick Brand)

1 cup washed and rinsed masoor lentils

6-8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 (15oz) can coconut milk (unsweetened)

1-2 tsp lime juice

Directions:

Finely dice eggplant.  Heat 2-3 Tbs canola oil in large pot.  Add onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute on medium heat.

Then saute the eggplant with salt and pepper.  When the eggplant cooks down, add the curry powder, turmeric, cumin powder and red chili powder. 

Next wash the lentils well.  Add lentils to the pot with eggplant and chicken broth or vegetable broth.  Cook for 20-25 minutes.  Season with salt as needed.

Cream soup with emulsion blender or do it batches in stand blender.  Be careful with the stand blender by not over filling the jar.  Once the soup is creamed, add coconut milk and lime juice and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Serve hot. Enjoy.